The Commission has called a special meeting for 10:30 a.m. Thursday to fill the three board vacancies caused by the resignations of Lane Roberts, Randy Steele, and Mike Landis, and have even scheduled a swearing-in ceremony to immediately follow the announcement.
Since a swearing-in ceremony would necessarily involve the presence of the three people who are appointed, that would indicate the commissioners held their discussions about potential candidates and never posted that discussion, an apparent violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law.
28 comments:
This reeks of desperation and vindictiveness. Just how much do they have to cover up? That they would violate so many laws in order to protect Huff? I can see his R8 people and accomplices in CART and JPC stooping to this low, but the county officials are willing to go down with them? Pervasive corruption? Sad days for Jasper County.
Boss Hogg and his minons strike again.
Remember this at election time.
I find the actions of the County Commission and others attempting to thwart the will of the voters to be absolutely unconscionable, and John Bartosh's comments about there being no conflict of interest, ridiculous. I agree that this scheduled meeting appears to be another violation of the Sunshine law. I hope voters will be up in arms about this. When all these people come up for reelection, not one of them will get my vote. I hope other voters do the same. Hopefully, a minimum of additional damage will be done before the voters can rid themselves of these people who want to control and keep the status quo. If there are any state entities citizens can file complaints with about this mess, it would be good to list them. It would be even better if everyone who signed petitions for Jim Kimbrough and all the other patrons and parents out there who are unhappy with this situation would file complaints with whoever those state entities might be. There needs to be an end to the arrogance that makes these people think they can continue to derail every positive move that is attempted by the newly elected board members.
That's a good thing they are not waisting time this needs to be over and done. The board has waisted enough of our time already. There are so many people that do not understand what is going on and how the process works they are strictly voicing opinion on emotions and what they read, " dont believe everything you read people".
This will be interesting. If not picked wisely this may bite them come elections. I'll be leading the pitchfork /underbelly rebellion if needed.
Rebecca Scott
OMG people this is state law.....you all need to read the law and understand it before commenting. Never mind keep commenting im actually enjoying the stupidity its making me laugh.
When all these people come up for reelection, not one of them will get my vote.
Well, we in this western end of the county won't be able vote on the Eastern Commissioner, but we can certainly vote and very possibly defeat Adams. Presiding Commissioner Bartosh, a position for which all of the county votes, will be more difficult because I'd guess only about half the people in the county are in the Joplin School District, but then again we'll be motivated if this turns out as poorly as we fear.
That's a good thing they are not waisting time this needs to be over and done. The board has waisted enough of our time already.
If they've stopped the Huff regime wasting money for two and a half months, over $100K so far, then they haven't wasted any time. Even better, they managed to get Huff to "resign", and you can't put the value of that into money. And if for the next 9.5 months they get overridden by Banwart and the 3 new ... Stooges? (we'll have to see if they're that bad), well, I suspect they'll "be back" after the next election in April. At best our betters have delayed the inevitable, and have lost a lot of credibility doing it. And they lost Huff.
Maybe, just maybe, the county commissioners should read the law and understand it. What they are doing is below board and they are just arrogant enough to think the public is too stupid to know. Or maybe their arrogance is so profound that they just don't care.
But keep laughing, you're the reason we exist.
Someone please explain the reason for the big divide in the Joplin BOE.
None of this makes since what are they trying to do that they cannot agree on? All of them should have the same goals for the school.
10:19, you must not be from around here lol.
I'm still struggling with why all these local politicians are working so hard to undermine the authority of the legally elected Board of Education. Is this all about power, revenge, or are they complicit in a cover up? Regardless, they are being foolish and short-sighted given that they are all elected to their respective offices and can be easily voted out. Just ask Annie Sharp and Jeff Flowers.
Gosharooney......this is kinda like waiting for Christmas morning!
The commission feels it has the authority to seat the members. But the law says they must be notified of the vacancies by the board. No matter what other issues the board has (i.e; members saying that their civil liberties are being violated), the commission should not be involved until that written notice is received. It's none of their business until the board tells them it's their business.
And btw...if Steele and Landis think THEIR civil liberties are being stepped on...what do they think they were doing to every single tax payer of the district when they put their little plan into motion?
I only post because I like the matching game I get to play at the end.
So sick of people using civil liberties when they get upset. If it's a legitimate reason then by all means. But Landis is a joke a little man in every sense of the means. Quit crying because you added the complete implosion of the once highly regarded Joplin School District.
Landis and Steele giving their resignations to Dankelson is not the BOE handling it and reeks of their continued unethical behavior. It is up to the Board to do this, and the county prosecutor needs to stay out of it. TYJS
8:36, some of us who post have much experience dealing with the Sunshine law, the county commission, school boards and other entities. When in doubt about what the law is, some of us call various lawmakers, boards, or persons who are supposed to be knowledgeable about whatever issue is before us. There most certainly are issues here with the Sunshine law and probably other laws that have been broken. Since it is no longer my professional job to investigate these matters, I haven't. Thank goodness Randy does. But as a citizen of this county and a voter, I will express my concern with my vote and my opinion. And my opinion is, like those of others, that there are many things very wrong here.
