Tuesday, August 12, 2014

C. J. Huff: There is no Plan B; all our Eagles are coming home 8-25

In a district chat message sent out by e-mail over the weekend, Superintendent C. J. Huff defiantly said there is no Plan B in case the new Joplin High School/Franklin Technical Center is not ready for occupancy by Monday, August 25.

"There is no Plan B," Huff wrote. "See Plan A. All of our Eagles are coming home 8-25."

Plan A took a beating today when city of Joplin inspectors gave the new high school a failing grade, denying the temporary certificate of occupancy for the second time in five days.

Huff has stopped all volunteer activity for the remainder of the week.

The message Huff sent to staff over the weekend is printed below:

Subject: {DistrictChat} Construction Update

Just a quick update on the construction at JHS/FTC.

Things are coming together very quickly at JHS/FTC. We should receive our Temporary Certificate of Occupancy to allow volunteers in the building to start "The Big Move" on Wednesday. We are working closely with the City of Joplin to insure the building is safe to occupy.

Much will be happening over the coming two weeks. On the exterior you will begin to see a lot of dirt work and finish concrete work this week followed by the laying of sod the following week. On the there is much happening as well. The classroom wings are all getting cleaned up this weekend in preparation for the move. Furniture is being staged daily in the new classrooms. We are close.

Lots of rumors out there that I am hearing regarding construction. Here are the facts...

1. There is no plan B. See plan A. ALL of our Eagles are coming home on 8/25. We are in good shape. It's going to come down to the wire just like we projected over a year ago, but we are tracking for completion.


2. The auditorium will not be complete for the first day of school. That was never in the plan. At the latest it should be complete by February...shooting for sooner. However, the classrooms located in that part of the building should be usable not long after the start of school.


3. We will play our first varsity sport on the new campus in the auxiliary gym on 8/26. Our Lady Eagles volleyball team under Coach Staci Saunders will be taking the court against Carl Junction. Let's plan on packing the house for our girls!


Hope all of you are enjoying the final days of summer!


See you soon.
CJ

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Only a pack of fools would not have a Plan B for something as important as the education of 2200 students.

Oh wait...

Anonymous said...

Plan A: I am always right, all lessers will do my bidding. I always get my way because I know best how to be all for your children. I am the famous Master of The Tornado Disaster(tm), get out of my way before I have to cry.

Plan B: See plan A.

Anonymous said...

I'm not so sure I would want to be among the first people in a 'packed house' situation in the auxiliary gym. In my mind I keep seeing things collapsing.

Anonymous said...

I wonder when an announcement is gonna be made that they've signed a new rental agreement with Northpark Mall?

Anonymous said...

As I recall, the mall campus was up for auction yesterday. I'm assuming it sold. Now we can pay to empty it out. Your tax, or loan, dollars at work.

Anonymous said...

So, our greatest fears are coming true. We have no school for our children next year because of the gross incompetence of CJ Huff and the Board of Education. There is no way this will be ready, but CJ and Anne Sharp will screw around until it is too late to figure out anything else.

Can we please have some outside help here? Hello, Jefferson City? Are you there?

Anonymous said...

Will the gyms be in our school colors by then? I mean, really, Webb City blue and ugly tan. Did nobody notice the wrong colors before the whole mess was done? There are ugly colors all over that building. Like Bessie put in the grade schools. It should be JHS all over.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad Dawn is over at Webb City enjoying Open House over there. My children have no school for Open House. Seems to me like there might be some pressing business to attend to here if she and Ms. Banwart could stick around long enough to attend meetings. And if Ms. Sharp would be bothered to call one to order. It's no big deal. It's just our kids' education. You all take care of your darlings first and ours last. We get where we stand around here.

Most worthless school board ever.

Anonymous said...

I like how it says "we are in good shape" but then talks about how some of the classrooms will not be ready for opening day. Was it always in the plans not to have all the classrooms ready when the building opened? What will the teachers in those classrooms do? What will the students who have those teachers do?

Anonymous said...

I wonder what he and Anne Sharp will say to the staff next week for the stupid session. Sorry, we don't have a school for you, or sorry you are breathing mold, and do watch out for the falling ceiling tiles and door jambs. Or, it's a shame we wasted all the money and now you will not get raises for years and years. Better luck in your next district? Could we please skip this session and not force us into the same room? I don't think the Board or Huff can say anything that is going to sound good to staff, except two words, "I quit." That would be worth showing up for.

Anonymous said...

6:13--
I agree. I wonder what cheesy theme they have that fits this year. How about "All is Lost" or "At Rock Bottom of the Mountain and Tunneling Under". Maybe "You can never be worse than us." "We are Joplin. We are the Worst". Wasted dollars/Wasted time?

Let's help them out. Any ideas for their cheesy speeches out there? Maybe instead of ugly shirts they should pass out finishing brushes and hammers. Instead of useless PD we could help finish the high school so the little kids could go to school. It would beat listening to a TLC blather on about nothing we want to hear. Let's show district pride. Post your ideas for the annual theme.

Anonymous said...

It seems criminal to me that the Board of Education is not in a special meeting. They should have been a month ago. How can this be? Such grotesque incompetence and collusion with a proven liar. What a sad day for all of us.

Anonymous said...

When are they passing hard hats out to the kids? Did I hear that was when they pick up their computers?