2024

 

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.

Library Reconsideration Process

 

The kind of agenda found in our libraries

                                                

By Gretchen Garrity

 The Christian County Library has recently updated their Censorship Policy, so-called, which is the process by which patrons can challenge sexually explicit, pornographic, and other types of materials that do not belong in the children's and teen sections of the library.

While state and federal laws are clear that obscene materials are to be kept from children, public libraries have been following the American Library Association's lead by continuing to place inappropriate materials within reach of children. As noted in a previous article, publishers and activist librarians are flooding the libraries with books and materials that push gender ideology (among other political agendas) even to very small children.

A Sunshine law request to the Christian County Library that asked how many book challenges had been successful from January 2020 to June 2023 brought back one result. The adult version of the Brick Bible, written by an atheist transgender individual, and illustrated by dioramas made from Lego bricks, was relocated to the adult section of the library.

Good on the library!

However, several recent reconsideration requests have been ignored, at least up until 2 p.m. today. One library patron submitted several challenges in June and July, just as the reconsideration form was being updated along with the challenge policy.

 

Previously, the policy noted that a written response from the executive director would be sent within four-to-six weeks from when the challenge was received. That policy was stated on the library's website policy manual last night until today, when the sentence, "A written response from the Executive Director or designated alternate will be sent within four to six weeks" was changed to read, "...a Request for Reconsideration form may be submitted and the Executive Director will respond."

 

To date, it is nearly nine weeks and no response to several challenges. 

 

While the policy was updated in June 2023, it still included the time frame response of the Executive Director. Now that it has gone missing, when are library patrons to expect a response? And why haven't challenge decisions been publicly posted on the website--at least anywhere noted and accessible?

 

A new state rule requires challenge results be posted publicly:

 

 

"(F) The library has or will adopt a written, publicly accessible
library materials challenge policy by which any parent or
guardian of a minor within the library district may dispute or
challenge the library’s age-appropriate designation affixed to
any presentation, event, material, or display in the library, and
the results of any such dispute or challenge shall be disclosed
to the public and published on the library’s website." 

 

 While a new reconsideration form has been added to the website, it would seem fair to grandfather in the older forms that were already out in the community. The new form states, "Please note that incomplete forms will not be processed." Additionally, the new form asks, "Are you the parent or guardian of a minor child (under the age of 18) living within Christian County?" Could this question suppress both parents and those without children from challenging inappropriate materials? Or would it have bearing on how the book challenge is handled by library staff?

The Christian County Library is taxpayer funded and has an annual budget of over $3 million. The library purchased a building next door to the Nixa branch for $2.4 million and will be seeking taxpayer funding for renovating the new building for staff and administration. Currently there are 60 employees of the library. Surely, the staff can respond in a timely and thoughtful manner to book challenges.

 

 

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

County Health Department Seeks Citizen Engagement

 

Remodeled lobby of health department (Photo: Jody Pena)

By Gretchen Garrity

The Christian County Health Department held their monthly board meeting on August 15, 2023. The meeting is open to the public and meets the third Tuesday of the month at 8:30 a.m., at 301 Brick St., in Ozark.

The board spoke with Carolyn O'Kelley  SPHR, SHRM-SCP,  Human Resources Consultant from Ollis/Akers/Arney Insurance & Business Advisors, who has worked with the health department in the past helping to develop job descriptions. The position of a marketing specialist is the first new position she is helping the health department to develop.

The marketing specialist position has been created in order to engage with the community as a purveyor of information, particularly the resources available to help Christian County citizens.

Board Member Ken Spangler noted that the position would not be one of trying to drive any particular behavior, but to allow citizens to make decisions on their own.

It was noted that trust in government health departments is very low, about 38% for local health departments. It was also noted that the Covid response has driven a lot of the distrust.

The role of a marketing specialist will focus on the sharing of information and resources to help Christian County residents, and to enhance transparency. Other duties will include online content creation, scheduling of events with the mobile unit, presenting, and coordinating community events.

Board Member Ron Nelson noted the position would be designed to improve outreach and listening skills on the part of the health department. Board Member Leah Gregory asked about the budget for a new position and Nelson noted that the current budget had more than enough funds to hire a marketing specialist. It will be some weeks before the position is ready to be advertised.

