Video- Tour provided for new Joplin High School/Franklin Tech

A Jet 14 production

Debbie Fort's tornado statement nowhere to be found in Joplin Globe coverage

No statement drew as much attention Monday night during the Joplin R-8 Board of Education Candidate Forum than Debbie Fort's response to incumbent board member Randy Steele's attempt to blame high teacher turnover in the Joplin School District on the tornado.

"I am sick to death of blaming the tornado," she said.

While her statement was specifically in response to a question about teacher turnover and she offered other, more logical causes for the mass exit of teachers from the district, Debbie Fort said the words that many people have been thinking for a long time- it is time to stop using the tornado as a crutch for everything.

It has been used as an excuse not only for high teacher turnover, but also for incredible overspending of taxpayer money and for sweeping changes that seem to be designed more for show than for actual educational value.

With that one sentence, Debbie Fort sounded a "stop the nonsense" rallying cry that was easily the top moment in the one hour forum.

Naturally, the quote did not make today's Joplin Globe coverage.

To be fair, reporter Emily Younker did hit some of the other high points of the forum, including Board President Jeff Flowers' comment "I think we're open and honest in everything we do," and David Guilford's retort that the board's policy on public comment is "closing the door completely on the taxpayer. I think it's wrong and it's very detrimental to our district and our students."

So why didn't Debbie Fort's comment make the pages of the area's newspaper of record?

Sadly, no entity has been move invested in prolonging the story of Joplin's continued suffering from the tornado than the Joplin Globe.

My guess is Emily Younker had no idea how Debbie Fort's line would resonate with the public.

Joplin Globe guest columnist: Morale low in Joplin R-8 because teachers know they are failures

In his latest effort to play a key role in the Joplin R-8 Board of Education race, frequent Joplin Globe guest columnist Anson Burlingame blames low morale and high turnover in the school district on incompetent teachers. In a section of his latest blog, Burlingame, directing his attack at board candidates Debbie Fort and Jeff Koch, makes the case that we should elect them since he describes the school district as a "failing organization" and who in the world would want to elect board candidates who have been there for the past eight years or ones who are backing the current administration:

My simple point, one learned over a life time of professional experience is that good performance, great performance, where it counts breeds superior morale. On the other hand, failing organizations have very low morale and people bail out of such organizations all the time, seeking greener grass on the other side of the fence.

I also note from past experience that when people complain about poor morale, they usually mean their own morale. And their morale is driven by a deep sense of failing to measure up to good standards. They are simply afraid of being fired for poor performance and lay that blame on supervisors, certainly not their own obvious shortcomings in a professional venue.

Burlingame appears to be labeling the Joplin R-8 School District as a "failing organization," but lays none of the blame on the administrators.

That goes along with some of the statements made by Superintendent C.J. Huff, who initially said that teachers were leaving the district because their spouses had found jobs elsewhere and when that ridiculous statement did not hold up, he began claiming that some of the teachers could not live up to his high standards. That is an interesting statement since many of those who have left were hired since Huff became superintendent.

Bright Futures schedules Election Day thank-you breakfast for volunteers

Superintendent C. J. Huff appears to be leaving no stone unturned in his effort to put the people he wants in the three open seats on the Joplin R-8 Board of Education.

When the filing period for the April election opened, a slumber party was arranged in the Administration Building at 32nd and Duquesne, circumventing filing rules and enabling Huff's favored candidates, incumbents Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele, Shawn McGrew, who has been heavily involved in Huff's Bright Futures organization, and Lynda Banwart, who spearheaded the successful bond issue drive that resulted in the construction of East Middle School, Irving Elementary School, Soaring Heights Elementary School, and the combined Joplin High School/Franklin Technical Center to receive favored places on the ballot. Studies have shown over and over that people who are uncertain about whom to vote for tend to vote for the first names. Thanks to the board members using their own keys to ensure they would be first in line, the order will read Flowers, McGrew, Steele, Banwart.

That was how the race for board of education began- with the Jeff Flowers/C. J. Huff group putting its thumbs on the scale of the election process.

It looks like the race will end in the same fashion.

The taxpayer-supported Bright Futures has scheduled a volunteer thank-you breakfast for 7:30 to 9 a.m. on election day, Tuesday, April 8.

The event not only will be funded by Bright Futures, but will be held in a facility that was also financed by the taxpayers, the new East Middle School.

