Special-Called Board Meeting - April 21

The Richland 2 School District website now displays a calendar event (bottom of homepage) for a Special-Called Board meeting on Tuesday, April 21.

No agenda has been published yet. The District must publish it by Monday, April 20, at 5:30PM. They may publish it sooner, such on Friday afternoon or Thursday afternoon of this week. Whenever it is published, it will be found on the District's website. Click on EXPLORE; then on School Board; then on AGENDA; then on Special-Called Meeting; then on Agenda.

You should be able to learn more about the items on the agenda by clicking on links on the left sidebar, IF the District decides to reveal its plans to the public before the meeting, which is becoming less and less frequent.

A Special-Called Board meeting is an open meeting of the Board. The public is entitled to be present. Will the District try to prevent the public from attending? Will it broadcast only an audio livestream? Will it hold an illegal meeting by not having a quorum (five) present in person?

And is the Board ever going to insist that Amelia McKie and Teresa Holmes finally take the oath of office so that they will become legitimate members of the school board?

And will the Board begin insisting that Amelia McKie start paying off her $51,750 debt to the South Carolina Ethics Commission? Even if she were to pay $1,000/month, she would not have it paid off before the end of her term in November 2022? Will she be too embarrassed to run for a third term?

Richland 2 continues to claim that it is a Premier school district with a Premier Board of Trustees. So long as McKie is still on the Board and owes over $50,000 to the Ethics Commission for her numerous violations, the Board cannot be a "premier" boatd!

Columbia - No "state of emergency"

This is an excellent time for students, parents, teachers, and Administration and the Trustees (and the two Trustees-elect) of Richland 2 School District to study the United States Constitution.

Constitutional rights in Columbia are being violated in the name of health. Is this okay? I say, "Not okay."

The public should be wise in its choices how to protect itself. Government should be wise in its efforts to persuade the public to be wise.

But I don't want Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, China and North Korean tactics employed in the United States.

Recently the mayor of Columbia and the city council voted to put a curfew in place. That triggered an older law that forbids the carrying of firearms during the curfew, even if one has a concealed carry permit. Thus, the City of Columbia attempts to pre-empt the U.S. Constitutional and the State of South Carolina, which grants the privilege of carrying a concealed firearm.

Columbia's state-of-emergency law appears to be unconstitutional.

Columbia's definition of "state of emergency" () reads, "A state of emergency shall be deemed to exist within the city whenever, during times of great public crisis, disaster, rioting, civil disturbance or catastrophe, or for any other reason, municipal public safety authorities are unable to maintain public order or afford adequate protection for lives, safety, health, welfare or property."

By definition, the COVID-19 pandemic, here in this area, does not fall into the category of "great public crisis, disaster, rioting, civil disturbance or catastrophe." 

An extremely worrisome provision of the law is the phrase "or for any other reason". This give carte blanche, "police state" privilege to the mayor and city council, and this is unconstitutional.

Where is the public outcry?