Can you trust all-mail balloting?

Lately there has been a lot in the news about all-mail balloting. You know what that is, don't you? 

The election commissions would mail out ballots to all the people on the voting rolls. Who would get ballots? Dead people. People who moved but never revoked their previous voter registration. People in jail. People who have become ineligible to vote because of convictions for certain crimes. Mentally-infirm voters.

Can you trust the Post Office to even deliver the ballots TO the voters or to deliver the completed ballots to the election commissions?

On Monday I mailed a Certified Letter to James Shadd, Chair of the Richland 2 School Board. It was mailed on July 27 in the afternoon, and my expectation was delivery on Tuesday, July 28, before that night's board meeting. By 11:04PM it had reached the USPS Regional Facility,

COLUMBIA SC PROCESSING CENTER.

Was it delivered on Tuesday, July 28? No.

July 29, 2020, 1:27 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
COLUMBIA SC PROCESSING CENTER 

July 30, 2020
In Transit to Next Facility

July 31, 2020, 10:30 am

Delivered to Agent for Final Delivery
COLUMBIA, SC 29223 
Your item has been delivered to an agent for final delivery in COLUMBIA, SC 29223 on July 31, 2020 at 10:30 am.

What in the world is an "Agent"? Have the postal carriers been re-classified and given a raise? Do they work for Homeland Security now? Watch out. Here's comes a postage increase!

At least, it is now in the right ZIP Code for delivery to the District's office. Unfortunately, due to summer work hours there may be nobody at work today, and the "Agent" will have to return tomorrow and Monday. So, mailed on Monday; delivered the next Monday. Not bad, for $10.59.

Now what about your ballot that you decide to mail back? The one in the postage-paid envelope that will be sent with it (to avoid the "voter suppression" that Rep. Jim Clyburn talked about on July 10 with The State newspaper host). How certain can you be that your ballot will be delivered in time to be counted?

Who will run for school board?

Monday, August 3, will be the first day of the two-week filing period to run for the Richland 2 School Board. Who will run?

Will Lindsay Agostini run again?

Will Monica Elkins-Johnson run again?

Will James Shadd run for re-election?

Can the community come up with a highly-qualified candidate to replace Shadd?

Throughout the school year Agostini and Elkins-Johnson have asked tough questions. Their questions illustrate that they show up at board meetings prepared to discuss the topics. They have read the board packets and have pondered issues. They frequently mention contacts from parents and community members.

Can Chair unilaterally adjourn meeting?

Newly-elected Board Chair James Shadd has adopted a change when arriving at the last item on an agenda. When it's time for a motion to adjourn, he has begun stating something to the effect of, "Seeing no opposition, we will adjourn."

While Shadd is Chair, he really is just one member of the board.

He doesn't "see" any opposition to adjourning, because he hasn't called for any opposition.

Does this follow the Robert's Rules of Order? It's past time for Attorney McFadden to come back to the Richland 2 school board for an additional training session regarding Robert's Rules.

Should he respect the other members of the board and ask for a Motion to Adjourn? One member would make the Motion; another would second it. He could ask for a hand vote. (Voice votes should not be requested in Zoom meetings.) That would take about 15 seconds.

In effect, he muzzles any board member who might wish to speak.

Why has he changed a long-standing procedure?

LEAP Day - all week!

The Richland 2 School Board has announced a Special-Called Meeting for Tuesday, July 28, 2020. The only item on the agenda is approval of the 2020-2021 Revised Calendar for the school year.

The meeting will begin at 4:30PM and go immediately into Executive Session. The open meeting will re-convene at 5:00PM and will be live-streamed. Use this link to access the meeting on your computer: www.richland2.org/livestream

NOTE 1: The District's homepage fails to provide the livestream meeting link.
NOTE 2. "Upcoming Events" on the homepage fails to list the special-called meeting.

Look at the revised calendar (Calendar D) carefully.

The orange fill for August 17-21 indicates Elementary and Middle School LEAP Days.
The red fill for August 24-28 indicates Teacher Work Days.

NOTE. The first day of school is Monday, August 31.
Then notice the holiday on Monday, September 7. That's Labor Day, of course.

What is a LEAP Day?

The South Carolina Department of Education has posted this information. The title for the posting includes a grammar example that, in many years of education and business, I have never seen:

Learn, Evaluate, Analyze, & Prepare (LEAP) Added Instructional Days

Pre- and Post-Assessment Requirements

I wonder whether anyone at the SCDE considered whether that is correct or agonized over the combination of comma and ampersand. Why not omit the comma?

Are the big-dollar honchos at the SCDE conscious at all of the cost of operting schools? Apparently not.

"Not all 4K–8th grade students in a district must be involved in all five learning preparation days. Those students deemed critical to attend, as well as how many days they will need to attend, should be determined based on the identified needs of students in a district."

Who decides which students do not have to show up for one or more LEAP Days?
Who does have to show up?
How does the District arrange transportation, teachers, staff and breakfast & lunch for those who are "critical"? Guess which ones won't show up?

Should the District should switch the weeks of LEAP Days and Teacher Work Days? Should school start August 24 for all students?

