Letter From A Parent

Surprise indeed.

I find it somewhat amusing that Dr. McGehee was named top Superintendent for the State of Missouri given my past eight months of experience with his R7 administrative staff and the staff and teachers at Lee's Summit North High School. My son was bullied by a "well respected" teacher at North for about three years until the teacher had a screaming fit (caught on audio recording) and my son was removed from his class. Again. The first time was for grade manipulation by the teacher a year earlier as a bullying tool. I was not notified of the incident and my subsequent investigation revealed the inability of the staff to appropriately deal with the situation. Once the ugliness of the teacher's behavior was uncovered it was immediately buried under layers of "personnel issues" and as a parent I was dismissed. The teacher and the principal still have their jobs and / or retirement and no one was held accountable other than being told "don't do this again." As Dr. McGehee so succinctly replied to my request for accountability, "...that's not going to happen, it doesn't work that way”.

I find Mr. Ron Baker's quote “He has worked with staff members throughout the district to create and nourish educational environments where the focus is on learning and success for each child,” and “Dr. McGehee has a passion for teaching and learning, for what is best for each student and for encouraging leadership in others.” also particularly ironic given that Dr. McGehee left me with a quote of his own ” my people are not trained supervisors or managers. The school district focuses on leadership training and when this type of situation arises they do not have the skills to address it so they handle it as best they know how. You need to look past the lying and realize they are really nice people doing the best they can.”.

I wonder if Dr. McGehee's seventeen year old daughter had been the victim of teacher bullying if the outcome would have been the same? Perhaps then he would have focused more on staff training and appropriate behavior in a learning environment than on fund raising and polishing the school district's reputation. Oops, I almost forgot. Mr. Ron Baker's last letter of dismissal to me on behalf of the school board requested that despite inaction on the part of the board to act in a manner I felt was commensurate for three years of bullying of my son by one of their teachers and the subsequent cover up I should conduct myself moving forward in an appropriate manner. Be quiet and go away. And be positive.

Congratulations Dr. McGehee on your award. This proves yet again how wonderful the R7 school district and it's leadership is in creating a positive learning environment for all of its students.

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