District 2 is lying to the public

On Richland 2's website is this message. It's not all that easy to  find, but it's there.

AUDIO OF BOARD MEETING STREAMING LIVE

The Richland Two Board of Trustees will hold a regularly scheduled meeting on March 31, 2020. Executive session will begin at 5:30 p.m and public session will resume at 6 p.m. Due to the restrictions on public gatherings related to the coronavirus, the public will not be able to attend the meeting but are invited to listen to live streamed audio at www.richland2.org/livestream.

The problem is with the truthfulness of the statement "Due to the restrictions on public meetings..."

There are currently NO restrictions on meetings in homes, at work, or of law-abiding businesses. Gov. McMaster made this exception to his prohibition on gatherings of three or more people.

It is important to actually watch public meetings. Unless you can see the members of the public body, you will not know when they are having side conversations that cannot be overheard by the audience or even by other board members. Everything is supposed to be heard by everybody there.

You also will not know when members of the public body (school board) are reading or sending text messages or email. It's bad enough when board members can't live without checking their messages during a public meeting.

And the public won't know who is arriving late or leaving early, if you can't see the board meeting.

You won't see the grimaces and the disdain shown by one board member toward another.

You won't see the body posture of others, when one board member rambles endlessly just to have "microphone time".

You won't be able to lean forward and cup your hand to your ear, when a board member mumbles into a microphone with a hand in front of the mouth.

And you won't be there to speak during the Public Participation segment that is on the agenda.

If three board members are absent, you won't be able to ask the board not to hold an illegal meeting. If four are present in person, that's not a quorum. And a quorum of five is required to hold a public meeting of this school board. I believe that calling in by phone does not get counted toward a quorum.