Video- Weather Channel special focuses on Joplin Tornado, paranormal activity

A new program focusing on paranormal activity surrounding the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado, is scheduled to air 8 p.m. Monday and 1 a.m. Tuesday on the Weather Channel.

The program, an episode of The Weather Channel's Tornado Alley series is titled Twisted Believers and is described in a Carthage Press article:

The program features Joplin tornado survivor Emily Huddleston, then 14, who was badly injured while returning home from the Joplin High School graduation where her brother graduated.

Also featured in this program will be the Paranormal Science Lab, a Carthage-based group that investigates paranormal activity around the region, and Carthage Press Editor John Hacker, who co-authored two books about the tornado with former Press Editor Randy Turner.

In the episode, survivors of the Joplin tornado share their stories of divine intervention and paranormal activity after the tornado with the Paranormal Science Lab team.

From three years ago- Death, destruction hit Joplin, Missouri

May 22, 2011- It does not seem like it has been three years since the tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri. leaving death and destruction in its wake. I wrote the following essay approximately 14 hours after the tornado for the Huffington Post. It later was featured in our book 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado. As I read through it, I remember not only the horror I felt as I listened to reports of the tornado, but also the sense of dread that fell over Joplin the following day as we awaited what forecasters thought might be another round of tornadoes.

Each year, my eighth graders at Joplin East Middle School look forward to their first official visit to Joplin High School.

They have heard the horror stories about the school, how they, as freshmen the next year, will need to stay clear of the seniors who have worked their way up to the top of the food chain.

They speak in hushed whispers of Eagle Alley, a near mythical hallway that one almost needs a guide to navigate.

That first trip, which was scheduled for Wednesday, will never happen.

Eagle Alley is a thing of the past. After the devastating killer tornado that ripped through the heart of my city Sunday night, Joplin High School, the place where so many of my former students have learned the skills they need to succeed in life, the place where they made friends, created memories, and prepared for their passage into adulthood exists only in memory.

At least 89 people are reported dead and hundreds injured as a result of the first major tornado to hit Joplin in four decades.

Those of us who were fortunate enough not to be in the path of the storm (it hit approximately a quarter of a mile from the apartment complex where I live) waited in the center of a darkened city, praying that loved ones had somehow managed to remain safe in what reporters were describing as a scene from a war zone.

With nearly all power gone in this city of 50,000, the night sky was still illuminated by jagged streaks of lightning in the distance and by the lights from emergency vehicles as they passed every few seconds.

When morning arrived, we were greeted by a sun that seemed almost foreign in light of what had happened.

And now the waiting begins. Every few moments I scan through Facebook postings, heartened by messages that indicate my students and former students are alive. So far, none have been listed among the casualties through word of mouth, but it may be only a matter of time. Officials have yet to release any of the names of those who were killed.

The Joplin School District has canceled classes for today and they may well be finished for the school year, which had another nine days to go. Three of our school buildings are gone forever and the middle school where I teach no longer has a roof.

Many of my former students received their high school diplomas Sunday afternoon during graduation ceremonies at Missouri Southern State University, commemorating their achievements over the past four years at Joplin High School. Now that ceremony, which should have been a memorable milestone in their young lives, will always be tainted by tragedy.

As I write these words, slightly more than 14 hours have passed since the city of Joplin was changed forever.

The welcoming sunshine of just an hour ago has vanished, replaced by darkening clouds and the steady, insistent rumbling of thunder.

And now we wait.

***

5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado is available in paperback and e-book formats from Amazon and can be purchased locally at Always Buying Books, Changing Hands Book Shoppe, and Vintage Stock on the Mall in Joplin, as well as at Pat's Books in Carthage.

Five Turner e-books on sale for 99 cents

Five of my e-books will be reduced in price to 99 cents for 48 hours beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday on Amazon Kiudle. (Those of you who do not have a Kindle can download the free Kindle app.)

The five include my novels No Child Left Alive, The Devil's on Facebook, and Small Town News and non-fiction books Let Teachers Teach and The Best of Sports Talk.

