She probably should have rechecked what she wrote before commenting on my page since that is exactly what she said in her comment, in which she spent an entire paragraph saying what was wrong with the people of Joplin, or at least the people in Joplin who do not see Bright Futures the same way she does.
What bothers me in Joplin is that people have their minds so made up that they aren't willing to come to the table with an openness to listening. I have been guilty of that in the past, but no more. We are BETTER TOGETHER, and it's time for the people of Joplin to stop firing arrows and start coming to the table with solutions and a willingness to listen and learn. But I can promise I have never "made up" a child or a story, nor will I ever. I will not play the hate mongering game that has been a part of the Joplin culture for the last year. You can spend all your time placing blame, or you can spend your time finding solutions. I, for one, choose to work for solutions. The invitation is open to all who are willing to listen, learn, and grow together to join in.
This is her Facebook response:
I love that I never said that. Makes a good headline though, right? What I said was that I think every voice deserves to be heard. EVERY voice. However we must not only speak, but also LISTEN. That was my point. My commitment to myself in even choosing to respond on The Turner Report was that I refuse to get in the weeds of hate mongering. This post does exactly that - villainize me for disagreeing with you. As I have said many times over, feel free to disagree - that makes us better! But at least have the decency to do so in a fair, respectful fashion. This headline & posture is a far cry from that. So...my earlier statement remains. I will answer honest questions, but I won't be joining you in the mud pit.
17 comments:
So if you say it, then say you didn't say it, did you say it?
I believe, Miss Winston, that you have just done exactly that. The best thing you can do at this point is to stop talking. The second thing you should do is start job hunting. The more you try to justify yourself and your organization, the worse it gets.
I don't believe having Randy Steele (on Facebook) come to your defense is going to be a big help for you. We can remember how he fought to keep CJ on board so he could continue to waste funds and ruin education for Joplin students. You might manipulate the data, as CJ so well knew how to do, but you can't explain why academics have fallen since Bright Futures and all of those initiatives were put into place. You might try to say that scores are lower at the high school because more students have stayed, but that doesn't explain the decline for the lower grades. And, at the high school, teachers have to have a 95% passing rate. That doesn't happen without a whole lot of lowering of standards. So fudge your numbers, but we all know what the truth is now. And welcome to the mud pit. You brought this on yourself, because as usual, you don't know when to stop talking.
By the way, how did buying a bicycle and paying rent for a high school grad with rich parents help the graduation rate? Especially since she was living with a 28 year old man? Who paid his rent before that? How do you justify that? That goes right along with paying tuition for ribbon boy's dual credit class. The kids are saying he got a scholarship for ten grand to Arkansas too. You're already in the mud pit. You can't cover this stuff up. The kids like to talk about what they got.
I am amazed that the administration of the Joplin School District is allowing this employee to speak as a representative of the school about a school program and say such negative things about the community. Dr. Ridder has said he wants to work with the community, he is not off to a very good start by allowing an employee to say these things about the people who pay your salary!
Since when is posting facts, hate mongering? Sounds like a politician more than manager.
I was supportive of Ms. Winston's attempt to answers questions concerning Bright Futures until this last statement. Saying she didn't say what she clearly did say was it. I don't know of anyone who doesn't want to help children in need, but Huff's connection with BFUSA and (indirectly) with BF-Joplin has become such a mess that BF has lost community trust. BF-Joplin and Joplin R-VIII should separate all ties and Bright Futures should be a stand alone entity working with the schools not a part of the schools.
I also don't understand their claim to raising graduation rates, when after 5 years they still haven't been able to put together supporting data. If their statement is true, it is beyond time to prove it with documentation.
I agree that we should listen more and work together as a community, but that also includes Ms. Winston and Bright Futures. Just because citizens request facts does not make us hate mongerers. And just because we question the motives of CJ Huff does not make up mud slingers.
Ms. Winston stepped right into the mud pit herself. No wonder BF has lost community trust and probably numerous donations.
And good points 8:13!! Ms. Winston should definitely look for another job after criticizing the citizens who pay her salary.
Oh, Rylee! Why don't you have the audacity to post your name Mister City Councilman?
"I will tell you that we do have five years of data to show the impact of Bright Futures, but we have to have time to process and extract it all to show the real outcomes. We're working on that and will report it out once we have it in hand."
This will all be accompanied by 76 rusty trombones?
Melissa Winston needs to remember that CJ Huff is no longer her boss, thus she should stop running her trap defending him and his ways - his ways got him fired from Joplin and has made his credibility lower than that of Nixon during Watergate. BF Joplin started out as something good, modeled after another well known program called Community in Schools (though he claims it as his own), but it is not what it should or could have been.
I hope Mr. Ridder is aware of how Melissa Winston is running her trap and making a fool out of herself. She needs to go. She has ruined what little, if any credibility the organization had.
I didn't know Hillary Clinton was running Bright Futures.
I plan to make sure Dr. Ridder is aware of how Melissa Winston has shot off her mouth by sending him everything she has written on the Turner Report and Randy's FB page--each and every comment and statement that shows her true character along with the fact she is a soldier for CJ Napoleon Huff.
You can't simultaneously claim to be above the proverbial "mud pit" while you are actively commenting and taking part in it. More evidence of the cognitive dissonance experienced by dyed-in-the-wool Huff supporters.
Questions I want to answer = honest
Questions I can't or don't want to answer = come from the "mud pit"
Just an observation. Many people know Melissa and think highly of her and praise her for her efforts. I don't want to be seen as negative but she is PAID to do these things. Of course I am sure she puts in more hours than she is paid but in essence it is her JOB to help these kids. Someone that VOLUNTEERS to do these things should be applauded because there in not a perceived financial gain. Again, I don't doubt that she cares about the kids of the Joplin Schools but this is her job. Don't you care about your job too? -Yes, I post as anonymous but since when should we judge the messenger and ignore the message?
She is over paid by double...... Do the research on pay for that job....
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