Should Teresa Holmes Resign? Read this...

Media are reporting the resignation of Beth Barts from the Loudon County (Va.) Public School Board.

Read this article from ABC-7 (Washington, D.C.)

A parent advocacy group had this to say about Barts:

"[Barts] has shown a complete inability to comply with the law, her own code of conduct, and the basic decency that accompanies being an elected official in the United States of America," Fight for Schools Executive Director Ian Prior said in an August statement."

And read this post on Facebook to the page of North Carolina School Choice:

"'At the direction of the Orange County Public Schools (Hillsborough, N.C.) board of education chair, parents and members of the public were ejected from the Oct. 11 board meeting by Orange County sheriffs’ deputies.

"The reason? Apparently speaking about concerns and topics that were not on the meeting agenda.

"Attendees were also subjected to metal detectors and told they could not congregate on the premises of A.L. Stanback Middle School where the meeting was being held.

"Several times during the meeting, (Board Chair Hillary) Mackenzie was heard to say, 'you cannot talk on that topic,' before motioning for deputies to remove the person. Loud booing throughout the auditorium followed."

Are school board members being led by state school boards associations to believe they can act like that? Then state school boards whine to the National School Boards Assn., which whines to the White House, which whines to Merrick Garland, who then issued a really dumb Memo about protesting parents being domestic terrorists.

As I told the Richland 2 school board members and the public last Tuesday, "I am not a domestic terrorist. I am not any kind of terrorist."

Richland 2 didn't have these kinds of problems just a short few years ago. The first school board meeting I attended was two weeks after the February 14, 2018 shooting in Parkland, Fla. 

It was a pleasure to go to those meetings. The meetings today? Not so much. But still, very important.

It was great to see the conference room full last Tuesday. Standing Room Only. Another man and I offered our seats to two standing standing along the back wall, but they declined our offers.

The next school board meeting here is Tuesday, October 26.

So, should Teresa Holmes follow Beth Barts out the door? She'd be happier. We'd be happier. Win/win!

A few great quotes

I came across these today, while I was thinking about the mess with the Richland 2 school board.

"If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve." - William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1899)
"A healhy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and  respectful." - Charles W. Pickering (1937- )
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato (429?–347 B.C.E)
"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times or moral crisis." -  Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." - Noam Chomsky (1928- )

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." John Philpot Curran (1750-1817)

Public's Reaction to Holmes on Oct. 12

The Richland 2 public is watching board meetings on Livestream and YouTube, in addition to the large group that turned up at the October 12th meeting.

Here's what one woman commented: 

"The school board’s meetings are on YouTube too. That’s where I’ve been watching. Worst behavior I’ve seen in YEARS from a local, elected official."

Another member of the public commented on the same NextDoor website::

"That was embarrassing. All but 3 need to be replaced." And

"All I can do is shake my head in disappointment of what I saw and heard. Someone was right, all except three should be replaced." And

"Thank you for posting this. The board does not appear to care about parents or children." And

"A select few not all!" And

"Notice how every time the ethics violations are brought up…chair who owes… cuts people off even other board members! Ridiculous"

And "There’s no doubt the chairperson thinks this is her own personal fiefdom. I’m at the next meeting."

Please ask everyone you know who lives in the Richland Two school district to watch the recording of that meeting. Ask them to speak out publicly about the behavior of the chair. Ask them to write to her directly at docholmesschoolboard2@gmail.com

It's okay to be clear, direct, forceful, emphatic. Do not cross the line. Don't assault or threaten her. Exercise your Constitutional right but know where the line is.

Ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers, family, relatives to show up at the October 26th meeting.

Ask them to read www.Richland2.info and to comment here.

Enough pressure will result in change. Either improvement in decorum and professionalism. Or she'll be like that trustee in Loudoun County, Va. and will resign.

Actually, there is no need for her to "resign" because she has never become a legitimate member of the school board and was never eligible to be nominated as chair by Manning on June 29, 2020.

As I told the deputies at Richland County Sheriff's Department in March 2019, when one asked me if I just wanted them (Holmes and McKie) kicked off the board, "No. I just want them to take the oath of office and become legal members of the board."

Also, write to the superintendent at badavis@richland2.org and demand that the District establish email accounts on the District's email server for Holmes (and for Trustee Scott,too). One of these days Holmes will no longer be associated with the school board, and then she'll delete all District-related emails from her personal Gmail account and they will no longer be available under FOIA.