Friday, February 4, 2022

Did Holmes like the 2/4/2022 training?

The best part of this morning's board training workshop was when Liz Guthridge, of Connect Consulting Group LLC, explained how Motions to pull items from the Consent Agenda are to be handled.

Not quite like Teresa Holmes handled them; that's for sure. Robert's Rules of Order only got about six minutes today. It should have gotten at least an hour, maybe 1½ hours, out of the time from 9:00AM to 12:30PM.

I wonder whether Teresa "got" the message. At that previous board meeting she was wrong. She was completely wrong to dictate and dominate the board meeting where she made the huge error in not letting the Minutes get corrected.

And the trainer this morning wasn't even correct in explaining it. Did anyone catch that?

The trainer referred to removing an item in the Minutes. That isn't the procedure. First you pull the Item from the Consent Agenda. After the Consent Agenda is voted on, then the pulled Item is discussed. During that discussion, the error in the Minutes would be discussed and corrected. And then that Item (the Minutes) would be voted on.

Lindsay Agostini had made a motion to remove the Item containing the Minutes from the Consent Agenda. It may or may not have required a second; Lindsay said it didn't, and the superintendent agreed (although I don't think he knew, for sure). And then Teresa shut it down without discussion or vote.

Lashonda McFadden was correct that, if the board approved the Consent Agenda without removing that Item (the Minutes), then it would be approving the entire Consent Agenda, and the board couldn't fix it. Today those Minutes are wrong!

Lindsay and Lashonda were right. Holmes and the superintendent were wrong. Isn't the Secretary supposed to understand RONR? Why didn't McKie speak up? (Hint: she'd have to contradict Holmes and Davis.)

Supt. Davis was wrong, when he said there were two motions on the floor. There was a Motion, and there was a Secondary Motion (Lindsay's). 

The trainer this morning said that any Board Member's motion to pull an item from the Consent Agenda should be approved. Note: this approval applies to removing the Item from the Consent Agenda, not approving the Item.

Does Teresa get to eat a little Humble Pie? Will she? Will she apologize, publicly, to Lindsay. Lashonda and the board for her error?

Pamela Davis' "story" to WIS-TV

 I just watched the WIS-TV coverage of "the incident" at R2i2 on January 25 again.

Having thought carefully about the events of that night and the sequence of them, I find Pamela Davis' recitation of them less than credible. Do you think she was highly coached before that softball interview? Where do you think that interview was conducted? Any chance it was at R2i2?

While I appreciated the opportunity to tell my story, I was disappointed when both the anchor and the reporter said I tried to introduce myself "to the superintendent's wife." That implies that I knew her or knew who she was.

When I spoke to Pamela Davis, I had no idea who she was. I was shocked by her outburst. I told the first R2 security officer that I didn't know who she was. When I spoke with the female deputy in the hallway, I told her I didn't know who the woman was. When the two R2 security officers came out into the hallway while I was speaking with the deputy, I told them that I didn't know who the woman was. One of them told me it was the superintendent's wife.

A-ha!!!

If Pamela Davis felt so intimidated, afraid, targeted, why did she sit down right behind where I was standing?

Maybe Supt. Davis takes too much "office" home with him. Did he tell her about emails he received at work? Why would he reveal school business to her? Did he tell her who had sent them? Isn't that improper release of school business, especially if he felt threatened by them.

Here's the WIS-TV story:

https://www.wistv.com/2022/01/28/r2-board-chair-says-there-will-be-no-special-meeting-following-tuesdays-verbal-altercation/

And, by the way, I wasn't escorted from the room or the building. I picked up my materials from my chair. Two security officers were standing there, staring into space. I started for the doorway and said, "Are you guys going to walk out with me?"  SNAP! Wake up, guys. They followed me out. And refused to identify themselves.

And the Holmes and Manning interviews with WIS-TV? They were improperly conducted in front of R2i2, which is school property. While Holmes might chair the privilege of speaking on behalf of the school board while on school property, Manning cannot. And once she mentioned "politics", she should have been shut down. He expressed his personal opinions. And he shouldn't do that on school property, right in front of R2i2, where viewers will believe he is speaking for the Board.

Worst Training I've Ever Observed

I succeeded in wasting the entire morning watching the training that was set up for the Richland 2 school board.

It was absolutely the WORST training that I have ever observed!

The trainer had watched some of the videos of board meetings. She had to have seen the chaos. THAT is what should have been addressed.

She did not spend enough time on Robert's Rules of Order.

The trainer was a "nice" person. She'll be invited back. Nothing was said about whether she will become the Parliamentarian for board meetings and how she will perform that duty. Maybe she won't be.

It's too bad that the District didn't hire a really strong, forceful trainer to come in and bang some heads. That is what was needed. Man or woman. My first thought was that a man should have conducted the training. Then I realized that at least three of the female board members would have gotten their feelings hurt.

I have known some strong female trainers. They would have read the Rules of the Road to the board about the things that it is doing wrong and must change.

This was a Powder Puff training. The District bought a book review, instead of a training.