Cleaver: Are We Just Standing There?

((In a newsletter to constituents, Fifth District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver says the problem with Congress is it is just standing there and doing nothing.)

As a sophomore student at Texas A&M at Prairie View, I hung out mostly with guys from Dallas and Fort Worth. Perhaps it was because I lived in that area during the first seven years of my life, and most of the Cleaver Clan still lived there.

One evening, a Friday, a fight broke out between some Dallas/Fort Worth students and some other Texas dudes. While I did not enter the brawl, I stood close, and to be honest, I did seriously consider stepping in. Because someone was injured, the Hemestead, Texas police investigated and arrested a number of students involved in a wholly pointless “gang” fight, including me. Yes, I was identified as a participant and found myself locked up in a second floor holding room in the Hemstead police headquarters.

After a couple hours in the slammer, the Dean of Men, Leroy Marion, arrived at the police station and explained to the arresting officer that I never engaged in the fighting, based on statements from other student witnesses. I was released without charges and into the Dean's custody. The ten mile ride back to the campus in his car was the most uncomfortable ride of my life. We traveled, it seemed, in slow motion, and I later swore that it was a six hour ride.

The Dean, I clearly remember, said, “I should have left you in jail with the fighters.” I quickly responded, “Dean, I didn’t do anything, I was just standing there.” Man, did he go off on me!

“Look, son, if that is what you are going to say for the rest of your life, you will end up dying at age 80 or so without having contributed even a boll of cotton to the world,” he said with disgust in his voice.

Then, he repeated what I had said, “I didn’t do anything, I was just standing there….that’s pitiful.” Arriving back on campus, he said, “get out of my car.” I shall never forget that experience.

When the history of our Congress is written and our dysfunctionality is described, debated, and dissected, how many of us will say to our grandchildren, “I didn’t do anything, I was just standing there?” The next generation will condemn us, I believe, not because many of us did not contribute to the politically poisonous polarization, but because we were just standing there.

Ed Martin: 2014 will be a great year for Republicans in Missouri

(From the Missouri Republican Party)

Ed Martin, Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, issued the following statement after the closure of candidate filing:

“2014 is going to be a great year for Republicans in the Show-Me state. 237 Republicans decided that leadership, not political rhetoric, is going to be the central theme this year.

“Nearly half of all candidates filed for the offices of United States Congress are Republicans. The failed policies of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are punishing the hard-working citizens of Missouri, as well as millions of Americans across the country.

“Democrats have failed to field candidates in 22 legislative races statewide. The ballot strength of Republicans this year was made clearer by Missouri Democrats failure to mount a challenge to Republican State Auditor Tom Schweich. It is the first time since 1878 Democrats have failed to file for the office.

“Republicans have led by example, proving that principled leadership and honesty are still values Americans believe in. From the president’s mistruths to the governor’s disrespect of the citizens he leads, Republican leadership will continue to be the voice of common sense, holding in check the reckless and misguided policies the Democrats are trying to force on Missourians.”

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.

Three reasons the Joplin Globe may have barred public from Joplin R-8 Board Forum

The Joplin Globe took another public relations hit Monday when it barred the public from attending the Joplin R-8 Board of Education Forum in the Corley Auditorium at Missouri Southern State University.

Offhand, I can think of three reasons why this action might have been taken and none of them speak well of the Globe and Editor Carol Stark.

1. The Globe has stepped beyond the role of a chronicler of events, an entity which has a main duty of making sure the public is armed with the knowledge it needs to make informed decisions and has decided to play the role of kingmaker. There can be little doubt that Globe coverage over the past few years has been heavily tilted toward active boosterism, particularly where Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff and former Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr are concerned. The conspiracy theory folks out there (and I am not sure I am not one of them) see the decision to close the board forum, but swing the doors wide open for next Monday's Joplin City Council forum, as an effort to keep those who oppose C. J. Huff from making their presence known and allowing those who are upset with the firing of Mark Rohr to play a major role at next week's forum.

2. One thing I have not heard, and I doubt seriously it is the case, but what if the presence of certain candidates at the school board forum was tied to not allowing any audience?

