How bad is the gun problem in Richland 2 schools?

Just how bad is the gun problem in Richland 2 schools?

Is the Administration of Richland 2 School District keeping a lot of the information out-of-sight?

Is the Board of Trustees being kept fully informed of the problems?

What about parents? Are they being informed?  Ya think? I don't!

The District's new MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between eight school districts, multiple law-enforcement agencies, major healthcare providers, and the Be SMART group is simplistic, to say the least.

It will not get to the heart of the problem. The big question is WHY do students take guns to school and commit crimes with guns? Why do they shoot at others? THIS is what must be addressed!

The basics are important. Don't point guns at people or animals or pull the trigger when the gun is not pointed in a safe direction. Well, duh...

Gun locks? Except for that fact that someone with wirecutters will have the gun lock off in a jiffy, they are a deterrent to the smallest child's being able to fire a gun.

Expose kids to the NRA's Eddie Eagle Program. Sit down with your kids and watch the Eddie Eagle video now. Click on the link.

That MOU needs some serious work and broadening to include more groups.

Equity Grading - what is it?

Many parents have not yet heard of "equity grading". Here is a partial description:

- Removing late penalties for homework assignments,

- Not allowing students to earn extra credit;

- Allowing unlimited redoes of assignments; 

- Eliminating grading on homework assignments. 

Those came from today's FoxNews article titled "Virginia teachers fire back after school district mulls implementing more 'equitable' grading system"   Click on the link to read the article.

What else is it? Issuing a minimum grade of (for example, 40), rather than a zero on a test. Why? Because a zero creates a bar that can hardly be overcome to achieve a passing grade in a class.

What else is it? Do you have other examples of "equity grading"? Put examples in the Comments box below.

I guess there's yet another way to grade. Just give everyone an A at the beginning of the grading period. If the student doesn't get expelled, that's his grade. Are we coming to this?

Book in Richland 2?

Does anyone know whether the book Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe,

is located in any libraries or classrooms of Richland 2 schools?

For whatever reason (I'm afraid to ask) the Richland County Library has four copies and an e-book.

When is the last time that the Library purchased four (4) copies of a popular Conservative book?

That book is $24.99 (hardcover) on Amazon. Why would the library system waste such money? Glance at the book on Amazon or check it out. Is it in Richland 2 libraries or classrooms? 

Gallup Polls determined that 5.6% of the U.S. adult population identified as LGBT. Is this what you want the world taken over by?

Look at other book purchases by the Richland Library:

My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen (4 copies)

The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish (3 copies)

Seriously???

Should the Public (You!!!) get more involved in the Richland Library's book selections?

And then take a moment to read this article:  "Teacher uses Dr Seuss-style poem to mock Christian parents at board meeting. It does NOT go over well."

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2021/12/24/teacher-uses-dr-suess-style-poem-to-mock-christian-parents-at-board-meeting-it-does-not-go-over-well-1180148/?fbclid=IwAR3lCO7Ig4Jr5cnOh3xU2A05Xe5jTbFCCGTJx9JV1mDZOBZPmCd-KzRgGi4

That "instructional technology specialist at Grisham Middle School in the Round Rock (Texas) Independent School District (ISD)" ought to be fired. How many like that employee are right here in Richland 2?

Lexington County Council Dist. 7 - unqualified member?

Be sure to read yesterday's article in The State newspaper about Beth Carrigg, a Lexington County Council member representing District 7. Her husband and she moved out of their in-District home, and a Lexington County resident is challenging her by lawsuit over the issue of qualification to continue to hold office.

As you read the article, consider whether a somewhat-similar issue might exist here in Richland 2 School District.

For months there has been a persistent rumor that one Richland 2 board member no longer lives in the Richland 2 school district. If that is the case, then that board member should have resigned upon moving out of the residence.

Richland 1 School District has had that happen twice in recent years. I was a poll worker for the special election on December 31, 2019, when Jonathan Milling ran (and won) in a special election to fill a vacant seat created when a board member moved out-of-state. He should have been elected for a full term in the November 2020 election, but a dark horse, with no campaign and only $675.00 in campaign funds, came out of nowhere and got nearly 23,000 votes.

If the rumor about the Richland 2 school member is correct, then Richland 2 has THREE illegitimate board members. Two (Teresa Holmes and Amelia McKie) are certain, because neither has ever taken the oath-of-office legally. Evidence is being gathered about the third seat.

You would think that the Richland 2 Board itself would be interested in its integrity. A huge problem this school year is that the Board Chair and the Board Secretary are illegitimate board members. And they are two of the four controlling the board of seven. 

Yet in the many months since I first raised this issue in February 2019, three months after Holmes and McKie were elected, not even one of the minority three board members has made a motion to investigate their legal status.

County Councils and School Boards should be squeaky clean. My attention hs been on the Richland 2 school board since February 2018, when I asked the board to consider a survey of teachers, staff, parents and community members on the topic of arming teachers. That was two weeks after the s school hooting in Parkland, Florida. The board never considered the question; the superintendent answered. Then I asked the board to consider applying for a $15,-20,000 school safety grant from the NRA. Again, the board never discussed it, and the superintendent answered. How does a seven-member elected board get cut out by a hired superintendent?

