What is R2's Cellphone Policy for Students?

Does Richland 2 have a cellphone policy for students?

The 2021-2022 Student Handbook can be viewed here. It's 58 pages (in .pdf). What percentage of it do you think students have read?

Electronic Communication Devices (ECDs) are covered on Page 28 of the Handbook. That's Page 36 of the .pdf version when viewed as 100%, if you want to find it quickly. 

Board Policy JICJ is the formal wording for the Policy.

I suggest reading the Board Policy first. In my opinion, there are several questionable actions in that Policy that are allowed by school personnel. Parents should review Board Policy JICJ with their children who are students and discuss the Handbook conditions with them. If you object, show up at a board meeting and speak out.

From Board Policy JICJ:

Elementary and Middle School

"Elementary and middle school students may not use or display ECDs while on school property during school hours."

High School

"High school students may use ECDs before and after school, during their lunch break, within "free zones" (as determined by the principal) for educational and/or instructional purposes only. Any other use of wireless communications is considered misuse and violations may result in disciplinary action. [emphasis added]"

How is this last part enforced? Or is it enforced? 

Is it a good practice for all students to just turn off their cell phones upon arrival at school and leave them off until departing?

What kind of emotional distress would students experience, if they did that?

Each board member - $7,000 to spend. Not more.

Each Richland 2 board member is allocated $7,000 to spend on training and travel during the School Year, which ends June 30. 

It's easy to know what the total is for the entire board to spend on travel and training; right? 7 X $7,000. Many on the board can do that calculation in their heads. Some will need paper and pencil. And some might even need their calculators.

If each gets $7,000 and some have not yet hit their limit, how could the board, as a whole, already have spent over $49,000?

If a board member has not yet spent her $7,000, she should not be told not to submit any further expenses or requests for reimbursement!

The big question is WHO over-spent? Did only one board member exceed her allowance? Did more than one exceed her allowance?

If a board member over-spent her allowance, why was the excess amount paid? Is any travel allowance issued in advance?

What happens when a board member turns in her expense reimbursement request? 

Does the Special Assistant to the Board review the forms before passing them into the system? What if she finds that a board member is asking for too much money, either in advance or as reimbursement - or, worse, charged to the District? Does she kick it back and ask for it to be corrected?

Has the Board Chair over-spent? 

Has anyone else over-spent?

The supt. tried to make a case on April 26th for the information being private. How pathetic is that? These are public funds. Taxpayer-provided funds. Board members are fiduciaries. There is nothing "private" about their spending of public funds.

The District hasn't yet responded to my FOIA Request for the individual year-to-date spending by each board member and the total spent by the full board.

If any board member over-spent her $7,000 allowance, the District should request immediate repayment. If the money is not promptly paid back, it should be taken out of their per diem until the full amount is recovered.

Any chance of this in Richland 2?

Gender identity? Gender confusion? Gender transition?

Is there any chance that there is any gender-change guidance or coaching being provided to students in any Richland 2 schools without parents' knowledge and consent?

Read this FoxNews article that was published today:  Florida mom filing suit after child transitioned at school without her consent: 'Happening all over' US

With all the emphasis on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Richland 2, could this be part of the deal? Are there "gender closets" in any Richland 2 schools?

The first way to find out is to know your children. Watch for shifts in conversations, words used, how they are acting, how they are dressing, who their friends are.

Another way is to ask the teachers of your children. Ask them specifically. And then follow up your conversation with an email that confirms your understanding of the conversation. Ask them to confirm your understanding or to correct you.

Next, speak with the school's principal. Send the same confirming email.

If your child has a transgender teacher, watch for any classroom indoctrination that might be taking place.

A Richland 2 teacher called me a few weeks ago to express high concern about what is happening in that teacher's school. That teacher is very concerned about the high suicide rate among transgender youth and doesn't want it happening here.

How is the District leading the way by allowing staff to show "personal pronouns" in their official correspondence? 

Frankly, it is downright stupid for a female employee with a common female name to show personal pronouns of "she/her" in her signature block. Is anyone on the planet going to think she is not a female?

Let's use the Special Assistance to the School Board as an example. She is Christine Lewis. A very nice person, I am told. In her signature block she includes "Pronouns: she/her". WHY? Is there doubt in anyone's mind that Christine Lewis is female? Now, if she gave her name as Chris Lewis, one would not immediately know whether she is male or female; in that case, she could put (Ms.) or (Miss) in front of her name.

This is Woke-creep, and it should be stopped in its tracks!

Who sets the rules for employees of the District? The superintendent. With the board chair's advice to parents to "Stay woke", is there more than a little to worry about?

Where is the REAL effort to control to control guns?

From a parent's post on Facebook:

Just curious…is the left’s “woke” agenda helping or hurting the children of South Carolina??

Teresa Holmes, Richland Two School District Board Chair, tells her district to “stay woke” during closing statement at School Board meeting on February 8.

