Trustees' Dream List

Here are some items I think the school board trustees should consider early in the remainder of the school year.

- Direct the superintendent to rescind the no-contact letter from his attorney to Trustee McFadden. She is an equal board member and deserves the same respect that all other board members should have from him.

- Start the 6:30PM meetings on time. The public is waiting. This may require better time-management in the executive session or a change in the number of items on its agenda. Adjourn at 6:20PM. Finish business in the second Executive Session.

- If the 6:30PM meeting will be delayed, have an announcement made as to the delay and the reason.

- The motion at 6:30PM should probably be to re-convene in open meeting, not end the executive session. Consult a Parliamentarian.

- Take roll call at 5:30PM and again at 6:30PM. Announce the presence of a quorum. If a trustee departs early, verbally note that for the record and state whether a quorum continues to be present.

- Direct the superintendent to reverse Libby Roof's decision (or whoever made it) to restrict District meeting recordings on Livestream and YouTube from the use of clipping software such as Vibby.

When I complained about the new block earlier this year, Mrs. Roof replied to me on March 29, 2022, "The district's media production team recently standardized the settings for all videos uploaded on the district's YouTube channel. This standardization ensures that, no matter which member of our team uploads a video to the district's channel, we will apply the Video Details settings consistently and in line with our best practices."

I'll refrain from expressing my honest reaction to that email. I realized it would be futile to try to persuade her otherwise. Either it was she who made the decision or the decision was made higher up. Vibby and similar tools allow the clipping of a segment of a recording. (It was very useful for calling attention to the antics of the former chair in the 2021-2022 school year.)

- Shorten the meetings. Work against an Ending Time; for example, 8:00PM Maximum!

- Reduce the number of staff members required to show up. If they need to know something from the meeting, they can be directed to the relevant portion of the meeting and can watch it on Livestream.

- Severely curtail the length of the dog-and-pony shows by the superintendent's staff.

- Re-title the Inspiration Moment to "Student Showcase". Last night's was good, but not inspirational. Establish a time-limit for that agenda item. 

- Determine the superintendent's role in board meetings. These are meetings of the Board. He is not a member of the Board.

What else should be on this list?

Handling the SCSBA Resolutions

At last night's school board meeting (11/29/2022) one of the Agenda items was a list of 34 Proposed Resolutions to be voted on this week-end by Richland Two's two appointed delegates to the South Carolina School Boards Association meeting.

The whole process could have been simple and direct. The Chair might have said, "I would like a motion to authorize the delegates to vote Yes in favor of each Proposed Resolution. Do I have a motion?"

A trustee could have said, "So moved."

A second trustee could have said, "Second."

The Chair then would have called for Discussion.

Trustee Scott could have said, "I move to remove Resolutions 1 & 2." Trustee McFadden could have said, "I move to remove Resolutions 14 & 15." 

If no trustee wanted other Proposed Resolutions removed, then the board would have voted on all the Proposed Resolutions except 1, 2, 14, 15.

Then the board could have discussed and voted on #1; then #2; then #14; then #15.

The four new board members may have had little exposure to parliamentary procedures, but the others have 2-10 years' experience. 

But they got through it. 

Did you observe the superintendent's demeanor during the opening at 5:30PM and during much of the board meeting? You can see it on the recorded meeting at  https://livestream.com/richland2/events/10692311/videos/233986166. 

He made little or no effort to assist or coach Chair Agostini. The brief opening of the initial session starts playing at 05:34. The board had to re-do the motion to enter executive session to correct the wording of the motion. The recording of the Regular Session begins at 1:19:36

I think he'd be well advised to lose the attitude and get past the last four years of dislike for Lindsay Agostini. He no longer controls the board and no longer has a board that will give him whatever he wants. He will be accountable to the board in ways quite different from the past four years. He should seriously consider shaping up or shipping out.

Board Meeting - Tues., Nov. 29

The next school board meeting will be this Tuesday, November 29, 2022, at 6:30PM at R2i2. An Executive Session will be held at 5:30PM; the public cannot observe it (or view it online). I think we can now expect meetings to be in the regular board room on the first floor, with normal, side-by-side seating.

Social-distancing seating seems to gone out the door with the old board members.

Check out the agenda. Let's hope the new board takes control of meetings, works against an Ending Time of, say, 8:00PM, and cuts off lengthy staff reports that eat up large blocks of time.

