Friday, March 29, 2019

Legal thoughts on Holmes complaint

The newspaper that starting digging into Amelia McKie's ethics violations and found other violations by Richland 2 School Board member has done more.

It was after that that I became interested and then dug into the law. If you haven't read the law yet, look at S.C. Code of Laws Section 8-13-1110(A). Scroll down to Section 8-13-1110(A). The Section is short and crystal-clear.

The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County (online and on Facebook) sought a legal opinion from the South Carolina Press Association, after it looked at a heavily-redacted copy of Teresa Holmes' harassment complaint against me.

You can read what the S.C. Press Association has to say right here.

Extracting a small portion of Attorney Jay Bender's comment, he said, in part, about a public official, "You certainly lose the right to file a criminal complaint because you don’t like what someone is saying.”

Be sure to follow this story on The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County

Free-Times also has a long article this week.

The Voice speaks out on Richland 2 Supt.

The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County has published an extensive analysis of the compensation of local superintendents of school districts, including Baron Davis of Richland Two and J.R. Green of Fairfield County.

In addition to the compensation, you'll find information on performance.

Click here to go straight to The Voice's story by Michael Smith.

As with any job of that type, it's important for a superintendent (or any senior administrative officer of a board or corporation) to keep the majority of the Board happy. Otherwise, it's called "unemployment".  Smith used a September 15, 2018 written comment by Amelia McKie, who questionably now holds the position as Chair of the Richland 2 School Board. Supt. Davis is essential to her conducting school board meetings.

McKie praised Supt. Davis last year with these words: “You have done an excellent job developing the District’s culture and creating the expectation that the District and all of our schools will be ‘premier.’ You exhibit excellence at all times, and we would like to see all departments throughout the District reflect your commitment to excellence, professionalism and customer service.”

From the wording, it appears to be a comment that McKie made to Supt. Davis. I wonder why the reporter wasn't able to reach her for his article.

The reason that I write "questionably" is that, as I have asserted frequently - both here and at School Board meetings, McKie is not a legitimate member of the Richland 2 School Board. She violated S.C. Code of Laws 8-13-1110(A) when she took the oath of office on November 13, 2018 without having filed her required Statement of Economic Interests. She did file that Statement on December 4, 2018 but she has not taken the oath of office since the filing.

If she is not a legal member of the Board, she cannot serve as Chair. Yet she does so. And the other five legal members of the seven-member Board allow her to do so.