Public Input on Proposed Budget

On the Thursday, April 7th board meeting agenda is "Item 3.1 Public Input on 2022-2023 Budget". This Item comes up as the very first item of business after the board re-convenes after the executive session.

I looked for the proposed Budget and couldn't find it. I noticed on Facebook that others were looking for it and could not find it.

So I wrote to the Richland 2 Ombudsman, and Libby Roof replied, in part,

A proposed 2022-2023 General Fund Budget does not currently exist. The district is still in the input/information gathering steps as outlined on the timeline:

 https://www.richland2.org/Departments/Business-Services/General-Fund-Budget​

My first thought was WHY is the District holding a public input session for a Budget that does not yet exist. Interested and concerned community members, parents, teachers and staff might like to know on what they will provide input. Don't you think?

World's Greatest Teacher?

A friend sent me yesterday's article about a teacher at Georgia State University, Newton Campus, who called campus police because two students were late to class.

No racism there. The teacher is black; the two tardy students are black.

Read the article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Associate Professor of English Carissa Gray is just a bad person. You think?

Then read her reviews on "Rate My Professors" website. 

https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1841747

To me, she looks like a great teacher. She expects students to do their work, arrive on time, not yawn in class (duh....) 

She got a bunch of "AWFUL" ratings from kids who look to me like they are "entitled"; i.e., entitled to A's for just making it to class a few times and not yawning too loudly.

Budget Input - two opportunities

Richland 2 will hold two Budget Input Sessions this month. Be sure to show up in-person and tell the board how you feel and what you want. Sending an email could end up - where? Speaking in-person? Be lively. Hold their attention. Don't let them hit Snooze.

Look them in the eye. Will they look you in the eye? Or will they stare at their tablets or phones or busy themselves with writing, while you are speaking?

First session. THURSDAY, April 7, 2022 6:30PM Jackson Creek Elementary School (why???)

Second session. Tuesday, April 26, 2022 6:30PM R2i2

From the District's website:

RICHLAND TWO TO HOLD TWO BUDGET INPUT SESSIONS IN APRIL

3/31/2022

The Richland Two Board of Trustees and district administrators are holding input sessions to give employees, parents, students and community members the opportunity to provide suggestions for the FY 2022-2023 General Fund Budget. 

Public input sessions will be the first item on the agenda during the public sessions of the board meetings on April 7 and April 26. Public session of the meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. The April 7 meeting will be held at Jackson Creek Elementary School (7150 Trenholm Road Extension, 29223), and the April 26 meeting will be held at the R2i2 Conference Center (763 Fashion Drive, 29229).

The board meetings will be called to order at 5:30 p.m. and the board will immediately adjourn into executive session. Public session will resume at 6:30 p.m.

Can't Find the Proposed Budget?

Have you searched on the District's website for the 2022-2023 Proposed Budget and can't find it?

You're in good company.

Making it impossible to find will certainly shorten the Public Input session scheduled for Thursday, April 7, 6:30PM as Item 3 on the board's annual for that meeting.

Add your own voice to that of others by emailing Richland 2 right now to ask where the budget is posted.

This morning I used Let's Talk to email the Ombudsman.

"Will you please ask for the 2022-2023 proposed budget to be posted on the District's website in an easily-found location, so that parents, community members, other taxpayers, and employees can examine it before the public input session on April 7th at 6:30PM?

Good places for posting it would be

1. link with Item 3 in the Agenda for that night's board meeting;

2. link in Public Input session announcement on the Disrict's homepage;

3. a result when a search on the website is made for "budget"

Thank you."

Why two email addresses for Holmes?

Why does Teresa Holmes have two email addresses on the District's webpage for board members? No one else has more than one. And I don't think I have ever seen a Members' webpage of any public organization that shows more than one email address.

For a long time, only her school board campaign Gmail address was shown. I questioned that early on. When she took office (even illegitimately), the District should have created an official email address for her, and that official email address should have been used for ALL school business.

There is a solid reason for that, and it's called the Freedom of Information Act.

The school district very likely faces a huge risk by her use of a personal Gmail address. Teresa can delete email at will, and she could even close that email address account. If she did, then all the "official" school-business email would be lost. 

Someday all that email will be lost; for example, if she is not re-elected this November. Will she deliver that account to Richland 2, where an Administrator will change the password to preserve all the school-related emails? Wanna bet?

Within the past month or two I saw, for the first time, an @richland2.org email address for Holmes. It was added to the Board Member page. But her personal campaign email address is still there.

Why?

Is it because Teresa is "special"? How can she get to say that she wants her personal email address shown?

There should be a District procedure, rule, even Policy that a school board member uses only an email address on the District's server for official email.

Does Teresa "tell" Administration that she wants her personal email address shown? Does she "tell" the superintendent to put it there and leave it there? Why doesn't the superintendent tell her that using her personal email address for school business is wrong?

