Illegal Board Meeting on 1/25/2022 (Board Dinner)?

Did the Richland 2 School Board engage in an illegal board meeting on January 25th, before the two bruhahas that happened in the board room?

Now I understand why I was having difficulty determining how closely related in time were my contact with the woman who turned out to be the superintendent's wife, Pamela Davis, and the confrontation involving Pamela Davis with the 14-year-old student and then with Gary Ginn and the superintendent.

Based on information I received soon after the incidents, I believed that the confrontation created by Pamela Davis involving the student had occurred after the executive session. In fact, I have that information in writing.

Something said either in the media or at the board meeting mentioned a board appreciation dinner. When I heard that, I first believed that the dinner had occurred during the executive session which is normally held between 5:30-6:30PM.

When the board re-convened after the executive session, James Manning clarified the ending time of the executive session as 6:50PM. 

Something, somewhere, was said that the executive session was "contentious". I'll have to find that remark.

I noted a hesitation in Manning's comments that night (on the Livestream recording). I recall thinking that he was being careful, even evasive, how to word his comment.

Now I know why.

Did the Board hold an illegal meeting before 5:30PM? Is that when the board appreciation dinner was? If four board members gather in one place, that's a quorum. That's an official meeting. That meeting needs to be announced to the public at least 24 hours before it begins. There needs to be an agenda and Minutes. 

Even if it's "just" a dinner. Or attending a party (like the gathering at the Fort Jackson Commanding Officer's home last fall). The public is due Notice of a gathering of four or more board members. There is too much opportunity for discussing of business. The public is not there to witness it and to be certain that no official business is discussed.

It is critical that a public body (school board) appear every appearance of impropriety. Well, that's what some people think. How does the Richland 2 Board think?

I raised this issue previously with Richland 2, and the PR Department said the District does not have to give Notice of social gatherings. I wish I thought they were right. I don't.

When I was attending City Council meetings in Woodstock, Ill. before I moved to South Carolina, I never thought they would be such good training for understanding the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act. I attended a training for Appointed and Elected Officials that was conducted by the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. I was not an official and held my questions until the end of the meeting. After the meeting the women from the AG's office told me that my questions were better than any than had been asked by the offcials.