New officers of the school board for the 2021-2022 School Year will be elected on June 29, 2021.
The following email has been sent to the five legal board members, the two trustees-elect (and illegitimate board members), others, and media.
Weigh in now by calling board members and letting them know what you think about who should be officers for the coming year.
With the right officers in place as the leadership team, meetings should be much shorter. There is little reason for meetings to run 2½-3 hours. If the superintendent is properly directed to tell his staff to limit reports to essenttials, a school board meeting should be completed in 90 minutes. Cutting down the introduction time of the inspirational speaker and the time for the speaker himself should hold that to five minutes, including the Pledge of Allegiance.
Cutting off rambling remarks of board members that add nothing of value is the chair's job. A strong chair will do this. There is no need for each board member to thank a staffer for a report. The chair can do that.
Here's what was sent today:
Members of the Board,
On June 29 the five legal members of the board will elect board officers for the 2021-2022 school year. To get the length of board meetings under control, I urge you to elect new leadership.
As of April 19, 2021 Amelia McKie still owed $51,800 to the S.C. Ethics Commission. She had not paid one penny toward her debt since the Decision and Order by the Ethics Commission on July 3, 2018. That's almost three years! The Ethics Commission filed a Judgment on July 10, 2019 against her in the Richland County Common Pleas Court.
Is her unpaid debt a problem for you? Are you willing to bring it up at a school board meeting and ask her to pay off her debt or step down?
Only legitimate board members can serve as officers of the board. The legitimate board members are Agostini, Scott (f/k/a Elkins), Manning, McFadden, and Caution-Parker.
McKie is not a legitimate member of the Board, because she has never taken the oath of office legally after she filed her Statement of Economic Interest (SEI) on December 4, 2018. The School District is improperly paying her salary and expenses. The FBI and SLED have been asked to investigate illegal disbursement of public monies by the District.
McKie cannot serve (again) as an officer of the board. McKie should be replaced as the SCSBA representative, as she is not a legitimate board member.
Teresa Holmes is also not a legitimate board member. She too has never taken the oath of office legally after filing her SEI on December 4, 2018. She is not eligible for a board officer position, although she first pitched her interest in being Board Chair months ago. Richland 2 is also improperly paying her salary and board expenses.
No doubt there is intense lobbying going on right now.
Please do not continue to look the other way because of friendships.
Sincerely,
Gus Philpott
www.Richland2.info
cc:
Kathryn Mahoney, Attorney for Richland 2
Helen McFadden, Attorney, Robert's Rules of Order expert
Molly Spearman, S.C. Supt. of Education
Scott Price, Exec. Dir., SCSBA
