When the draft agenda was being discussed, Trustee Agostini made a (secondary) motion to amend the primary motion (which was to approve the draft agenda). Her secondary motion was to add a discussion of the difference between Critical Race Theory vs. Culturally Relevant Teaching, based on the back-to-school, in-service to staff this fall. Mrs. Agostini's motion begins at (2::56:50) on the Oct. 26th meeting on livestream.com/richland2
Mrs. Agostini clearly said, "I move ..." Then Holmes asked, "Is that a motion, Ms. Agostini?" OF COURSE, IT IS A MOTION. Will somebody please put a copy of Robert's Rules of Order under Holmes' nose and tell her to inhale deeply?
Trustee Scott seconded the motion. Mrs. Agostini explained why she wanted the item on the agenda, and voting was called. Electronic voting was very slow. The superintendent said something to Holmes that was inaudible to the public. Then Holmes interrupted during the voting pause (2:59:00) and claimed a point of privilege to make a completely unnecessary and possibly incorrect statement. She said, ".. to remind everybody for the public (whatever that means) that Richland 2 school district does not teach critical race theory ..."
She obviously missed the entire point about Critical Race Theory. The District claims not to teach it, but all the elements seem to be present: equity, inclusion, diversity, 100 Premier Men of Color (the preference of black men to white men in hiring).
Kind of like "it smells like a pig, looks like a pig, walks like a pig, has pig's ears..., but we don't have any pigs here." Wake up!
Then Trustee Agostini addresses the form of the agenda shown and stated she wanted in on the agenda, not on the draft agenda.
McKie jumped in when she should have spoken correctly or kept her mouth shut. Then Manning further clarified that voting was on the Secondary Motion by Agostini. That had to be voted on before the vote could be taken on the Agenda as amended. Holmes referred to it as a "mouthful".
It is the Chair's responsibility to keep all that straight. Holmes seems completely unable to handle that.
The vote was 6-1 (McKie voting No) to add CRT vs. CRT to the November 16th agenda.
At that point Holmes should have asked the trustees if there were further motions. Instead, she attempted to jump straight to a vote on the primary motion to approve the draft agenda.
(3:02:35) Then Trustee McFadden stated she wished to make a motion to add a discussion of Board Policy BEDB - Board Agenda on the draft agenda for Dec. 14. You MUST listen to this exchange. Ask yourself why the board chair cannot listen and understand the first time what is clear to everyone else in the room. Mrs. McFadden made a motion. Holmes asks, "Are you making a motion?" Seconded by Mrs. Agostini.
Manning tried to shoot down McFadden's request. It was premature and biased to make such a statement. He wants to keep the status quo, because the chair and the superintendent set the agenda. He certainly could have voted in favor of putting it on the agenda and then, if he wanted to argue against any changes, he could have done so when it was being discussed. It is hard to get something added to the agenda.
Mrs. McFadden wanted the agenda item established now for the draft agenda to be prepared on November 16. She has already learned how difficult it is to get past Holmes and the superintendent.
Teresa blew some smoke at Mrs. McFadden with her suggestion for Mrs. McFadden to put it in writing "and we can address it that way", which is another way of saying it will go straight into the round file.
And then the superintendent stepped in with his usual long-winded oration. And after all that, Mrs. McFadden's motion was never voted on and, if it had been approved, it never got onto the draft agenda for the Dec. 14th meeting. Watch carefully at the November 16th meeting to see if the superintendent includes her request.
Coming up soon: Board & Superintendent Comments (3:10:50)
The closing comments were the worst ever. Basically, we appreciate you behaving tonight and being good boys and girls. I can't stand being talked down to like that. It seemed to go on for an hour it was so bad. The Superintendent and Holmes brought the security in to aggravate parents and try to get us to react. That way they could say we are dangerous and cut out the public participation. With no one to disagree they could go back to doing what ever they want. I like that they cut it from 20 people to 30 people this time, then when asked to allow more people in the future Davis said we might be able to make it 30. No S&*^ it was 30 in the previous meetings. They truly think the public is stupid.
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