Huff to Jet 14 audience: I have no shame whatsoever in how we handled our funds

When you have Jet 14 and endless reruns, you do not even need to accept money from the Joplin Progress Committee.

During the last 10 minutes of the Joplin R-8 Board of Education meeting, which ended moments ago and was televised live on taxpayer-supported Jet 14, Superintendent C. J. Huff spent time praising the work done by the Board, including, of course (but not mentioned by name) Board President Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele, who happen to be running for re-election in the April 8 election.

The speech, something Huff said he just had to say, came at the end of the meeting and addressed many of the items that were brought up, and not handled well, by Flowers and Steele at last night's candidate forum.

Huff addressed the 8 to 10 percent fund balance, which has been criticized (and which one board member said a few moments ago may dip down to seven percent) and said the board had done what was necessary to keep school going and that everything was done for the children.

"I have no shame whatsoever in how we handled our funds," Huff said.

The superintendent indicated that you have to be on the inside to understand how school finances work. "It's hard for the community to understand."

The handling of the district's finances under the Huff Administration was a target of board candidates Jeff Koch and Debbie Fort during the candidate forum, even though Huff was never mentioned by name.

While Huff's impassioned defense of the board's handling of money centered around the completion of the new buildings and paying for facilities for the students to attend school while those buildings were under construction, the superintendent never mentioned the main areas of overspending that were attacked by Mrs. Fort and Koch.

Not once did he mention that staffing at the Central Administration office has tripled since he became superintendent, a fact that Mrs. Fort cited, and one which can be verified by examining Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education records.

 Nor did Huff talk about the increased travel, including nearly $100,000 hopscotching the nation on a thank-you tour. Jeff Flowers told the Joplin Globe last year that all of Huff's travel had been approved by the Board of Education.

Other travel has included trip after trip to one seminar and conference after another with many teachers missing numerous days. Mrs. Fort noted Monday night that one of her teachers was pulled out of class for 40 days, nearly one out of every four-and-a-half days of school, to attend administration-mandated seminars.

Also left unaddressed by Huff was the addition of layer after layer of lower-level administrators or quasi-administrators, such as the teaching/learning coaches, 21st Century coaches, and career pathway directors, none of whom are in the classroom working with children.

During the board forum, David Guilford and Mrs. Fort ripped into the board for its lack of transparency. Huff also addressed that criticism. "We're very transparent," Huff said, though he gave no examples to counter the criticisms leveled by Guilford and Mrs. Fort.

Huff attempted to give answers to questions that left Flowers and Steele stumped the previous evening.

Essentially, with an election that started with a slumber party at the Administration Building, with board members using their own keys to allow themselves and Administration-favored candidates to wait in a warm building, using district wireless technology and other amenities, and which is scheduled to end with a perfectly timed election morning thank-you breakfast at East Middle School for Bright Futures volunteers, C. J Huff has once again shown a willingness to use taxpayer-supported facilities to get what he wants.

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.

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?

Fort responds to Joplin NEA endorsement

The Joplin chapter of the National Education Association endorsed R-8 Board of Education candidates Debbie Fort, Jeff Koch, and Randy Steele over the weekend.

Fort responded to the endorsement on her campaign's Facebook page:

I am very excited to announce that I have received the official endorsement of the Joplin chapter of the Missouri National Education Association! 

This shows that Joplin teachers support my simple platform: 

Restore Fiscal Responsibility- The Joplin School District’s Reserve Funds have decreased from 25% to 11% and are projected to drop to 8%. I will ask the tough questions and make the hard decisions to hold the Board of Education accountable with YOUR taxpayer dollars.

Increase Academic Achievement- As a retired educator, I know what it takes to be academically successful. Communication Arts scores have stagnated around 55%, with math decreasing from 55%-46% in the last three years. I will let teachers take control because they are the true experts.

Restore Staff Morale- More than 200 teachers have left the Joplin School District since 2012. I will restore the concept of a teacher-driven professional learning community, because our teachers are the true experts.

