You have to read all the way to the last paragraph in this story to find out that Windsor Elementary is a Richland 2 school. https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article242654606.html
A 35-year-old teaching assistant, Anna Valeria Howard, was arrested on May 8 and accused of giving a prescription pill to a six-year-old student.
The story indicates that courthouse closures resulted in delays in the arrest, "... as well as Howard’s willingness to cooperate with the investigation." I wonder whether the reporter meant "unwillingness".
The story doesn't report the outcome of her arrest. Was she just cited for "unlawful neglect of a child" or was she jailed? If so, how much was the bond? Is she still in jail?
Windsor Elementary is located at 9800 Dunbarton Drive (29223). For those who don't know, that's on the west side of Sesquicentennial State Park, between the Park and Two Notch Road.
The story in The State includes "However, the 6-year-old later tested positive for amphetamines, and investigators discovered Howard had an amphetamine prescription." It doesn't report how much "later" nor whether the amphetamine in the child's blood was the same as Howard's prescription.
Can we expect this case, in the hands of a good lawyer, to implode?
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Monday, May 11, 2020
R2 Board attempts to pull a fast one
Minutes before the time to amend the agenda for the May 12, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board, the District published a revised agenda, adding an item that is very important to the public.
The Board will be asked to suspend Board Policy BEDH - Public Participation at Meetings. Previously, the Board suspended Policy BEDH temporarily. Now it wants to suspend it. Period.
The District's email to media announcing this agenda change was sent out at 3:56PM. The deadline was 4:30PM. An agenda cannot be changed within 24 hours of the meeting, and tomorrow's meeting starts at 4:30PM.
The District attempts to put the responsibility for the proposed suspension on the S.C. School Boards Assn. (SCSBA) It needs to have the guts to accept the responsibility and make decisions on its own. It is swallowing too much of the Kool-Aid from the SCSBA. That association does not put the public first. It is an association of school boards, and it proposes what is best for them, not for us.
To know what Richland 2 wants to do away with, go to the District's website - www.richland2.org
Click on EXPLORE (top right)
Click on School Board
Click on BOARD POLICIES
On the left sidebar, click on B - SCHOOL BOARD GOVERNANCE & OPERATIONS
Scroll down and click on Policy BEDH
What does BEDH cover?
It leads off with "The public is invited to attend board meetings..." Wrong. State law says board meetings are open to the public. There is no "invitation" involved. It is your lawful right to attend all meetings of the board. You have the right to know what's going on. They must meet and act in public, not in secret.
Paragraph 2 dictates what you can say and how you say it. It does not say that you cannot complain about how or what the board is doing.
Policy BEDH says the public can request an item to be on the agenda. Maybe suspending this Policy is their way of not responding to my request that the Board adopt a policy requiring all board members to use the District's email service. Such a new policy would require two board members (Holmes and Elkins-Johnson) to stop using personal email accounts for board business. When they do, it is hard to FOIA their emails. Think Hillary Clinton and her private server.
This Policy also covers members of the public who want to speak at board meetings. They want to do away with this!
The board already tries to censure speakers who have "personal complaints" about anyone connected with the school system.
My complaints about the two illegitimate members on the board (McKie and Holmes) or the (illegitimate) board member (McKie) who owes $51,750 to the S.C. Ethics Commission are not "personal" complaints. Every voter in the District and every Richland 2 employee and five board members should be outraged by those issues.
I'm not the only one complaining about those issues, but I am the only one who hasn't given up. For a while I thought the S.C. Attorney General would arrange for McKie and Holmes to appear before the S.C. Supreme Court to answer why they have not taken the oath of office legally yet. After all, they were elected on November 6, 2018. They became eligible to take the oath of office legally on December 4, 2018 and have not done so.
Call your board members immediately and tell them to vote NO on this item on the May 12 agenda. If you are reading this after May 12 and if they approved it, call them and ask them to vote again and rescind the suspension of Policy BEDH.
The Board will be asked to suspend Board Policy BEDH - Public Participation at Meetings. Previously, the Board suspended Policy BEDH temporarily. Now it wants to suspend it. Period.
The District's email to media announcing this agenda change was sent out at 3:56PM. The deadline was 4:30PM. An agenda cannot be changed within 24 hours of the meeting, and tomorrow's meeting starts at 4:30PM.