3. It is quite possible that Carol Stark erroneously believed that there is far more interest in the Joplin City Council race than in the Joplin R-8 race. Considering that the Globe has whitewashed many of the school district's problems (it actually treated C. J. Huff's proclamation that the teacher turnover was due to spouses getting jobs in other locations as gospel) and has shown little or no interest in talking with teachers or parents about concerns with the way the district is being operated, it may actually have no idea just how important this race is.

Feel free to comment.

Mom's dog Zoey imitates expression used by Jeff Flowers while Debbie Fort is speaking

Nice try, Zoey, but you need to roll the eyes more. That was Joplin R-8 Board of Education President Jeff Flowers' standard response to anything Debbie Fort said.

Needless to say, Mom told Zoey she shouldn't be so rude, "someone might think you're president of the Joplin Board of Education."

This was also Zoey's imitation of how Jeff Flowers felt after the Board of Education forum Monday night.

Winners and losers in tonight's Joplin School Board Forum

Winners and losers in tonight's Joplin R-8 Board of Education Forum:

WINNERS

Joplin Globe readers and Lisa Olliges- Some really good questions for the board candidates.

Debbie Fort- When she said, "I am sick to death of blaming that tornado," she spoke for most of us. She also came across as having a wider depth of experience than the other candidates and was the best informed.

David Guilford- Guilford quite accurately made the case that things began changing for the Joplin R-8 School District when access to the board was limited. Not so coincidentally, those changes took place the year C. J. Huff and Jeff Flowers arrived. Anyone who was not impressed by Guilford's sincerity does not know what true public service is all about.

Jeff Koch- Koch hit the exact right note when he said it is time to emphasize teachers and students and not buildings and technology. He also appeared to have done far more research on Common Core Standards than either Randy Steele or Jeff Flowers, both of whom are on a school board that is listed on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website as being fully on board the Common Core bandwagon.

Judy Stiles- I don't say this just because I was worried that the moderator might be Carol Stark. Anything involving Judy is always marked by intelligence and courtesy.

Lynda Banwart- Her sincerity came across during each of her answers as did her genuine willingness to serve the R-8 School District.

LOSERS

Lynda Banwart- As sincere as Mrs. Banwart was, she appeared to be out of her depth while answering the questions.

Eli Yokley- The best question he could come up with was about the Foundation Formula?

Carol Stark and the Joplin Globe- The decision to ban the public from Corley Auditorium was a shameful one- especially when the doors will be opened wide for those who want to create a scene next week during the Joplin City Council forum.

Jeff Flowers- According to Jeff, he doesn't have a transparency problem, the school doesn't have a financial problem, and the district does not have a teacher turnover problem. According to Randy Turner, Jeff Flowers does not have a clue. He also came across as arrogant with his eyebrow raising and eye rolling during Debbie Fort's remarks. The only thing missing was a loud sigh.

Shawn McGrew- Shawn was as smooth as he could be, but I am not sure after listening to him that he ever really said anything. Give him credit though, while Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele backed away from virtually eveything that has taken place during the C. J. Huff era, McGrew embraced Bright Futures and the rest of the programs.

Randy Turner- You would think by the time the hour was over I would stop laughing every time Judy Stiles referred to Shawn as Mister McGrew, but I didn't.

Randy Steele- Was I the only one who had the feeling that he would rather have been anywhere else than on that stage? His closing statement was the weakest of the seven. He asked us to think about all of the good things that are going on in the Joplin School District, but he only mentioned two- the High School Constitution Team and the graduation rate.

Joplin NEA- The local NEA chapter's decision to endorse Randy Steele is inexcusable. Especially, when you consider that David Guilford, who did not receive the endorsement, has been a rock solid NEA member and supporter while Steele has been part of the long, long series of 7-0 votes backing many of the decisions that have had a damaging effect on Joplin teachers and students.

What Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele did not say says a lot

The Joplin R-8 School Board forum tonight was important for the information about the seven candidates that was included, but what was missing from the one hour event was just as important.

First, there was no audience. From what I am hearing from readers, many people are upset about the Joplin Globe's decision to bar the public from tonight's forum, but to open the doors next week for the Joplin City Council forum.

