Public Participation at Board Meetings. Quorum?

If you look at the District's website just before agendas are published, you'll see the Public Participation rules of the Board.

Want to address the Board? Go to a meeting and you'll have three minutes to speak your piece.

Only you won't, because the Board suspended ("temporarily", they said) Public Participation at meetings until the end of April. But they don't tell you that on the website. Is it a big, dark secret?

What the Board did not discuss at the last meeting was its decision about public attendance. If you can get in the door, you won't be able to speak. But can you even get in the door?

What will happen on Tuesday night, April 21, at the Special-Called Board Meeting?

By State law, board meetings are to be open to the public.

Watch the agenda for the starting time.

Will the Board have a quorum in person at the meeting? A quorum is five. I contend it's five in person, not by teleconference. Without five board members present in person, the Board cannot legally meet.

Another dilemma for the Board is that it currently allows two trustees-elect to act as if they are legitimate board members. Amelia McKie and Teresa Holmes have never legally taken the oath of office.

Both of them took the oath on November 13, 2018, before they were eligible to do so. The State law is clear. First you file your Statement of Economic Interest Reprt with the South Carolina Ethics Commission; then you take the oath of office. They filed their SEIs on December 4, three weeks after taking the oath.

So to have a quorum on April 21, all five of the "real" Trustees must attend in person; that means Manning, Agostini, Elkins-Johnson, Shadd, and Caution-Parker must be there in person and not "attending" by phone.

I may be one of very few people in Richland County who believe the law is important and to be followed.

Special-Called Board Meeting - April 21

The Richland 2 School District website now displays a calendar event (bottom of homepage) for a Special-Called Board meeting on Tuesday, April 21.

No agenda has been published yet. The District must publish it by Monday, April 20, at 5:30PM. They may publish it sooner, such on Friday afternoon or Thursday afternoon of this week. Whenever it is published, it will be found on the District's website. Click on EXPLORE; then on School Board; then on AGENDA; then on Special-Called Meeting; then on Agenda.

You should be able to learn more about the items on the agenda by clicking on links on the left sidebar, IF the District decides to reveal its plans to the public before the meeting, which is becoming less and less frequent.

A Special-Called Board meeting is an open meeting of the Board. The public is entitled to be present. Will the District try to prevent the public from attending? Will it broadcast only an audio livestream? Will it hold an illegal meeting by not having a quorum (five) present in person?

And is the Board ever going to insist that Amelia McKie and Teresa Holmes finally take the oath of office so that they will become legitimate members of the school board?

And will the Board begin insisting that Amelia McKie start paying off her $51,750 debt to the South Carolina Ethics Commission? Even if she were to pay $1,000/month, she would not have it paid off before the end of her term in November 2022? Will she be too embarrassed to run for a third term?

Richland 2 continues to claim that it is a Premier school district with a Premier Board of Trustees. So long as McKie is still on the Board and owes over $50,000 to the Ethics Commission for her numerous violations, the Board cannot be a "premier" boatd!

Columbia - No "state of emergency"

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?

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.

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?

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."

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.