It certainly has the appearance of a get-out-the-vote rally in everything except name.

Do these people have no shame?

C. J. Huff passed over for Springfield superintendent job

When former Monett Superintendent John Jungmann was selected to be the new superintendent for the Springfield School District, the candidate pool from which he was selected included at least one other superintendent well known in this area...and a former Missouri Superintendent of the Year, at that.

The Turner Report has confirmed that the Springfield School District gave serious consideration to Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff for the position.

Huff has been Joplin's superintendent since 2008, when he was hired to replace Dr. Jim Simpson, who took a position as superintendent in the Lindbergh School District in the St. Louis area. Before Huff was hired in Joplin, he was superintendent of the Eldon School District for four years and at one point early in his career was a principal in the Springfield School District.

Huff's path to the Superintendent of the Year honors started with his actions following the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado, when he famously declared that school would open on time, despite the loss of six buildings in the tornado. In this video, he famously declares it again in front of a packed audience at the Wisconsin State Education Conference.

Jungmann, who worked his way through high school and college as a sports reporter, first at the Lamar Democrat, then working for me as sports eidtor of the short-lived Lamar Press newspaper. He began his teaching career at Lamar High School, became a principal and later superintendent at Monett and currently is in his first year as superintendent of the Liberty School District.

Shawn McGrew: We have to be proud of what Bright Futures has accomplished

In an interview with KZRG from earlier in the week, Joplin R-8 Board of Education candidate Shawn McGrew says we need to be focused on "maintaining our best and brightest teachers," but never acknowledges that there is a teacher turnover problem in the district.

The same approach is used with a question on the financial problems facing the district. McGrew notes that it is important to make sure the students have the technology they need and that some of the older buldings in the district be brought up to date, but never acknowledges that the district has a money problem.

On the subject of Common Core Standards, McGrew says he has some concerns about them, including data collection and making sure that all schools have the technology to deal with the online testing Common Core requires. He does not say, however, how he feels about Common Core.

McGrew does get specific about the effect of Bright Futures on the Joplin school district. McGrew, who has been deeply involved with the program, noted the difference it has made to R-8 students, and that the program has expanded to include 22 districts in six states.

"We have to be very proud of what we have accomplished."

C. J. Huff to Wisconsin educators: I didn't ask my school board for permission; I just did it

The 2009 death of an 11-year-old Joplin boy during a "drinking contest" started by his aunt and uncle was featured prominently during a speech at the January 24 Wisconsin State Education Conference in Madison.

Though the speaker did not mention the child by name, he told the story of a child who was saddled with problems the moment he was born. 

"There are some kids," he said, introducing the story, "we must get away from their mothers at birth and dads."

The speaker, C. J. Huff, said during his first year as superintendent of the Joplin R-8 School District, "I had a third grade boy, great kid. His mom and dad were absent. I think His dad was in jail; his mom was always out partying. He was left in the care of his 'in quotes' aunt and uncle. That night, the aunt challenged him to a drinking contest. Jack Daniels."

Breaking into tears, Huff said, "He died in his sleep that night. It made headline in the paper, front page stuff. The aunt and uncle were convicted. Good kid, he was raising his brother and sister. He made a mistake, a fatal mistake."

Huff indicated that the story of the boy's death and the drinking game did not make much of a splash in Joplin. It was not even on the front page of the newspaper, he said. "Our community, even though it was in the paper one time did not know that story."

Huff said he felt he had to tell these kinds of stories to let people know what he and the people in the Joplin school district have to deal with every day.

If the boy had survived the drinking contest, Huff said, "if he had not died in his sleep, he would have been taking the state assessment test with a hangover."

Huff told the Wisconsin educators they had to tell the politicians the truth about what is happening with children.

During his one hour speech, Huff told the story of the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado, and how he was proud of "the team I have and my school board. I will take credit for hiring some great people," he added.

Huff also recounted the story of his promise, made two days after the tornado, that school would start on time in the Joplin R-8 School District. "I didn't ask my school board for permission," he said. "I just did it."

He then talked about the work that was done to arrange temporary schools for those whose buildings were destroyed by the tornado.

After opening his presentation with stories about the tornado, Huff talked about the difference Bright Futures has made in the Joplin Schools and how much the graduation rate has gone up since he arrived in 2008.

He ended the speech, saying that though he had once considered the first day of the 2011-2012 school year to be his greatest day as an educator, it had been replaced by one he had just lived through one week earlier- the opening of the new East Middle School, Irving Elementary School, and Soaring Heights Elementary School.