Or maybe they are tired of the childish games the SB is playing and knows its in the best interest of the schools/kids for someone to step up and end this. Im not the reason you exist....God is. Oh sorry shouldn't mix church and state.
Wonder why know one is talking about how Jim k has tried every way he knows how to get on the board but has been unsuccessful even with the help of Koch. Should tell you something people. The board should not be held by educators, it needs to be a diverse group of people.
Wondering if this hot mess heads to the courts.
IANAL but the discovery could be interesting as to when contacts concerning certain matters first happened.
When it comes to discussion and obtaining opinions I wouldn't be surprised if someone has accidentally documented getting the cart before the horse so to speak.
The robot detection is much better than it used to be, but it makes me hungry!
Or maybe they are tired of the childish games the SB is playing and knows its in the best interest of the schools/kids for someone to step up and end this.
Someone? Anyone?
Would CJ Huff do, I mean, he's "someone."
No, I'm sorry to tell you that those of us who voted for Lane Roberts, a man who couldn't do it with his new job up north, a man we voted for so a "someone" named Anne Sharp wouldn't be allowed to stay on the board, while not pleased with this mess, we are pleased bottom line results like Huff's resignation and an at least temporary pause in the insane spending.
Or maybe they are tired of the childish games the SB is playing and knows its in the best interest of the schools/kids for someone to step up and end this
The voters have been playing the childish games too! Imagine overthrowing the overlords without their permission! What church do some of these so called democratic voters go to?
If the appointments are eventually found to have been done illegally, what will that mean to any votes they cast while serving on the BOE? I just wonder how that would work. If the county commission is not following the letter of the law, it would seem their appointments would be meaningless.This has gotten way out of hand and seems all involved would be prudent to contact someone at the state level. There needs to be someone objective and with the knowledge and authority to advise/direct both the BOE and the county commission. I think the current members of the BOE need to just suck it up, allow the county commission to appoint members and get on with business. It's not that long until new members can be voted in. The public voted for change. I'm not sure that meant to drag Joplins name through the mud trying to make a point. The BOE was given a mandate for change, but not a blank check of win at all costs. You got rid of Huff and Landis, next will be Banwart. Those are HUGE wins. Chill out for a while, it's not flattering to see you guys wallowing in the mud. You're better than that.
Way ahead of you. Didn't believe a damn thing you wrote.
What if Huff is appointed? That would be the ultimate mindf*ck.
Top 10 reasons for the Joplin School Board Fiasco
1) CJ Huff - for turning into a self-indulgent, delusional small-time tyrant who became so brazen that he openly undermined the credibility of a school board candidate and sitting board member. Gosh CJ, what if she wins? Can you work with a school board that isn't a rubber stamp for everything you want? Guess not.
2) Jeff Koch, Debbie Fort, Jennifer Martucci - who, after winning legitimate seats on the board through a fair election, inappropriately and publicly campaigned for the appointment of Jim Kimbrough (after he had independently decided he was finished). You managed to offend some folks you could have worked with, and now look what happened.
3) Jim Kimbrough - the namby-pamby former board member who decided not to run for re-election only to change his mind after his buds got elected. If you'd had the balls to run in the first place, none of this would have happened.
4) Randy Steele - for being the poster boy for clueless public service. Steele is just "proud to be there, anywhere". Aw, shucks! When it was time to fill the vacant seat, he folded up like a cheap lawn chair and then resigned because somebody tried to influence his position. Imagine. This guy has been lost in the funhouse for years and is unlikely to ever figured out who has been manipulating him the entire time.
5) Mike Landis - for being a mean-spirited, pompous ass who knows nothing about education and doesn't care to learn. The board was just an opportunity to pad his paltry resume and do that civic thing, or whatever. His best decision while serving was to quit.
6) Linda Banwort - easily offended opportunist who felt that she was being mistreated but was somehow elected VP of the board by the very people she accused of mistreating her. How does that work? Also, major negative points for exercising her new-found accidental veto power over anything the BOE must do to function. Me, compromise in order to have a functioning school board? I'm an independent woman who is quite capable of choosing who I will allow to bully me, by God! Banwort may actually win the bad guy point total for pushing the county commission solution, which she no doubt came up with all by herself.
7) County Commission - for over-stepping their boundaries and establishing an appointment process that isn't a process and is at best extra-legal in this case. If somebody doesn't get an injunction to halt this nonsense, I'll be surprised.
8) Missouri School Board Association - whose crack legal team has provided, uh, nothing of any help. Your school board association dues dollars asleep at the wheel.
9) DESE - too wrapped up in their own mess to notice anything that far away.
10) The Joplin Globe - for taking nice young reporters and editing their stories in order to agree with the newspapers motto: "Revenue trumps honesty"
Let's hope the county commission does the right thing and appoints reasonable people to the board. If the commissioners choose to play politics I would gladly donate the first 500.00 dollars to the PAC against all sitting commissioners that vote in favor of politics over the good of the district. Maybe call it the joplin schools progress committee. There is only one thing politicians understand and that's money. When the money begins stacking up against them they will regret their actions and there will be new BOE and commission next election.
There is a lot of complaining about the money from the joplin progress committee, maybe someone needs to post the members businesses so we can avoid those places and slow their money supply?
This is all about politics you will see when the appointees are announced.
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