In this news article about Jill Biden's degree and how she is called "Dr." Biden, one particular comment stands out.
"pete192" wrote:
The Richland 2 school board has three women who are addressed as "Dr." at school board meetings.
I suggest it is time to begin addressing them as "Trustee (last name)" or "Ms. (last name)".
Thoughts, anyone?
When I read that Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco was going to change its name, my first thought was, "Those jerks!"
Why is it going to do that? Because, they think, Lincoln didn't do enough for blacks.
Oh, really?
Then today I came across this video by Dinesk D'Souza. I think he's right. What do you think? Post your thoughts in Comments below.
When box dinners are provided for board members and staff at board meetings, should board members have to pay for them? Or have the price added to their taxable W-2 monthly income?
How much does a box dinner cost from Schlotsky's? $12.00 with delivery?
I think the part that "got" me at the December 8th board meeting was the board member who carried out two boxed meals. If a dinner is provided and eaten at the meeting, then maybe, m-a-y-b-e, the taxpayers could bear that cost.
When a board member carries out two meals, that's a no-pass from me. Was she taking them home? Feed family? Eat them herself?
That's not what taxpayer money is for.
If the District is over-ordering, then it should cut down its future orders.
5:57PM I'm out of there.
What a waste of time! I can't believe that grown people, adults, supposed professionals, school board members would sit there for that drivel. Who dreamed up that program?
If you want to see a little of it, you'll have to wait through nine minutes of silence for it to start. No excuses were offered for the delay. As soon as Supt. Davis opened with "with great pride and joy..." I started to check out.
When Chief Diversity and Multi-Culture Inclusion officer Helen Grant began speaking, she gushed away and was almost giddy about her topic tonight.
By 5:57PM I'd had enough. So glad I did not go in person. When I saw the agenda item, I expected what just they began spouting.
You'd think the KKK was riding through the streets of Richland County. Well, it's not.
Five people attended in person tonight. Monica Elkins was there by phone, although the Board Chair made no mention of her telephonic attendance.
Lindsay Agostini was not there and was not mentioned.
Since two of the six in attendance are not legitimate board members, there was no quorum (five) and the meeting should not have been held, even though the board vote to consent to the agenda was inconsequential.
Is she Dr. Biden? Or Mrs. Biden? Or Ms. Biden? Do you even know what advanced degree Jill Biden holds? Does it matter whether it's M.D. or Ph.D. or Ed.D?
I remember the first time a woman ever-so-proudly told me she had just gotten her Ph.D. We were on an escalator in Kansas City. I said, "Oh, that's too bad." I think her attitude of superiority had something to do with it. Or maybe that she was about 6'0" and was standing a couple of steps ahead of me on the ascending escalator.
For many years I have considered those with Ph.D's and Ed.D's and other non-M.D's as non-doctors. A doctor, to me, is a medical doctor. They have initials like M.D. or D.O. or D.C. after their names. The others have doctorates, and most of them worked hard for them. But, to me, they aren't the same, and I don't call them "Dr. ___." Standards vary from graduate school to graduate school.
For example, on the Richland 2 school board, there are three women with doctorate degrees. All three have Ed.D. after their names.
When they are recognized to speak by the Board Chair, they should be addressed as Trustee ____. Well, at least two of them should. The third should be addressed by her correct legal title, Trustee-elect.
But not as Dr. ____. They are equal members of the board and deserve no elevated approbation because of some educational degree received many years ago.
You can read this article about Joseph Epstein, a former lecturer at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The article says that Epstein hadn't even been a lecturer there since 2002. So why is Northwestern even weighing in? I guess they are just getting in line to suck up to the new president.
Epstein made the disgraceful error of writing that Jill Biden's use of Dr. before her name “sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic". As a result, Northwestern U. "canceled" him.
And here are today's the three magic words. A statement is attributed to Northwestern University: “Northwestern is firmly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and strongly disagrees with Mr. Epstein’s misogynistic views.”
Why is Epstein's words "misogynistic"? Men use Ed.D. and other initials for doctorates after their names!
Don't miss Tuesday night's (Dec. 15) special-called board meeting, where the focus will be "Addressing Systems of Inequity".
Woke comes to Richland 2. (Actually, it's already here.) R2i2 at 5:30PM. Limited seating. Wear your mask.
Richland 2 School Board Trustee-elect Amelia McKie still owes $51,750 to the South Carolina Ethics Commission!
Why hasn't she paid even one penny toward this debt?
The Ethics Commission filed a $51,750 judgment against McKie in the Richland County Common Pleas Court on July 10, 2019. That was one year after the Ethics Commission's Decision and Order that covered fines for several violations of ethics laws over a period of years.
The S.C. Department of Revenue is the agent for the Ethics Commission and is supposed to be collecting this debt. Why isn't it doing its job? Why doesn't the DOR garnish her wages that the District is illegally paying her for the board position?
I refer to McKie as "trustee-elect" because that is her legal title. McKie has never taken the oath of office legally. She did take an oath of office on November 13, 2018, but she was not eligible to do so because she had not filed her Statement of Economic Interests (SEI) with the Ethics Commission. She filed that SEI on December 4, 2018, but she has never taken the oath of \office since.
Why the five legal members of the board have tolerated her unlawful position on the board is anyone's guess. It's actually not too hard to figure out. She is getting "a little help from her friends" - those who make up the majority of the Richland 2 Board. They seem not to be concerned with laws or ethics.
Why did the Board reward McKie with the nomination to serve on the board of the South Carolina School Boards Association? She cannot legally hold the SCSBA Region 8 Director position.
McKie is not a legal member of the Richland 2 School Board; not because of her $51,750 debt, but because she has never taken the oath of office legally. How simple it would be to do so. It would take one minute to be sworn in legally. Then the Richland 2 District would have to wipe the mud off its face and nominate her properly to the SCSBA.
And the SCSBA would have to wipe the mud off its own face. It knows about McKie's illegitimate occupancy of the Richland 2 board position.
(This article appeared as a Letter to the Editor in The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County.)
