2024 School Board Race

I almost hate to put the word "race" in the same sentence as "school board", but there it is.

Who will be filing to run for the three seats that are up for election?

The terms of Trustees Agostini, McFadden, and Scott expire in November. 

The filing period is August 1-15. Who will be filing?

The voters should pick the very best three, but they should have excellent candidates from which to pick. Unfortunately, there are few qualifications for the office other than getting the most votes. 

Should successful candidates have good critical-thinking skills? Be free from bias and influence? Be free of identity-politics?  Have a clear understanding of business management? Business finances? Think as executives, not as management (or, worse, as employees)? Understand the role of Trustee is to direct, not "do".

Will Release Time Make a Come-back?

Will Release Time for Religious Education make a come-back in Richland 2?

Several people went into the attack mode against Lindsay Agostini in her run for S.C. Senate District 35 over the Release Time issue. Many of the comments were libelous. She probably won't spend money to drag the liars into court. If she did, I'd certainly kick in some money for her expenses..

The people with loud voices and pens dripping venom don't understand (and don't want to understand) exactly what happened at the last school board meeting that addressed Release Time.

Release Time for Religious Education was on the agenda as a Discussion-Only item. No vote could be taken that night to approve or disapprove of the item. All the Trustees knew that (or should have known that).

Trustee Agostini made a motion to remove that item from the agenda. Her reasoning was well-based. All that the motion did was remove the item from that night's agenda. Nothing else!

Before* the vote to remove it, Board Chair Joe Trapp announced that the vote to remove the item from the agenda would effectively kill Release Time. He was wrong. He should have been challenged on the spot, but he wasn't.

Release Time could have been right back on the agenda of the very next board meeting. But it wasn't, and I don't think it has been on an agenda since then.

But there are rumors that some trustees want to resurrect it. Will they?

The terms-of-office of three school board members (Trustees Agostini, McFadden, and Scott) expire this November. (The terms of Trustees Nash, Porter, Trapp, and Washington run until November 2026.)

The filing period for Richland County school board elections is August 1-15, 2024. Who will be filing to run for Richland 2 Trustee?

* [Edited 7/21/2024] The original blogpost read "After the vote to remove it ..."

Are the Children Well?

Do you remember this from a couple of years ago (under the old regime)? How many times was that said?

"How are the children?"

"The children are well."

I received an email today from The Heritage Foundation with the subject line, "The kids are not alright. [sic]"

Overlooking the grammatical error ("all right"), the message is right. Here's that email, in part:

American children are in trouble.

The radical Left has infiltrated America’s core institutions, especially schools and universities.

From the minute American children enter our schools, they are overwhelmed with leftist ideas like transgenderism and critical race theory. 

An [sic] if they aren’t fully indoctrinated by the time they graduate high school, college professors and administrators finish the job by pumping their brains with intellectually childish lies about American history and denying basic facts like men can’t be women.

This toxic leftist indoctrination is what created the shocking protests across America’s elite universities this year."

What Do R2 Students Learn about the Constitution?

What do Richland 2 students learn about the U.S. Constitution?

It's too bad that school is not in session right now, so that they could study the SCOTUS ruling on Presidential immunity and learn why the Supreme Court ruled as it did.

The progressives are having a meltdown. Even Joe Biden doesn't understand or accept it, but perhaps we can cut him a little slack as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Except that Joe was probably reading off notecards written by someone in the shadows.

If you believe in the U.S. Constitution, you know that the Supreme Court issued a correct ruling in the Presidential immunity case, as well as in Dobbs.

The Left and many Progressives hate it. Too bad, so sad.

17-year-old arrested with stolen, automatic pistol

 Watch this interview with Sheriff Lott, when he talks about the shooting earlier this week at the pool at the Villages of Lakeshore. Two arrests have already been made.

Sheriff Lott stresses the importance of the partnership between the community, parents, schools, churches, etc. In the first video shown in the press conference, you can hear automatic fire; yes, true automatic fire. 

The sheriff showed a "Glock switch", an illegally-manufactured replacement part for a Glock pistol that allows the pistol to be fired on "automatic"; i.e., one trigger pull fires many bullets until the trigger is released or the magazine is empty.

Treshawn Keller, 17, has already been arrested and is being charged as an Adult. Deputies caught him after he ran from the area. They caught him with a stolen pistol.

Where is (was) he a student? Richland 2? Which school?

More arrests are expected.

Why did the Villages of Lakeshore allow large numbers of non-residents to gather at its pool?

We here at The Summit must be on the alert for gatherings of kids. If you spot a large group circling the pool or other amenities, notify the office AND call RCSD.

Lott advises parents to search the car, bedroom, backpack of their kids. Find the guns. 

Compare this presser with Sheriff Lott and the recent production of The Moore You Know, with Supt. Kim Moore and Marti Brown, a staff member at Westwood High School who is part of Be Smart. Which one do you think will be more effective at slowing or stopping gun violence?

Patriotism in Richland 2

(not the table at Home Depot)

Yesterday morning (May 27, 2024 (Memorial Day, observed)) I was in the Home Depot store at Sandhills. 

As I entered, there was a table set up with one place-setting and a folded American Flag. I recognized its significance and paused to honor it. It's called the Missing Man Table.

This made me wonder how many people passing it did recognize it and what, if anything, is taught in Richland 2 schools about the importance of Memorial Day.

Honoring our Veterans (all of them) has declined in the past 50 years.

When I was 28, I learned what not to say about Memorial Day. I was in the life insurance business and had taken an client to an exam at a  doctor's office on the Friday before the Memorial Day week-end.

As we left the doctor's office, I said, "Have a nice week-end." That doctor's expression told me I had said something out-of-order, and I have thought about it every year since. 

Don't say "Happy Memorial Day" or "Have a nice week-end." It should be a somber time to think and to remember what the holiday is. It is to honor those who died in service, so that we can have the freedoms that we have. 

The Left would have us lose those freedoms. That is NOT going to happen.

Arizona Teacher Quits over cellphones

Here's another reason why teachers are quitting.

Read this article about the 11-year teacher in Arizona who quit after giving up on trying to break students' habits of addiction to their cell phones.

Mitchell Rutherford taught at Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona. 

To me, an outsider, it looks like a simple task to prohibit the use of cellphones in the classroom. Obviously, it's not. Any teacher can tell you what happens when s/he tries to eliminate cell phone use in the classroom.

But should it be difficult? Not at all. Teachers have the backbone to do. My guess is that they are not backed up by department heads, assistant principals, principals, or District administrators, or even school boards.

What's like in RSD2? Will any teacher or administration have the courage to comment below?