Who is for transparency and accountability?

I'm so glad I came across Brad Warthen's blog today. I got an education on the election race for the Richland 2 School Board in 2014. Remember that one? That's where race surfaced as an identity issue in the School Board race.

In case you forgot, check out Brad's blog right here.

In the linked article Brad leads off with "I really, really hated to see the first sentence of this story about the Richland School District 2 election:  'Race has become the defining issue in the Richland 2 school board election, as rumors circulate of a shift in power from a white-majority to a black-majority board.' "

Well down in the body of the article appears this "Because if Amelia McKie .. is elected, we’ll have a strong voice on R2’s school board who’ll fight for students, communicate with parents and demand real transparency and accountability."

Now that was back in 2014. Fast forward to 2018-2019.

Amelia McKie is the one who didn't file Campaign Disclosure Forms and Statements of Economic Interest Reports with the South Carolina Ethics Commission for several years. Amelia McKie now owes over $51,000 in fines and penalties to the Ethics Commission.

Amelia McKie is the one (well, one of them) who took the oath of office illegally on November 13, 2018 for her second term of office, 2018-2022.

How's that for transparency and accountability?

Who will demand "real transparency and accountability" from Amelia McKie? The Richland 2 Black Parents' Association has said that McKie's problem with the Ethics Commission is not about race; it's about ethics.

Will the BPA step up and put some pressure on McKie to obey S.C. Code of Laws 8-13-1110(A) and now legally take the oath of office?

Remembering Spring Valley H.S.and the SRO

Almost every week I think about the incident at Spring Valley High School in October 2015 that involved two disruptive students, a teacher, a staff member (Asst. Principal?) and the School Resource Officer (SRO). That was on

Just today I happened across a blog by Brad Warthen at   http://www.bradwarthen.com/2015/11/mia-mcleod-and-joel-lourie-on-spring-valley-protest/

I wish I had found it and him at the time.

In the article found through the above link are messages to S.C. Sen. John Scott from both S.C. Sen. Mia McLeod and former S.C. Sen. Joel Lourie.

You've got to read these messages, especially the view of Sen. McLeod who wrote about the "violently ejected student" (her 10/30/2015 message at 2:03PM to Sen. Scott). She clearly had her mind made about what had happened.

When the incident was first publicized, I began asking, "What happened before that?" - "that" being when Deputy Fields removed the student from her desk.

I heard about, but never saw, a video of what happened before "that"; apparently, that student slapped at Deputy Fields three times, resulting in her being removed from her desk. I wondered why The State didn't publish that video and also why it continued to use the "Glamour Shots" photo of the student who wasn't a minor, instead of her booking photo.

The Richland 2 policy regarding SRO involvement was not followed. When the assistant principal arrived, the teacher should have taken the rest of the class elsewhere, thus removing the audience of the non-compliant student. That procedure is in the National SRO manual and it's in the Richland 2 rules. And it didn't happen.

Be sure to read through comments posted after the above article.

Deputy Fields was fired too quickly, as then-Solicitor Dan Johnson said eleven months later, when he dismissed the Disruption of Schools charges against the two girls. I knew Fields had been fired too quickly at the time and I said so. In my opinion, it's too bad that Solicitor Johnson dropped those charges. Both girls deserved their day in court and to be found guilty of disrupting schools, which they clearly did.

I believe Deputy Fields' wrongful termination lawsuit is winding its way through court now.