No Child Left Alive is the story of one year in a dysfunctional high school as teachers battle out-of-control students and clueless, self-absorbed administrators (Where do I come up with these ideas?). It is the book that C. J. Huff testified has nothing to say whatsoever about education and frequent Joplin Globe columnist Anson Burlingame says is pornography. After you read it, you will begin to wonder if C. J. Huff knows anything about education and if Anson Burlingame knows anything about pornography.

The Devil's on Facebook is an updated version of my 2006 novel Devil's Messenger and is a combination horror story/murder mystery. A teenage girl communicates with her murdered father on Facebook. Devil's Messenger, you may remember, is another book that Joplin R-8 Administration cited in its eventually successful effort to fire me. This vile book (according to them) was also pornographic and I allowed students to read it. That is true. Of course, it was never mentioned that the book had been on the shelves at East/South and Joplin High School for seven years.

Small Town News was my first novel, originally published in 2005, and is a fictionalized version of the events of October 31, 2001, when the bank of Diamond was robbed and Diamond R-4 Superintendent Greg Smith on the same day. The book is a satire on what happens when a small town is besieged by the media as newspaper and television reporters battle to get the story.

Let Teachers Teach is a collection of my best writing on education, including some original essays, plus ones that have been published elsewhere. Topics featured include standardized tests, the war against public education and public schoolteachers, my experiences teaching after the Joplin Tornado, remembrances of colleagues and former students, and the challenges that face classroom teachers.

The Best of Sports Talk is a collection of my best sports writing, mostly from the 1990s, including features on current Joplin City Councilwoman Miranda Lewis, about her aunt Nancy Cruzan of the Supreme Court right-to-die case, former Lamar Coach Armando DeLaRosa, who murdered his wife and then killed himself, current Carthage teacher Peggy Lucas as she watched her daughter Tysha, also a teacher now, play her final high school volleyball match, and the girl who received her first kiss at a basketball game, plus the way a swimmer who died of meningitis affected a class of first graders and much, much more.

Long delayed, first signing for Scars from the Tornado set for March 29

The long-delayed first signing for my book Scars from the Tornado: One Year at Joplin East Middle School, will be held 12 noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at Vintage Stock on the Mall.

The book, which tells the story of Joplin East Middle School students' experiences with the May 22, 2011, tornado, and their first year in a warehouse school in a far corner of the school district, was published last March, but the first signing was never scheduled when Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff and other upper-level administrators claimed first that I had not received permission from the parents of students who contributed to the book and then after I proved that I had, that I had not received permission from administration. (East Middle School Principal Bud Sexson was fully aware of the project and kept informed from the first, even praising the project during a meeting with PTO officers in May 2012. Both PTO officers testified during my hearing about Sexson's praise and comments, while Sexson testified he had never heard of the book until March 2013. I testified about a number of occasions when I had updated Sexson on the book, none of which he seemed to recall.)

A first signing for Scars was finally scheduled for December 1, but was postponed due to inclement weather.

The plan is to have many of the students who contributed to the book, most of whom are now Joplin High School students, attend and sign copies of the book. More information will be provided later.

C. J. Huff: Turner Report story on Bud Sexson is false

Joplin Superintendent C. J. Huff says the Turner Report post on the job status of East Middle School Principal Bud Sexson  is "completely false." In an e-mail sent to East Middle School personnel this morning, Huff took issue with the post and said he and the Joplin R-8 Board of Education are upset about it.

He never said Bud Sexson will be East Middle School principal on opening day of the 2014-2015 school year.

The e-mail message is printed below:

Attached are a couple of posts by former EMS teacher Randy Turner. The posts indicate that the Board of Education is contemplating termination of Mr. Sexson. 

What you need to know is that the report by Mr. Turner is completely false. The Joplin Schools' Board of Education and I were made aware of the posting regarding Mr. Sexson late last night. They are as appalled by the report as I am.

 Please join us in supporting Mr. Sexson during this difficult time.

Free downloads of Best of Sports Talk available for one more day

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my 22 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, primarily at the Carthage Press and Lamar Democrat, was the chance to cover sports and meet some incredible people along the way.

For about 14 years of that time, I augmented my game coverage with a series of feature columns, Sports Talk, that focused more on the athletes than the games and on storytelling about those athletes.