The health department has been seeking nurses to fill needed positions and currently has hired three part-time nurses, with two more in mind. One or more of those positions may be converted to full-time. All of the nurses are registered with current licenses.

Administrator Karen Peak also spoke about the local WIC program, noting that in upcoming reports, the Health Department should be seeing an increase in usage of the program. She noted that immunizations are up because the new school year is approaching.

In other news, the health department is currently consulting with an architect about a needed new roof, which has been leaking, as well as plans for an addition. There was discussion about whether the new roof on the current building could be rolled into the planned addition in a bid process. An architect will be consulted.

The remodel of the interior lobby is nearly complete, with a few finishing touches to be completed soon.

The health department's current mission statement is, “The Christian County Health Department serves and protects the county citizens by promoting healthy behaviors, increasing understanding of health issues and improving the quality of the environment. This is accomplished by assessment, planning, and assurance activities provided in a caring, confidential and cost effective atmosphere.”

This Week

 

Christian County Health Department Meeting

The Christian County Health Department is holding its monthly public meeting Tuesday, August 15, at 8:30 a.m., at the CCHD conference room, located at 301 E. Brick St., in Ozark.

A new position, "Social Media and Outreach Specialist," has been added, and will be advertised when a final job description is formulated. Discussion of the job description will be part of tomorrow's meeting.

For more information about the Christian County Health Department and its services, click here.

The Librarian's Dilemma

 https://twitter.com/SexHarassed/status/1690501789156560898?s=20

Via Dan Kleinman of Safe Libraries:

LGBT Children’s Books Drove Me From My Dream Job As A Librarian

From the article, but do read the whole thing:

"All caregivers of children who adore their library as much as I do should know that the LGBT agenda has infiltrated even books for babies, and therefore, public library children’s story times in some areas. Books for children do this now even without explicitly mentioning sex, such as this 2022 Christmas picture book about a dog owned by homosexual men. Books such as the Kitty-Corn series subtly encourage the ideology underlying transgenderism, even without mentioning sex or gender, like many other newer books libraries are buying for very young children.

Apparently aware of public disapproval of sexually themed books aimed at small children, industry book reviewers who are highly influential in library purchasing decisions are getting more deceptive in spelling this out in their book reviews. It is also getting harder for librarians to tiptoe around this topic when using these reviews (scroll down to “Editorial Reviews”) when selecting children’s books to put on the library’s shelves. This is true whether you go into a small public library like mine or into a big-city library.

This deceptiveness in both children’s book publishing and in the public library system for buying new books was making it more difficult for me to do my job confidently for my conservative rural community. It was also violating the principles upon which my faith is built, and therefore, my conscience. I cannot in good conscience use my public position and the public funds formerly entrusted to me to put books supporting gender dysphoria and sexuality on shelves where very small children browse."

 

Manufactured News

By Gretchen Garrity

We tend to think that news on the local level is pretty clean. Agendas don't seem to be much of a thing. 

Or are they? Let's take a look.

The Springfield News-Leader published an article on August 7, 2023 (keep that date in mind) titled "Ozark school board issues 'rebuke' of member who hosted solo 'town hall' meetings," by reporter Claudette Riley. In Riley's defense, reporters do not usually write the headlines.

Knowing that people often read only the headline--especially those who are online and don't subscribe to either the digital or physical edition of the paper--the impression overall is a negative one.

While Riley quoted part of the public letter the Ozark School Board issued in response to School Board Member Christina Tonsing's community chat, she left out some important points that bring clarity to the issue.

Link

The actual meat of the Board's letter was this ill-advised statement:

"However, under Missouri Law individual Board members have no authority outside official Board meetings or unless a majority of the Board votes, to provide specific authority to an individual Board member regarding a matter. The Missouri Court of Appeals has stated as follows: 'Unless otherwise authorized by the board, individual members are not empowered to act and cannot govern.' Colombo V. Buford. 935 S. W. 2d 690, 698 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996)."