Remember to sign up to speak! Do this electronically. Go to the District's homepage.

Click on EXPLORE (top right)

Click on School Board

Scroll down and click on PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Be sure to click Next at the bottom of the page and complete the second page, so that your registration to speak is complete.

Change for the Sake of Change?

The District has engaged in unnecessary busywork by revising the Board Member page (as of 11/22/2022) on the District's website and moving a board member's email address to a second page.

This change already affects board members Agostini, McFadden and Scott. Now, instead of seeing the email address under the photo, a viewer sees a title and "About (board member)".

If you click on the About link, you go to the next page, which is a bio, the email address and a phone number. Email addresses for the new board members are shown, pending development of their biographical sketches.

Phone numbers for Board members should not even be listed on the website. Plus the I.G. has recommended District telephones, not personal phones for official business.

Considering how much time it takes for a board member to answer the phone, listen to someone's complaint or comment, and then do something about it, board members must work many hours every week performing non-executive duties.

If a board member receives an email from a parent or community member, it is easy and quick to forward that email to the superintendent to handle.

Of course, it would be more efficient to forward it to a staff member who could do something about it and copy the superintendent, but board policy is to communicate with the superintendent, not directly with staff.

A dumb bottleneck decision, but that's it for the time-being.

Hear ye. Hear ye. Could you hear last night?

I know I have some hearing loss, but I'm not deaf (yet). Last night I forgot to ask for a hearing device, and so I heard little of the meeting. I wondered why those on the board were not instructed to speak directly into their microphones and why their voices could not be heard throughout the room. Or could they?

Lindsay Agostini was absent last night and did not attend telephonically. 

I watched the Livestream replay this morning. The first part of the livestream recording was the swearing-in ceremony, and the Special-Called Board meeting begins at 36:45 on 

https://livestream.com/richland2/events/10680159/videos/233869004

Due to the fact that none of the past officers is now on the board, the meeting was called to order by the senior board member, Trustee Monica Scott. After reading the names of the new board members and who had administered their oaths of office, Trustee Scott skipped Item 2.1 on the agenda, which was Approval of the Agenda. That was the first item and necessary before proceeding. However, she first asked for a Motion to suspend Board Policy BD for this meeting only.

Hopefully, the Board will adopt the procedure used by the Richland County Council to speed along a meeting. When the chair calls for a motion (for example, to suspend Policy BD for this meeting), then all that another board member needs to say is "So moved" and another board member says "Second". There is no need to expand the Motion.

The Motion can be explained during discussion, if any. This shortens the handling of the Motion and makes the job of the recording secretary much easier. 

Trustee Scott began to proceed to the election of board members, but the superintendent interrupted to suggest that the suspension of Policy BD should be only for that meeting. That had been covered in Trustee Scott's request but not in the motion as made by Trustee McFadden. The limitation was added.

Then the superintendent spoke on the record that the board needed to approve the agenda for the meeting. (He could have coached Trustee Scott directly (whispering), unless he was following State law and Robert's Rules of Order that everything said in a meeting is to be audible to all board members and to the public.). The vote should have been read as "6 Yes, 1 Not Present at Vote. Motion passed."

Then Trustee Scott called for a Motion "to second", but what was needed was a Motion to approve the agenda. Trustee McFadden made the motion, and a female voice could be heard seconding it. The chair did not state who seconded the motion. The chair called for the vote, and the displayed version of the motion indicated that Trustee Niki Porter had seconded it.

The recording secretary had failed to include Lindsay Agostini's name in the voting list. Because she was absent, a "1" should have been entered in "Not Present at Vote." All seven voting positions should be accounted for.

Item 3.1 was addressed again, with Trustee McFadden reading the long motion and Trustee Angela Nash seconding. The vote was 6-0-0-0 (Yes-No-Abstain-Not Present at Vote).

The chair passed the meeting to the superintendent for the election of officers. The following officers were elected:

Chair - Lindsay Agostini

Vice Chair- Monica Scott

Secretary - Angela Nash

For Item 3.3 a female board member, who did not request recognition by the chair, asked if more than one Delegate could be certified to the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCSBA), and the superintendent stated two delegates and one alternate could be certified. Trustees McFadden and Porter were nominated as Delegates and Trustee Joe Trapp was nominated as Alternate Delegate. 