Thirty-five of those columns have been collected in book form for the first time and for one more day, that e-book, The Best of Sports Talk, is available as a free Amazon Kindle download.

The book's Amazon page includes this description of some of the features that are included in the book:

-A football coach meets an eight-year-old girl who is permanently in a wheelchair because of a drunk driver 
-A cheerleader talks about her aunt, Nancy Cruzan, and the right-to-die case that went to the U. S. Supreme Court 
-A mother watches her daughter play her final high school volleyball match 
-The high school coach who murdered his wife and then committed suicide 
-A football legend returns to his home town after 25 years to be honored 
-The baseball great who fanned five Hall-of-Famers in a row 
-The high school girl who received her first kiss in front of 1,500 fans 
-A high school basketball player teaches Haitian children how to play the sport 
-A town tries to cope with the suicide of a football player 
-He played in one of the greatest Cotton Bowl games of all time, but this legend is stirred more by a high school rivalry 
-Family and friends help a basketball player whose house burns to the ground 
-On the day she was expected to lead her team to the state volleyball championship, funeral services are held for a star athlete 
-After an ACLU threat bans a pre-game prayer over the public address system, a community gathers in the end zone to pray 
-A football player overcomes a near-fatal accident to receive a college scholarship. 

The Best of Sports Talk relives the joys and sorrows of sports and of the people who participate in them.

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.

New specials on 5:41, Let Teachers Teach, other Turner books

As of this morning, anyone who buys, or who has bought, a paperback copy of one of my most recent books from Amazon can buy an e-copy of that book for 99 cents.

The deal, which will continue for the foreseeable future, covers 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, Let Teachers Teach, No Child Left Alive, Scars from the Tornado, and Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado.

Two-day special: Free downloads of The Best of Sports Talk

For two days, beginning about 10 a.m. Sunday, The Best of Sports Talk will be available as a free Amazon Kindle download (for those who do not have Kindle, there is a free app from Mac, Windows, and mobile devices).

The book is a collection of some of my best sports writing, primarily from my time at the Carthage Press.

Give it a try and if you like what you see, please spread the word.

The following stories are featured in The Best of Sports Talk:

1. Football Coaches Don't Cry- Seneca Coach Alvin Elbert meets his eight-year-old pen-pal Abby Phipps of Lamar, the wheelchair-bound victim of a drunk driver.

The whistleblower letter I wrote three weeks before I was removed from the classroom

• 
  
• On the day before spring break in March 2013, following months of being leaned on by R-8 Administration about the contents of the Turner Report and shortly after East Middle School Principal Bud Sexson had begun asking questions about my book Scars from the Tornado, Sexson came into my classroom and said HR (Tina Smith) wanted my computer. He gave me no reason. I not only gave him the computer, but about 10 minutes after that, I took him another computer that I had used for school work. I had nothing to hide.
• I had heard enough horror stories about the way the Joplin R-8 School District Administration to know that this was not going to turn out well for me.Since it made no sense to go to Sexson, Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer or Superintendent C. J. Huff with the information I had, I decided, after careful deliberation to send the information I had to a member of the Joplin R-8 Board of Education.
• In this message, dated and sent March 16, 2013, a full 23 days before I was removed from the classroom and escorted out of the building in full view of my students and my fellow teachers. I told my story.

Joplin Globe "guest columnist" continues to push idea that Joplin School Board candidates are Turner puppets

While it would probably be best to leave the ramblings of Joplin Globe "guest columnist" Anson Burlingame on his blog where they would not be seen by many, I once again am going to drive some traffic his way.

The main reason is because Burlingame, as he did throughout my problems last year with C. J. Huff and the Joplin R-8 Administration, is passing along a collection of mistruths, truths twisted beyond recognition, and outright fabrications, and then trying to impress his readers by pointing out what a learned man he is.

It would be better off to leave his personal blog (the one that used to be a Joplin Globe blog before those were canceled) alone, except that in this case, he is making it obvious that he plans to continue to push the idea C. J. Huff is trying to get across- that anyone who is not an R-8 Board of Education incumbent or who has not been selected by the powers that be to join that group- is a puppet and I am the one who is pulling the strings.

