Do Not Enter!

If you are going to an early morning meeting at the Sandhills public library at R2i2 (the Richland 2 Institute of Innovation), do NOT expect to enter the building before 9:00AM (on the dot) to use the restroom after driving an hour to get there.

No matter how far your drove or how little coffee you drank before you set out. No matter if it is raining, snowing, or under a tornado threat or watch. No matter what!

If your meeting is scheduled to start at 9:00AM, you will be late.

The public is not to be admitted before 9:00AM. This is by order of the Richland 2 School District Superintendent, Baron Davis.

The sign on the door reads 9:00AM, and a building security officer will unlock the door AT 9:00AM.

However, if you are an applicant for Richland 2 employment, then you'll be allowed to enter early and sit in the lobby out of the wind and rain and cold, with access to restrooms.

But if you are a member of the tax-paying public and there for a meeting in the public-access building, then you will NOT be admitted. If you do happen to enter, you will be asked to leave.

The security guards are polite, and they are only following (dumb) orders. If they don't do as they are told, they'll be looking for work elsewhere. So don't give them a hard time. They might want to let you in. They don't dare do it.

If you think this policy is wrong, show up at a Richland 2 School Board meeting and tell the Trustees what you think. Ask for an explanation why members of the public are not allowed to enter the building. Assk why they cannot enter and wait just inside the door, out of the weather.

R2i2 is not Fort Knox. It's not a bank. It's not a Post Office (even there you can wait in an enclosed space until the opening minute).

You'd better believe that Richland 2 employees will obey the rules and the orders of the superintendent. If not, look for them at the Unemployment Office.

Why is it that an order comes from the superintendent to keep the public out. Wouldn't you think that the facility manager could be authorized to make such a decision?

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I was with a group of 20 waiting to enter on Monday morning and, when we were rebuffed, that I called the superintendent's office to ask admittance?

Don't you have to wonder, if Jesse Jackson or Jim Clyburn or Barack or Michelle Obama or Marlon Kimpson or Mia McLeod showed at 8:30AM, would they be told to wait in the rain or cold? Thoughts, anyone?