The result was achieved, but the process was a mess. The presiding chair read what should have been the motion and then asked for a second (without having asked for a Motion). She called for the vote and then remembered to ask for discussion. The Motion was actually incorrect, because it called for McFadden and Porter to be approved to serve as "a delegate"; it should have read "delegates". The vote was 6-0-0-0.

The final item was the nomination of a board member to serve as the SCSBA Region 8 Director. Trustee Scott was nominated. 

Frankly speaking, she should have declined and allowed another board member to serve in that position. As Vice Chair, she'll have plenty of duties, one of which will be to brush up on her role as back-up to Chair Lindsay Agostini for running a meeting.

The last item was to adjourn the meeting. Trustee Scott asked for a motion to adjourn, which was made by Trustee McFadden. There was no request for a Second, discussion or vote. 

Monday's Schedule - Ceremony & Meeting

Don't be misled by the published Agenda for Monday's Special-Called Board Meeting. On Monday, November 21, 2022, at R2i2:

5:30PM Swearing-in of four new board members.

6:00PM Special-Called Board Meeting.

What's the Deal in Richland 2?

FoxNews reported today on Tucker Carlson's interview with a 14-year-old girl in Randolph, Vermont who complained about a biological male in the girls' changing room after a volleyball game. See the print article here.

So what happens in Richland 2 schools? Are there policies or rules that apply to use of bathroom or changing rooms by boys and girls? Are there policies or rules that apply to "respecting" others? Are boys allowed in girls' changing rooms?

What about bathrooms in the schools?

At R2i2 I was surprised before one board meeting to see a communal bathroom at the back of the first floor.  The sign on the wall of a previously "Women" bathroom had been changed to a - what would call it - communal bathroom?

Has a man ever used that bathroom?

What does "all gender" mean? 

According to Women's Health magazine, there are 16. See the list here.

Oath-of-Office Date Changed

The four new school board members will be sworn in on Monday, November 21, 2022 at 5:30PM at R2i2.

The date was changed from November 18, because State law dictates that the term-of-office for a newly-elected board member must start one week following certification of the election. 

Because of last Friday's recount and that it did end until the early morning hours, and because Certification was announced about 10:30AM on Saturday, the new trustees could not be sworn in on this Friday.

The District is updating its website.

No Ethics Decision on McKie yet

On October 20th the S.C. Ethics Commission held a hearing on Amelia McKie's violation of omitting her Richland 2 income in 2020 from her 2021 Statement of Economic Interest Report (SEI). The complaint was filed in October 2021.

In April 2022 the Commission announced that there was Probable Cause and a hearing was scheduled for June. On the day before that hearing, McKie called the Commission and told them she thought she had been exposed to COVID. The hearing was re-scheduled to October 20.

On October 20, 2022, a panel of three Commissioners heard the complaint and testimony from McKie. The Hearing Chair announced that the Decision would likely be announced in two weeks. That would have been by November 3rd. It still has not been announced.

Today I learned that Decisions and Orders must be announced within 60 days of a hearing. Ho-hum.

What is there to decide? McKie had failed to report her 2020 income. After she was notified of the Complaint, she filed an amended SEI and reported that income.

The hearing actually could have been quite short.

Q. 1 How much did you earn from Richland 2 in 2020?

A. $9,600

Q. 2. Did you report it, when you filed your SEI?

A. No.

Decision? Liable. (Guilty!)

Fine: Dollar cost of investigation ($550?) and penalty ($100?). Pay up.

And, no, we are not going to just add it to the $57,100 you already owe.

Recount done - Certification expected today (Nov. 12)

According to posts on Facebook, the Richland County Elections Commission completed its recount at about 1:30AM today, and Joe Trapp remains the 4th place winner of votes in the November 8th school board election.

Joe Trapp   12,500 votes (9.78%)

T. Holmes  11,995 votes (9.38%)

The official result and Certification are expected to be announced at 10:30AM.

Will today's Certification affect the November 18th Special-Called Board Meeting? The four new members of the board do not begin their terms-of-office until one week after the Certification of the election.

S.C. Code of Laws Section 59-19-315. "Commencement of trustee's term of office. The term of office of every elected trustee of a school district must commence one week following the certification of his election."