I am not concerned about his personal blog. Ten readers do not sway an election. Unfortunately, the Joplin Globe provides Burlingame with unfettered access to its opinion pages, including those in the more widely read Sunday edition, and Burlingame indicates he intends to take an active role in seeing to it that the "right" people are the ones who are elected in April.

In his latest blog post, he writes the following:

The real crux of the issue for local voters deciding on who should be appointed to our local BOE is clearly stated in that column. In case you missed it, it was deciding whether we wanted a “hands on” BOE that would set clear policies to guide our public education in Joplin, or instead have “politicians” wanting to remain in office at any cost and let people like Randy Turner and his followers reign supreme in our classrooms. I will support the former type of candidate (no names yet) and reject out of hand those that adhere to Turner’s approach to public education.

At another point he attempts to hammer home that thought:

I don’t know Randy Turner personally and bear him no personal animus. But I have read with interest his public writing on matters related to public education and listened intently to the entire 10 hour hearing that resulted in his termination as a Joplin teacher. He refers in his blog to his status as a “retired teacher” now. I disagree. He was flat out fired as a teacher in Joplin, no retirement mentioned. He may receive a pension but he sure will not earn a salary any longer in Joplin public schools. And if he wants to relitigate that matter, he himself should run for the BOE, not put “front men” in such positions, at least in my view.

Joplin Globe columnist responds to Turner Report post

In a Turner Report post earlier this week, I uncharacterisically referred to frequent Joplin Globe "guest columnist" Anson Burlingame an an "idiot" after reading one of his columns in which he ignored every issue in the Joplin R-8 Board of Education race and said the whole race comes down to whether voters agreed with how the administration and the board handled my case. I later apologized for referring to Burlingame as an idiot, saying that readers could examine what he has written and make that determination for themselves. Burlingame responded to that post, so in all fairness, in addition to leaving his response there, I am also going to give him equal time. I might add that, once again, Burlingame is sticking with his contention that the whole school board race is about Randy Turner.)

This is from Anson Burlingame, the idiot.

First I take no real offense at the title of your blog, Randy. I have been called far worse on other blogs. And for sure I never expect full agreement with anything that I write publicly. So fire away whenever you feel compelled to do so.

The real crux of the issue in the upcoming BOE election is stated rather clearly in my column. Do we want a "hands on" BOE or one that will let individuals do as they please in our classrooms, and in your case, outside of them as well.

Much is being said, in you case months ago and now with the Kansas Board of Regents, about freedom of speech in academia. I support it completely, for sure. You or anyone else in such positions, positions of public trust, paid for with public dollars. have all the right in the world to speak you minds, publicly.

But what you say must be held accountable by voters, the only real way that citizens can control such speech. If I disagree with you I can do nothing but write about such disagreement. But elected officials can do more and should, in my view.

You violate numberous BOE policies and such was "proven" in a legal proceeding to the satisfaction of 7 elected officials. Good for them in my view. We need more like them for sure to state clearly the policies that should guide education and then enforce those policies with what is missing in many classrooms, real RIGOR.

About 4 of the 8 candidates now having filed for election to the BOE are right out of your "camp". Good for them to make the effort to turn Joplin education into a "Turner program" that will perpetuate the same issues in public education so well pointed out over a decade ago in the Bell Curve.

Then read Ripley's new book The Smartest Kids in the World. You and your type of teachers would not last a minute in a system such as Finland sustains. Read the book to see why.

THAT is what this upcoming BOE election is all about and THAT is what I will try hard to promote for candidates running for that office.

But don't expect any long harangues in comments on this blog. We both know full well what the other believes in terms of how to improve education and we both disagree with great strenght, with each other.

So be it. Let the voters now decide just who is the "idiot"

Your later appology is accepted by the way.

Anson Burlingame

Things I'm Thinking About- December 31

Return of the Locksmith- Last week, I wrote about the curious incident in the Price Cutter parking lot when I stopped the man from getting into my car. Of course, the man turned out to be a locksmith, something I kept from the reader until the end. Today, the locksmith was getting into my car at my invitation. For the first time since I bought my car in 2007, I locked my keys in the car while I was leaving copies of Let Teachers Teach at Always Buying Books.