Alone in his bunker- the C. J. Huff story

It is  not a problem most of us will ever have to face.

Alone in his bunker at 32nd and Duquesne, C. J. Huff had a serious decision to make- Should he put "hero of the Joplin Tornado" at the top of his resume or should he put it somewhere slightly lower on the first page and show that he has remained a modest man in spite of all of the acclaim that has come his way since May 22, 2011?

People had been telling him for the past two years that he needed to cash in while he was still a hot commodity and they were not just talking about the frequent speeches he has made all across the country.

Other jobs were out there, other school districts, business possibilities, maybe even becoming a full-time motivational speaker. He had enjoyed the interaction with those who attended his presentations and the news clippings, all of which mentioned either that he had been brought to tears or he was at the brink of tears as he related the events of May 22 and the days afterward.

But C. J. Huff stayed in Joplin where he was loved. He had to be loved; his Bright Futures partners told him so.

Little by little, the hero facade that was erected around C. J. Huff after the tornado began fading away as he said things that reminded people of the days before May 22 when he was a mortal just like the rest of us.

-When more than 200 teachers left the district in two years, he said it was because their spouses had found jobs in other communities. That made sense. When the husbands get jobs, the little women have to follow.

-When he spent thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on a thank you tour at a time when district funds were dwindling. The people who helped Joplin would have appreciated phone calls and sincere thank-you letters just as much.

-When he, with the unanimous stamp of approval of the R-8 Board of Education, submitted a five-year strategic plan that called for the district reserves to fall to as low as eight percent, but to miraculously climb back up to 25 percent, even though no efforts were being made to curb spending.

-When he made a call to an employer and suggested it would not be a good idea that if an employee decided to run for Board of Education.

-When he made references to being a conservative and about conservatives having pitchforks and torches.

It has been one thing after another and it has not helped that during the past few months, he has had federal and state officials on his back about nagging paltry little things like proper use of Title I funds and questionable practices that led to higher graduation rates.

How could anyone question the graduation rates? Would the Joplin R-8 School District have spent $3,000 for a party for local businessman to announce an 85 percent graduation rate if it were not so?

C. J. Huff may have missed the best time to leave, but signs that he should be looking have been all around him for the past few months.

Though he was never really that close with Angie Besendorfer, she had been able to take care of the day-to-day management of the school district while Huff busied himself with the herculean tasks of increasing the graduation rates and continuing to build a Bright Futures empire.

When she resigned, all of a sudden Huff found himself surrounded by people whose chief loyalty was to Besendorfer and not to him. Even worse, many of the people were not qualified for the positions they held. Some lacked the proper degrees; most had little, if any experience, and many of the people who were there had not been hired because of any management ability or any outstanding knowledge of education, but because they were willing to do, without question, anything Besendorfer asked them to do. Huff needed a bulldog to do the kinds of things that Besendorfer had done and fortunately, he had one in human resources director Tina Smith. She was not really qualified to be a chief operating officer, but that approach had worked for Besendorfer, and this would enable him to continue to concentrate on graduation rates, Bright Futures and spreading the gospel of the Joplin Tornado across the nation.

Still, despite having someone else to handle the day-to-day operation of the school district, C. J. Huff has been a worried man. There are people running for the board of education who want to change the way he does things, maybe even force him out.
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How can you force out the hero of the Joplin Tornado?

The sunset of C. J. Huff's time with the Joplin R-8 School District seems to be at hand. He sits alone in his bunker, surrounded by people who have never been loyal to him, guiding hundreds of people who have been in fear of Angie Besendorfer, Mike Johnson, or Tina Smith.

The idea that he was a man of the people, who just happened to be surrounded by autocratic administrators who have ruled by keeping the district's employees in fear of losing their jobs, is no longer held. Even those who have been long-time supporters of Huff know that it is he, no one else, who is ultimately responsible for the waves of teachers and staff members who have left the district.

Huff can look out his door and see Bright Futures, but there are no bright futures on his horizon.

The Joplin R-8 Board, C. J. Huff, and the spending spree that has endangered the school district

When I was in newspapers, we had a saying (and they still use it today) that you never want to bury the lead.