The second thing that was missing was even more important. At no point did either of the incumbents, Board President Jeff Flowers or Randy Steele, say anything about the changes that have taken place in the school district since they joined the board.

They didn't note the new buildings, they made only brief mention of the 1-1 technology that it has been implemented at the high school and with eighth graders in the three middle schools.

Not a word was uttered, by Flowers or Steele, at least, about the tripling of jobs in central administration, or the extra layers of administration, characterized as teaching and learning coaches, or 21st Century coaches, that have been added, at much cost, but with little result.

No one said anything about the upcoming opening of the 21st Century Joplin High School, with its allegedly innovative career pathways, or the six career pathway leaders, four of whom have no education background, but will be heavily involved in making educational decisions.

Bright Futures was mentioned only by Shawn McGrew, while site councils were left to Lynda Banwart and McGrew, who was also the only one to mention other Huff programs.

McGrew was the only one who tried to make a case for C. J. Huff's initiatives.

The issues, as defined by the questioners, and also by candidates Jeff Koch, David Guilford and Debbie Fort, are clearly defined- spending, teacher turnover/morale, Common Core Standards/local control over curriculum, and board transparency.

The 21st Century schools have been the talk of Superintendent C. J. Huff, former Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer, and on other occasions, R-8 board members.

But when it came the time to state why they should remain on the board, Randy Steele and Jeff Flowers mentioned none of these things that have, according to C. J. Huff, made Joplin America's School.

Randy Steele did say there are a lot of good things going on in the school district. He mentioned the accomplishments of the high school's Constitution Team, and was the only person to mention the graduation rate, albeit briefly.

For the most part all either of them said was they wanted another three years.

Why should we give it to them? I am still waiting for them to say.

As for the other candidates, my guess is Jeff Koch said it best for all of them. "We spent a lot of money on buildings and technology. We need to spend that money on teachers and students."

Flowers- We are open and transparent- Koch, Guilford, Fort- No, you're not

Joplin R-8 Board of Education President Jeff Flowers seemed surprised when he was asked a question tonight about the board's transparency problems with the public.

""We are open and honest about everything we do," Flowers said.

Debbie Fort did not agree. "I believe we have a transparency issue and more importantly the federal government believes we do." She pointed out that in the Joplin R-8 School District's 2012 application for federal Race to the Top funding, the district received zero points for transparency.

She criticized the board's policy of not allowing patrons to speak unless they have registered in advance and are speaking on an issue that is on the agenda and is going to be voted on by the board.

As she spoke, Flowers rolled his eyes a couple of times and also raised his eyebrows a time or two.

 Mrs. Fort did not mention that at the present time, no one speaks to the board without the approval of Flowers as board president and Superintendent C. J. Huff. Huff's name was never mentioned during the one hour forum. "We need to be more open and receptive to what the public wants to tell us." Mrs. Fort says she has parents telling her all the time they do not feel their voices are being heard.

It was David Guilford though, again without mentioning C. J. Huff's name, who noted that the change in policy, making it far more difficult for ordinary people to address the Board of Education had occurred in 2008, not so coincidentally, the first year for both Huff and Flowers.

"This is a big issue. Before 2008," Guilford said, "You could walk into a board meeting and any taxpayer could walk into a board meeting and speak about any issue they wanted."." The current policy is not right, he added. "That's closing the door completely on the taxpayers. It's wrong and it's very detrimental to our district and our students."

Koch agreed, noting, "If you don't have those avenues open, you can say you're transparent as much as you want," it's not the case. "We need to return the board to the people. If people don't have a chance to voice their concerns with us, we don't have a chance to take care of them. And if we don't take care of them, our kids are missing out."

Randy Steele said he communicates by being "out in the public. We need to make sure we do communicate."

Lynda Banwart talked about being involved in communicating with the public as a member of a school Site Council and said she is not sure what she would do until she gets there.

Shawn McGrew said it was important to communicate. "Communication is the foundation for trust. We have to have bottom up, top down communication; it has to be full circle. Communication has to be a focal point of every thing we do."

