Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Sign up? Show up!

If you sign up to speak during Public Participation, then show up.

Whose brainchild was the electronic advance registration system? Did that person anticipate no-shows? How many times have speakers failed to approach the the microphones after their names were called?

Should registered speakers have to "check in" upon arrival? Can you still register in-person before 6:15PM?

If you change your mind, notify the Assistant to the Board, Christine Lewis, at chrislewis@richland2.org

Cancellation is a common courtesy to the board and to the public.

5:46:00 Trainwreck

The Livestream recording of last night's board meeting was 5:46:00; that's FIVE hours 46 minutes from  the beginning of the executive session to adjournment.

Subtract one hour (5:30-6:30pm), and the board went at it for four hours 46 minutes - about three hours longer than they should have.

I bailed the first time at about 6:55PM, after the super-long Inspirational "Moment". (How long is a "moment"?)

When the Minutes are incorrect, you don't approve them with known errors. You pull the Minutes from the Consent Agenda, approve the remainder of the Consent Agenda, move to correct them, and then approve them. 

Somebody made a motion "to move..." or moved to make a motion. Please! Looks like the written version of the Minutes was cleaned up, because I couldn't spot that this morning. But it's in the recording.

I returned later for the public participation. The "I Love Baron" group was certainly there. The woman who bashed Lashonda should have been interrupted and admonished. Board Policy BEDH is clear; it prohibits "any expression of personal complaints about individual school personnel or any other person connected with the school system." Lashonda is clearly a protected person.

That woman was careful to avoid reference to Teresa Holmes' taunting and baiting of Lashonda and the continual disrespect Holmes had demonstrated toward Lashonda for months. Teresa and she must be friends.

Board members must learn Robert's Rules of Order. When a Motion is under discussion, board member comments must be germane to the Motion. Bringing up the kitchen sink was out-of-order and should have been stopped.

The Public is clamoring for the board to "take action" and act on their campaign promises. The board must resist that pressure and conduct the business before them.

If meetings continue like last night's, the I.G. will probably investigate further!

Was there something about a committee of the board (three members) trying to agree on planning future agendas with the superintendent? Remember when a committee was formed to design a horse? What did they end up with?