Several Facebook pages were blowing up yesterday with wild, chaotic posts. Civility and respect seemed to be thrown out the window by some.

This country has been consumed by complaints of election fraud in recent years.

Right here in Richland County we witnessed action by the Election Commission to carry out its duty. The recount was apparently triggered by a Mandatory Recount law: S.C. Code of Laws Section 7-17-280.

SECTION 7-17-280. Mandatory recounts.

Whenever the difference between the number of votes received by a candidate who has been declared nominated for an office in a primary election or who has been declared elected to an office in a general election and the number of votes received by any other candidate or candidate not declared so nominated or elected or whenever the difference between the number of votes received by a candidate who received the least number of votes to qualify for a runoff election and a candidate or candidates who did not so qualify shall be not more than one percent of the total votes which were cast for such office therein, the committee or board charged by law with canvassing such votes shall order a recount of such votes to be made forthwith unless such other candidate or candidates shall waive a recount in writing.

Whenever the difference between the number of votes cast in favor of and opposed to any constitutional amendment, question or other issue is not more than one percent of the total cast thereon, the Board of State Canvassers shall order a recount of such votes to be made forthwith."

Complaints on Facebook included that Holmes had not waived the recount, but I don't think anyone knew, for sure, that she had not.

But why should she have done so? I would not have. If the recount was mandated by State law and I thought it might give me a win, I definitely would not have waived it. Would you have?

Congratulations to Joe Trapp. He'll be an asset on the school board.

For my part, I'm glad Holmes did not make the Top Four. I wish she had come in 12th. Or 13th. Much of the disrespect, unprofessionalism, and failure to lead were caused by her presence on the board. I have saved all the snarky and rude emails she sent me over the years. Maybe I'll write a book.

I.G. Report - Holmes' name - how many times???

Do you know how many times Teresa Holmes' name appears in the Report from the South Carolina Inspector General?

92!

That's ninety-two. NINETY-TWO times.

Go to the Report at 

https://oig.sc.gov/sites/oig/files/Documents/Reports/2022/Inspector_General's_Investigation_of_Richland_School_District_Two.pdf

Press (Control + F) for "Find" and enter Holmes in the Search window.

Her name is in the Report 92 times!

Teresa Holmes' last threat?

I have lost track of the number of times that Teresa Holmes has threatened to sic her lawyer on me. I think she never went to a lawyer. If she had done so, she would have been told that she didn't have a leg to stand on.

Now read this message from the soon-to-be former person who was allowed to sit on the Richland 2 school board during the 2018-2022 term-of-office. At 7:42PM on November 9th Teresa dispatched this missile (err, missive) to me:

"Slander may cost you now Mr. Philpot.  I suggest you watch what you say."

Does that sound like a threat to you? I do know that I'll keep at least four feet between us, if she is wearing all those heavy metal rings on her fingers.

Should I hot-foot it to the sheriff's department and have her arrested? What prompted this?

On Wednesday I emailed a number of people at Richland 2 who are in the food chain for FOIA, Open Records laws, preservation of official communications, etc. I wrote:

With the imminent departure of Manning, Holmes, McKie and Caution-Parker from the Richland 2 School Board, will you please make absolutely certain that no official emails are deleted from District-server accounts before or after their departure? When the new school board term starts on November 18, their accounts should be password-locked.

Teresa Holmes used a personal GMail account (docholmesschoolboard2@gmail.com) for official business since her election in 2018. She used that account as if she had been a legitimate Trustee, although she never took the oath-of-office legally. That GMail account should be preserved and under the control of Richland School District Two, to secure your ability to respond to any future FOIA requests made to the District.

Please acknowledge this message and let me know what steps the District will take to preserve its control over these email accounts.

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

Perhaps there is a lawyer, somewhere on the planet, who can point out to Teresa that nowhere in my message was she "slandered".

My guess? Richland 2 will not demand control over all the official Richland 2 communications in her GMail account. Will that cause a problem in the future for Richland 2?

James Manning replied to my email that Teresa has had a Richland2.org email address "from day one". Oh, really? Why didn't the District publish it, instead of her personal GMail address and require her to use it? Because she is "special"? Privileged? Why? It was available to staff, but not to the general public. 

Why did the District wait until the IG's Report was released to take down her personal email address and publish her District email address?

Ma

R2 Recount - Nov. 11?

