2/11/2020 Minutes M.I.A.

When the agenda for the February 25th board meeting was published today, Item 6.2 lists "Approval of Minutes from Previous Meeting. That would be the February 11, 2020 Regular Meeting.

The problem is that the Minutes are not attached to the agenda. 

This means that the public is in the dark about what happened at the February 11th meeting. Of course, you could wade through the video-recording of the two-hour, two-minute meeting.

It would be simpler to see the Minutes which, no doubt, the Board members will receive. The Minutes report the Motions and the votes.

They also omit the names and topics of the speakers during Public Participation, so that information is lost in written form forever.

Was it an over-sight? Was hitting "Publish" for the agenda at the end of the day rushed because 5 o'clock was looming?

Will the agenda be revised before 5:30PM on Monday, February 24th? If the agenda is revised, will it be notated as Revised?

Gender-choice Education coming to Richland 2?

Earlier today I was wondering to what extent the wave of gender-choice and choice of identity might be headed toward Richland 2. Or is it already here?

Parents in Madison, Wisconsin are on the warpath and are "... asking a state court to halt a public school district’s policy that they say instructs teachers to assist and encourage children in adopting transgender identities without notifying—and possibly while deceiving—parents."

What is the status of gender-identity rules in Richland 2? If a 5-year-old biological male "identifies" as a girl, must the teacher call that child by the girl's preferred name? Does a 17-year-old male who identifies as female get to shower with the girls?

The agenda for the February 25th Regular Meeting of the school board was posted shortly before 5:00PM (the end of the business day and business week).

Item 11.1 on the Agenda is a proposed revision to Board Policy IMB - Teaching About Controversial/Sensitive Issues. Read the proposed revision, because it'll be your last chance to read the old policy with the suggested revisions. After the revisions are approved, only the new, revised policy will exist on the District's website.

New language to be added to Policy IMB is: "A controversial or sensitive issue is a point or matter about which significant opposing viewpoints and/or multiple perspectives exist. Controversial/sensitive issues may be found as a natural part of the curriculum or they may occur in local, national or international situations. These topics may arise across a range of political, social, economic or cultural aspects such as religion, language, customs or values."

You can find it by clicking on the attachment with the Agenda, or you save read it by clicking here.

It looks like all that a Richland 2 teacher ("instructional staff", in "2020-speak") needs to do is get the approval of his/her principal, who might then run to "district personnel" and "appropriate content specialists" for guidance. That phrase "appropriate content specialists" might worry you. Who are they, if they are not "district personnel".

In the entire Board Policy IMB the words parents or guardians do not appear!

Come to Tuesday's board meeting and sign up to ask the board your questions. You must fill out two sheets before the meeting to claim your three minutes of speaking time.