My friends at KZRG buried the lead earlier this week when they interviewed Joplin R-8 Board of Education member Randy Steele. Steele, who has been on the board throughout the tenure of Superintendent C. J. Huff, talked about the financial problems facing the school district and admitted, "We have overspent."

How have you overspent?

Why have you overspent?

Just how bad is the school district's financial condition?

How are we going to get out of this dire situation?

Those were questions that probably should have been asked, but there was no follow-up. The district is heading toward what its own strategic plan says will be an eight percent reserve this year, but will somehow (according to the same strategic plan, which is on the district's website) get the reserves up to 25 percent by 2015...less than 10 months from now.

Randy Steele volunteered that the district will seek grants. Steele may not realize it, in fact, it is clear he does not, but grants are a major part of what has put the district in its current financial trouble. Most of the grants are for new programs and call for new hires, almost of whom are not in the classroom. The biggest problem is that the grants run out, but the school district continues with its programs, absorbing them into the general revenue fund.

A grant started the spy network and administrator training ground called learning coaches. The grant long since ran out, but the school district has continued to pay for the positions and even added to them.

The district has added dozens of counselors to help students deal with problems following the tornado. At the Feb. 25 meeting, Huff said the grant for one of those programs would run out soon, and he gave every indication the district would find some way to pay for those.

The same mindset was evident in the R-8 School District's federal Race to the Top application, approved 7-0 by the board, including Steele and Board President Jeff Flowers, who are running for re-election.

Grants are not the way to get the district out of its precarious financial situation. Neither is selling the naming rights to every building and classroom in sight.

I detailed the spending in the November 17 Turner Report and things have not improved since then:

Over the past few months, the spending has remained at all-time high levels. At a time when the taxpayers are already paying nearly $100,000 a month to rent the mall high school and $36,000 a month for the East Middle School warehouse, the following expenditures have been reported.

-The board approved spending at least $30,000 to send 15 administrators to Washington, D. C. for a conference.

-An additional $15,000 was approved so 15 employees could update Facebook pages.

-Huff plunked down $2,783.88 of taxpayers' money to pay for a celebration banquet where he told the city's business leaders the good news about the 86 percent graduation rate- news, it might be added, that he had been aware of for weeks, but kept secret so as not to spoil the banquet.

-$334,000 for IPads for all district eighth graders, with plans to add sixth and seventh graders soon at a cost of another $650,000 to $700,000

-Nearly $2.2 million over the next four years for more 21st Century learning coaches, who primarily serve as the eyes and ears of upper administration in each of their schools, and at the present time are reportedly participating in all-day meetings one day a week at the administration building at 32nd and Duquesne. A lot of coaching gets done that way.

-Approximately $1.7 million over the next four years for the new career pathway directors. The district is now shuttling high school students into one of five career pathways. Each of the pathways has its own director, and the administration also added a sixth director to direct the directors. In the old days, these duties were taken care of by people called principals. Not under Dr. Besendorfer's 21st Century learning plan.

-The last three items were all part of the district's 2012 federal Race to the Top application, which was roundly rejected by the U. S. Department of Education, yet district taxpayers were handed the bill when the federal government refused to pass it along to all American taxpayers. Another item on that Race to the Top list was a request for money to pay all high school and middle school teachers to spend an extra non-contract hour at school every day for mentoring and meetings (under this administration, everything is about meetings). Movement is already being made in that direction. The district's estimated cost to pay the teachers to work an hour longer- $3.5 million over four years. That was the one district officials told the federal government they would not be able to cover with their regular budgeted money and would have to go to the Joplin R-8 taxpayers for a levy increase. That statement was made less than six months after voters, by a 46-vote margin, approved the largest bond issue, $62 million, in the district's history.

-$2,000 to motivational speaker Terri Tucker for a retreat in which she encouraged board members to ignore the day-to-day concerns of the public and listen only to their administrators. Ms. Tucker was a school board member at Reeds Spring who was voted out because she supported Dr. Besendorfer as superintendent and then she later wrote a letter to the Joplin Globe praising Besendorfer shortly after Besendorfer was hired six years ago.

-At least 10 district employees attended the National Career Pathways Network Conference at the Grant Hyatt Hotel in San Antonio where the overriding topic was "Linking Education and Economic Prosperity." Topics discussed at the conference included the following: "Building a Talent Pipeline That Connects Business with Future Employees," "Testing and Common Core Statements vs. the Classroom Environment," and "Using the Internet and Social Media to Collect Data." The district's representatives reportedly made a presentation on career pathways. The cost for registration for the conference (expenses not included) was $5,690.

