4/30/19 School Board Meeting - Part 3

Following is a partial index and commentary on the beginning of the April 30, 2019 Richland 2 School Board meeting.

The official open meeting started at 5:00PM for "budget input". One (only one) in the entire district showed up to speak - most likely because no one knew this was a time for the Public to opine on the proposed budget. The budget input session could have been held as part of a regular meeting, instead of scheduling it at 5:00PM, when it was almost impossible for working parents to show up.

At the end of the 5:00PM session, it was announced that Trustee Lindsay Agostini was resigning as Board Secretary. James Shadd was elected by the board to succeed her. Mrs. McKie wasn't paying attention to the vote for Mr. Shadd and announced incorrectly that the vote was 6-1, although it was clear on the display monitor that the vote was 6-0-1; the "1" being the abstention by Mrs. Agostini. The Superintendent nudged Mrs. McKie, who then read the correct vote of 6-0 with one abstaining. Watch the video for Mrs. Agostini's full statement toward the end of yet another marathon board meeting. See the next article on this blog.

After the executive session, the open session re-convened.

The Inspiration Moment was a reading from a children's book by Mrs. McKie. The title of the book was Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide for Life (HarperCollins (2015)). She droned on as it she was reading to a kindergarten class, adding inflections and facial expressions suitable for children. This was embarrassing! My opinion is that it was also in violation of copyright laws. Even though she announced the title of the book, she read far more than just an excerpt. Did the District request permission from the publisher for such a lengthy reading?

A long period of recognition followed.

At (24:30) on the YouTube video-recording of the meeting, the Public Participation segment began.

Helen Derpinghaus spoke on behalf of More Justice, which will hold a public meeting on Monday, May 6, at Koger Center. Although this link was not provided at the meeting, you can learn more about Monday's More Justice gathering at https://www.morejusticecolumbia.org/projects

Parent Lena Brown discussed the dangers and risks of cell tower emissions and referenced a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Parent Angela Vanderlay spoke on the long-term health risk to children.

Following her presentation Supt. Davis applauded, along with members of the audience. Note: Board Policy is no acknowledgement of speakers' comments. What was his applause all about!

Then Elizabeth Bate, mother of four elementary school-age daughters and future Kelly Mill Middle School students, addressed the board to ask further consideration before building the cell tower at Kelly Mill MS or on any Richland 2 school grounds.

NOTE: The decision to allow construction and operation of the tower may have already been made.

By email today I requested the five legal members of the school board to create an Agenda item for a school board meeting to discuss publicly the exact status of the cell tower construction plan and to direct a District representative to respond to each of the women who spoke at the 4/30/19 meeting. If you want to know the status of the project, email the superintendent at badavis@richland2.org

At (38.08) on the YouTube video of the meeting I addressed the board regarding my outrage of the closing all the Richland 2 schools. District Administration (Superintendent, Principals and Board) should have planned ahead to limit the number of approved personal-leave days.

When I tried to continue on a second topic (the illegal composition of the School Board), Mrs. McKie cut me off and refused to allow me to have my full three-minutes.

Although I argued briefly for the balance of my three minutes, I learned later that it was probably a good thing that I sat down when I did. The new Richland 2 security chief was apparently heading for me with the intention to remove me forcefully. Since no instruction had been issued to him during the meeting, he must have been alerted before the meeting to be ready to silence me.