Candidate for Governor Bill Eigel Meet & Greet in Ozark

 

How Deep Does the Infiltration Go?

 

Image: Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce

 

David Rice has written an excellent article, Chamber of Commerce or Radical Left Communism?, about the role of local chambers of commerce in subverting our communities. In particular, our local schools are often partners with the Chamber of Commerce, allowing the implementation of agendas that turn our schools into tools for multinationals and businesses that seek compliant, submissive workers--not well-rounded, thinking individuals. 

 

Image: Ozark Chamber of Commerce

 

In fact, you should check out who in your local school district is also members and even board members of the chambers of commerce. It's not just Springfield. Ozark and Clever have current or former school staff and school board members who are also involved with their chambers of commerce. Nixa is not immune, either. The sad thing is that many Chamber members and even school leaders are not aware or fully aware of the agendas they are helping to enforce. It's time they knew.

Image: Clever Chamber of Commerce

 

These public/private partnerships always end up serving the interests of business and not students or taxpayers. From David's article: "The people who support the radicalization of the Greater Springfield Area will give up our ability to self-govern if it enriches them. In fact, they are eager to help radicalize our children so they are incapable of rational thought and using their liberty responsibly." 

If you've been wondering why our schools have become pipelines for SEL, DEI, and trauma-based education, you can thank organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, as well as government. It's time to take our schools back from Business, and make them about the business of education.

UPDATE: This is what our chambers are up to--

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce 2030 plan wants to commandeer education systems. #moleg pic.twitter.com/7KyPUhUPKR

— MO Education Watch (@MOEdWatch) January 1, 2024

Community Story and Craft Event at the Library!

 From the event organizers:

Join us on Saturday, October 7th, for two heartwarming community-led events that promise to bring stories and crafts alive in the spirit of autumn!  

Sparta Community Branch Library
Where: 147 Library Ln, Sparta, MO 65753
When: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

 

Ozark Community Branch Library
Where: Community Branch Library, Ozark
When: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

 

Why Attend?

 

Community-Powered: This is the second in our series of citizen-led events. It's all about community, and for the community! Please note: This event is not library-sponsored.

 

Child-Friendly: Safe for children of all ages, ensuring a wholesome experience for every little reader and artist.

 

Autumn Tales & Crafts: Dive into 2-3 enchanting autumn-themed books by authors like Max Lucado and from Brave Books, followed by a delightful craft activity.

 

Absolutely Free: No RSVP needed. Just bring your enthusiasm and love for stories!

 

Let's come together to foster a love for reading and crafting, and build stronger, healthier communities in a safe and welcoming environment

 

Find our Facebook group for future events, "Generations of Grace Story Hours."

Your Vote Matters

 

By Gretchen Garrity

At the May 30, 2023 Ozark School Board meeting, a small but significant event occurred that illustrates the importance of electing the right people to serve on the board.

Although the sound and video quality is poor, the meeting can be seen below, and the issue begins at around the 38-minute mark, when the Missouri School Boards Association’s (MSBA)-recommended policy changes were next on the agenda.

According to the time-stamp notes on the recorded video, “Supt presents package of revised policies from the MSBA, explains that District staff reviews those policies then makes recommendation to board to approve them with suggestions...”

Per school board policy, agenda packets should be available four days in advance of the monthly meeting, but the packet was not available until late on the Friday before Memorial Day, a three-day weekend/holiday. This meant the board would need to look over their information packets during the holiday weekend in order to be ready for the Tuesday meeting start at 4 p.m.

Consequently, a small but important recommendation was nearly rubber-stamped by the school board. It involved what looked like minor changes in policy text, but these and other similar changes were sprinkled throughout several of the over twenty documents the school board needed to review.

The changes for policies included replacing pronouns like “he/she” to “they” or “their.” In one striking example of bending over backwards to exclude pronouns that indicate “he” or “she” was this below. The green text is the new change. The text to be replaced is in red with a strike through. Click on the image for better clarity.

 The first nine words of the above sentence includes the word “student” three times. The awkwardness of the sentence was apparently worth being able to exclude the pronouns “he” or “she.” Another example:

 A board member pointed out these were grammatically incorrect within the context of the policies. What may have accounted for the change? Board members discussed that it might be to save space or for a more nefarious reason. At any rate, Board Member Christina Tonsing was the only member who had noticed the revisions. To the board’s credit, they voted 7-0 to leave the original language in the policy handbook, which stopped gender pronoun language from being inserted.