-Six district officials presented at the National Career Academy Coalition Conference Oct. 24-27 in Phoenix on the subject of "Designing School As Unusual," which reportedly featured another explanation of how the district, to use a phrase that has been used often by Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer, has found a "silver lining in a funnel cloud" and built the kind of schools that it had always dreamed of creating. At this point, the records on the cost of that trip do not appear to be in the board documentation.

-A $20,000 device to allow administrators to make sure teachers are using enough technology in their lessons.

-$15,000 to put Wi-Fi on school buses

Perhaps I have been a bit too hard on the Board of Education. After all, they did approve a contingency plan to take care of servicing every need that C. J. Huff or Angie Besendorfer might have.

Joplin Schools will raise $1 million annually for the next 5 years to ensure the sustainability of district programs and initiatives for our kids. 

And their strategic plan promised to keep a balanced budget, unless, of course, they don't.

The annual budget proposal will be for an overall balanced budget unless reductions in reserves are planned due to capital projects in process or other board approved purposes.

That, of course, falls under the accounting principal of we will spend taxpayers' money wisely, unless there is something expensive we can buy and slap the tag 21 Century on it.

Financial accountability will be demonstrated through increased financial transparency by 
providing timely, meaningful and reliable information to the public.

Now that one is true. The board probably just never dreamed when it approved that part of the strategic plan that it would be the Turner Report that would have to provide that information.

Meanwhile, our board of education, with its never-ending string of 7-0 votes, has spent millions of dollars in taxpayers' money for today's version of $24 worth of trinkets.

C. J. Huff in his own words- From tornado to bond issue, obsessed with his image

E-mails sent from Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff to his staff in the days following the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado through the passage of the bond issue in April of the following year show an obsession with image and control of the message, whether it be about the tornado, the bond issue, travel expenditures, or a lawsuit filed by an Atlanta company against the school district.

The e-mails also raise questions once again about the need for the destruction of the original East Middle School building and blame design changes made solely for appearance as a reason for increasing costs for the new East.

The concern for appearances is also spelled out by two e-mails sent by officials other than Huff that begin this post. The first, from his former Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer five weeks before the tornado, lets faculty know that even though students would not have to make up three snow days, the faculty would be required to attend three days of professional development so the taxpayers could get their money's worth. In the final paragraph of the e-mail, Besendorfer is clearly excited by the idea that the media would provide heavy coverage since Joplin was the only school district that was having its teachers make up the days.

The second e-mail, from Traci House five days after the tornado follows up on the warning C. J. Huff sent by a recorded message to teachers three days earlier- if you talk to the media, you are guilty of insubordination and you will be fired.

Besendorfer on new job: Now I can create better futures for families

In her introductory blog as the new chancellor of Western Governors University Missouri, former Joplin R-8 Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer talks about what she accomplished in Joplin and what she hopes to accomplish in the future.

This opportunity to serve as your chancellor has represented the closing of a chapter in my life: I’ve left the realm of K-12 education and leapt into higher education leadership. I bring with me many fond memories, and I leave many great friends. I must say that my heart is filled with great memories and the faces of students, families and educators who made my journey richer. 

That said, I am embracing this new chapter in my life leading the WGU Missouri community. I know I will be learning every day, which excites me because I still love learning. I know I will have many new experiences and I’ll make more friends (I’m keeping the old ones too). One thing that won’t change is my quest to use high-quality education to create better life opportunities for people in my home state of Missouri.

Court documents: R-8 official made gay slurs, said he wanted to bend principal over her desk

Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff is nothing if not a man of action.

When his custodial supervisor told him that he was being sexually harassed by Building, Grounds, and Transportation Director Mike Johnson, Huff said he was deeply concerned.

"Has he said anything about the principals?" Huff asked.

George Morris was concerned. This meeting, which took place September 9, 2008, was not Morris' idea. He felt uncomfortable talking about his immediate supervisor.

After a pause, Morris said, "Yes. "I heard Mike Johnson say that he would like to bend Marilyn Alley (former Stapleton Elementary principal) over his desk" That was one of many times Johnson had talked about Mrs. Alley, he added.

Joplin Progress Committee gives $4,000 to Slumber Party Four

The desperate push to continue the Joplin R-8 School District down its present path began with a slumber party at the administration building at 32nd and Duquesne and is now being continued with a generous helping of campaign cash from some of the city's business interests (and a surprising number from outside the city).