The District attempts to put the responsibility for the proposed suspension on the S.C. School Boards Assn. (SCSBA) It needs to have the guts to accept the responsibility and make decisions on its own. It is swallowing too much of the Kool-Aid from the SCSBA. That association does not put the public first. It is an association of school boards, and it proposes what is best for them, not for us.
To know what Richland 2 wants to do away with, go to the District's website - www.richland2.org
Click on EXPLORE (top right)
Click on School Board
Click on BOARD POLICIES
On the left sidebar, click on B - SCHOOL BOARD GOVERNANCE & OPERATIONS
Scroll down and click on Policy BEDH
What does BEDH cover?
It leads off with "The public is invited to attend board meetings..." Wrong. State law says board meetings are open to the public. There is no "invitation" involved. It is your lawful right to attend all meetings of the board. You have the right to know what's going on. They must meet and act in public, not in secret.
Paragraph 2 dictates what you can say and how you say it. It does not say that you cannot complain about how or what the board is doing.
Policy BEDH says the public can request an item to be on the agenda. Maybe suspending this Policy is their way of not responding to my request that the Board adopt a policy requiring all board members to use the District's email service. Such a new policy would require two board members (Holmes and Elkins-Johnson) to stop using personal email accounts for board business. When they do, it is hard to FOIA their emails. Think Hillary Clinton and her private server.
This Policy also covers members of the public who want to speak at board meetings. They want to do away with this!
The board already tries to censure speakers who have "personal complaints" about anyone connected with the school system.
My complaints about the two illegitimate members on the board (McKie and Holmes) or the (illegitimate) board member (McKie) who owes $51,750 to the S.C. Ethics Commission are not "personal" complaints. Every voter in the District and every Richland 2 employee and five board members should be outraged by those issues.
I'm not the only one complaining about those issues, but I am the only one who hasn't given up. For a while I thought the S.C. Attorney General would arrange for McKie and Holmes to appear before the S.C. Supreme Court to answer why they have not taken the oath of office legally yet. After all, they were elected on November 6, 2018. They became eligible to take the oath of office legally on December 4, 2018 and have not done so.
Call your board members immediately and tell them to vote NO on this item on the May 12 agenda. If you are reading this after May 12 and if they approved it, call them and ask them to vote again and rescind the suspension of Policy BEDH.
R2 Agenda for 5/12/2020 Grade? F
The District has failed once again to meet state law in announcing a meeting of the school board.
The agenda for the May 12th Regular Meeting does not indicate the location for the meeting.
A page of the website preceding the Agenda lists "Zoom" and no further explanation.
When (If) you visit the District's homepage for more information, you learn that the meeting is not on Zoom. You must view the meeting at www.richland2.org/livestream
The agenda for the May 12th Regular Meeting does not indicate the location for the meeting.
A page of the website preceding the Agenda lists "Zoom" and no further explanation.
When (If) you visit the District's homepage for more information, you learn that the meeting is not on Zoom. You must view the meeting at www.richland2.org/livestream
How many people will go to Zoom and then start scratching their heads? And miss the meeting.
One of the trustees asked at a recent meeting for the agenda to show the correct meeting location. Well???
The pertinent section of the S.C. Code of Laws is
"SECTION 30-4-80. Notice of meetings of public bodies.
(A) All public bodies, except as provided in subsections (B) and (C) of this section, must give written public notice of their regular meetings at the beginning of each calendar year. The notice must include the dates, times, and places of such meetings. An agenda for regularly scheduled or special meetings must be posted on a bulletin board in a publicly accessible place at the office or meeting place of the public body and on a public website maintained by the body, if any, at least twenty-four hours prior to such meetings. All public bodies must post on such bulletin board or website, if any, public notice for any called, special, or rescheduled meetings. Such notice must include the agenda, date, time, and place [emphasis added] of the meeting, ..."
(A) All public bodies, except as provided in subsections (B) and (C) of this section, must give written public notice of their regular meetings at the beginning of each calendar year. The notice must include the dates, times, and places of such meetings. An agenda for regularly scheduled or special meetings must be posted on a bulletin board in a publicly accessible place at the office or meeting place of the public body and on a public website maintained by the body, if any, at least twenty-four hours prior to such meetings. All public bodies must post on such bulletin board or website, if any, public notice for any called, special, or rescheduled meetings. Such notice must include the agenda, date, time, and place [emphasis added] of the meeting, ..."
