Several people went into the attack mode against Lindsay Agostini in her run for S.C. Senate District 35 over the Release Time issue. Many of the comments were libelous. She probably won't spend money to drag the liars into court. If she did, I'd certainly kick in some money for her expenses..
The people with loud voices and pens dripping venom don't understand (and don't want to understand) exactly what happened at the last school board meeting that addressed Release Time.
Release Time for Religious Education was on the agenda as a Discussion-Only item. No vote could be taken that night to approve or disapprove of the item. All the Trustees knew that (or should have known that).
Trustee Agostini made a motion to remove that item from the agenda. Her reasoning was well-based. All that the motion did was remove the item from that night's agenda. Nothing else!
Before* the vote to remove it, Board Chair Joe Trapp announced that the vote to remove the item from the agenda would effectively kill Release Time. He was wrong. He should have been challenged on the spot, but he wasn't.
Release Time could have been right back on the agenda of the very next board meeting. But it wasn't, and I don't think it has been on an agenda since then.
But there are rumors that some trustees want to resurrect it. Will they?
The terms-of-office of three school board members (Trustees Agostini, McFadden, and Scott) expire this November. (The terms of Trustees Nash, Porter, Trapp, and Washington run until November 2026.)
The filing period for Richland County school board elections is August 1-15, 2024. Who will be filing to run for Richland 2 Trustee?
* [Edited 7/21/2024] The original blogpost read "After the vote to remove it ..."