Trustees of the Richland 2 School District receive certain monetary benefits for performing official duties. These benefits include
Monthly compensation (could be $900/month) for attending two Regular Meetings. Trustees also attend Special-Called Meetings.
The District pays membership dues in professional associations, such as the South Carolina School Boards Association.
The District would also reimburse mileage and other expenses for attending meetings, workshops, seminars and other events. Did the District pay for Teresa Holmes to go to a national school boards meeting in Washington, DC in January 2019, two months after she was elected? She wasn't even a legal school board member at the time.
And what about monies paid for Amelia McKie to be a Region 8 Director of the South Carolina School Boards Association? She too is not even a legal school board member.
Now, what about District monies paid to or for a person who is a trustee-elect but not a legitimate Trustee of the School Board?
There are two women in that category: Amelia McKie and Teresa Holmes. They have never legally taken the oath of office, which S.C. law requires before they can enter office.
The District was first asked (by me) to swear in McKie and Holmes legally as early as February or March 2019. The Board has never discussed this in open session.
The District confirmed today (8/20/2020) that the last oath of office administered for board members was on November 13, 2018. That was three weeks before McKie and Holmes filed their required Statements of Economic Interest with the S.C. Ethics Commission.
Who is responsible for distributing taxpayer monies (District funds) to McKie and Holmes? The employee who is pressing "Pay" on a district computer is the one processing the payment. But would it be fair to nail that low-paid employee with a State or Federal crime for just doing her job?
Or should a department manager be charged and suffer the penalties?
Or may the District's Officer in charge of the larger Department?
Or maybe the superintendent?
Or is the Board responsible? They've known about the problem for over a year. Would FBI or SLED agents show up at a Board meeting and just take all of them into custody in one fell swoop?
