The ONLY apology needed at tonight's school board meeting was for Teresa Holmes to admit that she doesn't have a clue how to run a board meeting. SHE is the one whose apology was needed.
Caution-Parker should apologize for referring to the walk-out by Trustees Agostini, Scott and McFadden as "stupid and ignorant".
There was an attempt to ram through an amendment to the superintendent's contract. One trustee mentioned a "raise", so apparently the superintendent was seeking more money on top of the huge raise he got last year.
The fiasco began when the board needed to approve tonight's agenda. There was a motion and second. During discussion Mrs. Agostini wanted to put the vote on the superintendent's contract off to the next meeting.
This is where Teresa Holmes clearly demonstrated her lack of leadership and organizational skills. She tried to dismiss it. She refused to understand that, when Mrs. Agostini made her motion to amend the primary motion to approve the agenda, there should have been a second, then discussion, then a vote.
Monica Scott got up and left the meeting, leaving six in attendance.
Then Lindsay Agostini got up and left, leaving five.
Lashonda McFadden attempted to speak, and Holmes would not recognize her. When Holmes finally recognized her, Mrs. McFadden gave a very clear statement, and then she left. When she left, that meant a quorum no longer existed and business had to stop.
You MUST watch this meeting, which is only 35 minutes long. Go to www.livestream.com/Richland2 and select the video for today's date, September 14, 2021.
Even then Holmes tried to continue. Finally the superintendent explained all they could do was adjourn.
And even then Holmes continued.
Manning tried to shore things up, but Holmes was WRONG. The worst part is that she didn't even know she was wrong.
The only apology needed tonight was for Holmes to state that her inexperience and lack of leadership skills were the direct cause of what happened. She should have allowed Agostini's secondary motion to continue. The Squad probably would have voted it down, but the meeting would have continued.
The only way to stop a vote on the superintendent's raise was for three board members to walk out. And walk out they did.
Bravo and kudos to Mrs. Agostini, Ms. Scott and Mrs. McFadden!!! They are the only three worthy of being on the board!
I think it’s important to note that whether you agree with Dr. Scott and Ms. Agostini or not, or whether Dr. Davis deserves a raise or not, the actions of this board during this meeting were not aligned with what is best for children.
ReplyDeleteThe board now did not approve the new hires. That means there are children sitting in teacher-less rooms unnecessarily. And after witnessing this mess, who knows if these people will still even want to work for R2. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of other jobs available.
The board also did not deal with students up for expulsion. That means that those students are still sitting at home, doing nothing, instead of being in class in either the alternative school or their home school.
What the chair should have done, and what Dr. Scott and Ms. Agostini should have done since the chair didn’t, was to make a motion to move the item to the end of the agenda or to next meetings agenda so they could still serve the children they were elected to serve. They could have blocked the vote that way.
And also, your bias is showing when you use honorifics for only the board members you like and not those you don’t like.
Thank you very much for your comment. I appreciate your providing it here.
ReplyDeleteYour suggestion for moving the item (the superintendent's contract) to the next meeting is exactly what Trusteee Agostini asked. The chair was wrong when she ruled that Ms. Agostini's secondary amendment was not germane to the primary motion, which was to approve the Agenda.
That was exactly the right time and place for the secondary motion.
The new General Counsel was instantly placed in an awkward position, but her correct advice to the chair should have been that the secondary motion WAS germane. It could not have been more so.
Instead, the General Counsel waffled; after all, the superintendent is her boss.
No one questioned whether the chair had the authority to rule whether it was germane. The General Counsel should have stated, "Yes, it is germane."