OZARK, MO — The Ozark R-6 School Board hates fellow board member Christina Tonsing. Why?
She cuts right through their bureaucratic monotony with bulldog tenacity.
Watching the performance live, one realizes Tonsing comes fully loaded, batteries charged, vigorous to keep and hold the rest of her “boardsters” accountable to the public who elected them.
Day-um!
It’s invigorating to watch, ladies and gents. Pass the popcorn! (Extra butter, please!)
El Presidente Marco
Board President Mark Jenkins looks like he’s at a funeral during public meetings. He’s a bank president, so I’ll cut him some slack for lacking pizzazz. He’s not been on the board that long, and he’s already NOT seeking re-election. He told me he no longer has kids in the district, it’s time to focus on his real work, etc. Yeah. He’s definitely tired of the scrutiny of being held to a Tonsing Standard of Accountability to Voters.
It gotta really suck being elected and actually having to stand up to an administration notorious for bulldozing their way through an agenda to grab all the money and run without voter input. Bank and Board President Mark just wants to be Bank President Mark, not Board President Mark. Honestly, he’s a great guy. He has great standards and a great family. He just isn’t great at being a school board yes man for an administration just wants to runs itself.
And so, the school district with one of the fattest tax bases in history keeps getting rained on during its money festival. That pesky Christina keeps bringing up little annoying details. Such as, the administration building the district so easily engulfed (former factory) STILL CONTINUES to endure a very leaky roof. For years! The Greedy School Gods rapidly christened the building as if it were the Taj Mahal of Academia, so eager they were to occupy it a few short years ago. Christina pointed out, again, at the regular board meeting Thursday, January 16, that the roof “leaks like a sieve” and “why haven’t you bid this out for repairs already,”
Adams-Orr-Galloway?
Former Board President but demoted to board member at large, first class, Sarah Adams-Orr (who honors her history but not her current marriage to Attorney and Ozark City Alderman Bruce Galloway, I guess ‘cuz “Sarah Adams-Orr-Galloway” sounds like a law firm rather than a name) does nothing at meetings, just sits there, mentally distant. She says and offers little. She does look classy in her tidy dress and boots, though. And her glasses are super cool!
Trusty Dusty and Tyrant Bryant
The new guy, Dustin Kirkman, speaks loud and clear into his mic during meetings, which is refreshing. Amber Bryant, the business mind, looks lost and disgusted as she refuses to speak into her mic, almost as if she expects the audience and fellow board members to read her thoughts, which are, “don’t cause trouble, don’t slow this meeting down, we all know I should be board president!”
Kirkman is a mixed bag of answers and questions. Tonsing jumps his butt for not reading an e-mail and voting, as he dang well should have. He refuses to open the e-mail, opting to table discussion one more time. Tonsing is annoyed. She can’t believe this guy won’t even vote on something that should have been voted on easily.
Tonsing has a mind like a math teacher. She thinks numerically. But her numbers don’t add up when the board stalls on accountability to the public. “Why can’t we livestream all our meetings?” The other board members argue, “We only want to do that for regular meetings.”
“But some of the best stuff comes from our work sessions,” Tonsing continues.
Silence.
“Let’s move on,” President Mark says.
Used cars/TV preacher?
James Griffin looks like a used car salesman or a televangelist. Take your pick. He’s slicked hair, suit and tie, smirking at Christina, a fellow James River Church goer, and she asks him to speak up, forcing him to shut up and stop smirking. He’s the wannabe teacher’s pet who wants all the points for being on time and present. But Teacher Tonsing isn’t buying it. Griffin covers so hard for his buddy Guy Callaway, who bailed on the board for sunny Florida way before he said he was. Griffin wants to honor Callaway for ditching the voters. Griffin is quick to “like” everything Callaway posted last year on Facebook, when Callaway was in Florida but PRETENDING to still be in Ozark. Sickening.
A concerned citizen pointed out Callaway left under unethical conditions. “The board may have acted legally, but they didn’t act morally,” he stated publicly.
“We got no moral choice here, man,” the board (minus Tonsing) sneered back. “We follow dogmatically the propaganda handed down by our Queen Mother, aka our school attorney who sits in St. Louis making up stuff for us to cram down voters’ throats.”
I paraphrase, but you get the gist.
Three cheers to Christina Tonsing for standing up to these dough heads. Sorry, guys, but voters can do much better than the likes of you.
Anyway, that’s why the Ozark R-6 School Board hates fellow board member Christina Tonsing. The best solution is to put her in the president’s seat, elect Wade Wheeler in April, and hope for the best with the rest.
What are your thoughts, voters in the Ozark School District?
Johnny Rooster is an opinion and entertainment journalist. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication with an emphasis in journalism and a double minor in broadcasting and art from Evangel College in Springfield, MO, USA.