This is an excellent time for students, parents, teachers, and Administration and the Trustees (and the two Trustees-elect) of Richland 2 School District to study the United States Constitution.
Constitutional rights in Columbia are being violated in the name of health. Is this okay? I say, "Not okay."
The public should be wise in its choices how to protect itself. Government should be wise in its efforts to persuade the public to be wise.
But I don't want Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, China and North Korean tactics employed in the United States.
Recently the mayor of Columbia and the city council voted to put a curfew in place. That triggered an older law that forbids the carrying of firearms during the curfew, even if one has a concealed carry permit. Thus, the City of Columbia attempts to pre-empt the U.S. Constitutional and the State of South Carolina, which grants the privilege of carrying a concealed firearm.
Columbia's state-of-emergency law appears to be unconstitutional.
Columbia's definition of "state of emergency" () reads, "A state of emergency shall be deemed to exist within the city whenever, during times of great public crisis, disaster, rioting, civil disturbance or catastrophe, or for any other reason, municipal public safety authorities are unable to maintain public order or afford adequate protection for lives, safety, health, welfare or property."
By definition, the COVID-19 pandemic, here in this area, does not fall into the category of "great public crisis, disaster, rioting, civil disturbance or catastrophe."
An extremely worrisome provision of the law is the phrase "or for any other reason". This give carte blanche, "police state" privilege to the mayor and city council, and this is unconstitutional.
Where is the public outcry?
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Look out for Columbia's curfew
I imagine that most Richland 2 School District residents live in Richland County, not within the City Limits of Columbia.
BUT, if you have occasion to travel into or in Columbia during its curfew of 11:00PM-6:00AM, be sure to know the restrictions.
The curfew doesn't just limit your travel to commuting to/from work or for necessary medical reasons, it also disarms you. The Curfew Ordinance (2020-031) triggered a prior state-of-emergency ordinance, and that one apparently forbids a person out during the curfew from being armed in public, even if s/he holds a concealed weapons permit.
I have requested the Ordinance number from the Columbia City Clerk but, so far, the Clerk has not responded. A FOIA Request may be necessary, if the Clerk doesn't reply by Tuesday, April 14.
So, be forewarned. Only the criminals will be out hunting. The entire City of Columbia has become a gun-free zone, and you know what that means.
If you get stopped, and that is quite likely because of the light volume of traffic, you may wish you have decided in advance whether to reveal you are armed (or even just have a firearm in the vehicle). Think about your exact words, should the cop ask if you have a firearm with you (or in the vehicle).
Also, understand your rights to decline any request for a search of your person or your vehicle This might be a good time to get legal advice - before you "need" it. If you call a lawyer, make sure it's a lawyer who understands firearms law, the ugly state-of-emergency Ordinance (not just the curfew ordinance), and the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions.
BUT, if you have occasion to travel into or in Columbia during its curfew of 11:00PM-6:00AM, be sure to know the restrictions.
The curfew doesn't just limit your travel to commuting to/from work or for necessary medical reasons, it also disarms you. The Curfew Ordinance (2020-031) triggered a prior state-of-emergency ordinance, and that one apparently forbids a person out during the curfew from being armed in public, even if s/he holds a concealed weapons permit.
I have requested the Ordinance number from the Columbia City Clerk but, so far, the Clerk has not responded. A FOIA Request may be necessary, if the Clerk doesn't reply by Tuesday, April 14.
So, be forewarned. Only the criminals will be out hunting. The entire City of Columbia has become a gun-free zone, and you know what that means.
If you get stopped, and that is quite likely because of the light volume of traffic, you may wish you have decided in advance whether to reveal you are armed (or even just have a firearm in the vehicle). Think about your exact words, should the cop ask if you have a firearm with you (or in the vehicle).
Also, understand your rights to decline any request for a search of your person or your vehicle This might be a good time to get legal advice - before you "need" it. If you call a lawyer, make sure it's a lawyer who understands firearms law, the ugly state-of-emergency Ordinance (not just the curfew ordinance), and the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions.
Friday, April 10, 2020
New Math
How big a problem is this in our schools today? Is this a problem right here in Richland 2?
Are students being taught to solve math problems in the way that works easily and quickly?
What parent can get the same answer by using the top method?
Are students being taught to solve math problems in the way that works easily and quickly?
