OZARK, MO — I was recently blocked from emailing anyone in the school district. I can’t email my daughters’ teachers. I can’t email their coaches and activity sponsors. I can’t email their principals, assistant principals, or counselors. I can’t email district administrators and staff. I can’t even email school board members.
I wasn’t informed I was being blocked. I was simply blocked.
I wasn’t warned “If you do [whatever offense I am presumed guilty of], we will block your access to district employees.” I was simply blocked. I found out only when I tried to email the junior high school choir teacher to commend her for what a great job her “Grace Notes” kids did singing the Star-Spangled Banner at a varsity girls’ soccer game. It bounced back as undeliverable.
It was confirmed when I emailed another teacher who is departing the school district to let him know how much I have appreciated and benefited from associating with him over the years, how much my older daughter enjoyed having him as her teacher, and how bummed my younger daughter was to not get to have him in her schedule next year after all, as she had expected. That email bounced back, too.
I emailed the head of the IT department to inquire why my emails were not going through. That email was rejected by district servers.
I emailed the superintendent. That bounced back as well.
I even emailed the school board. That email didn’t get through either.
Changing accounts got through! Until…
I changed email accounts and emailed the board again, requesting their attention and response to this obstruction. That email slipped through the district’s blockade!
So they reinforced it.
They got more aggressive in identifying incoming messages from me. It appears any email address bearing my last name cannot get through their filters now.
I’m completely blocked.
Board President claims ignorance!
Of course, when asked, the school board president insists she doesn’t know of anyone’s emails being blocked.
I guess that’s fair.
She has only received two emails informing her that I am blocked. That evidently isn’t enough to catch her attention. Especially when they are from or about me.
What was my offense?
So what was my offense? What did I do wrong? And who ordered the blockade?
My offense was that I emailed the new school board (“new” because it has three new members on it) to request they take a look at how the school district forced me out – using fabricated offenses and no due process – after I reported their violation of a contractual obligation with the federal government.
I requested that the school board review how the old board ignored my pleas for oversight. I emailed them a week later to let them know that the district had also violated policy GBL in refusing to allow me to see something from my personnel file when I requested it.
No response to charges allowed!
The district never permitted me to respond to their charges against me. They never even informed me of the charges before convicting me of them (via a “Notice of Deficiency”).
The school board refused to hold the hearing that both state law and board policy require.
Ludicrous excuses!
After a series of ludicrous excuses for not doing so, they finally explained that they were going to delay until the last possible moment. When the last possible moment came and went without a hearing, they advanced three new narratives:
1. He doesn’t get a hearing because he resigned (a month after the latest permissible date the law establishes for holding this hearing).
2. We REALLY wanted to give him a hearing. We were rushing it even. But he resigned so fast that we couldn’t give him a hearing.
3. We did hold his hearing. We just didn’t invite him.
THIS ISN’T EVEN ABOUT THE PAST! IT’S ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!
But I digress. (That is easy to do when one has repeatedly been silenced.) This isn’t about the hearing. This isn’t even about the school district’s obvious abuses of authority in my case. Or about the school board’s passive (or sometimes active) complicity in all of this.
This is about my being blocked. Without warning. Without grounds. Without explanation. Without recourse.
This blockade was not instituted by the school board. The board president is denying even knowing that I am blocked (again, after two emails about this got through to her).
This blockage was implemented unilaterally.
It was imposed by someone who wanted to ensure the board wouldn’t hear from me anymore.
It was done by someone who feared that the new school board might be unwilling to look the other way, as did the last one.
It was done by someone who felt exposed and vulnerable.
Either the board president ordered (or approved) this on her own, unilaterally, without the consent of the board, or a subordinate administrator took it upon himself to do.
If the former, it is contrary to the board’s constant insistence that no single board member can speak on behalf of the board. It is a violation of her authority. It is blatant hypocrisy.
If the latter, it was a daring move. An abuser blocking his victim from pressing his complaint to the authorities? That’s bold! You have almost got to admire the audacity.
New School Board should NOT be okay with this
Whatever happened, the school board should not be okay with this.
A subordinate administrator took it upon himself to block complaints about him to them, his bosses!
The public should NOT be okay with this!
The public should not be okay with this. A parent is blocked from communicating with his children’s teachers because a school administrator fears being exposed! Granted, I have been a bit more of a thorn in the school district’s side than is the normal former teacher or parent.
But the school is a public institution. The board members are our elected representatives.
And I am being silenced for pointing out public corruption and calling for it to be investigated.
This is contrary to all principles of representative government and free society.
But it is completely consistent with how the Ozark School District is run these days!
Looks good to me.