A recount of votes in the November 8th Richland 2 school board election is scheduled to start today. Will it? November 11th is a Federal holiday. Will that affect the State of S.C. and the Richland County Elections Commission?

Rumors are flying that a person on the ballot requested the recount, but is that true?

I found this on the popular website called Ballotpedia.

Q. Can a recount be requested?

A.  Recounts may not be requested in this state.

I could not easily find a Statute that pertains to requests for a recount.

I did find this South Carolina law about mandatory recounts. S.C. Code of Laws SECTION 7-17-280. Mandatory recounts.

Whenever the difference between the number of votes received by a candidate who has been declared nominated for an office in a primary election or who has been declared elected to an office in a general election and the number of votes received by any other candidate or candidate not declared so nominated or elected or whenever the difference between the number of votes received by a candidate who received the least number of votes to qualify for a runoff election and a candidate or candidates who did not so qualify shall be not more than one percent of the total votes which were cast for such office therein, the committee or board charged by law with canvassing such votes shall order a recount of such votes to be made forthwith unless such other candidate or candidates shall waive a recount in writing.

Whenever the difference between the number of votes cast in favor of and opposed to any constitutional amendment, question or other issue is not more than one percent of the total cast thereon, the Board of State Canvassers shall order a recount of such votes to be made forthwith.

I added the highlight to make understanding easier. But what is the 1% rule? 

The "1% Rule" is pretty easy to apply if there are only two contenders for a position? But how does it apply in a "Vote for Four" race?

The term-of-office for a new school board begins one week after the election is certified. If the election is certified today (Nov. 11), then the presently-scheduled Special Called Board Meeting on November 18th will hold; otherwise, that Special Called Meeting will have to be re-scheduled, and the swearing-in of the four elected persons will be delayed. Watch www.Richland2.org for the valid date. Check the time, which may have to be clarified.

could delay certification, thus delay installation of new boamembers

Holmes' Car Rental, April 2022 - - $807.30

When Teresa Holmes went to the April 2022 National School Boards Association conference in San Diego, she rented a car at District expense. She rented a white Dodge Grand Caravan.

The hotel was 4.0 miles from the airport.

The conference center was 0.2 miles from the hotel.

Why would she rent a car, when she could have taken a shuttle or a taxi (or Uber or Lyft)?

The first day of rental was Friday, April 1.

The conference was April 2-4 (Saturday-Monday).

The car was due to be returned April 5.

Was the car rental really for personal use?

The basic 5-day rental was $227.00.

The "other" charges were $360.30. *

Total - $587.30

In addition, the District paid $220 for the car to be parked at the hotel. The cost was $55.00 for overnight valet parking each night.

At a recent school board meeting she made a big deal out of telling other board members and the public that she had gotten pre-approval to rent a car so that she could provide transportation to other other members. 

But did she? At least two of the other four board members, and possibly a third, did not know she had even rented a car.

The return mileage was not shown on her receipt. How many miles did she drive after meeting hours? Wasn't that personal use?

Was it reasonable and necessary for her to rent a car? Did the car remain parked most of the time? If she used it at night or on Friday or Tuesday for other than from or to the airport, that was personal use.

* The "other" charges were

$120.00 Upgrade

$  99.96 Collision Damage Waiver

$  50.10 Airport Concession Fee

$  15.64 CA Tourism Fee

$  36.00 Airport CFC

$    3.96 Vehicle License Fee

$  34.64 Sales Tax

$360.30

Did the District ask Teresa to pay for the Upgrade?

Does the District have a blanket damage waiver for rental cars that could have been used to skip that $99.96?

The entire $807.30 ($587.30 + $220.00) was a waste of District money.

But she ought to end up paying for all of it, because she was $2,529.27 over her $7,000 travel/training allowance, and the District should collect ALL of that from her.

Trustee Monica Scott - new email address

The District has finally created a District-server email address for Monica Scott. Her official email address is monicaescott@richland2.org

How many months ago (years?) did I urge the District to do that? Two years? Three?

Having all official emails on the District's server is essential under public records laws. As I wrote then, one day in the future that trustee (or trustees, as the case was, because Teresa Holmes also used a personal gmail address) would no longer be in office, whether by death, resignation, completion of term, failure to be re-elected, retirement, etc.

And then, very recently, the State Inspector General's Report was released, and bingo! Monica now has a District email address.

