TKC Exclusive!!! Outgoing School Board Prez David Smith doesn't support Airick Leonard West, as the incumbent runs a clandestine campaign!!!

Because there are so few people running in the upcoming Kansas City School Board election, there is a real risk that voters will get complacent and may not even care enough to cast their ballot.

TKC has long complained that the School District is a sinking ship but the fact that there are a few people working to improve the situation gives my cynicism just a moment of pause.

Currently, all of the Internets seems to be supporting Airick Leonard West and I begrudgingly agree that he's probably the last, best hope for the schools in this cowtown even though I despise groupthink and its dangerous consequences.

Strangely, support for Mr. West is not unanimous in the real world. Rumor has it that the outgoing School Board President David Smith hasn't given his blessing to the campaign of Mr. West and is still supporting the incumbent Bill Eddy.

IN FACT, The Star reports today that Bill Eddy remains on the ballot . . . TKC has dug even deeper (heh) and discovered that the dude's strategy might be to run a low key, secretive campaign in order to hold on to his seat. He could have suspended his campaign a week earlier or withdrawn altogether in order to avoid any confusion but (very) strangely did not. Smith is seemingly complicit in this effort by inaction and deed (or lack thereof) in his coy refusal to speak on behalf of West or offer him the slightest bit of support.

TKC has always contended that Smith is a bit of a d-bag given that he has not only presided over a District that has consistently neglected the embarrassingly high Latino dropout rate but also because he was found guilty of wrongly firing an employee because she disagreed with his bigoted hiring practices.

This current, secretive tactic seemingly put forth by Eddy and Smith in order to maintain the status quo is typical of the kind of deceptive maneuvers which have brought local schools to the edge of ruin. The most important part of this live, late breaking revelation is that it reveals Mr. West isn't a shoo-in and if Kansas City voters really want to facilitate change in the School District they should realize that the outgoing School Board President and so many others are working diligently to ensure that the misguided course which they've steered the district into cannot be changed.