The list includes travel and lodging for former Superintendent C. J. Huff in connection with one of the lawsuits he brought upon the school district, mileage for Mike Johnson, director of the buildings program, to give a deposition in the P1 lawsuit, more than $6,000 to a local advertising firm handling Franklin Tech promotion, and $150 to pay CFO Paul Barr's annual membership due to the Kiwanis.
Just a few of the bills the board will take up Tuesday:
-$105 to Big R's Barbecue for coconut cream pie, German chocolate pie, strawberry swirl cream pie, turtle cream pie, and pecan cream pie. No event is mentioned on this listing, which falls under "supplies."
-$948.10 to Cheezie's, with most of it going toward pizza for MAP testing celebrations.
-$220 to DFE Pizza for the same purpose
-$258.50 to the Guin Mundorf law firm. A partner in that firm, Shellie Guin, is under fire for dating the superintendent of the Lee's Summit School District, the same superintendent for whom her firm managed to secure a contract approaching $400,000 annually, making him the highest paid superintendent in the state of Missouri.
-$930 to Orient Express, listed under "supplies" with a mention of "miscellaneous dinners."
-$77,771.36 to Polsinelli, PC, the law firm that is handling the P1 lawsuit.
-$218.54 to C. J. Huff for "travel/lodging legal case development."
-$800 to Melissa Winston for prizes for the Bright Futures Golf Tournament
-$6,167.72 to Storm Stanley, an advertising agency, for "adult program advertising." The district has paid approximately $75,000 to the agency over the past 12 months for this service.
-$346.80 to Mike Johnson for "deposition mileage."
$155 for "Kiwanis membership dues" for Paul Barr
I don't mind my child doing with less in the classroom,or her underpaid teacher having to take money away from her family to provide classroom supplies, when I see my tax dollars going to such worthy causes.
ReplyDeleteDr. Huff, Mr. Johnson, and the rest of your kind... you are worth every penny.
Having worked at R8, I now teach in a nearby district. Like many districts, this one is facing shortfalls. The supt/BOE met this challenge by making some necessary cuts. Teaching positions are being eliminated; but only after a teacher retires or resigns. The only salary cuts are to administration. Not one penny is taken from teachers.
ReplyDeleteDorothy, you are not in R8 anymore.
I really appreciate that my wife buys classroom supplies with her paycheck from Joplin Schools so Paul Barr can get his social club dues paid.
ReplyDeleteOh, now, we can't expect poor Paul to pay for that out of his pocket. Good grief. The poor man already has to have his family insurance tab picked up by the district, he's in such bad shape. He only makes a six figure salary, and it was hard work to help financially destroy the school district. And then there is his extra retirement account that the rest of us can never fully appreciate. We should be awed by the financial benefits the money wizard has accrued for himself while the rest of us are buying our own supplies. If we were nearly as cunning we would be stuffing our pockets with cash instead of grocery coupons, too! Got to appreciate a genius at work.
ReplyDeleteWhy is he still employed?
I thought the little round man got an extra 50 grand in his "retirement" package to deal with the legal issues he brought upon the district. Let him dig into his own pocket for awhile. I could use that money for students, some of whom might even be his kids. I guess they can do without like the rest. We do have our priorities in Joplin Schools. Greedy people first. Administration building needs second. Students and staff? Whatever crumbs are left after the "important" people are cared for. Someone please show me how anything is better right now than it was a year ago? What has Ridder accomplished that we can see and that has changed the classroom one bit?
ReplyDelete1. Why did we give Storm Stanley $75,000 for advertising for adult community ed classes? It's been obvious for some time that the advertising isn't working. That's so much money it's ridiculous. Two teachers could be paid with that money, at least on Joplin's pay scale.
ReplyDelete2. Would it be cheaper to just pay the electric contractor than to run up all of these legal expenses? We ran up the bill trying to provide CJ with one more "we will have school on time" moment. Which we didn't. Couldn't we just do the honorable thing and pay the bill? If we didn't pay that bill because the work was sub par, then how did the building pass inspection? And just from looking around, I would have to say work being subpar is the criterion for not paying construction bills, then not many of those companies should be paid. The roof leaks. Toilets flush hot water. Walls are not square. Windows leak. Light fixtures are covered up by ceiling tiles. All kinds of crap. So, either pay this one, or don't pay any of them until it's all fixed.
Weren't they just bragging about how much the reserves have grown a few months back? Was that a lie? Is that money still there? What smoke and mirrors game are they playing now?
ReplyDeleteThe FTC adult advertising is not community education, but the full time programs. FTC adult programs do not use any local tax dollars to pay for anything, it is all paid through tuition from the adult students. The advertising is to promote adult programs same as Crowder, WTI, and MSSU do. The advertising does work.
ReplyDeleteIs no one upset by $105 in pies? Seriously??????
ReplyDelete@2:46
ReplyDelete$105!!! for pies!!! What is this world coming to?
I'm sorry. I can't find any humor in the continued waste of taxpayer dollars. I don't want my kids to have pie or Chinese food or pizza if they could have books or smaller classes. I'm tired of Internet resources. Quit wasting the money and send my kids home with some books!
ReplyDeleteIs there not a cooking class at the high school or technical center that could have made the pies for less money? As far as that goes, why are these types of classes, or even a school's cafeteria staff, not making these overpriced and catered meals?
ReplyDeleteStorm STANLEY.......nuff said
ReplyDelete