What parent can get the same answer by using the top method?
Just for Fun ...
Not sure of the original source for them. A friend in Colorado emailed them to me.
"Homeschooling is going well. 2 students suspended for fighting and 1 teacher fired for drinking on the job.
"Day 5 of Homeschooling: One of these little monsters called in a bomb threat.
"Day 6 of Homeschooling: My child just said, "I hope I don't have the same teacher next year".... I'm offended."
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Responsible Public Body Listens to Public
The Richland 2 School Board suspended its Public Participation policy on March 31. The suspension is supposed to be "temporary", only until the end of April.
The school board is a public body. South Carolina law requires meetings to be open. That does not mean just making them available by audio-streaming.
By hiding behind the coronavirus threat, the board kept the public from knowing it did not have a quorum at its March 31st meeting until right at the end of the meeting.
At this point it is unclear whether the school board means that the public will be excluded from open meetings or just prohibited from speaking at them.
Here is how a public body in northern Illinois solved this problem.
The McHenry County (Ill.) Board of Health will hold a special, virtual board meeting on April 9, 2020, at 7:00PM. That board invites public comments before 5:00PM on the date of the meeting and provides an email address for them. Presumably, public comments will be read at the meeting.
Thanks to McHenry County Blog (Crystal Lake, Ill.) for informing the public of that important announcement.
The school board is a public body. South Carolina law requires meetings to be open. That does not mean just making them available by audio-streaming.
By hiding behind the coronavirus threat, the board kept the public from knowing it did not have a quorum at its March 31st meeting until right at the end of the meeting.
At this point it is unclear whether the school board means that the public will be excluded from open meetings or just prohibited from speaking at them.
Here is how a public body in northern Illinois solved this problem.
The McHenry County (Ill.) Board of Health will hold a special, virtual board meeting on April 9, 2020, at 7:00PM. That board invites public comments before 5:00PM on the date of the meeting and provides an email address for them. Presumably, public comments will be read at the meeting.
Thanks to McHenry County Blog (Crystal Lake, Ill.) for informing the public of that important announcement.
Monday, April 6, 2020
Public Body - open meetings
One of my issues with the last Richland 2 School Board meeting is that there was not a quorum present at the meeting. Of course, the public didn't know that until nearly the end of the meeting. Without a legal quorum, the School Board cannot meet and conduct business, which it did.
All seven board members, including the two Trustees-elect (who have never been legally sworn in), were accounted for. I contend that the law requires a quorum in person. At the March 31, 2020 meeting two trustees (Manning and Shadd) were present in person; the other five phoned in.
And the public was excluded from the meeting, as I understand it. I did not attend, so I cannot witness that no member of the public was present or attempted to attend.
Shortly after the open meeting resumed at 6:00PM, Board Chair James Manning announced that some of the board members were attending by phone. Was he being careful not to mention whom or how many?
Toward the end of the meeting, when it was time for Board & Superintendent Comments, he announced that he would start with those who were attending by phone. Trustees Agostini, Elkins-Johnson and Caution-Parker made their comments. Trustees-elect McKie and Holmes made their comments. Shadd passed. Then the superintendent and Chair Manning had their say.
That was the first time that the public learned, via audio livestream, that five were not present.
Board Policy allows for telephonic attendance - under certain conditions. A pandemic is not one of them. The Board should have heard and voted on a motion at the beginning of the meeting about the special circumstances, but it didn't. And no board member said why she was attending remotely.
And the board never officially and legally resumed the open meeting, which would be done by a vote. But it never does that so, in that sense, resuming the open session (after the Executive Session) was not unusual. Not unusual, but wrong. Voting in private to adjourn the executive session is not equivalent to re-entering open session.
How is the remote attendance at a meeting of a public body being handled elsewhere?
In northern Illinois the Algonquin Village Board announced "Pursuant to Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order No. 2020-07 (COVID-19 Executive Order No. 5), Governor Pritzker has suspended certain rules of the Open Meetings Act – specifically the Executive Order permits remote public meetings."
The Village of Algonquin arranged to use Zoom to disclose fully to the public how its meeting was being conducted. Zoom provides video, not just audio.
I'm pretty sure that Livestream.com offers live video-conferencing. Why didn't Richland 2 choose that?
Should the Richland 2 premier school district increase its transparency?