Why don't the other board members tell her to use her official email address (only) for school business and tell Administration to remove Teresa's Gmail address?

If there were a Motion to remove Teresa's Gmail address, a Second and Discussion, how would the vote go?

For: Agostini, McFadden

Against: Holmes, McKie, Caution-Parker, Manning, Scott (Scott also uses a personal Gmail address)

Result? Motion Fails

Spring Valley H.S. hits the (gun) news

WIS-TV reported today that a Spring Valley High School student was arrested after a loaded handgun was found in the student's car.

Hey, Richland 2, how's that Be SMART Program coming along? Has anyone heard even one word about it since the kick-off in December?

The student wasn't identified, since the student is a minor. The news station is so woke that it doesn't even report whether the student is male or female (or one of many other genders now made available by Richland 2's equity and diversity department).

The article said the student was charged with "possession of a weapon under 18, possession of a weapon on school grounds and simple possession of marijuana."

It should probably be "possession of a weapon under 21", because a person under 21 cannot possess a handgun in South Carolina.

Just in case you are a law-abiding person who holds a South Carolina concealed carry permit and now worry about having a loaded handgun in your car on school property, this would be a good time to review South Carolina Code of Laws Section 16-23-430 (B)

SECTION 16-23-430. Carrying weapon on school property; concealed weapons.

(A) It shall be unlawful for any person, except state, county, or municipal law enforcement officers or personnel authorized by school officials, to carry on his person, while on any elementary or secondary school property, a knife, with a blade over two inches long, a blackjack, a metal pipe or pole, firearms, or any other type of weapon, device, or object which may be used to inflict bodily injury or death.

(B) This section does not apply to a person who is authorized to carry a concealed weapon pursuant to Article 4, Chapter 31, Title 23 when the weapon remains inside an attended or locked motor vehicle and is secured in a closed glove compartment, closed console, closed trunk, or in a closed container secured by an integral fastener and transported in the luggage compartment of the vehicle.

NOTE: Consider carefully the wording in (B). If you hold a CWP and normally "carry" on your belt, in your pocket or in your purse when you haul the hiddies to and from school, decide whether you need to move your handgun from its place where you carry it to the glove compartment, when you enter the parking lot.

Personally, I think this is where the law falls down. It's pretty stupid to have to handle your firearm unnecessary and move it to the glove compartment. It's safer on your belt or other place. But the law seems to say you cannot have it on your person when you enter the school parking lot.

Worse, If you get bumped in the parking lot and get out to check fior damage, then you just might be committing a felony, if the ol' Buntline Special is strapped on. Know the law!

4/7/22 Board meeting not at R2i2 - see you there?

The April 7, 2022 Regular Board Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 7, at Jackson Creek Elementary School - not at R2i2.

Note that the agenda includes Public Input on the 2022-2023 Budget. Be sure to show up by 6:30PM on Thursday to comment on the budget. Find out if you have to register ahead of time to speak. (Remember how Teresa Holmes blew right by the Public Input session on the ESSER III Funds? The District told me that no one had signed up to speak, so she skipped that Agenda Item. She should have called the Item, even if no one had signed up ahead of time!)

Because this board meeting is not at R2i2, I have requested access authorization and expect to attend the meeting. The District's agent, Safety & Security Director Marq Claxton, did not follow the correct procedure, when he issued a written Trespass Notice against me on January 26, 2022. As a former NYPD officer and detective, he surely knows the importance of every word in a controlling document, whether rule, regulation or law.  A complaint has been filed with Richland 2 over his previous actions that involve exceeding his authority, when he barred me from ALL Richland 2 properties.

The following email has been sent to Claxton. Will  he exceed his authority again?

Mr. Claxton,

Pursuant to your January 26, 2022 Trespass Notice which directs me to request access authorization to any Richland School District Two property at least 24 hours in advance AND that I MUST receive access authorization from you or your designee, I hereby request access authorization from you at the time stated in this email for the purpose of attending the April 7, 2022 school board meeting at Jackson Creek Elementary School.

AR KI-R authorizes you to issue a Trespass Notice for one property only; i.e., "the school facility" where an alleged incident occurred - that being R2i2 on January 25, 2022. AR KI-R does NOT authorize you to apply a Trespass Notice for "ALL [sic] properties, facilities, campuses and buildings", as stated in your January 26, 2022 Trespass Notice. By issuing the Notice to me as you did, you have exceeded the authority granted to you by the District.

Each word in a rule, policy and procedure is important. Each word was carefully chosen by the entity crafting the rule, policy or procedure. It is improper for a designated person (employee or otherwise) to violate the policy or rule by arbitrarily changing and/or expanding the policy or rule.

If the Administration had intended that a Trespass Notice apply to ALL properties, it would have so stated. It did not. 

Please approve my access authorization request.

Please also re-issue the January 26, 2022 Trespass Notice, so that it correctly applies only to R2i2.

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

Resident, Richland School District Two