Remember the international uproar over a tweet sent by a local elementary school principal to David Hogg, Florida school shooting survivor? You likely do. The school principal responded to a tweet by Hogg in which the young gun control activist encouraged Congress to fund research on gun violence. The principal’s response to Hogg was a tweet with a picture of himself and his young sons shooting and holding guns, with a hashtag caption that read #Merica.
The man who sent the tweet, Dr. Chad Searcey, is principal of Compass Elementary School in the Platte County R-3 School District. Still. At least that’s still officially true as of this writing.
Sources say Searcey currently has zero personal belongings inside his office at the school. Reportedly he–or someone–cleared everything out last week. And other sources, who describe themselves as “friends” of Searcey, have mentioned Searcey has told them his days with the school district are over.
I put in a call to Dr. Mike Reik, superintendent at R-3, earlier this week. I mentioned that Searcey has told folks he is no longer employed with R-3. “I can’t comment on that,” Reik said. “He is still on paid administrative leave. We’ll give an update (to media and the public) at any time there is a development.”
Asked if a development could be happening at the R-3 school board meeting set for this Thursday, Reik said: “I do not anticipate any development to be ready by Thursday’s meeting.”
Pressed a bit further, Reik added that Searcey “is still getting a paycheck and is still an employee of the district.”
Is all this an indication that lawyers are involved? Lawyers are almost always involved at some level in situations like this one.
So there’s an update. Clear as mud? Sounds like something might be in the works. And with the fact that Searcey’s office is reportedly lacking in personal belongings, and the fact that some of his friends are talking like he is out the door, it sounds like winds of change could be blowing.
Of course, let’s not pull a Searcey and jump the gun, so to speak. Stay tuned to The Landmark and our social media outlets for anything more definitive, either an announcement of Searcey’s departure or an announcement that he is back in the saddle.
Reik said July is normally an off-month for R-3 principals, who operate on an 11-month contract. The off month, Reik said, is “typically the last week of June to the last week of July.”
He said Dr. Kimberly Archer, assistant principal at Compass, has had things under control during Searcey’s stint on administrative leave.
Giddy up.
It’s time for the Platte County Fair, and for the second straight year the fine folks at the fair have asked us out to do a Landmark Live show on opening night. We’ll go live from the fairgrounds next Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on our Facebook page, which you can find by going to “Platte County Landmark” on the popular social media outlet.
Listen, this could be interesting for a lot of reasons. Let me mention a few. Number one, both of my fellow crazies who alternate as my co-hosts are likely unavailable on that night (Brad Carl out on an amateur bowling tour, Chris Kamler hobbling after knee replacement surgery). So this may be the time we finally get office manager Cindy Rinehart to agree to come on camera. I’ve urged her to bring a cowgirl hat and boots because we’re tossing her on the mechanical bull that will be operating in the Platte Purchase Building.
I’ve mentioned before that Cindy normally doesn’t read this column for several days after it comes out, if at all. She’s always busy doing ‘Cindy things’ or whatever. So let me talk to you privately for a moment: Will you do me a favor and shoot Cindy an email right now? Make it short, sweet and to the point. All you have to type in the email is this: “Looking forward to seeing you ride the bull on Landmark Live!”
This will be great fun. Her email address is cindy@plattecountylandmark.com. Everyone who sends her an email gets entered in a drawing for a free season pass to this year’s Platte County Fair. I’m not kidding.
There may actually be two Landmark Live shows coming your way from the Platte County Fairgrounds. It’s possible we’ll be out there next Friday morning, July 26 at the same time as the Fox 4 morning show is doing its live broadcast, which will focus on Platte City that day as part of its Zip Trip series.
A Fox 4 film crew was in downtown Platte City on Tuesday morning to shoot some video pieces that will be sprinkled into their live show from the fairgrounds on July 26. I understand at some stops a news reporter actually accompanied the cameraman (Eli Broomhall) and producer (Emily Burggraf), but in their stop at The Landmark we saw no signs of the reporter. Maybe he was having a rough morning. Or maybe it wasn’t in his contract. Anyway, don’t forget to watch the Fox 4 morning show next Friday, or if unable to watch it live set your DVR.
Pretty sure Fox 4’s goal is to get as many viewers as some of our recent Landmark Live shows have brought in on Facebook. Here’s a summary of recent numbers:
Landmark Live, Party on the Patio from the KCI Marriott: 7,900 views. One of my favorites in our two years of doing this, mainly because of the somewhat bizarre randomness that ensued when Chris Kamler and I grabbed a drink and hit the “start live video” button. Viewers were 60% men, 40% women.
Landmark Live with Greg Hall, KC sports media critic talking about the Kevin Kietzman controversy: 6,837 views on Facebook and an additional 475 views on YouTube, totaling 7,312. Viewers were 81% male, 19% female.
Landmark Live from the new Patty Farr RE/MAX location: 4,756 viewers, 58% women, 42% men.
(Check out some random shots of Fox 4 at The Landmark on our Facebook page soon. Follow Foley on Twitter @ivanfoley and find him on Facebook. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)