If you support this vision also, help me by displaying a yard sign, by knocking on doors to share the message, or by calling your friends and urging them to vote. Send me a message. If you would like to support my campaign financially, mail all checks to PO Box 3971, Joplin, 64803
Checks should be made out to "Friends of Debbie Fort for Joplin School Board"

Together we will all win April 8th!

Joplin NEA endorses Debbie Fort, Jeff Koch, Randy Steele

After interviewing candidates last week, the Joplin chapter of the National Education Association (JNEA) endorsed incumbent Randy Steele and challengers Debbie Fort and Jeff Koch.

The endorsement of Steele comes as a surprise since JNEA members have had serious problems with the C. J. Huff Administration and every action recommended by Huff has been approved by a 7-0 vote, obviously including Steele.

Whether the JNEA or the state chapter (MNEA) will put any money into the race is unknown, Koch has already said he will not accept money from any group.

The other group that has endorsed, the Joplin Progress Committee endorsed Steele, Koch, Board President Jeff Flowers, Shawn McGrew, and Lynda Banwart. The committee contributed $1,000 to the campaigns of Steele, Flowers, McGrew, and Banwart.

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.

R-8 Board member Randy Steele to KZRG: We have overspent

In the course of this interview with KZRG, incumbent Joplin R-8 Board of Education member Randy Steele says that one of the biggest problems facing the school district is its dwindling reserves. "We have overspent," Steele said. Unfortunately, KZRG never asks the follow-up questions- How have you overspent? How much have your overspent? Steele also brings up the problem of hanging on to good teachers, but KZRG does not ask why more than 200 teachers have left the district in the past two years. From what I am hearing, there will be at least another 100 leaving this year and the new Joplin High School will most likely be filled with new, inexperienced teachers.
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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.

R-8 Board member Randy Steele has $1,495 in campaign account

Incumbent Joplin R-8 Board of Education member has $1,495 in his campaign account, according to his 40-day-before-election report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

One thousand of that came from the special interest group, the Joplin Progress Committee, another $200 from Tom and Jeany Franz, TJ Franz Associates, Webb City, with the remaining $325 coming from unnamed sources who gave less than $100 apiece, according to the report.

Steele had spent $30 of the money at the end of the reporting period.

Hedging their bets? Joplin Progress Committee endorses five R-8 Board candidates

The Joplin Progress Committee, the group of business leaders who want the city and the school district to continue in the path it has gone in since the May 22, 2011, tornado, is now endorsing five of the eight candidates for the R-8 Board of Education.

The committee has added Linda Banwart and Jeff Koch to its list of candidates.

Last week, the committee announced it was endorsing two incumbents, Board President Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele, and Shawn McGrew. At that time, the committee had not interviewed either Mrs. Banwart or Koch.

The only candidates who did not get the committee's stamp of approval were former Irving Elementary Principal Debbie Fort, Dave Guilford, formerly a building engineer at the old South Middle School, and Shane Reed.

As noted in earlier Turner Report posts, Joplin Progress Committee has stated its intention of making contributions to candidates that meet with its approval. Three R-8 candidates, Flowers, Steele, and McGrew have already formed the campaign committees required by state ethics laws for candidates who plan to accept more than $1,000 in contributions, or more than $325 from any one source.

Koch has indicated he will not accept contributions from the committee.

McGrew, Flowers, Steele form committees; prepare for record amounts to be spent

The three Joplin School Board candidates endorsed by the Joplin Progress Committee have all formed campaign committees now, enabling them to accept the committee's money.

This should ensure that the same kind of spending the Joplin R-8 Board of Education has been indulging in for the past several years will be seen in a local board of education race for the first time in the district's history.

Both Board President Jeff Flowers and Shawn McGrew of Freeman Hospital, who has appeared in commercials for Bright Futures, formed their campaign committees today, according to Missouri Ethics Commission documents. The other incumbent in the race, Randy Steele, formed his committee earlier.

The documents indicate that one of those who has contributed to the Joplin Progress Committee, Nancy Good, is serving as McGrew's treasurer. Ms. Good is also on the Bright Futures advisory board.