As noted earlier today, the Joplin Progress Committee has contributed $4,000 to the school board race, with the promise of more coming as we approach the April election.

Those who received the contributions were Board President Jeff Flowers, incumbent board member Randy Steele, Shawn McGrew, who has been closely associated with the Bright Futures program, and Lynda Banwart, who headed the committee that pushed successfully for the passage of the bond issue following the tornado.

Tina Smith: This is how we're going to raise employee morale at Joplin R-8

Newly-minted Chief Operating Officer Tina Smith just told the Joplin R-8 Board of Education about a new program designed to improve morale among district staff.

At a time when it appears that the district may lose more than 100 teachers for the third year in a row, Mrs. Smith introduced the "Eagle of the Week" program.

One employee will be spotlighted each Monday on the district website, she said. "We knew we needed to do a better job of recognizing our staff on a regular basis."

The Eagle of the Week winner will receive dinner for four at a local restaurant and have his or her photo taken.

That should keep any more teachers from resigning.

Report from Columbia: Tears flow freely during "A Night With C. J. Huff"

The quick decisive actions that R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff took in the days after the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado, were the focus of his presentation at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia last week during the eagerly-awaited "Night with C. J. Huff."

The first thing Huff did after the tornado was strip all his employees of their job titles. He analyzed their strengths and weaknesses and created new job descriptions based on the overall strength of each team member. With Huff at the lead, the team moved forward as a cohesive unit instead of as individual faculty and administration.

The presentation was filled with emotion.

The 2013 Superintendent of the Year made the audience laugh, cry and evaluate the priorities their school currently maintains. He presented a slideshow that included pictures and videos of the devastation that the tornado left behind. He moved from topic to topic within the tragedy, talking calmly about the challenges that he and his community had to overcome.

Then he stopped and took a deep breath.

He tried not to, but eventually Huff began crying as he talked about the children who were injured during the storm. 

Huff also talked to the Columbians about the opening of three new schools last month:

Joplin opened three new schools this year on Jan. 9. A second-grade boy was walking down the halls on the first day of his brand new school when a teacher asked him a question.

“What do you think of the new building” she said, “Does it feel like school?”

He looked at her point blank and said, “No, it feels like happiness.”

On the road again- C. J. Huff to speak at National School PR luncheon in Baltimore

Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff will tell a group of his peers how to get what they want in their school districts when he speaks at a "superintendents-only" luncheon during the National School Public Relations Association Conference Monday, July 14, at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace in Baltimore, Md.

According to the advertising for the event, Huff is scheduled to speak at a "Special Superintendents' Luncheon," though there is no mention of what the difference is between a "special superintendent" and a regular one.

The Joplin superintendent will "share some of his advocacy experiences and ideas that superintendents may be able to adapt and adopt in their districts. Huff will lead a superintendent-only discussion on what advocacy tactics are working at the local level and what is still needed to build more support for local education programs and educators."

The cost to hear Huff and two other speakers is $249.

The seminar lasts from July 13-16 and those who sign up for the entire package will pay $715, if they pay in advance, $765 if they do not take advantage of the early bird special. If Huff is there for the entire seminar and takes along the district's public relations specialist, the cost is just $1,030 for the two of them. The district can send three for just $1,500 and will only have to pay $175 for each additional person above three.

And as we all have all learned in the six years since C. J. Huff became Joplin R-8 superintendent, you can never have enough PR.

Video from "A Night with C. J. Huff"

It took half a year, but McKinley Elementary finally has certified principal

When the 2013-2014 school year started, McKinley Elementary School faced numerous challenges.

The school had an almost entirely new faculty, many of them younger, inexperienced teachers, in need of a veteran guiding hand.

What Joplin R-8 Administration provided was Terri Hart...a principal who was not even certified to be a principal.

With all of the certified principals available, many of whom would love an opportunity to work in one of the largest school districts in southwest Missouri, no one ever explained why Ms. Hart, who had been working in Administration office at 32nd and Duquesne, was the best choice.

The fall semester was a rocky one at McKinley Elementary, but one thing changed when students returned for classes in January.

For the first time since last May, they had a certified principal. Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) records indicate that Terri Hart was certified as a principal on December 18, 2013, four months after the school year began and a half year after she was named to the position.

