Why did Holmes Miss 2.22.22 Meeting?

When the school board convened at 5:30PM yesterday, February 22, 2022, it was immediately obvious on the livestream broadcast that Teresa Holmes was not present.

The meeting was called to order by James Manning, and no mention was made of Holmes' absence. 

When trustee-elect McKie made the motion to enter executive session, she said, " ... grievance, and grievance..."  Were there to be two grievances heard? Only one was on the agenda.

When it was time to vote on going into executive session, Holmes' voice came out of nowhere to speak her Yes vote.

Then the board left for executive session.

When it returned and Manning re-convened the open session, he said, "For the record, Dr. Holmes apologizes for not being here in person, but she is here via phone."

What are Best Practices for public board meetings?

First of all, roll call should be taken - at 5:30PM and again when the board re-convenes. Then the public knows who is there, and so do the board members.

When a member is absent but intends to attend telephonically, a motion should be made and the board should vote on it. The reason for the absence should be explained to all.

This board never does that!

So, where was Holmes? Why wasn't her absence explained to the public and to the other members of the board?

There is speculation in the community that her absence was intentional, so that Manning could chair the meeting. Is that what happened?

Was there a big party in Hilton Head Island last week-end? The S.C. School Boards Association held its annual convention Feb. 17-20. How many board members spent taxpayer dollars to attend? Did Teresa extend her stay? 

Holmes gets paid about $400 to attend board meetings. Why wasn't she there in-person?

Open Letter to Female Deputy on 1/25/2022

This is an open letter to the female deputy with whom I spoke at R2i2 on Janauary 25, 2022, after Pamela Davis erupted following my introduction. 

I neglected to get your name and Badge Number at the time, when we spoke in the hallway.

When I picked up the reports availble to me from RCSD, I was given only the R/O's report, most of which was redacted. Your name does not appear in his report.

You and I had the longest contact. It was you who responded to where I was seated, when I asked the Richland 2 security officer to summon a deputy as an independent law-enforcement observer. I appreciated your professionalism and courtesy.

I requested Sheriff Lott to obtain a statement from you, and he replied only that there wasn't one. I already knew that. 

Your testimony will be needed in the future, and I would appreciate your writing a statement for your own records, so that the events will be clear in the future.

If you would care to call me, feel free to block your number. I suggest not calling from a RCSD phone. 

In Illinois I had the confidence of numerous deputies and police officers, who leaked information to me about the dirt in their departments. They expected that I would not reveal their names. The sheriff there tried to squeeze me with a subpoena in a deputy's Federal wrongful termination lawsuit. The sheriff wanted 27 months' worth of letters, emails, faxes, notes, etc. from any current or former employee of the sheriff's department. I knew I was not going to reveal even one name!

I filed a motion pro se to quash the subpoena, and the Federal Magistrate granted it! He ate up the sheriff's attorney and told her she was just on a "fishing expedition" (his words).

I'll let you know through RCSD when your testimony is needed.

District to spend $10MM tonight. Should it?

Item 9.1 on tonight's agenda for the Richland 2 school board meeting is Budget Surplus.

Without reading the agenda item carefully, I think the District is planning to spend $10,000,000 on one-time bonuses for teachers and staff, trying to buy loyalty for another year.

Should the Trustees vote YES tonight?

Probably not. They may need that $10,000,000 for another purpose - to pay off a potential defamation claim that probably won't be covered by insurance.

The Trustees might be wise to defer tonight's decision.

Ten Million could be chump-change in a $300,000,000 annual budget, but then ...

McKie's Debt - $57,100 - Why isn't she paying???

Recently a friend and I were discussing the chaos on the Richland 2 school board.

I was explaining how I got involved. In February 2018 I addressed the board after the shootings in Parkland, Fla. In January 2019 I addressed the board about Amelia McKie's debt to the S.C. Ethics Commission. At that time she owed $51,750.

In February 2019 I addressed the board about Amelia McKie and Teresa Holmes being illegitimate members of the board, because they had taken the oath-of-office three weeks before they were eligible to do so.

McKie and Holmes still have never taken the oath-of-office legally. McKie still owes $57,100 to the S.C. Ethics Commission (as of 2/22/22).

My friend said, "If they'd just do things right, you'd go away."

That's true.

One down; one to go

Teresa Holmes finally has a Richland 2 email address. It's teresaholmes@richland2.org

I spotted it on my first email from her $45,000/year "Special Assistant to the School Board," Christine Lewis. She emailed me at 3:01PM  to confirm receipt of my complaint and to let me know that my complaint (grievance) will be placed on the agenda for February 22, 2022. 

Of course, I had already seen the agenda. It was published on the District's website, and I spotted it first thing this morning.

Remember when that new staff position was touted as Special Assistant to the Board Chair? It turns out that Christine is the Special Assistant to the School Board! 

But Teresa's importance (in her own mind) continues, because she is the only board member to show both her official email address and her personal email address. The personal one - the one she used for her political campaign - has got to go.

If you think it is inappropriate for a school board member to list her personal, political-campaign email address on school district website, send your comments to

Supt. Davis at badavis@rickland2.org

and

Karla Hawkins (attorney) at khawkins@richland2.org

Tell them what action  you want the District to take (remove Holmes' personal email address).

Tell them to let you know what they will do about your request.

Follow up 30 days later to see if Holmes' personal email address has been removed.

T-shirts galore

I don't remember the name of this speaker on February 8, 2022, but she was one of several who were sporting new t-shirts and sweatshirts. This one was black. "We Support Dr. Davis."

A different attendee wore a pink t-shirt with the same wording. Somebody was really busy. Whose brainchild was that? The Davis Fan Club?

Were the superintendent and his wife feeling a little bruised by all the bad publicity following Mrs. Davis' outburst on January 25?

Will the t-shirts be back on February 22?

Near the end of the meeting the superintendent said (4:14:23), while reading his prepared statement from his tablet, "For those who woule be concerned about the future of this district and my future, let the record show that I'm just getting started."

Why would anyone be concerned about his future?

Anyone holding his breath?

The superintendent was followed by Teresa Holmes' closing comments. At that point the trustees had been at work for four hours fourteen minutes. Wouldn't it have been nice, if she had just said, "Thank you for being here tonight. May I have a motion to adjourn?"

Instead, she rattled and rambled for over five minutes.

Stop! Look! Listen! Derrick Wilburn speaks

 

This is one of the best addresses to a school board I've ever heard. Listen to Derrick Wilburn, as he addressed the Colorado Spring (Colo.) school board on August 12, 2021.

Do you agree?

What if Richland 2 school board meetings were run the way that one is. Listen to the comments by the board chair, as he lets the audience know how they can indicate agreement with the speaker.

Compare his expression and tone-of-voice with what we have here in Richland 2. He is informing the audience, not ordering the audience to obey. 

Listen carefully to the remarks of Derrick Wilburn.

Is the Richland 2 Board and the Administration keeping racism on life support? Do programs like 100 Premier Men of Color and providing information about scholarships available only to black students promote the Differences between races?

The Board hides behind "We don't teach Critical Race Theory". Richland 2 doesn't "teach" it; that part is true. But don't they implement it? Don't they implement it through culturally-relevant teaching (pedagogy), the program they buy from Gloria Boutte? Doesn't Richland 2 promote Critical Race Theory through the emphasis on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion?

Listen to Derrick Wilburn a second time. Do you think Richland 2 can do better?