OZARK, MO — Is it possible the Ozark R-6 Board of Education is operating like a street gang?
Now, don’t get the idea that the board members are wearing gang colors and bandanas on their heads. They aren’t decked in matching jackets or neck tats (least, not that I can tell!)
From the way the Christian County Trumpet news team hears it, the school board is acting in more of a mafia style operation, not so much a street gang.
The President, Sarah Adams Orr, isn’t exactly a tough chick, breaking legs and making threats. She’s more of a girl-next-door type, batting her eyes and wanting to be popular, and especially wanting the board members to get along as far as possible.
So, she leaves the heavy-handed stuff for the Real Life HR Director, Amber Bryant. Amber is tough, business like, no nonsense. She’s more of a business suit with heels. Amber knows how to hire and fire, and hold the line. Oh, and give employees and underlings the “what for”.
‘Cept there’s one eensy weensy problem. Tough Miss Amber is new to the board. She doesn’t have rank on the other new girl, Christina Tonsing, as much as she’d likely want to pull rank. Christina is like Miss Beadle from Little House on the Prairie. She’s a good woman who loves to teach. But, she had lots of questions. And, well, the board, running like a mafia outfit somewhat, is none too keen on Miss Christina Beadle asking so many pesky questions. So what did they do to poor little Miss Beadle?
They pulled her aside after a recent board meeting, and told her she was causing trouble. Too much trouble. Making other board members feel all icky wicky and awful waffle. They pretty much circled her and gave her the “what for” and the “sit in your corner and color while the adults conduct the business.”
Yes, that’s because Miss Christina was voting DIFFERENT than the mafia majority. And, the mafia majority wanted everyone to conform. No individuality. No room for personal ideas. Just go with the flow, dammit!
Green-Eyed Monster on the Board
As if that weren’t enough, a mafia ring trying to put the shush on the new girl, asking all those pesky questions, hoping to hold the board to its God-given right to oversee the administration, not the other way around… there’s the Green-Eyed Monster on the board. The one who’s been there longest and has most to lose… the one who was SUPPOSED to be the Board President this time around, but when the New Girls came along, (and a new GUY pun intended), the club got shook up a bit. New members wanted new things, not just business as usual and “we’ve always done it that way.”
So, they punted, and put the same President in as last school year. OK, nothing like a lateral move to stall things out… but, OK. Yeah.
Who’s the Green-Eyed Monster? Why, Patty Quessenberry, of course. She’s Green with jealousy that she didn’t get her rotation turn as Ozark School Board President. After all, she’s been on the board as long as some of the younger teachers have been alive, and she’s powerfully connected as President-Elect of the Missouri School Boards Association, the body that indoctrinates school board members to all strive for unity in the name of providing a good education for all students. That’s where core curriculum and lower standards come about, so kids can get passed along without really learning anything.
Because she’s used to being in power, Quessenberry is seeking her umpteenth re-election to the Ozark Board in April. Everyone who’s been around Ozark more than a school year knows Patty will definitely, easily, most certainly, get re-elected, because if there’s one thing voters in Ozark do, it’s vote for name recognition. Studying the candidates is too much work, so just go with whoever has a familiar sounding name on the ballot.
School yard Bullies
If this tale sounds like a school bully situation, it’s a lot like that. The board members don’t want Miss Christina to cause a fuss. They threatened to kick her off the board, word has it. They’re using legal muscle to keep her quiet. They isolated her and want her to stop trying to advocate for teachers who get accused of misconduct by all powerful administrators. And, she’s alone in her vote on certain decisions.
Christina is not gonna roll over. She’s not about to let these bully mafia members break her. She has just as much right to be on the board, if not more, than some. She sent her fellow board members a detailed explanation of her position. Read about it by clicking here. One board member, Aaron Johns, wrote mean and vulgar things to one of his opponents in a previous school board election, but because he’s buddies with Sarah Adams Orr, he didn’t get kicked off the team.
It’s a ruthless mafia organization. But election day is coming in April. Will voters see through and NOT re-elect Patty, and maybe even vote for a lawyer that could actually have a good legal perspective (Jason Shaffer) instead? That way, the vote could be more evenly split on important decisions, and not look so much like a gang.
What absolute nonsense. This reads like an angry teenager, who dropped out in highschool, decided to write a blogpost about something he had no knowledge about. The amount of grammar mistakes and libel included in this pathetic dumpster fire is astounding.
Sometimes even the dignified people take time to comment.