Thursday, January 9, 2020

District slowing down on Agenda release

Once upon a time the Richland 2 School District posted its agenda by 5:00PM of the Thursday preceding its next meeting. This would be two business days before the meeting, allowing board members and, more importantly, the public adequate time to read the agenda and its attachments before the meeting.

The District is slowing down on this advance notice.

Why?

By South Carolina law, the notice of the next meeting, whether Regular or Special-Called, is required to be given only one day before the meeting. In a normal week the notice must be given no later than 5:30PM on Monday, if the meeting starts at 5:30PM on Tuesday.

At least two members of the board complained about short notice at the January 7th Special-Called Meeting. Their short-notice complaint pertained to the request of the Administration to spend $9,100,000 of the surplus from the last school year, which ended June 30, 2019.

One could wonder why the others didn't pile on. Don't they care? Aren't they concerned about adequate time to study the details of such a major request?

The absence of  one board "member", Trustee-elect Amelia McKie, went unacknowledged.