To recap:

1) Board members were given access to the board packet late on a Friday of a three-day holiday weekend.

2) Administrative staff previously reviewed the packets before sharing with board members, and recommended that the MSBA changes be adopted into the Ozark School District policy handbook “with suggestions.”

    a) Either the staff members did not review the packets,

    b) The packets were reviewed and approved because administrative staff approved of all the changes, 

     c) Administrative staff did not notice the changes as problematic, or glossed over them.

3) One board member noticed the changes that smacked of a creeping gender ideology being inserted into the policy handbook, and mentioned it at the meeting.

4) The school board did the right thing when the issue was addressed.

Several things stand out:

1) Why is the Missouri School Boards Association sending packets to the administrative staff to review ahead of the meeting instead of to the Ozark School Board?

2) If the MSBA is sending recommended policy changes to the school board, how and why is the administrative staff getting access and reviewing them before the board?

3) How often has the school board simply taken the recommendations of the MSBA and the administrative staff as adequate and consequently rubber-stamped policy changes that are under their local purview?

One alert school board member was able to avert an insertion of, at best, poor grammar into the policy handbook. At worst, it was an attempt to begin inserting gender ideology into official documents.

Elections matter.

There are two seats on the Ozark School Board that are coming open in 2024. The deadline to file as a candidate is December of this year.

Ozark Schools Support Team presents alternatives

 

 

Photo: Christian County Trumpet

From the Christian County Trumpet:

OSST wants Ozark R-VI to MSBA now, become independent

 

Town Halls to Address Concerns with Ozark Schools

 

By Gretchen Garrity

The Ozark Schools Support Team is holding two town hall meetings on Thursday and Saturday at the Christian County Library, Ozark branch. The first meeting will be August 17, from 5:30-7 p.m., and the second will be August 19, from 9:30-11 a.m. The library is located at 1005 N. 4th Ave., in Ozark.

Topics to be covered include the top-down organizational structure that prevents local control, the role of administration members, how to best utilize school board members, the current audit petition, how you can get involved, and much more.

A small example of information from a brochure that will be available at the town hall meetings includes:

• Ozark Schools spending has increased in the last five years from $63.3 million to an estimated $101.6 million for the 2023-24 school year.

• The Ozark School District has at least $90 million in debt.

• Building maintenance has been deferred

• Teacher salaries are lower than nearby districts

RTWO spoke with a member of OSST, Ruth Downey, and asked her a few questions.

How do you get buy-in from a school board that has long operated under the current system? What would you say to a member if you had their undivided attention, but only for a few minutes?

The school board training that we have seen would seem to give the organization’s story with a slant and implies that all control is in the superintendent’s hands while limiting or ignoring the influence the school board has--with only a passing mention of students or students’ needs and priorities.

The training indicates that board members are not to interact with the public that elected them or give their personal opinion to anyone at any time. It is necessary for the parents and taxpaying community to become better informed as to what is going on in their district, not just what their students are exposed to or what is being communicated in the local press. The school has unlimited positive communication channels open to them, making it difficult to get information to people unless they are willing to look for it and network with those who are working to improve our schools and the education our students are receiving.

An example of this is the claimed graduation rate of 97.6% in Ozark schools, yet over 40% of our students are currently testing at achievement levels that are "Basic" or "Below Basic.” These terms mean they have a minimal or partial understanding of the material they are being tested on: Reading, Science, Math, and Language Arts. This implies that 40% are not work, college, or citizenship ready and are not prepared to function in the world today, much less prepared for what the future will bring.

It seems as if the children and their academic well-being have suffered greatly in the last few years. What can turn things around quickly?

The biggest problem we have seen is the pressure coming on school districts and school boards from state, national even international organizations with little or no awareness of this happening at the local level. School boards can change that by using the responsibility they have and asking more questions about these outsiders, and transparently sharing that with their local community, including the financial cost of some of these programs. These organizations are not locally based and many do not share our values and concerns for our families, short and long term. Doing this would allow local schools to be local and get back to teaching curriculum with content and structure learning for their students’ benefit.

There is a move in many different public institutions to move away from institutional accreditation for certain positions. Do you see that happening with school associations? Why or why not?

Like most businesses, staffing is a huge challenge within education. Missouri recently passed a law that lowered the requirements for substitutes allowing community members that are not certified to share their skills and experience while supporting local schools and benefiting students. Ozark schools have taken advantage of volunteers and tutors from the community as well.