Sunday, May 10, 2020
R2 Supt. Travel Expenses
Reporter Michael Smith has written an interesting article for The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County about the travel expenses for the past two years of Supt. Davis. You can read the article here.
Davis' expenses and reimbursements show a pattern that deserves careful examination.
The Richland 2 Board should form an Audit Committee and look carefully at the expenses. The Board should also examine anticipated travel and expenses of the superintendent and not just allow him carte blanche for what he thinks he needs to do.
The Voice article quotes part of a prepared statement from District 2.
Davis' expenses and reimbursements show a pattern that deserves careful examination.
The Richland 2 Board should form an Audit Committee and look carefully at the expenses. The Board should also examine anticipated travel and expenses of the superintendent and not just allow him carte blanche for what he thinks he needs to do.
The Voice article quotes part of a prepared statement from District 2.
“It’s been a long standing practice in Richland Two that the superintendent attends professional learning opportunities with members of the board,” the statement reads. “The superintendent is charged with working with the school board to develop and implement policies that define organizational expectations and to establish and maintain effective channels of communication with board members.
“As a result, the superintendent regularly attends professional development conferences with school board members as a way to meet performance standards that are part of the superintendent’s evaluation criteria,” the statement continued.
That written, prepared statement follows wording used often in reports to the Board at meetings. In other words, lots of words that don't really mean anything. And does it lead to a question about how much Richland 2 School District spends for travel for Board members to attend the same meetings and conferences? How many Board members attended those same conferences, and at what cost?
Exactly how many of those conferences provided training on "working with the school board"?
"Effective channels of communication with board members"? Is there something new we don't know about? Something besides telephone, email and in-person reports?
For example, Board members have trouble getting sufficient advance information on which they will be expected to vote. Trustee Elkins-Johnson has asked for information sooner on more than one occasion. How many conferences must one attend to understand, when the Board asks for something, they get it?
In a subsequent article I'll write about some of the expenses that need careful review.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Richland 2 H.S. Graduation Schedule
From Richland 2 School District:
"High school graduation is an exciting and important time in the lives of our Richland Two families. The district will hold graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020 on June 1-5 at Harry Parone Stadium, located on the campus of Spring Valley High School at 120 Sparkleberry Lane.
"High school graduation is an exciting and important time in the lives of our Richland Two families. The district will hold graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020 on June 1-5 at Harry Parone Stadium, located on the campus of Spring Valley High School at 120 Sparkleberry Lane.
Ceremonies will begin at 8 a.m. each day. The schedule is as follows:
· June 1: Spring Valley
· June 2: Richland Northeast
· June 3: Blythewood
· June 4: Westwood
· June 5: Ridge View
Social distancing practices will be observed, and each graduate will be permitted two guests. Graduation ceremonies will again be streamed live online. More specifics will be shared with seniors and parents by each school as details are confirmed.
It’s more than fair to say that 2020 has posed significant challenges to this school year, especially for seniors. The global health pandemic caused by COVID-19 prompted the Colonial Life Arena, where the district has held graduation in recent years, to cancel all events through July 31. In April, the district assembled a task force to come up with multiple viable options for graduation ceremonies observing social distancing as well as alternatives to a traditional ceremony. Representatives from each high school including students as well as district administrators served on the task force.
Richland Two Superintendent Dr. Baron R. Davis said, “I want to thank the task force for the hard work they have put in to make graduations possible for our seniors. They did a phenomenal job examining all the possibilities and providing a solid recommendation for a meaningful and safe way to honor our seniors.
“As we finalize the logistics for the ceremonies, our focus remains on the safety and welfare of those who will attend. These graduation ceremonies will look very different from those in the past but they will certainly reflect the resiliency of the Class of 2020 and provide a meaningful tribute to our seniors.”
Only invited guests of each senior will be permitted to attend these ceremonies. Each graduation will be streamed live on the Richland Two website at https://livestream.com/richland2."
School Board Changes Meeting Time - May 12
The agenda for the May 12th Regular Meeting of the School Board has been published on the District's website. Go to www.Richland2.org
Click on EXPLORE
Click on School Board
Click on AGENDA
Click on the calendar icon under Meetings
NOTE: the new starting times
Click on View the Agenda
The Regular meeting will be called to order this week at 4:30PM.
The Board will immediately go into Executive Session.
The Board will re-convene in open session at 5:00PM.
This represents a 1½-hour advance in the meeting times.
