Superintendent to be away during SC for Ed walk-out

Supt. Baron Davis will be in California later this month, when SC for Ed is expected to walk out on March 24.

He'll be speaking on Monday, March 23, at a conference put on by the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools and co-hosted by the Compton and one other USD (its website is out-of-date and does not list the March 2020 conference!). No doubt he could, if he wanted to, hop on a plane and fly back to Columbia in order to be the Face of Richland 2 and enforce an order to the teachers to be at work on March 24 or lose their jobs.

With the COVID-19 scare creating panic and havoc in the U.S.A. (and elsewhere), will he be self-quarantined upon return? Will District 2 pay him almost $1,000/day to sit behind closed doors at home after he returns?

Should he tell the conference that he won't be there and, instead, will be here to personally direct handling of SC for Ed?

What did the 2019 Red for Ed walk-out cost taxpayers? And what collateral costs did parents and employers face, when moms (and dads?) had to suddenly take a day off to care for children, while their teachers were parading around the capital with their red shirts on?

Open Letter to Board re SC4Ed

On March 24 SC4Ed is planning its 2020 rally and will descend on the State House to try to force its will on South Carolina legislators and the people of South Carolina.

We know what happened last year. Richland 2 wasn’t going to close and then, at the last minute, Richland 2 folded.

This year’s march is announced on short notice, but there is time for Richland 2 to act.

Remember Nancy Reagan’s words on September 14, 1986? “Just say No”

Well, Just. Say. No.

Most of you on the Board supported last year’s walk-out and disregarded the expense and waste to the District and the disruption to students and their working parents.

This year you have a chance to get it right. Direct the superintendent to grant NO requests for absence on March 24 which, according to the District 2 calendar, is the end of the third nine weeks and likely a day full of tests for students.

You just gave the teachers $1,000. This is how they say “Thank you”. I predicted there would be no value to Richland 2 for the hand-out. They got the money. They spent the money. Now they say, “What are you going to do for me now?”

Here’s what you do for them now. You tell them – “You take March 24^th off, and you will face discipline up to and including immediate termination.”

They have a contract to work. They get paid for fulfilling their end of the contract. 

Don’t let them trample you like they did last year. Don’t make any inane statements to them from your board chairs, such as “We support you.” You employ them. That’s what you do.