Congratulations to the 2015 Fox and Seckman High Graduates!

Congratulations to all of the Class of 2015 Seniors who graduated from Fox and Seckman High School this year!

Good luck to all of our students taking finals this week! Hopefully they have been studying and are ready for their exams.

Tonight is the May 19, 2015 Fox C-6 school board meeting

Public Session: 7PM

Closed Session: 5:30PM

You can access the agenda for tonight's Fox C-6 School board meeting using the following link to BoardDocs:

May 19, 2015 Fox C-6 School Board Meeting Agenda

It's been an extremely busy month which started with days and days of water damage cleanup after the torrential downpour that swept through our neighborhood April 9. That was followed by attending a Seckman High volleyball games and other school events as well as scouting activities and a slow running of the St. Louis marathon.

While running the marathon, I met a firefighter from Imperial, MO who ran the full 26.2 miles while wearing 70 pounds of firefighting gear. He was running his 19th marathon. It was his first time running a marathon with his gear on which included an air tank. Luckily it stayed somewhat cool that day.

While running with the firefighter for a couple of miles, he told me that his grandmother named Clyde Hamrick Elementary School. His children attend school in the Fox district as well.

There has been a lot to write about, just not enough time to get it all written. I have started many articles but haven't had time to finish them.

I did want to mention, that I was told after last month's board meeting that the district doesn't need any more negative publicity. I was also told that it would be helpful if I could concentrate on the positive things going on in the district. I would certainly like to do that. But, some matters shouldn't be swept under the rug.

I brought up concerns at last month's meeting because so many people have been questioning some of the recent hiring decisions. The district has made a lot of good hires recently. In fact, Fox C-6 board member Dan Kroupa spent 5 minutes during the board comments at last month's meeting exuding all of the great things that the board has done over the past year. You can listen to his comments on Fox's YouTube channel recording of last month's board meeting. You can also be assured that I didn't say that our school board was "worthless" as Mr. Kroupa said you would think they are after hearing my Public Comments. It's too bad that the board hadn't done much for the prior 8 to 10 years when things were brought to their attention.

It's probably much easier to dismiss people's concerns since they didn't have to endure years of having online derogatory comments made about them for bringing concerns to their school board. It's also amazing how some people continue to ignore some of the things that have occurred. 

Listen to Dan Kroupa's board report at the April 2015 Board Meeting

For years it's been pretty easy to overlook things going on in the district that shouldn't have been going on because everyone who worked for the district who weren't in the "inner circle" were afraid to speak up. They still are. The culture still hasn't changed as much as it needs to.

After last months board meeting I was also told that we have a new "hiring process" in place and that we need to trust that hiring process to find the best candidates for the job.

Prior to last month's board meeting, I emailed the board and asked to be put onto the Closed Session agenda per board policy to discuss the recent hiring of the Seckman Elementary principal and Seckman High School principal.

At 1:30PM the day of the board meeting, I received the following response from our school board president.

The Board of Education does not typically meet with members of the public during closed session. Members of the public are encouraged to speak during the public comments portion of the regular Board Meeting. If you wish to contact Board Members or the superintendent to schedule private meetings to discuss confidential matters, you may do so. Any such meetings will be at the discretion of those specific individuals.

I understand that the Board of Education does not typically meet with members of the public. But our board policies specifically state that we are supposed to contact that board if we wish to meet with the board on matters that involve specific individuals which is what I did.

I also tried to meet with our school board in September 2008 during Closed Session. But in 2008, I was told by our former superintendent while at the board meeting that night that the board had already decided not to meet with me on my issue. She was telling me that while the board president at the time was putting me on next month's agenda. He had forgotten to put me on that night's agenda after speaking to him earlier in the day. I guess she didn't realize that he wasn't in on the board's decision not to meet with me.

Below is a link to the Public Comments I made at the April 2015 Fox C-6 School Board meeting. I spoke during Public Comments since I wasn't given the opportunity to speak with the school board in Closed Session prior to the meeting.

Listen to my Public Comments at the April 2015 Fox C-6 Board Meeting

I was also told after last month's meeting that I had been trying to influence the hiring process with my comments and emails.

So, what were the Seckman Elementary teachers that spoke during Public Comments at the March 2015 board meeting and all of the emails they sent the school board telling them who they would like to see hired as their new principal doing? 

It was stated that the teacher's influenced the board's decision to approve the hires.