What Surprises Await Richland 2 Constituents?

Once again the Richland 2 School District failed to publish the agenda on Friday for the upcoming school board meeting on Tuesday.

The District used to publish the agenda on Thursdays, then on Fridays, for the upcoming meeting.

By law the agenda has to be published at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. If the June 30 meeting is to start at 4:30PM, then the agenda must be published by 4:30PM on June 29. That's Monday.

That also means that the public and even the school board trustees will have only 24 hours to prepare for the meeting.

For the public, there is nothing to prepare for. The public can no longer attend school board meetings. The board discontinued public meetings (in-person) and has failed to make arrangements for the public to speak at its virtual (Zoom) meetings. It would be simple to arrange that, but the board chose to suspend Board Policy BEDH, and that eliminated 1) public participation and 2) the public's privilege of requesting items to be added to the agenda.

Two board members have requested the superintendent to provide meeting materials, documents and background further in advance of a meeting than 24 hours. Has he done so? In many cases he has not.

The June 30 meeting is likely to start at 4:30PM. The link for the Livestream (Zoom) meeting can be found on the District's homepage. The first item will be an executive session. Then the public session will reconvene. Find the agenda on the District' website for the correct starting time.