Oct. 25, 2021- 2nd student charged with loaded gun @ Richland Northeast HS

Nov. 10, 2021- Student arrested for gun @ Spring Valley High School

Dec. 7, 2021- Student brings loaded gun to Richland Northeast High School

Feb. 14, 2022- Student arrested for gun @ Richland Northeast High School

Mar. 9, 2022- 14-year-old in her district was shot to death by a 16-year-old

Apr. 4, 2022- Student arrested for loaded gun @ Spring Valley High

Apr. 8, 2022- Student from Ridge View High School taken by ambulance after fight

Apr. 11, 2022- 16-year-old from Blythewood High School shot to death

Apr. 19, 2022- Fight at Blythewood High School

Add to this listing

April 25, 2022 Gun confiscated from 17-year-old female student at Blythewood High School

April 26, 2022 Gun confiscated from 15-year-old male student at Blythewood High School

December 9, 2021 Richland 2 holds big splash for BeSMART Program. Not a peep since.

April 26, 2022 School Board creates Committee of the Whole to deal with safety and security.

Apri 28, 2022 School Board holds Special-Called Meetng - only executive session (and possibly illegal executive session, at that). No parents or community members involved.

This is Teresa Holmes' "Stay woke", folks.

Is the majority on the Richland 2 School Board treating parents and community members like mushrooms?

Is Board paid for Committee meetings?

Will Richland 2 board members be paid for attending meetings of the Committee of the Whole ("Committee") that was approved on April 28, 2022?

Board members (and two trustees-elect) receive a per diem for board meetings (six members receive $340(?) per meeting; the Chair receives $400).

(All) board members can, but are not required, to attend meetings of the Committee. If they do attend, do they get paid?

How can the Committee meet without being considered a Board Meeting? If four board members show up, that's a quorum and it becomes an official meeting requiring (24-hour advance) Notice, Agenda, Minutes, etc.

Should they be paid for the April 28th special-called board meeting? It was announced as a board meeting.

It should have been announced as a meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

Why wasn't it? One reason is they probably couldn't have met in executive session. Had they met in the open, the public (those attending in person and those viewing on livestream.com/richland2)would have been privy to every word said and all the body-language "statements" of those board members attending.

Who Blew Past Her Travel/Training Allowance?

The members of the Richland 2 school board have an annual allowance for travel, training and other expenses. I don't know the actual amount, but I've heard that it is $7,000 per School Year. The School Year ends June 30.

It's easy arithmetic to calculate the total budgeted amount. 7 x $7,000 = $49,000 (assuming each receives the same dollar amount)

Some trustees have not yet spent their allocated amount. HOWEVER, the total has already been exceeded. If you could follow the confusing discussion on Tuesday night, April 26, 2022, the superintendent doesn't intend to reimburse any trustees now, because the total has been exceeded. He claims it will take board approval for him to pay more. WRONG. And he doesn't want to reveal who blew past her allowance. WRONG.

You'll never persuade me that he doesn't know who blew up her budgeted amount. Or whether more than one trustee did.

How did a trustee (or trustee-elect) get reimbursed in excess of her allocation?

Somebody (well below the superintendent's own office) must be charged with examining and approving expense payments or reimbursements. WHO approved more than a trustee was eligible to receive? And who told that person to approve and pay it?

I don't know what the Reimbursement (or Request) Form looks like, but somewhere on the page should be these lines:

Amount Available:                   $______

This Request:                         - $______

Remaining Amount Available: $______ (cannot be less than 0)

A calculator shouldn't even be necessary for that simple subtraction.

The District should immediately recover over-payments made to any trustees (or trustees-elect).

The problem with yesterday's Motion for exec. session

After the April 28, 2022 special-called board meeting convened and the agenda was approved, the Chair stated what that day's (she called it "night's" meeting; it started at 4:30PM) meeting was to be about.

Holmes said she wanted to "make a little clarity to the public" about the meeting. 

What in the world does that mean? "make a little clarity to the public"? Those are the words of a 35-year educator who is head of a board of trustees managing a business with a $300,000,000 annual budget. Seriously?

Holmes said they had to go through that meeting first, so that they could get to the public forum that they planned to have. 

No, they didn't have to go through that meeting first to "get to the public forum". It was what they chose to do. 

What "public forum"? The Committee had not yet decided on any public forum. The Committee hadn't even met yet! 

Then Holmes said they had to do this (meeting) first, before they went into private things of having people come in ...

What "private things"? There aren't going to be any "private things". This is a public body!

Then Holmes called for a motion to go into executive session.

Trustee-elect McKie made the motion: (livestream.com/richland2 at 06:45) "I move to convene in executive session for the purpose of a safety and security meeting." The motion was seconded by Trustee Agostini. The motion was approved by a hand-vote of 7-0. 

Was the executive session legal?

McKie said the purpose was "a safety and security meeting". No, the purpose was not a safety and security meeting. Holmes had just explained that the purpose was to establish how the Committee of the Whole ("Committee") would conduct its business (my words; not hers).

Setting the purpose and scope of the Committee is not an eligible exclusion for leaving public session and entering executive (private, secret) session. 

If the board members intended to discuss school safety and security, that is an eligible exclusion for which the board could enter executive session and met out of the public view. But that's not why they were meeting.

Are Minutes kept of executive sessions? While those Minutes would not normally be available to the public, a judge could order them to be available in camera.

Unfortunately, in South Carolina the only way to hold a public body (ex., a school board) accountable for violation of the State's Freedom of Information Act is to haul them into court. 

The District's in-house legal counsel is not going to do that. The SCSBA is not going to do that. The County Council is not going to do that. Our State Rep and State Senator will not do that. Will a member of the public fork over his own money to hire an attorney and force Richland 2 into court?