Tonsing responded publicly by pointing out the cited court case actually supported school board members meeting with the public:

"The quoted sentence, which IS indeed found written in the opinion on the case (seventh paragraph under "Discussion" part C, found at https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/court-of-appeals/1996/wd51723-2.html, does not AT ALL reference one board member holding listening sessions or anything else like that. It instead is used to support the next sentence's conclusion (note the use of the word 'thus') that groups of less than a quorum do NOT violate the Sunshine Law, so they CAN talk together with each other (and as the entirety of that point in the court case addresses, with the public) without worry of violation. Ironically enough, the very quote attempted to use to quell individual "meetings" with the public, was instead intended by the Appeals Court to support them:

This court previously addressed the issue of what constituted a "public governmental body" in Tribune Pub. Co. v. Curators of Univ. of Mo., 661 S.W.2d 575, 584 (Mo.App.1983). There we recognized the power to govern as being a factor in determining what constitutes a "public governmental body", stating that "the quintessence of a `public governmental body' is the power to govern.... It defies semantics to believe that the legislature intended inclusion of bodies or entities barren of the power to govern in the definition of `public governmental body'." Id. Unless otherwise authorized by the Board, individual members are not empowered to act and cannot govern. Thus, because members of a body cannot act individually. Groups of less than a quorum of the board would not logically fall within the definition of a "public governmental body" subject to the Sunshine Law."

Read Tonsing's July 22, 2023 response for yourself. (Scroll down) It's quite good. While the Ozark School Board's letter was linked to in the article, Riley failed to link to Tonsing's public response, which frankly, is a devastating critique of the Board's action against her.

The real issue, that the School Board was somehow threatened by a board member meeting with the public which elected her, was entirely missing from the article. Does anyone else wonder why the article was just now published on August 7, when the Board's public letter was presented at the June 29, 2023 meeting? Timing is everything, as they say.

MOVING ON

 On Thursday, August 10, 2023, a marvelous puff piece of an article was published about Lori Wilson, Ozark School District's interim superintendent. Riley was again the reporter.

In over four printed pages of text, there is not one criticism to be had of Wilson. Additionally, surrounding a link to the article about Tonsing (see screenshot above), is the following:

"Wilson said the community wants transparency, good communication and fiscal accountability. She said all of those are high priorities."

It goes on:

"Board president Sarah Adams Orr," (the same gal who signed the Board letter rebuking Tonsing for meeting with citizens) "said the district has committed to hosting four town hall meetings this school year dedicated to hearing from the community...Orr said parents and taxpayers are also welcome to "email or call board members with questions, comments" before and after the meetings. She said public comment regarding agenda items will still be accepted at board meetings."

RECAP

1) August 7: article published about Christina Tonsing's June 29 public rebuke by Ozark School Board.

2) August 7: Springfield News-Leader's Claudette Riley interviews Interim Superintendent Lori Wilson and Board President Sarah Adams Orr.

3) August 8: Riley tweets out a thanks in response to a School District teaser tweet about the upcoming puff piece on Wilson.

4) August 10: Springfield News-leader publishes article about Lori Wilson.

Does anyone believe this is all just a coincidence?

There are many well-known issues with the Ozark School District. That is why two new board members were recently elected. It's why groups like Ozark Schools Support Team exists. The OSST has published an open letter to the School Board. It is worth reading. You will get a truer picture of the situation. And then attend one of their two town hall meetings scheduled for next week.

By all means attend everything the Ozark School District is offering and take advantage of the new spirit of transparency there. But don't rely on either the press or the school district to give you the whole picture.

 

Sometimes you just have to laugh

 

 

When making a Sunshine Law request, one of the expectations is that the information will be shared with the public in “usable electronic formats.” Here are the results of one request that was made to the Christian County Library. The scrolling went on for seven minutes, and that was just half of one file (of 60+ files). There’s the letter of the law, and then the spirit of the law. Happy warriors fight on!

“Public governmental bodies are strongly encouraged to make information available in usable electronic formats, and requests that records be provided in a particular format must be honored if the public governmental body is able to produce the record in the format requested.”

There is a list of recent Sunshine requests in the sidebar to the right. They will soon be available to view as well. You may be able to view them. Reading some of them is another thing. :-)