Traditionally, licensing and certification has been a way to limit those who can participate in a given field and is often used by organizations to control who can and cannot participate. We have heard of teachers being threatened with loss of their certifications, their livelihood and way of supporting their family, if they do not conform to administration dictates. This is a harmful use of power. That said, there is a place for basic requirements for teachers; we are just not sure these requirements should be dictated by organizations on the state and national level.

It seems as if the schools ask for more and more funding, but scores keep falling. Why is that?

Schools keep increasing the number of non-teaching administrators with an average salary double that of teachers, while adding layers of administrative tasks on teachers. Teachers spend more and more time filling out reports, teaching values that may or may not be the values of Ozark and Christian County, and maintaining discipline and less time on content, comprehension and understanding. They are often required to use curriculum that limits what and how they can teach and frequently cannot use creative approaches that allow them to connect with their students in a meaningful way.

One suggestion, an easy one, is that the superintendent should not sit at the same table as the school board. Why is that important?

This sounds symbolic, but superintendents have been in the habit of literally running the meetings which gives the impression, particularly to the public, that they are in charge of the board, rather than that the school board is the legal authority in charge of the superintendent.

The school board has the authority from the State of Missouri to hire and fire the superintendent, which is not always apparent to the general public. In past meetings the superintendent has been in full control of the meeting as the superintendent already sets the agenda prior to the meeting, controls the information packet distribution to the board and the timing of it. This often results in insufficient time to digest the contents and supporting documents by board members and does not allow them to make informed decisions.

Most decisions seem to be already made prior to the open board meetings and the school board has little or no input and basically operates like a "rubber stamp.” Another simple thing to change would be to simplify access to information on the school's website. Other schools have much simpler lists that are easy to locate with budgets, financials, monthly reports, minutes and agendas going years back. Such access would lower the difficulty for the public to be informed and address issues as the agenda is again, controlled by the superintendent, and available to the public the minimum 24 hours required by law.

If the public wants to address anything not on the agenda (which they don't see until 24 hours before the meeting) it takes a minimum of a week and a visit with the superintendent to perhaps have that opportunity as the superintendent may or may not add something to the agenda. Ozark has promised to begin archiving the open school board meetings, something they have not been doing.

Anything else you would like to share?

Our teachers are devoted and among the best around and desire what is best for their students. Sadly, their ability to be creative and to teach is constrained by requirements and curriculum they are given by school administrations. They often work under trying circumstances with limited resources. Our children, our grandchildren, the students of every school, are our most precious resource and the future of our country. They deserve the best. It seems, however, that the current structure of the education system is serving itself and its goals while neglecting the education of students.

___________________________________________________________________________________

For more information about the town hall meetings and the Ozark Schools Support Team:

Email: OSST65721@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OzarkSchoolsSupportTeam

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OzarkSchoolsSupportTeam

Website: https://www.ozarksst.com

Last Call for "See You at the Library" Event

 

 

FOX News highlighted the nationwide Brave Books event for Saturday. Two Texas groups and citizens from Christian County were featured. From the article:

"The Right to Win Ozarks community group is also holding "grassroots events" in southwest Missouri on Saturday.

"These are citizen-led initiatives taking place this Saturday at all four branches of the Christian County Public Library, in Clever, Nixa, Ozark and Sparta. The times vary by location," said a spokesperson from the group to Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 

"As passionate supporters of our public libraries, we believe in their fundamental role as knowledge repositories that spark imagination, learning and intellectual growth."

The Right to Win Ozarks spokesperson also said, "We are excited to be a part of the work happening under the library mission, priority No. 1 for access."

She also said, "We are striving to create a welcoming event and offer books and stories that reflect the community. It's about reigniting the community's love for reading and emphasizing the crucial role [that] libraries play in offering enlightenment and education to everyone."

The spokesperson added, "Parents and volunteers are coming together to offer story hours, activities and more to teach kids about faith, hope and love. We invite everyone to join us in celebrating and sustaining the essential service our libraries provide."

The story hour will include crafts and refreshments. Click here for more information, or visit Brave Books.

 

NOTE: The event was also organized by other local citizens not involved with RTWO. Reporters don't always get things exactly right, even if they have the best of intentions.

 

Brave Books Event this Saturday!

 

Brave Books has organized a nationwide library story time for children. See Kirk Cameron's video below the flyer for information on the August 5, See You At The Library event. Local citizens are hosting an event at all four Christian County Library branches. Children and parents can look forward to a story (or two!) of virtue, as well as a craft and snacks. 

You can also find information on our Facebook page.