At 7:52PM I bailed out, when the superintendent began his Highlights.
The board was late starting the public session, which commenced at 6:39PM (after ending at 6:31PM, according to trustee-elect McKie's motion. Extreme discourtesy is shown to those attending in person and virtually, when the board runs late in its executive sessions without any message or apology to the public.
Once again, the Inspirational Moment was a performance, and it was not inspiring. McKie's introduction seemed more like an audition for Toastmasters. All she needed to do was introduce the Moment. Same with following the Moment. Thank those who were involved and move right into the Pledge of Allegiance.
Trustee-elect and acting Chair Holmes announced a Special-Called Board Meeting for Thursday, April 28, 2022, 4:30PM at R2i2 to address safety and security issues, in consideration of TWO guns having been confiscated at Blythewood High School this week.
Holmes lost her place several times in the agenda. Maybe she would work better with a printed agenda and then check off what has been completed.
Holmes read Consultant Liz Guthridge's report on the two Executive Coaching sessions. Holmes couldn't even read the whole thing coherently. She stumbled many times while trying to read the report. You'd think that an educator with the 35 years' experience (to which she referred tonight) would have learned to pronounce "asks" by now; it's not "aks". The first executive session must have been a wing-dinger, based on the comments by board members after that report was read. The claws must have come out during the executive session, and they were still out. Trustees Agostini and Scott were right. Those two training sessions provided little or no value.
Trustee Scott asked what the cost was for those "trainings". My estimate? $13,000. ($8,000 for the trainer plus $5,000 for the trustees plus staff time to prepare and set-up) Another businessman and I watched them. Almost NO value.
Chaos reigned supreme when the Board tried to discuss forming a committee. It should have been a three-minute discussion. Instead, it went on and on, and it was clear that most on the board had no idea what the purpose of a committee is. And then Holmes made a HUGE and DISRESPECTFUL error when she referred to Christine (Christine Lewis, the Special Assistant to the School Board?) as "my girl". Ms. Lewis is NOT Holmes' "girl". She is an administrative assistant to the entire seven-member school board.
And then, as the Executive Coaching Update ended, Holmes announced it was time to move on to Item 9.1, Executive Coaching. "Oh, no. We just did that..."
McKie made several unnecessary and inappropriate comments during the first portion of the meeting, including her comment when voting on the Committee was underway. Trustee Agostini raised a Point-of-Order, but Holmes allowed McKie to continue. There's The Core Four for you. Sticking together.
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