Don't Miss This - K12Dive article

Be sure to read this article in K-12 Dive Thanks to a Richland 2 parent for sending the article to me.

Measure it against your own experience with Richland 2. What will you learn about Richland 2?

Richland 2 "... has received recognition for rethinking grading policies with equity at the forefront". Do you have any idea what that means?

Supt. David "has prioritized the recruitment and retention of male teachers of color via his Premier 100 initiative." Does this sound like a racially-based program to you?

"(E)very school (has) a TLC, which is a tech learning coach".  Do you know what the SAMR model is? Here's a scary word: "redefinition". What does that mean at Richland 2?

How nice to read about "engagement and transparency" at Richland 2. I know some parents who will question that!

The article repeats the percentage of Richland 2 students who live in poverty: 56.2%. The number makes me wonder what the poverty level is, especially when I drive by the student parking lot at, for example, Blythewood High School.

What can you do? Get involved at your kids' schools. Attend school board meetings in-person. You get a totally different understanding when you are sitting there versus sitting at home in front of your computer.

When you do show up at a board meeting, ask yourself why the room is set up as it is, with the trustees lined up sideways so you can't see most of them. 

Ask why the superintendent occupied the place of honor in the corner between the trustees; that's where the board chair should sit. 

Ask why the superintendent even sits at the board line-up, which one trustee inquired about recently.

Ask yourself why the audience is seated so far away from the board members. 

Ask why staff is seated in front of the audience, rather than off to the side as it used to be.

Ask why there are so many deputies and R2 security officers present.

A great resource: School Reform News

Before today I was unfamiliar with School Reform News. I just read a second article, this one titled "Parents Want Authority over K-12 Cuirriculum Choices, but Teachers Evade Oversight".

Check it out. Skim through it. Read it more slowly.

Parents throughout the country are waking up to what is happening in schools. Parents have in the past trusted schools to educate their children. Schools have the kids for a large portion of the day. Now parents are finding out what really happens in many schools.

Attend a Richland 2 school board meeting in person. Get a taste of the action. In particular, pay close attention to Holmes, McKie, Caution-Parker and Manning. Their terms expired in November 2022. 

Efforts are mounting to replace all four then, if not sooner.

Remember when SEL was for SpecEd kids?

Social Emotional Learning - SEL

I remember the non-too-distant past when SEL was for special education students who were struggling with how to be included. 

And now? It's the indoctrination being jammed down kids' throats. Kids as young as kindergarten. Do parents even know what it happening in schools?

Thanks to the internet and parent action groups all over the country, parents are waking up and becoming informed. And the school districts hate it.

Witness the "statement" being read by the Richland Two (acting) board chair, trustee-elect Teresa Holmes, before each public participation segment of a board meeting. Remember the kinder, gentler introducation of public participation when Craig Plank was board chair? Nobody felt threatened when he made very brief statements about how public participation would be conducted.

Now?

OK, boys and girls. You'd better be nice and follow the rules or you will be gaveled into submission.

Be sure to notice at each board meeting how (un)evenly the "rules" are applied. At least she stopped drumming her fingers on her desk as the clock ran out on a speaker. No one commented on just how rude that was.

Thanks to whoever ordered and installed a timer on the podium so that the speaker could see the time remaining.

Back to SEL. Read this article from School Reform News titled "Schools Spending Billions to Indoctrinate Kids with 'Social Emotional Learning'. Parents in West Hartford, Conn. are up in arms. Just like parents should be all over this country, including right here in Richland Two.

Step out of the "smoke" being blown at you. When Helen Grant and Teresa Holmes say, "We don't teach Critical Race Theory in Richland 2", they are right. "Theory" is not being taught. Now break it down into its elements. They don't talk about that. In fact, Helen Grant couldn't even define Critical Race Theory (CRT) for the board at a recent meeting. Imagine that. The chief of diversity, inclusion and equity couldn't even define CRT. And yet, the topic of her presentation was the Difference between CRT and culturally relevant teaching (crt). If you can't define something, how can you compare it with something else?

Why didn't seven board members stand up and cry out, "WHAT?" I know why four of them didn't. The other three were being polite.