When is the next meeting?

From the Richland 2 School District website at 6:12PM on May 9, 2019.

BOARD MEETINGS

Upcoming Meeting:

   Tuesday, April 30, 2019
   Regularly Schedule Meeting

I wonder why the date wasn't changed on May 1st. The next meeting will be Tuesday, May 14.

Do you think it's a "Regularly Schedule Meeting"?

Any grammarians here?

The Voice on board's bond documents

You'll want to read slowly the entire article on this week's The Independent Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County. Don't miss it. To go straight to it, click here.

Reporter Michael Smith dug further into the question and got quotes from two trustees on the Richland 2 school board. I can imagine he had some good questions for the superintendent, but Smith wrote "District Superintendent Dr. Baron Davis couldn’t be reached for comment."

Will the Board ever find out how, exactly, the fancy wording got added to the bond documents?

It's the Administration that brought the documents to the Board. It's the Administration that needs to be under the microscope. And the grilling should be in public, not hidden away in Executive Session and not swept under the rug.

Thank goodness that Mrs. Agostini had the insight and the integrity to examine carefully what she was being asked to sign.

There is much more to be written and said about this. And it will be.

"these ones"

Don’t read the comments – except these ones! Introducing The State’s new comment section

Do you have a student in Richland 2 schools? Ask your student about this headline on the website today of TheState.com

I have never, until today, seen "these ones" in print. For me, "never" is many, many years.

Ask your student. Is this proper English? If so, why? If not, why?

Have a teachable moment today around the dinner table.

NOTE: By 7:45PM The State had corrected the title.

Next school board meeting 5/14/19

The next Richland 2 School Board Regular Meeting will be Tuesday, May 14, 2019.

The Richland 2 webpage for the Upcoming Meeting still shows the April 30th meeting. That should have been changed on May 1st.

Unless something changes, the meeting will start at 6:30PM, after the one-hour Executive Session that often precedes a Regular Meeting.

The agenda for a meeting is often published on the Thursday preceding a meeting, and it must be published not later than the Friday before a meeting. This is to give the public adequate Notice of a meeting and the expected contents of the meeting.

Lately the Board has been inundated with many requests for Board Policy revisions. There have been so many that I wonder how Board Members can properly consider and evaluate the requests. And it's one of the reasons that the meetings have turned into marathons.

There are other reasons; ex., lengthy Inspirational Moments; lengthy segments of recognition; lengthy posturing during discussion; lengthy, unexplained and inexcusable delays during electronic voting. Electronics are supposed to speed things up!

These are all things in control of the people running the meeting; i.e., the superintendent and the chair.

4/23/19 Meeting Video-recording?

When will the video-recording of the Special Meeting of the Richland 2 School Board (April 23, 2019, 5:30PM) be posted on YouTube and on the District's website?

At this meeting there was a lengthy presentation about the budget and then a discussion of revisions to many Board Policies.

One week later, at the April 30th Board's Regular Meeting, when Trustee Lindsay Agostini resigned as Board Secretary, she mentioned a workshop and board documents that she was unwilling to sign as Secretary.

The workshop and the Special Meeting should have been recorded. But was it?

That was the night when the Board was seated in a special configuration of tables in the middle of the room. The audience was relegated to chairs against a wall, at some distance from the board members and speakers, making it very difficult to hear.

I remember anticipating that the Special Meeting would turn into a marathon, and I left shortly after 6:30PM. I should have stuck around.

In thinking more about Mrs. Agostini's April 30th resignation statement, I wondered whether there was discussion on April 23 about the bond documents that needed signatures.

Were the contents of the documents discussed?

Were the documents sent to all Board members before the April 23 meeting, so that they would have time to read and understand them and prepare their questions and comments?

Was there a Resolution introduced and voted on that would authorize the Chair and the Secretary of the Board to sign those documents on behalf of the District?

Are there Minutes of the April 23, 2019 Special Meeting?

Allow teachers to be armed

In the State of Florida a pending bill to allow teachers to be armed is on its way to the Governor. By now it may even have been signed.

This May 2, 2019 article on www.npr.org reports that both the Florida Senate and the Florida House passed it. Only Florida Governor Ron DeSantis needs to sign it.

In February 2018 I addressed the Richland 2 School Board on school safety and asked for a survey of parents, teachers, staff and community members on the issue of allowing teachers to be armed.

Notice the phrasing of my request. It was for a survey.

I think the temperature in the room dropped about 30º. During the second public participation segment two parents spoke and said they did not want guns in the schools.

Had I asked for guns in the school?

No one from the District responded.

At the next meeting I suggested that the District apply for a grant from the NRA School Shield Program. Again no response from the District - until I emailed then then-Board Chair, Craig Plank, and about five minutes later Supt. Davis called to tell me the District would not apply for the grant. It was looking at other sources.

I wondered, "How did he get a consensus from the Board so quickly on a decision whether to apply for such a grant?" I hadn't heard any mention during the board meeting to delegate a decision on such an important item to the superintendent.

My guess was that the only reason the District would not apply for the School Shield Program grant was that it was offered by the NRA. May I suggest that you read just what the School Shield Program is?

I'll tell you what it is not. It is not a program designed to put guns in every school. The grants providing funding for schools to address "... the many facets of school security, including best practices in security infrastructure, technology, personnel, training, and policy."

Do you see "put a gun in every classroom" there? Nope.

Personally, I favor allowing teachers to be armed. Not for the purpose of being additional police in the school, but in the event of an active shooter situation.

If some scumbag is trying to break into a barricaded classroom to harm the students and all the student are hiding behind the teacher, why shouldn't a teacher have a chance to defend them and himself?

Is race a problem in discipline?

Is race a problem in discipline at the Richland 2 School District?

More than a year ago I met a man before last year's big More Justice (Midlands Organized Response for Equity and Justice) gathering. I hadn't started this blog yet, but I asked to be contacted with more information. No one called.

On March 26 a woman addressed the School Board about More Justice. I left a message for her at her church and also left a message on Facebook to be contacted. No one contacted me.

More Justice has a large public meeting planned for tomorrow, Monday, May 6, 2019, at 7:00PM at the Koger Center, 1051 Greene Street, Columbia. A speaker during the public participation segment of the April 30th school board meeting indicated that as many as 1,700 people might attend.

As I understand it, one of the concerns of More Justice members is related to what they consider unfair discipline dished out to black students, when compared to white students, in Richland 2 schools.

I myself don't know if it's fair or not.

If you want to know more about More Justice, which is an assembly of 29 churches, find them on Facebook and here.