Jeff Flowers forms campaign committee, ready to rake in contributions

Joplin R-8 Board of Education President Jeff Flowers filed documents with the Missouri Ethics Commission today setting up a campaign committee.

Candidates are required to form committees if they anticipate receiving more than $1,000 in campaign contributions or more than $325 from any one contributor.

The Joplin Progress Committee, formed late last year by Joplin and area business leaders, to back candidates who agree with their idea of how the school district and the city should move forward, endorsed Flowers, fellow incumbent Randy Steele, and Shawn McGrew last week. Steele, as noted last week in the Turner Report, was the first board candidate to form a committee.

The Progress Committee raised $11,000 by the end of 2013 and has indicated that it will be putting money into the school board and city council races.

Flowers has been asking for money since Jan. 7, when he mailed a letter which included the following request:

"I believe this election is a pivotal one for our district and your support could be the difference. I am asking, most importantly, for your vote, but also for any financial support you are willing to give."

The committee documents list Dale Garrett, Joplin, as the treasurer. Though school board candidates do not have to declare a party, Flowers listed himself as "Republican."

R-8 incumbent Randy Steele files papers forming campaign committee

Incumbent Joplin R-8 Board of Education member Randy Steele has become the first of the seven Joplin R-8 Board of Education candidates to file papers with the Missouri Ethics Commission to form a campaign committee.

Candidates who intend to accept more than $325 from any one source or more than $1,000 overall, or who think that might be a possibility are required to form campaign committees.

According to the creation document, Steele's treasurer will be Jeany Franz, a Webb City CPA.

The papers were filed Jan. 27.

Money may well be coming Steele's way since he has received the endorsement of the Joplin Progress Committee, a group of powerful Joplin and area business interests that has indicated it wants to keep the school district and the city of Joplin headed down the paths set for them by R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff and former City Manager Mark Rohr.

Election's over: Joplin Progress Committee says you should vote for these people

The Joplin Progress Committee, that secretive group of power brokers who want us to remain on the path to Wallace-Bajjali and 21st Century Learning, have chosen the candidates they will endorse...and support financially, during the April Joplin R-8 Board of Education and Joplin City Council elections.

The group has a decided leaning toward the programs of R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff and former City Manager Mark Rohr.

The committee is endorsing R-8 incumbents Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele, and Huff's hand-picked candidate, Shawn McGrew.

Those tabbed for city council endorsements are Mike Seibert, Gary Shaw, Ryan Stanley, and Miranda Lewis.

An earlier Joplin Globe story had indicated that people can buy their way into the Joplin Progress Committee and sit in on its secretive sessions. It appears that $500 was the buy-in price. As noted in the Jan. 11 Turner Report, the committee's quarterly report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission showed that it had raised $11,000 by the end of 2013.

I wrote the following Jan. 11:

From its website, Joplin Progress, here is what the group, thinks are the key platform issues:

• regional economic growth and the creation of new jobs through both existing and new businesses to our community
• quality of life improvements for our community
• the efforts of any reputable large-scale developers who express an interest doing projects in our city and bring forth economically viable, self-sustaining projects
• the development of new, younger leaders
• working cooperatively with other cities and schools within the Joplin Region
• student achievement that is on target or exceeds expectations in core academic areas for all grades with continued emphasis upon increasing the high school graduation rate
• graduating civic-minded, high quality citizens who are college and career ready
• the development and ongoing maintenance of a short and long term strategic plans for the City of Joplin and the Joplin School District respectively

As I noted before, it is hard to argue with any of those ideas. They sound wonderful.

Where I run into problems with the Joplin Progress Committee is with its section on "personal values and attitude":

• possess strong integrity and moral values
• be positive, progressive and open minded
• form opinions based on broad-based facts from varied sources
• be practical and pragmatic
• demonstrate good common sense
• be both compassionate and passionate
• be non-partisan with no personal agendas
• demonstrate the ability to focus on policy, not politics or day-to-day management

When a group hides behind closed doors and makes value judgments on candidates and then does its best to elect its chosen candidates, it is doing so perfectly legally. I simply question the definitions that are offered and why we should assume that this elite group of business leaders is doing anything to help the rest of us.