My First Pension Check- I don't know whether this is the step that actually signals my retirement, but my first pension check was direct-deposited today. I can think of a few other people associated with Joplin education who should have been forced into early retirement, but then I have been writing about that for the last several months.

Former Joplin Globe Reporter at Denver Post- As I was reading an article on yesterday's Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department news conference on the recent school shooting, I noticed the byline belonged to Sadie Gurman, who if memory serves correctly, worked for the Joplin Globe covering statehouse news while she was a student and then worked for the newspaper for a short whlie after that. A link to her reporting can be found on the Room 210 Education site.

Working On Solving Pop-Up Ad Problem- I wasn't aware until this afternoon that some readers, especially ones who are visiting my blogs on their IPads, have been getting popup ads. I made some adjustments and hopefully, that problem is solved. The advertising is needed to help make the websites pay (I am not naive enough to think that there are going to be a large number of people paying for the voluntary subscriptions I have available), but it is the growing traffic to the websites that makes them pay and if these pop-up ads, which I did not know about it until today, are running away readers, then they are not going to be on the site. Please let me know if you have any problems accessing the Turner Report, Inside Joplin, or any other other sites.

 Obamacare Coverage Starts Tomorrow- In less than four hours, I switch from having to pay $407 a month to the Joplin School District to be retained on its health insurance plan to being covered under the Affordable Care Act. While I am confident my insurance is going to work well for me, anything has to be better than what I was getting. I refilled two prescriptions at the 15th Street Wal-Mart yesterday and discovered that my $407, which was supposed to be providing me with the same coverage I had as a teacher, did not pay a cent because of some kind of problem. It wasn't  a great amount, so I simply covered it, and just filed it away as another bad experience caused by Joplin R-8 Administration.

Signed copies of Let Teachers Teach available at Always Buying Books Changing Hands Book Shoppe

A limited number of signed copies of my book Let Teachers Teach are on the shelves at two Joplin locations as of about two hours ago.

Let Teachers Teach is a collection of my best essays on education, ranging from material I have written about educational issues to writing about my own teaching experiences and teaching in the aftermath of the Joplin Tornado.

The books can be purchased for $10 at Always Buying Books and Changing Hands Book Shoppe.

The local launch for the book and the first signing will be held sometime in February or March.

Signed copies are also available at the Randy Turner Book Store link in the upper right hand section of this page.

Books can also be purchased through Amazon.com and from other internet outlets.

Let Teachers Teach is also available for $5 in e-book format from Amazon Kindle.

Things I'm Thinking About, Monday, December 30

A few brief items and thoughts-

-No More Fox Sports Radio in Joplin- When 1450 AM suddenly junked its programming and began playing Christmas music 24 hours a day a few weeks back, I figured the days of the station being a Fox Sports affiliate were numbered. When I tuned in to the station today it was something called "The Dove" and was playing all gospel music. I enjoyed the Fox Sports programming on occasion, though I never did understand why anyone would think that the Texas Rangers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and University of Oklahoma would draw huge audiences. Those interested in Fox Sports Radio can catch it on KSEK-AM, 1340 from Pittsburg.

-Problems With East Middle School and Soaring Heights- The story I am hearing from the Joplin R-8 School District is that there are already problems with the new East Middle School and Soaring Heights Elementary School. Teachers did not receive keys to get into the building when they were supposed to (and they are scheduled to move in next week), construction is not done, and leaks have developed.

-Ronny Justin Myers in Illinois Prison- The man at the center of what should have been the scandal story of the year (except the Joplin Globe and other area media ignored it) will be spending the next 17 years at a Pekin, Illinois, prison. Ronny Justin Myers, who was pulling down $67,000 a year from the Joplin R-8 School District for his job in the technology department, has settled into the medium security prison. Myers, if you remember, is the one who was arrested when he showed up at Northpark Mall to have sex with an underage girl was was greeted by the police. He later admitted that he had pornographic photos on his laptop of 10 Joplin High School students, information that was never told to parents, students, or the Board of Education, leaving questions unanswered about whether anyone should still be concerned about student and teacher privacy.

