Dumb Stuff Coming out of Washington

TO: Parents, students, R2 staff, teachers, and all readers,

President Joe Biden is trying to kill America.

It is imperative to examine critically every dumb plan he is implementing and proposing and to vigorously persuade our elected representatives to take a strong stand against him. You'll have to bear down on your U.S. Senators, too, so that all the Democrats don't ban together for 50 votes. Any tie is broken by the Democratic V.P. of the U.S. All Senators should stop voting down party lines and vote for what is best for the People of the United States.

Ex., the stand-down of the military to address white nationalism and to clear out "extremists and racists". The black SECDEF looks like a piece of work. Lloyd Austin should be reminded that blacks in the USA comprise 14% of the population. Is he just using his authority to protect interests of his race?

Race relations improved in this country for many years. They took a huge hit during the Obama Administration. And now Biden is running down the same path.

And then there is Biden's dumb plan to forgive $50,000 in student loans. Who do you think is going to pay for that "forgiveness"? YOU are. Your children are. Your grandchildren are. Are you willing to bankrupt your heirs for some stupid thing that Biden wants to do with the stroke of pen and no thorough cost-benefit analysis or examination of cause and effect?

Who is going to pay for all the "free stuff"?

Saturday Retreat, then Board Meeting Tuesday

The Richland 2 School Board will meet tomorrow (Saturday, February 6) for a four-hour retreat, and then it will meet for a Regular Meeting on Tuesday, February 9.

What would guess the "Appreciative Inquiry Presentation" could be? This is the focus of Saturday's retreat.

When you look at the agendas for the meetings, you just have to scratch your head and wonder what the heck is going on. It seems to me that very little consideration is being given to the time of the individuals who serve as board members.

Somewhere along the way, during my work years, I heard this: "Work expands to fill the time allotted."

Having witnessed board meetings for two years, this Board wastes considerable time. The board could cover in one hour what it takes 2½-3½ hours to finish. One thing that would help immensely would be for board members to make clear, concise, brief statements and then stop talking. Unfortunately, what does happen is that certain board members get diarrhea of the mouth and just keep on talking. Several of them should learn not to rattle on and on, thanking everyone in the District by departments for the work they get paid to do.

The Chair could control it; he doesn't. And not just the current Chair. The past two Chairs are equally guilty of failure to run efficient meetings.

The board decided not to livestream Saturday's retreat. As an official meeting of the board, it is open to the public, if you have the endurance to show up at R2i2. As soon as it starts to drag, will there be one or two (or more) board members who speak up and insist that business move forward or the meeting end?

The public (open) session for Tuesday's Regular Meeting starts at 6:00PM, according to the Agenda. That follows a scheduled 30-minute Executive Session. Don't be misled by the District's Calendar, which shows the Start Time as 6:30PM.

Ed.D. = Dr.?

I had occasion to look up a Richland One elementary school today for a reply to a reader. YES! Readers do write to me. They know I will never repeat what they say in a way that can identify them, as they wish to avoid any "special attention" that might result in retribution or retaliation or other disfavor toward their children in Richland Two. And I will never identify them without their explicit permission.

When I looked up Brockman Elementary, I saw the Principal's message and name. She is Mrs. Sharonda Giles, Ed.S. The only grammatical improvement I would offer is (Mrs.) Sharonda Giles, Ed.S.

The very first thing I noticed is that she did not elevate herself with a title! And Richland One knows how to hire a great person without a doctorate as a principal.

I would suggest to the Richland Two school board that it review its practice of identifying non-teaching persons as "Dr.", when the degree that they hold is Ed.D. (or any doctorate). 

Of course, the Richland Two school board will never go for it, because of the three board members who hold the doctorates that were issued many years ago. 

One school board member proudly stated recently that she has 40 years' experience. I immediately wondered if she meant one year of experience - 40 times. Did she become a better educator every year or was she like the geology professor I had in college who taught the same course year after year and never changed a thing. It could have been a recorded lecture. Of course, rocks don't change from year to year, but students do.

During school board meetings would you rather hear the Board Chair call on "Trustee _____" or "Dr. ____"? My choice is, skip the Dr. They are all equal as Trustees. And the same with the superintendent. He can be Supt. Davis, not Dr. Davis.

Please comment below (if you are brave enough). Or write to me at gusphilpott@gmail.com  Your name will not be published without your permission, which likely means "will not be published".

Does BLM hurt black students?

Read this article about Carol Swain on FoxNews.com.

Of course, if I said anything like that around here, I'd be labeled a racist. In fact, racial motives for my continuing to call attention to the illegal status on the board of Teresa Holmes and Amelia McKie have already been alleged - in writing.

Their being black doesn't have anything to do with it. If they were white or brown or red or yellow or green, I'd still be after them until the take the oath of office and become legal members of the School Board.

Swain is mentioned in the new video called "Uncle Tom", which can be viewed on Amazon Prime Video, among other places. 

Is the BLM curriculum destructive to the black community? Swain suggests going to its website and seeing how it does not benefit our society. 

It's Black History Month. A good time to determine what's right and what's not.

Why does Black History Month dominate the R2 homepage?

I can say that I wasn't surprised to click on the homepage for the Richland 2 school district this morning and find BLACK HISTORY MONTH predominantly displayed as the first message. 

While Black History Month is recognized in the U.S.A. and gets a whole month, what would happen if the non-black population of 87% of this country just said, "No." Is Black History Month really a divisive step that should be eliminated in this country? 

There is Black History Month, Black Lives Matter, Democratic Black Caucus (and probably Republican, too), Black Chamber of Commerce, black this, black that. Blacks in the U.S. are approximately 14% of the population.