I would guess that someone who "demonstrates good common sense" would be someone who sees eye-to-eye with the committee on every issue. "Non-partisan with no personal agendas" would indicate that if you are getting elected to try to remove people who have been a barrier to good city government or to good education, but who kiss up to to the business community on a regular basis, you are not going to be receiving any of this group's money.

It is the last one that concerns me most of all. When they say "demonstrate the ability to focus on policy, not politics or day-to-day management, they are saying, "we like the status quo and we are willing to spend money to make sure things stay exactly the way they are."

Those contributing to the Joplin Progress Committee:

Clifford Wert, Webb City, $500

Jane Cage, Joplin, $500

Paula Baker, Joplin, Freeman Health, $500

Veri Properties, LLC, Carl Junction, $500

Brad Beecher, Carl Junction, Empire District Electric Company, $500

Sharon Beshore, Joplin, retired, $500

Dr. Lance Beshore, Joplin, Leggett & Platt, $500

Michael Wiggins, Webb City, Granny Shaffer's Restaurant, $500

Sara Newman, Joplin, retired, $500

Karen Platt, Carl Junction, Choice Marketing, $500

Jerrod Hogan, American Engineering, Inc. $500

Bennie Crossland, Joplin, Crossland Construction Company, $500

Fred Osborn, Carl Junction, Mercy Hospital, $500

Nancy Good, Joplin, Waco Title, $500

Troy Hill, Joplin, BKD, LLP, $500

Henry Robertson, Jr., Joplin, retired, $500

Joplin Building Material Company, $500

Randy Moore, Joplin, Eagle-Picher, $500

J. Hipple Investments, Carl Junction, $500

Ronald Gates, Joplin, Empire District Electric Company, $250

Gary Pulsipher, Joplin, Mercy Hospital, $500

T. J. Franz and Associates, Webb City, $500

Scott Brothers, Webb City, The Insurance Center, $250

Copies of C. J. Huff and the Assassination of a Teacher's Character available for 99 cents beginning Monday

On May 23, 2013, during a 10-hour hearing at the Joplin R-8 School District Administration Building at 32nd and Duquesne, five members of the C. J. Huff Administration, including Huff, not only sought to strip me of my teaching job at East Middle School, but also conspired to make sure I would never teach anywhere again and to send a message that this is what will happen to anyone in the school district who crosses them.

The e-book, C. J. Huff and the Assassination of a Teacher's Character, is a copy of the transcript of that hearing. (It has my name on the cover only because Amazon Kindle requires it.)

For one week, beginning Monday, the e-book will be available for 99 cents.

For those who want clear evidence not only of the lengths that the Huff Administration is willing to go to in order to get what it wants, or who want clear evidence why is time for the two incumbents who are running for re-election to the R-8 Board of Education, this book provides clear evidence.

Last week, I posted a copy of the letter I wrote to a board member detailing the problems that were taking place at East Middle School and in the Joplin School District. Despite possessing this information (or perhaps partially because of it) I was still voted out 7-0. Board President Jeff Flowers, despite knowing that the insinuations HR Director Tina Smith, Huff, and other Administration witnesses were making about me were not true, simply ignores my attorney's objections, time after time, while not one of the other board members said a word, even though it was clear that the witnesses were making insinuations about me that were not even hinted at in the charges. (One thing the book will not show is that the charges that were offered against me at the hearing were almost completely different from the ones that were originally made against me because I had successfully refuted those charges in Turner Report posts.)

The main thing that those who attended the hearing or who have read the transcript realized is that Administration's allegation that I had asked students to download and discuss my novel, No Child Left Alive, for a classroom assignment was dropped in favor of me "dangling" the book in front of students by offering it as a free download (despite the fact that they not only were never able to find any students who said they were assigned to download and read the book; they could not even find any students who had read the book or even heard of it.

The reason this transcript is so important is that it is the only instance I know of where the lengths the Huff Administration is willing to go to has been captured in sworn testimony. More stories about the people Huff and his administrators have bullied and the continuing intimidation of teachers and staff are starting to come forward.

