The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Carthage, Jasper County

Discussion

July 22, 2008

New superintendent on job at Carthage

By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — With his first R-9 Board of Education meeting behind him Monday night, new Carthage Superintendent Blaine Henningsen is looking to his future with the district.

Henningsen, 54, was hired to succeed Gary Reed, superintendent for the past eight years, who last September announced his plans to leave his Carthage post. Henningsen started his job in Carthage on July 1.

A former University of Missouri-Columbia football player with degrees from MU and Southern Illinois University, Henningsen is intimidating in stature but disarming in nature. It was his personable nature that R-9 board members mentioned as one of his strongest points as a candidate for the position.

But, with a smile on his face, Henningsen plans to get tough on some of the school district’s long-standing issues. He wants to improve graduation rates, help English language learners be more successful and meet No Child Left Behind requirements.

And he thinks he has the experience to do it. Henningsen came from the Hazelwood School District in St. Louis County. In that district, he started as a high-school social studies teacher, then worked as an assistant principal of a junior high school, as an associate principal at a high school, as a building principal at a different high school, and finally as an assistant superintendent for school accountability.

The Hazelwood district has more than 19,000 students, and Henningsen was in charge of 6,000 of them. The Carthage district has about 4,000 students.

Henningsen said he was attracted to the Carthage area partly because of its high minority population. Ninety-four percent of the students at his Hazelwood high school were black, he said.

“I know it’s not quite the same, and there are language barriers here, but I thought that I might have something to offer in this situation,” Henningsen said.

He said he also was impressed with the new high school Carthage is building, and that he likes the prospect of getting to choose a new assistant superintendent to fill the position Susan Taber left this summer.

Henningsen said he is a data-driven leader who wants to make sure the solutions school leaders come up with will actually address the problems. He said he is looking forward to digging into Carthage’s state testing data once it is released in the next couple of weeks, and he said he accepts the challenge to raise scores and graduation rates.

He described his leadership style as a big-picture vision that trusts teachers to do what they do best.

“I like to hire good people and turn them loose,” he said. “I don’t micromanage. I work hard and smart, and focus on the big picture. If somebody is looking for an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. job, this is probably not the place, and I lead by example.”





Family



Blaine Henningsen and his wife, Cheryl, a former elementary-school teacher, have two sons, Adam, 22, a senior at the University of Missouri, and Eric, 18, an incoming MU freshman. In his free time, Henningsen enjoys watching sports, especially the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Text Only
Carthage, Jasper County
  • Jim-Spradling-obit.jpg Carthage attorney, reformer of revenue department, dies

    James R. Spradling, a Carthage attorney who was noted for his reform of the Missouri Department of Revenue in the 1970s, died at 5:50 a.m. Monday at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital.

    August 9, 2010 1 Photo

  • Bondswoman charged with false imprisonment

    A bail bondswoman from Carthage is facing a charge of false imprisonment for allegedly attempting to put a man in jail without a judge’s order, then taking him home and handcuffing him to the banister of a staircase until a friend of the man paid her his bond money.

    January 4, 2012

  • Man’s last statement to be given to defendant

    A judge ruled Monday that the Jasper County prosecutor must provide attorneys for Darren J. Winans with a videotaped statement co-defendant Matthew D. Laurin made about the Sheldon murders shortly before killing himself.

    August 23, 2010

  • Carthage proposes 1.6-cent rise in city property tax

    A drop in the assessed value of Carthage real estate will translate to an increase of about 1.6 cents in the city’s proposed property tax rate.

    August 9, 2010

  • Open house to celebrate projects at courthouse

    Projects completed last year at the Jasper County Courthouse will be celebrated in ceremonies Thursday in the courthouse lobby.
    County officials will join representatives of local chambers of commerce and others for a ribbon-cutting and open house to mark the opening of a Route 66 display in the lobby and a new “peace star” atop the building.

    May 9, 2010

  • Newton County Jail State budget cuts reduce county funds

    County officials are bracing for more state budget cuts to translate into a loss of county revenues.
    In an effort to balance Missouri’s budget, the state earlier this year cut the amount it reimburses county assessors for work to determine property values. The budget approved by lawmakers for fiscal 2011 calls for cutting the amount the state reimburses counties to house prisoners bound for state lockup.

    May 9, 2010 1 Photo

  • Jo Ellis: County home to rare yellowwood tree

    In late spring, drifts as white as snow fill the gutters and curbs on the east side of the Jasper County Courthouse. It isn’t snow, of course; it’s the fallen petals of the yellowwood tree that grows squarely in front of the door to the Jasper County Extension office.

    May 9, 2010

  • Jasper County Commission gets building project update

    Plans to close out one building project and start another were reviewed by the Jasper County Commission last week.
    Darieus Adams, Western District associate commissioner, met Thursday with officials of the firm who designed a $292,400 project to upgrade the lighting and make other changes to make four county-owned buildings more energy efficient.

    May 8, 2010

  • Two men running for associate judge in 39th Circuit take case to court

    Two men running for associate judge in Missouri’s 39th Circuit began battling it out in a Jasper County courtroom this week.
    Jasper County Circuit Judge Gayle Crane heard arguments Wednesday concerning the disclosure of documents sought by Robert “Bobby” George, Aurora, the current Lawrence County prosecutor.

    May 7, 2010

  • Carthage tiger Unveiling ceremony celebrates CHS tiger

    Kandy Frazier, Carthage High School principal, summed it up once the new addition to the CHS campus was unveiled Thursday.
    The bronze tiger sculpture created by Carthage artist and sculptor Bob Tommey, she said, is the kind of work that would be found at a big university.

    May 6, 2010 1 Photo