How can Bright Futures, a district activity, suddenly file papers with the Missouri Secretary of State's office declaring itself to be a non-profit?
If the Joplin High School Student Council grew unhappy with the oversight of the high school principal could it declare itself a not-for-profit and force the school board to sign a memorandum of understanding?
A lot of explaining remains to be done as the R-8 Board prepares to possibly turn Bright Futures Joplin into an independent not-for-profit with access to confidential student information and a mandate to continue to operate as out-of-control as ever.
How did this proposal come about? Has the Bright Futures Joplin Advisory Board, which for most of its existence has simply met and listened to "success stories" suddenly been mobilized in a desperate attempt to preserve the C. J Huff legacy or was this idea formulated by people who are being paid by R-8 taxpayers?
What is apparent is that the new organization plans to be a fundraising machine and the superintendent will be required (despite the use of the word "may" in the memorandum) to help facilitate the fundraising. No other school district that uses the Bright Futures program has used it to create a self-perpetuating bureaucracy or a fundraising beast in need of constant feeding.Nor have any of the other schools veered so far from the original path and into as many non-related activities as Bright Futures Joplin has.
While I can certainly understand the board's temptation to agree with this and get Bright Futures off the agenda, agreeing to the memorandum would set a horrible precedent and send another signal to R-8 taxpayers and employees that the insanity of the C. J. Huff days is alive and well in Joplin.
This agreement actually establishes Bright Futures Joplin exactly as other Bright Futures communities and the (now) Webb City Cares program - with funds living in an external foundation managed by its own board and completely separate from the District. It will be operating exactly as Webb City does, which is what you've been crying for from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteAnd does the Webb City model pay for staff or is 100% of DONATED money used for student need?
ReplyDeleteLuckily the filing period has begun for the upcoming seats on the board, so now Randy can get on the school board and help get things straightened out.
ReplyDeleteAny idiot can be a school board member, as we've unfortunately seen. In our area right now, only Randy is stepping up to the plate to do serious long term reporting of what's going on in our school system including the board, the city and so on. So it would be idiotic for us for him to become a school board member and then have to self-censor what he reports about the district.
ReplyDeleteThe names have change, but absolutely nothing else in the district. Ridder isn't going to change a thing!
ReplyDelete@6:10 You're right. Anyone who knows so much about how to fix the district should never be on the school board.
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