Why didn't the District just use common sense when the suggestion was made way back then? 

The District created an official email address for Teresa Holmes earlier this year, but it allowed her to continue to use her gmail address and published it on the District's website. I guess the District just couldn't figure out how to say NO to Teresa. Was the "equity" at work? Or "privilege"?

That personal email address has now been removed from the Board Member webpage.

Maybe Richland 2 will create a Wall for me at R2i2 and recognize me for the highest number of good suggestions submitted - and never considered or implemented.

And the Winners Are ...

Congratulations to the winners of the Richland 2 school board election!

Angela Nash, 14.06%, 17975 votes

Tamika Schuler Washington, 13.32%, 17022 votes

Niki Porter, 10.35%, 13324 votes

Joe Trapp, 9.78%, 12504 votes

They join Lindsay Agostini, Monica Scott and Lashonda McFadden as Trustees.

Assuming that the Richland County Elections Commission certifies the vote by November 11th, these four will be sworn in as Trustees at the special-called board meeting on November 18, 2022, at 5:30PM, at R2i2. 

The District began complying with State law in 2020, after disregarding it for ten years and installing newly-elected board members one week after the election. The law is that the term-of-office begins one week after the election is certified.

After these four are sworn in and seated, the full board will need to elect officers for the balance of the School Year (to June 30, 2023). All current officers will have left the board.

Your "board member on the move" - You know who.

From the Report of the State Inspector General, Page 43:

"Board member discussion of parental involvement

"The SIG identified derisive comments among Board member text messages. This was especially true in a group text message among Board members McKie, Manning, Caution-Parker and Holmes for the period of 6/14/22 – 8/5/22. 

"An example of the Board members’ disregard for the parents of District students occurred on 6/16/22 and the inaction of safety and security ad hoc committee chaired by Board member Scott. At 8:17 on 6/16/22, Dr. Holmes group messaged: 

“That's why I said in Exec. Let's just push forward. We do not need parents to decide. I think to let them fill [sic] involved we simply hold a parent only input meeting no committee members from them. That way they all were heard but we are moving on.”

The I.G. did not comment at this point on the illegality of such a group text involving four members of the school board. That's a majority of the board, although not a quorum (five).

Holmes clearly reveals her position that parents are not important. Just throw them a bread crumb and consider them fed. 

Teresa Holmes holds the record for the most-mentioned school board member in the Report. Her name appears 92 times.

R2 Response to I.G. Report

I shall begin reading the State Inspector General's Report on Richland 2 tomorrow.

However, this evening I did read Richland 2's response to the Report.

That response of the District is the biggest pile of horse manure in the USA. It's typical double-speak, deflection and diminishing tof he huge problems in Richland 2, from the Administration's leader right through the majority of the board. You know whom I mean: Holmes, McKie, Manning and Caution-Parker.

Good riddance to McKie, Manning and Caution-Parker. The District will be so much better off if Holmes joins them in their exit. They didn't quite make it out the door before the Report was released.

Those who have been following the incredible decline in reputation of Richland 2 over the past four years know exactly who is responsible for it. The Core Four, the cabal of Holmes, McKie, Manning and Caution-Parker, ruled with a lock on decisions.

If I had offered them the winning numbers for a $1.3 Billion Lottery, those four would have voted against accepting them. 

Inspector General report released

The S.C. Inspector General has released his report, according to The P:ost and Courier. Read the newspaper article here:

https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/news/state-inspector-finds-board-dysfunction-undermining-columbia-area-school-district/article_30315bf2-5bb5-11ed-9c88-877dae5e94cb.html

Just read the article. So much wrong in it. Now to find the Report itself and see whether the Report is as described in the newspaper article.

More comments to follow.

[Edited 11/4/2022] Here is the full report on the Inspector General's website:

https://oig.sc.gov/sites/oig/files/Documents/Reports/2022/Inspector_General's_Investigation_of_Richland_School_District_Two.pdf

James Manning likes to deflect

Don't miss today'a article in The State newspaper about James Manning's attack on Lashonda McFadden over a $425 hotel upgrade and pet fee in September. 

What is the real purpose behind Manning's public attack? Is he trying to support Holmes in her re-election bid?

I believe McFadden's Atlanta conference was in early September. The District received reimbursement on October 19.

