Tuesday, May 7, 2019

"these ones"

Don’t read the comments – except these ones! Introducing The State’s new comment section


Do you have a student in Richland 2 schools? Ask your student about this headline on the website today of TheState.com

I have never, until today, seen "these ones" in print. For me, "never" is many, many years.

Ask your student. Is this proper English? If so, why? If not, why?

Have a teachable moment today around the dinner table.

NOTE: By 7:45PM The State had corrected the title.

Next school board meeting 5/14/19

The next Richland 2 School Board Regular Meeting will be Tuesday, May 14, 2019.

The Richland 2 webpage for the Upcoming Meeting still shows the April 30th meeting. That should have been changed on May 1st.

Unless something changes, the meeting will start at 6:30PM, after the one-hour Executive Session that often precedes a Regular Meeting.

The agenda for a meeting is often published on the Thursday preceding a meeting, and it must be published not later than the Friday before a meeting. This is to give the public adequate Notice of a meeting and the expected contents of the meeting.

Lately the Board has been inundated with many requests for Board Policy revisions. There have been so many that I wonder how Board Members can properly consider and evaluate the requests. And it's one of the reasons that the meetings have turned into marathons.

There are other reasons; ex., lengthy Inspirational Moments; lengthy segments of recognition; lengthy posturing during discussion; lengthy, unexplained and inexcusable delays during electronic voting. Electronics are supposed to speed things up!

These are all things in control of the people running the meeting; i.e., the superintendent and the chair.

4/23/19 Meeting Video-recording?

When will the video-recording of the Special Meeting of the Richland 2 School Board (April 23, 2019, 5:30PM) be posted on YouTube and on the District's website?

At this meeting there was a lengthy presentation about the budget and then a discussion of revisions to many Board Policies.

One week later, at the April 30th Board's Regular Meeting, when Trustee Lindsay Agostini resigned as Board Secretary, she mentioned a workshop and board documents that she was unwilling to sign as Secretary.

The workshop and the Special Meeting should have been recorded. But was it?

That was the night when the Board was seated in a special configuration of tables in the middle of the room. The audience was relegated to chairs against a wall, at some distance from the board members and speakers, making it very difficult to hear.

I remember anticipating that the Special Meeting would turn into a marathon, and I left shortly after 6:30PM. I should have stuck around.

In thinking more about Mrs. Agostini's April 30th resignation statement, I wondered whether there was discussion on April 23 about the bond documents that needed signatures.

Were the contents of the documents discussed?

Were the documents sent to all Board members before the April 23 meeting, so that they would have time to read and understand them and prepare their questions and comments?

Was there a Resolution introduced and voted on that would authorize the Chair and the Secretary of the Board to sign those documents on behalf of the District?

Are there Minutes of the April 23, 2019 Special Meeting?