First Copies of Let Teachers Teach Arrive- The UPS truck arrived Friday with the first shipment of copies of my book of education essays Let Teachers Teach. I am not planning on having any official signing for the book until February or March and I only ordered a few copies, but I am planning on leaving some at Always Buying Books and Changing Hands Book  Shoppe in Joplin.

2013 in Review: Joplin R-8 cracked down on Turner Report MSSU coverage

(From June 2013) Joplin R-8 problems with my writing began long before the problems with three of my books that have me facing the imminent loss of my job and my teaching career.

Human Resources Director Tina Smith, the same person who conducted the four-minute interrogation of me April 8, sent word through East Middle School Principal Bud Sexson on March 12, 2012, that administration was unhappy with the Turner Report's coverage of Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck and was also unhappy that I had the nerve to refer to myself as a teacher in the Joplin School District.

Sexson also told me that "they," never specifying who he meant by "they," wanted me to stop writing about politicians. "They see that it might cause problems because they are trying to get money from the state for the disaster."

2013 in Review: The Books that Got Me Fired

(This post from April 2013 includes the audio of Joplin R-8 Human Resources Director Tina Smith's "interrogation" of me. Once the audio was released, my recording of the conversation for my own protection was added to the list of charges against me.)

(The following is my latest Huffington Post blog.)

Two weeks ago today, I walked out of my classroom for perhaps the last time.

It wasn’t anything I planned. Even when I wrote for Huffington Post a couple of weeks ago recommending that young people not become teachers, I never stopped loving my job. I never lost my enthusiasm for teaching eighth graders the finer points of writing.

My students are still in my classroom every day and will be until May 21.  I miss them greatly and hope, perhaps against all hope, that I will get a chance to be with them at least one more time before the school year ends.

That usually doesn’t happen, however, for teachers who have to be escorted from the school building by a police officer in full view of students who were boarding school buses to leave for the day.

2013 in Review: He shot a man in Reno just to watch him die

(From May 3, 2013, this is me having some fun with my job situation, which was not very much fun. In this post, I imagined what would happen if the Joplin R-8 Administration found out about my band, Natural Disaster.)

When I stopped at Sonic about an hour ago (my social life these days), a former student of mine brought my drink and told me the story was going around Joplin High School that I was being fired because I give nickels to my students. (I do have a Cup O'Nickels that I use to reward students and at the moment it is in the floor in the front of my car until I get around to picking up the nickels that spilled out of it.)

I was happy to let her know there was no truth to that rumor, but it suddenly occurred to me, just a few hours after having a district employee deliver the latest set of charges (now up to 31 pages) against me, that I may have to repeat this process many times before my 9 a.m. Thursday, May 23, meeting at the district administration building.

And a terrifying thought occurred to me- What will happen they find about my band, Natural Disaster? After all, it performed at the December 1 benefit at East Middle School to raise money for the Joplin Fire Department's Christmas for Kids program.

2013 in Review: The Joplin School District's Charges Against Me

(From April 25, 2013, this post reveals the first set of charges the Joplin R-8 School District leveled at me. Of course, after I pretty much refuted all of those charges, they hit me with some more.) As most Turner Report readers are aware, I was removed from my classroom at Joplin East Middle School April 8, placed on paid administrative leave.

Last night, as I read over the 28-page list of charges against me, I grew both angry and depressed.

Finally, I began detailing the charges on my Facebook page.

I am going to take a different approach for this blog and simply repeat the way I reported it on Facebook last night and early this morning:

Autographed copies of 5:41, No Child Left Alive, three other books available

I just finished setting up an internet storefront for five of my books.  A link to the site will be featured in the upper right hand corner of all of my blogs.

Autographed copies of 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, No Child Left Alive, Let Teachers Teach, Scars from the Tornado, and Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado are available and more will be added at a later date.

Anyone wanting a personalized message (if it is being presented as a gift, for instance) e-mail me at rturner229@hotmail.com and provide me with details.

I will soon begin taking orders for the paperback version of my novel, The Devil's on Facebook.