It is preposterous to think that a trustee traveling on school business must beg for advance permission to upgrade her room. The upgrade is a personal expense, and that is to be reimbursed to the District. The District got its money.

Manning is pretending to be Mr. Important, rather than just letting the District handle the collection of the money. Hasn't he got anything better to do with his time?

He sent me a long email about this matter. He never should have gone into all the detail that he did. 

I posted the following comment to The State's article:

"What in the world is OUTGOING board member and chair James Manning's crusade against Lashonda McFadden all about? NO pre-approval is needed for upgrades. The District got its money on October 19 for McFadden's Atlanta trip early in September. His complaint is merely deflection. If Manning wants to get all hot and bothered, he should go after Teresa Holmes for the $3,000 that she over-spent on travel & training in School Year 2021-2022. Holmes' car rental receipt from April has been requested (FOIA) from Richland 2. If she rented the car for ferrying other board members around in San Diego, you'd think she would have told them about it at the time. Holmes spent $807.30 on car rental and parking, so she wouldn't have to take a shuttle to the hotel that was 4.0 miles from the airport."

Manning's blustering is a deflection from the fact that Teresa Holmes owes about $3,000 to the District for exceeding her travel and training allowance in 2021-2022. 

The DEI Disaster

 

Watch this new PragerU video, just released yesterday (Oct. 31, 2022).

When the next DEI meeting is announced at Richland 2 or at your business, insist on five minutes for this video.

Email it to every teacher and administrator at Richland 2 and ask them to watch it and give you their opinion. Here's the PragerU link:    https://www.prageru.com/video/the-dei-disaster or just use the Share button on the PragerU.com website under the video.

Christian Watson gets it exactly right!

Leevy Johnson - a volunteer coach, not employee

It took three requests, but I finally got an answer from Richland 2 about whether Chris Leevy Johnson is a Richland 2 employee.

My first request was through the Let's Talk functionality to Ridge View High School. Ridge View did not respond.

My second request was made after I reported an unsatisfactory result from the Let's Talk program. A woman called from the District and said she'd get me the answer, but it didn't come.

An answer came quickly to my third request, in which I mentioned a FOIA Request would follow if I didn't get an answer.

This answer came:

"Mr. Johnson is a volunteer coach with the Ridge View High School football team. He is not an employee of Richland School District Two nor is Mr. Johnson a chaplain for RVHS or any school. For any adult associated with a team to lead students in prayer anywhere, it would be student-initiated, i.e. a student request for a person to lead a prayer, and anyone who would join in the prayer would do so of their own volition."

What prompted my inquiry? I think it was back in early June when Johnson posted on Facebook that he had started "his job" at Ridge View the day before.

Ridge View Football cheating scandal - your thoughts?

What are your thoughts about the football team cheating scandal at Ridge View High School.

The South Carolina High School League appellate panel determined yesterday that at least one player was not a RVHS resident. That was enough to cost the Blazers all their wins in the entire season.

The panel did not hear the other two players' residency questions.

Read Coach Rosefield's l-o-n-g message dated yesterday, after the SCHSL decision. You won't even know what happened, or why, if all you do is read his message.

Here are some of the questions I've been asked by the Richland 2 community?

Who is the District's unlicensed private investigator?

Who paid for them?

Who authorized having a district employee follow a student?

Have they done this before?

Are they following teachers?

Why wasn’t Davis at the meeting?

Why wasn’t the “investigator” at the meeting?

Who will be held responsible?  The Superintendent? The Asst. Superintendent Suber?  The principal?  The AD? The Coach?

Who is paying for all those lawyers?

Post your own additional questions below. Some of mine are:

- How long has Richland 2 Administration known about this?

- Is the "private investigator" actually an employee in the Safety/Security Department of Richland 2? 

- Where was the breakdown after a football star at a private school outside the District transfers to Ridge View in his senior year?

- Why were there rumors that Ridge View was "recruiting"?

- What did the superintendent know, and when did he know it? 

- Was information held back from the supt., so that he'd have plausible deniability?

And post answers below to any of these questions.

What Does the US Flag mean to you?

(Click  on the Watch on YouTube link.)

Today I received an email with this video in it. Master Sergeant Ray Benavidez delivers a great message.

Watch it and pass it on.

There are other videos on YouTube of Medal of Honor recipient, M/Sgt. Benavidez.