The Board will not meet in public on May 12, although it could. It will meet on the Zoom video-conference platform. The agenda contains NO link to that Zoom meeting. (See below for the link.)
Now, why is the meeting so early?
At the April 28 Regular Meeting the Board blindly followed the Board Chair and the superintendent off the cliff, after the Chair and the superintendent placed an item on the agenda for a first-reading vote that would give authority to the Chair and superintendent to change the time of a Regular Meeting during a "state of emergency".
If you want to try to understand the reasoning that was given in response to questions and comments by two Board members, I invite you to watch/listen to the April 28 board meeting. The explanation made no sense at all to me. The other four board members, who normally roll over for anything the superintendent wants, just sat there like bumps on a log.
When it was time to vote, the vote was, unsurprisingly, 5-2.
The Zoom meeting may be available at www.richland2.org/livestream
Merely announcing "Zoom" on the agenda is insufficient notice to the public when to find and view the public meeting. You'd think by now the District would have figured out how to comply with South Carolina FOIA and Open Meetings requirements regarding public meetings!
On the agenda for a first-reading vote is a move that will result in Joseph Keels Elementary School's becoming a Magnet School. In the past, proposed actions have been submitted for a first reading and then followed with a vote on the proposal at a second board meeting, often two weeks later. The Chair and the superintendent have started a trend now to jam votes into the first reading, before trustees have time and resources to study and consider a matter.
On this issue, the vote should be postponed; if it isn't postponed, then the vote should be "No", so that the trustees have adequate time to do their due diligences. They are, after all, fiduciaries of the School District and are expected to make responsible decisions.
Click on EXPLORE
Click on School Board
Click on AGENDA
Click on the calendar icon under Meetings
NOTE: the new starting times
Click on View the Agenda
The Regular meeting will be called to order this week at 4:30PM.
The Board will immediately go into Executive Session.
The Board will re-convene in open session at 5:00PM.
This represents a 1½-hour advance in the meeting times.
The Board will not meet in public on May 12, although it could. It will meet on the Zoom video-conference platform. The agenda contains NO link to that Zoom meeting. (See below for the link.)
Now, why is the meeting so early?
At the April 28 Regular Meeting the Board blindly followed the Board Chair and the superintendent off the cliff, after the Chair and the superintendent placed an item on the agenda for a first-reading vote that would give authority to the Chair and superintendent to change the time of a Regular Meeting during a "state of emergency".
If you want to try to understand the reasoning that was given in response to questions and comments by two Board members, I invite you to watch/listen to the April 28 board meeting. The explanation made no sense at all to me. The other four board members, who normally roll over for anything the superintendent wants, just sat there like bumps on a log.
When it was time to vote, the vote was, unsurprisingly, 5-2.
The Zoom meeting may be available at www.richland2.org/livestream
Merely announcing "Zoom" on the agenda is insufficient notice to the public when to find and view the public meeting. You'd think by now the District would have figured out how to comply with South Carolina FOIA and Open Meetings requirements regarding public meetings!
On the agenda for a first-reading vote is a move that will result in Joseph Keels Elementary School's becoming a Magnet School. In the past, proposed actions have been submitted for a first reading and then followed with a vote on the proposal at a second board meeting, often two weeks later. The Chair and the superintendent have started a trend now to jam votes into the first reading, before trustees have time and resources to study and consider a matter.
On this issue, the vote should be postponed; if it isn't postponed, then the vote should be "No", so that the trustees have adequate time to do their due diligences. They are, after all, fiduciaries of the School District and are expected to make responsible decisions.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Traffic on Hard Scrabble Rd.
The choice of Rice Creek Elementary School for the three-day COVID-19 Testing Site was poorly thought-out. Drive by and figure out how fire, rescue or law-enforcement could possible get through.
Sound off. Tell the School District what you think about the choice. The Administration made the choice. Did the board even know about it?
Tell Mia McLeod and Ivory Thigpen what you think.
Tell Sheriff Lott and the Fire Chief what you think.
Demand better. And hope your house doesn't catch fire while Hard Scrabble Road is effectively shut down.
Sound off. Tell the School District what you think about the choice. The Administration made the choice. Did the board even know about it?
Tell Mia McLeod and Ivory Thigpen what you think.
Tell Sheriff Lott and the Fire Chief what you think.
Demand better. And hope your house doesn't catch fire while Hard Scrabble Road is effectively shut down.
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