Should the superintendent stamd up for integrity on the board? All he'll say is the board is properly in place. Well, it's not. Holmes and McKie broke several state laws by taking the oath of office and sitting on the board, before they were eligible (legally) to do so. In fact, they still do so today.

Lexington County will solve its problems. Richland 2 School District should solve its own problems.

Holmes - FB LIVE during school board meeting ???

Why would Teresa Holmes be doing a Facebook LIVE broadcast during a Richland 2 school board meeting?

Isn't that a rather juvenile thing? Acting like a young teenager who can't live without her social media?

Maybe that's why she can't conduct a school board meeting with any degree of professionalism? Could be.

This screenshot is from her LIVE broadcast on Tuesday, December 14. Recognize the "saxophone choir"?

Holmes has a hard-enough time trying to keep secondary motions straight and even hearing and understanding motions by Trustee Agostini.

After Trustee Agostini made a motion, Holmes asked, "Is that a motion?" Trustee Agostini was much more polite about it than I would have been. I would have said, "Weren't you listening? What did I just say?"

Then I would have waited to see which other member of The Squad bailed her out.

Holmes should forget about Facebook LIVE and pay attention to running the board meeting. If she turns on her phone to stream at a future meeting, all the trustees should object.

McKie still owes $57,100 to S.C. Ethics Commission

This is the (not-so) proud owner of a $57,100 debt to the South Carolina Ethics Commission. Who is it?

Amelia McKie, trustee-elect of the Richland 2 School Board.

Her debt was $51,700 in February 2019, when I figured out that she was not a legitimate member of the school board. Why isn't she?

McKie has never taken the oath of office legally. 

She was elected to her second term on November 6, 2018. The oath was administered to her on November 13, 2018, but that was three weeks before she became eligible to take it. She should have filed her Statemet of Economic Interests Report (SEI) with the South Carolina Ethics Commission before taking the oath!

She did file that SEI on December 4, 2018 and, on that date, she first became eligible to take the oath of office and commence the official responsibilities of the office of school board trustee.

Because she has never taken the oath legally, she has been usurping public office, receiving tax-payer funds as a monthly stipend, and receiving expenses from the public monies of the school district.

Due to additional violations of ethics laws, her debt now totals $57,100.

She apparently has no qualms about thinking she is qualified to serve and oversee a $300,000,000 annual budget of the school district, even though her debt remains so high and she has trouble filling out the required forms for the Ethics Commission's quarterly and annual reports.

What should happen now?

At the very least, she should raise her right hand and take the oath of office. Even though she'd be more than three years late in doing so, she would become a legal member of the board.

But then the District would have to go back through three years' worth of Board records and remove every vote she cast. 

Or she could just resign from the board. They can't kick her off because of the fines from the Ethics Commssion because, unfortunately, there is no South Carolina law that prohibits holding (or running for) public office if you owe a huge debt for ethics fines.

McKie's term-of-office ends in November 2022. Perhaps the voters will be wise enough this time not to re-elect her. They sure missed the boat last time!

Where is Be SMART?

On Thursday, December 9th, with great fanfare a Be SMART initiative was announced at R2i2. It is to be a partnership between Richland 2, a number of other school districts, law enforcement agencies and healthcare sytems.

Three Be SMART volunteers showed up at the December 14th school board meeting to pose some "Did you know ...?" questions to the board. As I listened to the questions, which seemed straight out of the Everytown for Gun Safety anti-gun playbook, I wondered how much of the information was distorted. And there is a reason that I wondered.

Everytown and MOMs Demand Action (and now Be SMART) seem to me to be an anti-gun organizations, rather than specifically anti gun-violence organizations.

I awakened early today (3:45AM) and, before arising, glanced at The State newspaper on my phone. Bad habit; I know. There I read about a 13-year-old boy who died by gunshot at the Harbison Gardens apartment complex. That's over by Columbiana Mall, off I-26, in the City of Columbia. Apparently, another boy and he had gotten hold of a firearm about 11:00PM.

There is plenty of anti-gun talk around Columbia, but is anyone really doing anything to educate kids and young adults about firearms safety? I roughed out what I can do. What I can do is NOT wait for "government" (i.e., school districts) to assemble a grand program. I have ideas which will work right now. Some of them could even have been implemented since December 9th. I'm starting on them today.

Every kid should be exposed to the four (4) rules of firearms safety.

1. Treat every gun as if it's loaded.

2. Never point a gun at anything you don't want to destroy.

3. Finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond.

Most gun injuries and deaths are not "accidents". They are caused by negligence. Some are the result of just plain stupidity. 

Firearms safety should start at very young ages. Dispel the curiosity of firearms. Teach safety awareness and handling. 

The criminal use of firearms is another matter. Students' taking guns and other weapons to schools must stop. As in, S-T-O-P. 

A local group wants to slow down the school-to-prison pipeline. It's simple. Make it plain to the kids that committing crimes will land them in jail or prison. How do you stay out of jail? Don't commit crimes. What could be simpler?