The story of how Ms. Hart became McKinley principal was told in a Turner Report post from November 18,  a full month before Mrs. Hart was certified:

Things were not going well at Joplin's McKinley Elementary School during the 2012-2013 school year.

 Younger teachers were having a hard time dealing with Principal Jennifer Doshier's somewhat mercurial demands. They talked with a veteran teacher, who agreed they had reason to be concerned. The things she was hearing were serious enough that the veteran teacher called Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer, who suggested that the veteran teacher bring the younger teachers over to the administration building at 32nd and Duquesne to discuss the problems.

After the meeting started, the veteran teacher reassured Dr. Besendorfer that the teachers were not blowing the situation out of proportion.

Dr. Besendorfer offered a sympathetic ear, nodding as the teachers spoke, every once in a while commenting, "This is unbelievable," or "this should not be happening."

As the meeting closed, Dr. Besendorfer told the teachers not to worry. "I will take care of this."

As the veteran teacher and the younger ones left Dr. Besendorfer's office, for the first time in a long time they had a feeling that their jobs might just become a little more bearable.

Dr. Besendorfer, true to her word, took care of the situation. By the time her solution had been implemented, the younger teachers, none of whom had tenure, did not have their contracts renewed, and the veteran teacher, a woman well respected in the community, was escorted out of McKinley Elementary and placed on a paid leave of absence. Later, she was transferred to another job in the district. Probably the only thing that saved her position was that she had tenure and the district was already in the process of being embarrassed as it made efforts to fire another tenured teacher.

By the time, the year ended, nearly every teacher in McKinley Elementary had either been non-renewed or had resigned.

Angie Besendorfer did not forget about Principal Jennifer Doshier. Ms. Doshier was promoted to upper administration, in the recently created post of director of elementary education.

Meanwhile, Ms. Doshier's replacement, the principal who would have to deal with a completely new, highly inexperienced young faculty- is Terri Hart, who was moved from an upper administration ;position as curriculum coordinator...and who, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website, does not have a principal's certificate.

Parents of McKinley Elementary students should not worry about having such an inexperienced principal at the helm- she won't be here for long. She has told some people that her plan is to get a job at Pittsburg State University and others that she hopes to become a superintendent at a small school.

The one thing she makes sure everyone knows- McKinley Elementary is just a steppingstone.

Plea agreement filed for former South Middle School teacher

A plea agreement for former South Middle School science teacher Charles Dominic Gastel was filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Gastel pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of minors.

In the agreement, Gastel acknowledged that he committed the crimes for which he pleaded guilty and that it went down the way authorities said it did.

The U. S. Attorney agreed not to file additional charges against Gastel.

The following description of Gastel's crime was included in the plea agreement document:

On July 13, 2013, Carterville Police Deputy Chief John Redden conducted an interview of nineteen year-old Jane Doe at her home in Lamar, Missouri. She reported that she had been sexually victimized by the defendant, Charles Dominic Gastel, repeatedly, beginning when she was ten years old.

 Jane Doe reported that during some of the assaults, the defendant used a digital video recorder to record them engaging in sexual acts.

 On July 17, 2013, the defendant was interviewed at his residence by the investigators. The defendant was advised of his Miranda rights and questioned. The defendant initially told the investigators that he did not have videos on his computer.

 Deputy Chief Redden then asked the defendant for consent to search his computer. Ther defendant replied that he wanted to talk to a lawyer because he had files on his computer that would end his teaching career. The defendant was then placed under arrest.

 On July 18, 2013, Deputy Chief Redden applied for and received a warrant to search the defendant’s residence for computers, cameras and related digital devices. A forensic preview of the digital media seized during the warrant yielded the discovery of several video files depicting the defendant sexually assaulting Jane Doe, who was then 16 years-old. The camera used to film the illicit depictions in question and the computer, used to store said depictions, were manufactured outside the State of Missouri.

No sentencing date has been set.

Sexson to East teachers: I'm not going anywhere; I bought a house

Reinforcing the message he delivered when he called me at home Tuesday morning, East Middle School Principal Bud Sexson, in an e-mail to staff today indicated that when the 2014-2015 school year opens in August, he will still be at the helm.

Sexson, who has been principal at East since 2010, said he not only was not going anywhere, but that he had  just bought a house in the Joplin R-8 School District.

"I have no intention of resigning," Sexson wrote, indicating that his new house was just behind East Middle School and "I intend to walk to work "