More on Holmes' 7/21/20 Attack

Now that the July 21, 2020 school board meeting video has been posted to YouTube, it was possible to listen again to trustee-elect Teresa Holmes' vicious attack on Trustee Lindsay Agostini.

Mrs. Agostini had asked proper, intelligent questions about the proposed policy that was under discussion.

In his defensive response the superintendent had sniped at Mrs. Agostini.

At approximately 1:06:43 on the recording, Holmes jumped in with "Mr. Chaaaiiiiirrrrr."

Then she led off with how she had been sitting there and listening to "this" and she just "had to" say what she was about it say. First of all, she didn't have to say it, but she intended to.

Holmes proceeded down the path of its not being a board member's job to run the day-to-day operation of a school.

She neglected to comprehend that Mrs. Agostini had NOT tried to run the day-to-day operation of a school. Mrs. Agostini had asked for one email that was sent to staff that did not agree with a board decision on certain monies to be spend by the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

Such an inquiry is fully within the scope and duty of a Board Trustee.

But Holmes kept hammering away on something that Mrs. Agostini had not even done, and she said it louder and longer as if that would be sufficient to persuade the public that Mrs. Agostini had acted improperly.

And then Holmes, as had (trustee-elect) McKie at a recent board meeting, tried to lecture Mrs. Agostini on the role of a board member. My guess is that Holmes hasn't even read Board Policy BBA - Board Powers and Duties, where there are 11 topics enumerated as board powers and duties. It's far beyond selecting and retaining a superintendent.

Board Chair Shadd should have cut off Holmes. But he didn't. Why not? Because Holmes is one of the votes that put him into the Chair's seat for this school year. Shadd would do well to put a stop to the long, rambling, defensive statements by the superintendent (just answer the question in as few words as possible) and the back-biting by at least three of the board members toward to the "minority".

Richland 2 voters and taxpayers deserve to have knowledgeable people on the board. If the threshold for board election were "knowledgeable", at least three of them would be left in the dust on the side of the road.

McKie and $51,750 Judgment

On July 10, 2019 the South Carolina Ethics Commission filed a $51,750 judgment against (Richland 2 trustee-elect) Amelia McKie in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

This is July 23, 2020. What has happened in court in the past year?

According to online public records, absolutely nothing!

If you think that the Ethics Commission shouldn't "file it and forget it", contact the S.C. Ethics Commission at 803-253-4192. Or you can write. And call your State Senator and Representative and ask him to help the State collect that money. And call the S.C. Department of Revenue (DOR), which is supposed to be collecting it on behalf of the Ethics Commission.

What could the DOR grab? 1. Her pay from the Richland 2 School District. A garnishment would certainly look great on her C.V., wouldn't it?

2. How about her other income? Oh, you say, what other income?
3. Is there equity in her home that could be attached?
4. Does she have a car that could be sold?

That $51,750 didn't just pop out of the ground one spring day like an early flower.

McKie didn't file required documents in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. She had fair warning of fines and fees and still didn't make any payment(s).

If McKie began making monthly payments on that debt, with a plan to pay it off by the time her elected term ends in November 2022, she would have to pay $1.917 monthly! If she sought bankruptcy protection, would she be forced to resign from the school board? Could she even "resign", since she is not a legitimate member of the board?

But is the Ethics Commission really just a toothless public body, when it comes to collecting monies owned to it? The public Debtors List as of April 3, 2020 is 26 pages and totals $2,717,416.32.

The big question is why isn't the Ethics Commission either muscling the DOR to collect that money or hiring an outside collection agency to go after the debtors.

A request has been sent to S.C. Sen. Mia McLeod and S.C. Rep. Ivory Thigpen to find out from the DOR what steps it is taking to collect this debt and to let me know by August 7. It's not so much that I want to know, but I believe that you should know.

Who are the "babies"?

Near the end of the July 21, 2020 school board meeting trustee-elect Amelia McKie once again mentioned the "babies".

She said "rally around our babies", and then she said, "educate our babies".

About whom is she speaking? Is she referring to high school students? Middle school students? Elementary school students? Ask a third-grader how she feels about being a considered a "baby" by a school board trustee.

Is Richland 2 in the daycare business?

That meeting was not the first time she has referred to Richland 2 students as "babies".

Every time it happens in the future, there should be a loud roar from the parents, teachers, other staff and the community that those being educated by Richland 2 are students.

What does calling the boys and girls, and young men and women, of Richland 2 "babies" have to say about the emotional growth and development of McKie? What kind of counseling or coaching does she need? Has even one of the other trustees or the superintendent said, "You know, Amelia, calling our students :babies" is demeaning"?

If Teresa Holmes wants to be offended by something, as she claimed at the July 21st meeting, let her be offended by "babies".Holmes is a high school counselor and loves to call herself "Dr. Holmes." Of course, Teresa and Amelia are best buds. Weren't they in the "in group", the Squad, that elected the officers for the 2020-2021 board by a pre-arranged vote?

Is Holmes offended by McKie's judgment in Richland County Common Pleas Court for $51,750 owed to the South Carolina Ethics Commission?