All seven board members, including the two Trustees-elect (who have never been legally sworn in), were accounted for. I contend that the law requires a quorum in person. At the March 31, 2020 meeting two trustees (Manning and Shadd) were present in person; the other five phoned in.
And the public was excluded from the meeting, as I understand it. I did not attend, so I cannot witness that no member of the public was present or attempted to attend.
Shortly after the open meeting resumed at 6:00PM, Board Chair James Manning announced that some of the board members were attending by phone. Was he being careful not to mention whom or how many?
Toward the end of the meeting, when it was time for Board & Superintendent Comments, he announced that he would start with those who were attending by phone. Trustees Agostini, Elkins-Johnson and Caution-Parker made their comments. Trustees-elect McKie and Holmes made their comments. Shadd passed. Then the superintendent and Chair Manning had their say.
That was the first time that the public learned, via audio livestream, that five were not present.
Board Policy allows for telephonic attendance - under certain conditions. A pandemic is not one of them. The Board should have heard and voted on a motion at the beginning of the meeting about the special circumstances, but it didn't. And no board member said why she was attending remotely.
And the board never officially and legally resumed the open meeting, which would be done by a vote. But it never does that so, in that sense, resuming the open session (after the Executive Session) was not unusual. Not unusual, but wrong. Voting in private to adjourn the executive session is not equivalent to re-entering open session.
How is the remote attendance at a meeting of a public body being handled elsewhere?
In northern Illinois the Algonquin Village Board announced "Pursuant to Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order No. 2020-07 (COVID-19 Executive Order No. 5), Governor Pritzker has suspended certain rules of the Open Meetings Act – specifically the Executive Order permits remote public meetings."
The Village of Algonquin arranged to use Zoom to disclose fully to the public how its meeting was being conducted. Zoom provides video, not just audio.
I'm pretty sure that Livestream.com offers live video-conferencing. Why didn't Richland 2 choose that?
Should the Richland 2 premier school district increase its transparency?
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Conducting a Teleconference
Here is how you conduct a teleconference. Maybe I should have written this over the week-end and sent it to the Richland 2 School Board. No doubt there are manuals and experts available. There is probably even a Teleconferencing for Dummies.
- Provide a telephone number that can be called for the public to join the Livestream event. The S.C.School Boards Assn. (SCSBA) provided this guidance ("If telephonic methods are used, the public must (emphasis in the original) be provided a call-in number, preferably one with the ability to mute the public participants). Richland 2 did not do that!
- Test the system thoroughly ahead of time. Make sure the lines (telephone, computer) work! Work out the bugs ahead of time.
- Provide the board members with a private telephone number to call, if the line of communication is broken or impaired.
- Inform the board of proper teleconferencing conduct.
- The Chair is in charge. Don't talk until recognized. And then, keep it short. No grandstanding.
- When the meeting starts, the Chair should direct the Secretary to call the roll.
- The Secretary should call out the name of each board member and the Supt.
- The verbal response is "Present in person" or "Present by remote connection".
- Last night there was no identification of remote attendees until the Board & Supt. Comments. There was only a brief mention after the vote on the Consent Agenda that some board members were tele-conferencing.
- Upon completing the roll call, the Secretary announces the number present in person, the number attending remotely, the number absent or excused, and whether a quorum is present. (A quorum needs to be present in person.)
- The Chair moves forward with business.
- Provide the public with a separate Help Line telephone number to call or text, if the Livestream breaks down or if they cannot hear or understand what is being broadcast. A staff member could receive those messages and inform the Chair that the public cannot hear or understand.
- If the public cannot hear or understand, the meeting must stop until the problem is corrected.
- During Livestream (audio only) events, the Secretary should call the roll for every vote. Richland 2 is a public body. The public is entitled to be told what is happening.
- When the Secretary calls the roll, the response from a member should be Yea, Nay, Abstain. If the member does not respond to the first or second call, the Secretary announces that Trustee __(name)__ is not voting.
- The Secretary announces the number of Yeas and Nays and whether the motions passes or fails.
- The correct reporting of a failed motion is "The vote is 2-5. The motion fails."
When entering Executive Session, a roll call vote should be taken. When telephonic attendance is involved, the member must confirm that no one is present who can overhead any part of the meeting, including the remote member's spoken words.
