The St. Joseph School District has refused to confirm whether a board member known for a furious F-word philippic, who has since sold her home, is still eligible to serve on the board.
The request by The Heartlander came after public records showed board member Whitney Lanning sold her house in early July. Other records seem to indicate Lanning secured a position with a government-funded nonprofit in Lincoln, Nebraska.
A records search with the Missouri Ethics Commission shows no campaign filings for Lanning as a school board member. However, it shows that a campaign committee the school board member had formed to run for mayor of St. Joseph, listed under her previous home address, has been terminated.
It’s unclear when that campaign committee was closed.
The Heartlander attempted to verify with Lanning and school board president LaTonya Williams whether Lanning is still qualified for the board, but both flatly refused to address the issue of residency or Lanning’s new employment.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Williams said in an emailed response to inquiries about Lanning’s residency eligibility.
The Heartlander also asked newly minted SJSD Superintendent Ashly McGinnis if the district could verify whether Lanning was still eligible to serve on the board by virtue of residency.
Missouri 5 CSR 110.125 requires the school district to conduct business “in an ethical, legal, and transparent manner,” which presumably would include changes of address that affect someone’s eligibility to serve on the board.
“I do not have any information regarding your question,” McGinnis told The Lion via email.
The school district has an unusually phrased introduction on its website, however, demonstrating how much continuous pressure the board is under because of controversies.
“Pursuant to Missouri Statute 162.481.6 and 162.491.4, current Board members will continue to serve the remainder of their terms until those terms expire,” notes the website at the top of the page. “Every year in which terms expire, those elected to fill those terms will serve for three years.”
A lot of the pressure on the board has come from Lanning, who remains a controversial and legally complex member of the board.
A public records search attempting to verify Lanning’s address after she refused to discuss the matter showed she was cited in November 2024 by the St. Joseph Police Department for operating a motor vehicle while failing to maintain financial responsibility.
It marks the second time she was cited for driving without insurance. In 2013, she was also cited in Kansas for the same violation.
The disposition of the current insurance case is unclear. The judge assigned to the case subsequently died.
But the biggest hit to Lanning came when she pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment in June 2024 after she was caught on surveillance video abusing a fellow board member in a profanity-laced tirade.
She received two years’ probation and was ordered to attend an anger management program. Lanning could have received up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Lanning was fired from her six-figure position as executive director of the Community Action Partnership of Greater St. Joseph (CAPSTJOE) in the wake of the charges.
Previously, she was accused by CAPSTJOE employees of discrimination and creating a hostile work environment.
The Lion reported in March 2024 Lanning and several other school board members had slow-paid taxes, receiving fines.
Lanning and Williams have framed Lanning’s numerous trips to court as a political attack.
“You’re disgusting and so are the people that pay you to harass me,” Lanning told The Heartlander via email when asked whether she still lived in the district. “You’re going to write whatever you want to write, or whatever they tell you to write, so get on with it.”
The St. Joseph News-Press editorial board last year called the school district “The Jerry Springer Show.”