This transcript shows just how complicit the Joplin R-8 Board of Education has been in the reign of terror C. J. Huff and his administrative team  has inflicted on our schools for the past six years.

Things I'm Thinking About, January 19

Some things that have crossed my mind:

Score One for the Joplin Globe- Today's Joplin Globe features a page one story about a feud between the Wallace-Bajjali firm that is serving as Joplin's master developer for the tornado-stricken area of the city and the owners of the El Paso Diablos, the minor league baseball team that appears to be headed here. The article, written by veteran reporters Andy Ostmeyer and Debby Woodin, is comprehensive and shows some real reporting, something that has been in short supply at the newspaper of record as of late.

It also features a mention of one of the bankruptcies in which Wallace-Bajjali has been involved, something that has not ever been mentioned in the Globe to this point.

I have contended for the past few years that the Globe has excellent veteran reporters, including such people as Ostmeyer, Woodin, Susan Redden, and Wally Kennedy, who have been pushed to the side while investigative reporting has been neglected and the newspaper has been dominated by fluffy feature stories, snarky "entertainment" reporters and columnists whose sole purpose seems to be to prove how much more sophisticated their tastes are than the tastes of their readers.

I seriously doubt that today's report marks a turnaround for the Globe, but I would certainly like to see that happen. I am sure there are some who will read this and not believe that I am sincere about that comment, but it is crucial that we have as many media sources as possible striving to shine a light on things that affect our community.

On The Other Hand, Where is the Coverage of This?-  Just because something is not illegal, does not mean it is not newsworthy and one such occurrence, mentioned only in the Turner Report up to now was the infamous slumber party at the Joplin R-8 Administration Building the night before filing began for three seats on the Joplin R-8 Board of Education.

Using a key provided only because of his status as an incumbent, Board President Jeff Flowers, along with fellow incumbent Randy Steele, and two newcomers Shawn McGrew and Linda Banwart, were invited in to wait out the evening and thus gain the top four spots on the ballot.. Was it illegal? It does not appear so. Was it ethical? Not a chance. If Flowers, Steele, and the other two wanted to wait the opening of the filing period indoors, in comfort, then they should have had it advertised beforehand that the opportunity was there for anyone who intended to file. The only reason these people were there was because of access afforded them either by their position or because they had been anointed as "suitable replacements" for Phil Willcoxon, who chose not to seek re-election.

If you consider this to be a minor point, and there are some who do, consider this. During the past week, one board member whose seat is not up for election this year, has been "educating" teachers at one elementary school (one that I know of) on who they should vote for in April. "Any of the first four candidates on the ballot are all right," the board member has said. This is a board member who appeared with Jeff Flowers at a meeting of principals last year and nodded approvingly as Flowers told principals not to bring their complaints to the school board, but only to C. J. Huff and if Huff was not available, Angie Besendorfer.

Apparently, this board member wants his fellow board members to join him and Flowers in keeping the principals and teachers (and judging from the lawsuits I wrote about yesterday, the support personnel) from creating an uprising on the plantation.

The ethics of this school board election should be a major concern for the media- so far, not one word has been written in the Globe, not one word has been uttered on our local television and radio stations.

How the Joplin School Board race will play out

Some predictions for the Joplin R-8 Board of Education race:

-At some point, a forum for all of the candidates will be held, sponsored by the business community. The questions will be tightly managed to steer away from any controversial issues, except Common Core Standards. The rules, in what is claimed to be the only way to be fair to all of the candidates, will not allow any questions that cannot be asked of all candidates, which effectively prevents any digging into the heart of the various problems that face the school district. It also allows incumbents and those who have aligned themselves with the incumbents to have a clear advantage.

-At least one group that is not aligned with business and that group may not exist at this point, will try to hold a forum in which these issues will be addressed. The incumbents will not take part in this forum and it is unlikely that those who are aligned with them will be in it either. It will also will receive little, if any, coverage in the Joplin Globe.

2013 in Review: Joplin School Board race opens with scandal, slumber party

(From December 17, 2013)
Let history show that the most important board election in years began with a slumber party.