Rescind Suspension of BEDH - You can help

The Richland 2 School Board has received at least one request to rescind its suspension of Board Policy BEDH.

The request was submitted to the entire board, asking a board member to make a motion at a meeting to add an item to the next agenda for discussion and vote to rescind the suspension. (The public lost its privilege to request agenda items on May 12, 2020.)

It will be interesting to learn what the Board's response is to the request and whether it will acknowledge the request at all..

Do YOU believe the public should be able to speak at Board meetings, as it has for years?

If so, email the Board now. To make your voice heard more loudly, send a bcc to gusphilpott@gmail.com

No public mention will be made of your name. There will be no attribution, but the public will be able to know of the number of requests made. A FOIA request may be made to the District in the future for the number of requests received.

Send your request to the entire board. To ease the pain of finding all their email addresses, here they are:

jamesmanning@richland2.org, lindsayagostini@richland2.org, cherylcautionparker@richland2.org, puttingstudentsfirst2012@gmail.com, docholmesschoolboard2@gmail.com, ameliamckie@richland2.org, jamesshadd@richland2.org

If you wish to copy the superintendent, here is his email address: badavis@richland2.org

McKie and Holmes are included, even though they are not yet legitimate members of the board. I address them as Trustees-elect. As soon as they take the oath of office legally (now that they have filed their Statement of Economic Interests Reports), they will become Trustees.

Holmes and Elkins-Johnson use personal email addresses, although the District should require all trustees to use the "@richland2.org" email address. The District may face an insurmountable problem in the future, should a FOIA Request be made that includes official emails to and from Holmes and Elkins-Johnson, especially after they leave the board.

Board Policy BEDH - Suspended

On May 12, 2020 the Richland 2 School Board voted 6-1 to suspend Board Policy BEDH. Trustee Lindsay Agostini was the sole No vote on the motion to suspend BEDH.

BEDH is the policy that applies to public participation at meetings. When the Board suspended this policy, it axed the public's ability to address the board at meetings. In other words, the Board no longer wishes to hear from the public at meetings. In public. Out in the open. Where others can know how the public feels.

The Board seems to think that the public's sending an email to someone in the District is the same as speaking out at meetngs.

It. Is. Not.

The vote on the Motion to Suspend BEDH, which was made by Eklins-Johnson and seconded by Shadd, can be viewed at 27:40 on the May 12th video. The vote was 6-1. But the video producer failed to show the screen with the result of the vote, so most will not know that it was Trustee Lindsay Agostini who stood up against the board and represented the People by voting as the sole No vote.

Furthermore, the District has not yet changed the Policy on its website. Why not?

Since Policy BEDH is no longer in effect, why hasn't the District so notated on the District's website? If you go to the website today (May 20), you will believe that the public still has the privilege to speak at board meetings.

Who or what controls the publication of Board Policies on the District's website?

Isn't this handled within Richland 2? Or does the Scouth Carolina School Boards Assn. have its nose in District business at this level?