- Members attending by telephone are to provide their reason for so doing (Board Policy)
- Currently, the Chair reports who made and seconded the motion to end Executive Session. That is not necessary.
- What is necessary, and is not done, is a roll call vote to re-convene the public session. The Board never does this. Which means that, legally, the Regular Meeting never has re-convened. This should be by roll call vote.
- Every member should be instructed to interrupt and speak up if s/he cannot hear everything that is being said.
- Likewise, no member should interrupt and just begin speaking. When a member has something to say, s/he should attract the attention of the Chair and, if attending remotely, provide his/her last name. Not only will it be clear to the Chair who is speaking, but also the Public will know.
- Members need to be reminded that Board Policy instructs members to address only the Chair. This rule is not followed, even in non-Livestream meetings.
During audio Livestream meetings, the Chair should ask the Secretary to call the roll and report the result for every vote on a motion. Otherwise, the public cannot know what is happening.
I'm sure there are additional procedures, and a teleconferencing consultant could advise the board.
If you have ideas for improving last night's call, post them in comments below. Or email them to gusphilpott@gmail.com Your name or email address will not be published, unless you approve.
- Provide a telephone number that can be called for the public to join the Livestream event. The S.C.School Boards Assn. (SCSBA) provided this guidance ("If telephonic methods are used, the public must (emphasis in the original) be provided a call-in number, preferably one with the ability to mute the public participants). Richland 2 did not do that!
- Test the system thoroughly ahead of time. Make sure the lines (telephone, computer) work! Work out the bugs ahead of time.
- Provide the board members with a private telephone number to call, if the line of communication is broken or impaired.
- Inform the board of proper teleconferencing conduct.
- The Chair is in charge. Don't talk until recognized. And then, keep it short. No grandstanding.
- When the meeting starts, the Chair should direct the Secretary to call the roll.
- The Secretary should call out the name of each board member and the Supt.
- The verbal response is "Present in person" or "Present by remote connection".
- Last night there was no identification of remote attendees until the Board & Supt. Comments. There was only a brief mention after the vote on the Consent Agenda that some board members were tele-conferencing.
- Upon completing the roll call, the Secretary announces the number present in person, the number attending remotely, the number absent or excused, and whether a quorum is present. (A quorum needs to be present in person.)
- The Chair moves forward with business.
- Provide the public with a separate Help Line telephone number to call or text, if the Livestream breaks down or if they cannot hear or understand what is being broadcast. A staff member could receive those messages and inform the Chair that the public cannot hear or understand.
- If the public cannot hear or understand, the meeting must stop until the problem is corrected.
- During Livestream (audio only) events, the Secretary should call the roll for every vote. Richland 2 is a public body. The public is entitled to be told what is happening.
- When the Secretary calls the roll, the response from a member should be Yea, Nay, Abstain. If the member does not respond to the first or second call, the Secretary announces that Trustee __(name)__ is not voting.
- The Secretary announces the number of Yeas and Nays and whether the motions passes or fails.
- The correct reporting of a failed motion is "The vote is 2-5. The motion fails."
When entering Executive Session, a roll call vote should be taken. When telephonic attendance is involved, the member must confirm that no one is present who can overhead any part of the meeting, including the remote member's spoken words.
- Members attending by telephone are to provide their reason for so doing (Board Policy)
- Currently, the Chair reports who made and seconded the motion to end Executive Session. That is not necessary.
- What is necessary, and is not done, is a roll call vote to re-convene the public session. The Board never does this. Which means that, legally, the Regular Meeting never has re-convened. This should be by roll call vote.
- Every member should be instructed to interrupt and speak up if s/he cannot hear everything that is being said.
- Likewise, no member should interrupt and just begin speaking. When a member has something to say, s/he should attract the attention of the Chair and, if attending remotely, provide his/her last name. Not only will it be clear to the Chair who is speaking, but also the Public will know.
- Members need to be reminded that Board Policy instructs members to address only the Chair. This rule is not followed, even in non-Livestream meetings.
During audio Livestream meetings, the Chair should ask the Secretary to call the roll and report the result for every vote on a motion. Otherwise, the public cannot know what is happening.
I'm sure there are additional procedures, and a teleconferencing consultant could advise the board.
If you have ideas for improving last night's call, post them in comments below. Or email them to gusphilpott@gmail.com Your name or email address will not be published, unless you approve.
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