Debbie Fort on teacher turnover: "I am sick to death of blaming the tornado'

 During a presidential debate, there is often one electric moment when a candidates grasps control of the moment and steals the show.

If it had not been for the empty seats in the Corley Auditorium at Missouri Southern State University tonight (courtesy of Joplin Globe Editor Carol Stark's rules), the room would have filled with applause during a response to the problem of teacher turnover in the Joplin R-8 School District.

Incumbent board member Randy Steele blamed the tornado. He blamed it on the stress, blamed it on high school teachers not being ready for the 1-1 initiative where laptops were given to all of the students. Of course, that did not explain why middle school and elementary teachers were also leaving the district in droves, but it managed to get Steele through the answer.

Lynda Banwart indicated she wanted to hold on to teachers and who could argue with that sentiment.

Board President Jeff Flowers took a different tack. There is no teacher turnover problem because the Joplin Globe says there is no teacher turnover problem. Flowers quoted a Globe story in August in which a Globe reporter, most likely fed the information by an upper-level administrator whose last name is a four-letter word, compared the turnover in Joplin to that of inner-city school districts.

After Flowers finished, there was a long pause as he slid his microphone over to the next candidate, former Irving Elementary Principal Debbie Fort.

At that point the electric moment occurred. In another forum, in which the people would be permitted to fill those empty seats, there would have been a moment of stunned silence, then thunderous applause.

Since those seats were empty, I have to imagine that response was how many of those seated in their living rooms tonight or during one of the numerous playbacks of the forum before election day when they heard Debbie Fort say the words that so many of us have thought over the past several months.

"I am sick to death of blaming the tornado."

Fort continued, noting that teachers were leaving because "they don't feel safe," and "they don't feel supported."

At that point, not learning from the lesson of former Vice President Al Gore, Flowers did something candidates s:hould not do, he began raising his eyebrows as if he could not believe what Debbie Fort was saying. It was something Flowers did time and again during the forum.

The three candidates who have questioned the school district's status quo jumped on the teacher turnover question.

Following Mrs. Fort's response, David Guilford said, "This is a problem and we need to address it." Guilford blamed it on a lack of support. Jeff Koch echoed the sentiments of Mrs. Fort and Guilford.

Shawn McGrew, the final candidate to address the question had his own unique spin on the turnover issue, claiming the solution is already in place in all of the programs that Superintendent C. J. Huff has implemented, though he did not mention Huff's name. He did, however, mention nearly all of the programs.
***
Other links to Turner Report coverage of the March 24 Joplin R-8 Board of Education Forum:

Winners and losers in tonight's forum
What Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele Did Not Say Said a Lot
Flowers: We Are Open and Transparent; Koch, Guilford, Fort: No, You're Not

Joplin Board expected to OK half-million in technology for new high school

The days when high school messages came over a loudspeaker or were posted on bulletin boards are gone with the advent of 21st Century schools.

The Joplin R-8 Board of Education is expected to approve more than half a million dollars worth of technological additions for the new high school Tuesday night, including $48,678.67 for a digiital messaging system.

In a memo for the board, which was approved by Superintendent C. J. Huff and Executive Director of Secondary Education Jason Cravens, Director of Technology Klista Rader explains why the cost is necessary:

With the new construction at Joplin High School, additional digital signage and display is necessary for purchase. This visual equipment will be used near office areas for announcements and classes and hallways for student instruction.

The cost of LCD panel and mounting equipment is covered in the $48,678.67, according to the memo.

In another memo, also written by Mrs. Rader and approved by Huff and Cravens, the officials recommend paying $260,178 for 150 interactive projectors, cabling and mounting equipment, which would, according to Mrs. Rader, accomplish the following:

The Epson Brightlink Interactive Projectors are all in one systems used in place of a SMART Board and projector that provide more functionality, allow for multiple touch points, and will act with multiple types of software. These projectors are systems that will allow for more collaboration, visualization, and a more engaging classroom than separate systems. 

The third item, approved by the same trio, is "Alcatel-Lucent network infrastructure, including access point, mounting hardware, receivers, and backup power." The cost is $244,070.12.

The total cost of the three items is $552,926.79.