Education of rural Missouri children is Jim Tice’s legacy

by J Scott Christianson, Columbia Daily Tribune Columnist

This past week, Missouri’s children lost one of their biggest advocates when Jim Tice, former superintendent of both the Sullivan and Strafford school districts and distance education pioneer, passed away.

Anyone who ever met Jim would have found it hard to forget him. His personality was unique and memorable, but he was also — how can I put this — roundish. In fact, at first look his diameter appeared to almost match his height.

Jim came about his body type naturally. His size didn’t prevent him from being a fast-pitch softball legend in the Springfield area in his earlier years or from living into his mid-70s. Jim always looked younger than his age. “Fat doesn’t wrinkle,” he’d say.

Jim was a regular at the annual educational technology conferences across the state. At each conference, you knew where to find Jim: on the exhibit floor, methodically working each vendor booth. The pattern was the same. Jim would walk up to a booth, pull up a chair and sit down to hear the sales pitch from company X, Y or Z. After learning about the vendor’s offerings, he’d get ready to set the hook.

“It’s great to see such an innovative new product backed by such a forward-thinking company,” Jim might start out. “I just want to know: What can we do to help the children?” At that point, the game was usually over. Jim knew so many kids and so many schools that needed help…