Does Black History Month further or diminish unity in Richland 2 School District? In the U.S.? 

Will Richland 2 recognize White History Month? Brown History Month? Yellow History Month? Red History Month? Am I missing someone's identity out there? 

What would it take to put the term "African-American" out of use? Are we all Americans? Why creative division?

And while Richland 2 was quick to splash Black History Month not once, but twice, it did not remove the stale posting of the announcement of the January 26 school board meeting, now one week in the past.

And, by the way, Richland 2 still has not responded to my October 13, 2020 request to the Board about whether The 1619 Project is being taught or discussed in Richland 2 schools. 

Who else is making requests to the Board or the District and being ignored?

Candace Owens Show with Bryan Callen - GREAT

Be sure to watch this Candace Owens Show. Candace's guest is Bryan Callen. Bryan got "canceled" because of  an allegation of something that may or may not have happened 21 years ago. 

I wanted to post the image for this video on YouTube above, but YouTube must be censoring some of Candace's videos. The video can be viewed on YouTube, but it's not available in the menu of YouTube shows available to including at the top of a blogpost.

Will what you say or write today come back to haunt you (like, cost you your job) 21 years from now? Or sooner? How will you defend yourself?

Watch their discussion about free speech and what happens when you state your opinion - or are afraid to state your opinion.

People are getting fired for saying "All lives matter." Is this right?

Bryan recommends the book Skin in the Game, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He mentions white privilege and critical race theory. What happens when you take a stand but have nothing to lose by doing so? Then you can say anything and attack anybody.

At the end of the show, Bryan has some great advice for how to make the world a better place.

School board needs a Parliamentarian!!!

How can I describe last Tuesday's (Jan. 26) school board meeting?

A train wreck! I started to watch the Livestream on January 26 and quickly bailed out. Then I decided today to browse the recorded meeting.

At 1:31:30 (on the timer) Supt. Davis was going on and on about putting Richland 2 students in positions to "be global citizens prepared to lead themselves in a chosen pathway." "This is the mission of the school district. Mission critical." Where were they? NASA?  ... and "global citizens" a couple of more times...  And how Richland 2 has the finest educators in the state, maybe in the nation. Yawn....

Then, at 1:43:50, the Agenda Item for the proposed agenda for the next meeting began.  You'll want to watch that. Trustee Elkins wanted an agenda item to discuss face coverings (masks, shields) for board members. She is quarantining at home and said she won't return to Board meetings until there is a Policy. Board Chair Manning said there is a Board Policy - ABD. He asked if Monica wanted to make a motion to revise it. She did. 

Her Motion failed, 3-4. Elkins, Agostini and McFadden voted in favor. Manning, McKie, Caution-Parker and Holmes voted against it. No surprises there, for sure.

Why was the majority of the board unwilling to approve such a motion and allow discussion at the next meeting of a revision to a Policy?

And right there is where the meeting ran off the rails! I mean, OFF THE RAILS!!!

Monica spoke up and was allowed to continue speaking. She didn't ask to be recognized. She was out-of-order and got away with it. The Motion had been voted on. Discussion was over. A Point-of-Order should have been called. 

Monica said that, when the Board Chair and superintendent want something added to the agenda, it gets added. But, when a Board member wants something added, a vote is required.  And often such motions are voted down because of personal prejudice or like or dislike of a person (board member).

She hit the nail on the board. Often, when Agostini or Elkins wants something, they are voted down 2-5 or 3-4. Who hangs together to control the board? McKie, Holmes, Caution-Parker and Manning. 

Manning over-rode Elkins, interrupted her and tried to silence her, but Elkins was right. (Later in the Board and Superintendent Comments, Holmes tried to school Elkins (and Agostini) about "democracy" and majority rule.

Elkins commented further, and then the superintendent piped in. He too was out-of-order. He often does that, speaking without obtaining the Chair's acknowledgement and approval to speak. 

A Parliamentarian, if fully independent of the board, would correct any Board Member who spoke out in clear violation of Robert's Rules of Order. Same with the superintendent, which is why the Parliamentarian should not be a District employee. An employee in the role of Parliamentarian would be headed for the bread line.

At 1:58:10 Trustee Agostini made a Motion for an HR update. The superintendent immediately jumped in (Out-of-Order again) to ask for a delay. Then Elkins chimed in, also out-of-order.

Mrs. Agostini's motion needed a second, before discussion. It never got a second. And the discussion was argument, not discussion. 

The superintendent discounted Agostini's request, and then he tried to smooth over with "Respectfully" and "humbly". Had I been on the Board, about that time I would have made a motion to fire him. And make him sue for the balance of his contract. The majority on the board (The Squad, as I call them) have given him quite a Golden Parachute, and they would vote against firing him.

Manning asked Agostini if she wanted to make a Motion with more detail, apparently forgetting that she already had made a motion. Then the superintendent wanted to buy more time (delay).

Then Manning incorrectly claimed privilege as Board Chair and decided Agostini's request would not be on the next agenda, and he never asked for a Second, Discussion or a Vote.

Manning asked Agostini to put her request in writing. Agostini said that every time she had done that, her request had been denied. 

Agostini did it correctly. Make a Motion. Then there should be a second, discussion and a vote; even if it fails, it's on the record. If the Chair attempted to cut it off, any other Board member should have objected. Even McKie, Holmes (Vice Chair), Caution-Parker (Board Secretary), or McFadden, the newest member of the board. And then responsibility (blame) can be assigned to those sticking their heads in the sand. 

So Agostini's Motion is still pending, and the Board ought to still be sitting in that room.