Past Board Chairs. When did Chaos begin?

I remember the order and the civility that existed on the board, when I attended my first board meeting on February 27, 2018. The division, disharmony, and back-biting wasn't present. Who have the board chairs been since Craig Plank?

Board Chair history:

2017-2018 Craig Plank 

2018-2019 Amelia McKie *

2019-2020 James Manning

2020-2021 James Shadd (July 1, 2020 - Nov. 17, 2020)

2020-2021 James Manning (Nov. 17, 2020 - June 30, 2021)

2021-2022 Teresa Holmes **

2022-2023 James Manning 

Minutes of the June 25, 2019 and the June 28, 2020 board meetings, when officers for the following School Year were elected, are missing from the District's website. 

* McKie was ineligible to continue serving as Board President after November 13, 2018, because she had failed to to file her SEI before the oath of office was administered on November 13, 2018 and never took the oath of office after December 4, 2018.

** Holmes was ineligible to serve as Board President, because she had failed to to file her SEI before the oath of office was administered on November 13, 2018 and never took the oath of office after December 4, 2018.

Why the Rush to Retain Wyche Law Firm?

Remember the rush by the (majority of the) board to retain The Wyche Law Firm ("Wyche")?

The ink was hardly dry on the Governor's directive to the State Inspector General to investigate Richland Two and the superintendent and the board had to rush to line up its mouthpiece. Before they even knew (for sure) what the I.G. would be investigating.

Is that like getting your DUI lawyer lined up and standing by his telephone, before you head out to Saturday's night's drinking party?

And remember how Teresa would not allow other board members to ask questions about the deal with Wyche? Like,

How much was Wyche going to charge?

Whom would Wyche represent? (the board or the district? or both?)

Why some of the trustees received the information about the deal only 30 minutes before they were expected to discuss it and then vote on it?

Why there wasn't competitive bidding?

What the estimated (total) cost is for Wyche?

Wyche's hourly rate is $375.00, according to the District's response to my FOIA request.

The lead attorney on the representation is Wade Kolb, III.

There was absolutely confidential about that! Yes, it had been discussed in the executive session, but that did not mean it could not be discussed in public session. Why shouldn't The Public know?

It is crystal clear to The Public who was responsible for the chaos and the antics in the last school year (2021-2022). Teresa Holmes tried to put the blame on Trustees Agostini, Scott and McFadden. The Public knows the truth.

It is that chaos that drew the attention of the legislature and the Governor to Richland Two.

What the R2 Board Could Learn

Did you ever watch a meeting of the Richland County Council? Expect to see a model of organization and efficiency.

Every member of the Richland 2 School Board should watch last night's County Council meeting. The Chair, Councilman Overture Walker (from our District), runs the meeting with precision and control.

Notice how motions are made and seconded. Notice how discussion is handled. Especially notice how the vote on a motion is handled.

Compare the smooth running of the County Council meeting with a Richland 2 school board meeting.

If the Richland 2 School Board hired a professional coach and a parliamentarian, meetings would be 60-90 minutes. Not 2-4 hours!

County Council members don't fill the air with extraneous comments. The Chair doesn't expound on matters. He conducted the meeting as it should be conducted. If he didn't need to comment, he didn't.

Unlike the Richland 2 School Board, where a couple of members can be counted on to say how many years they have been in education or how they are a proud "product" of a certain high school.

Notice how quickly voting is handled. Do you question why it takes so long to tally votes by seven board members electronically? When it's time to vote, voting should be completed in about five seconds. Just press the button. (Hint to some: press the correct button.)

Will business be conducted better, more smoothly, more quickly under the new Chair?

Cost of Censorship - $300,000

The Pennsbury School District (Bucks County, Penn.) learned an expensive lesson last year, after it curtailed public comments by four men at school board meetings.

In November 2021 a Federal judge, U.S. District Court Judge (Ms.) Gene Pratter, ordered that school district to "stop enforcing its policy prohibiting abusive, offensive, or personally directed public comments".

The Pennsbury School District's insurance carrier got stuck with the bill. Too bad the $300,000 wasn't charged to the board members 

A lawyer at the Institute for Free Speech (Washington, DC) is quoted as saying, “School boards across the country should take note. Rules for public comments must respect the First Amendment rights of speakers. If you are limiting which opinions may be shared, you’ll be held liable for violating First Amendment rights,”

Richland 2 resident, Gary Ginn, has often mentioned the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution at Richland 2 School Board meeting.  

Can you count the number of times in the 2021-2022 just ended School Year that past-Chair Teresa Holmes warned public speakers about using names?

After speakers and even board members told her she was wrong, Holmes continued to apply Board Policy BEDH incorrectly. That board policy prohibits "any expression of personal complaints about individual school personnel or any other person connected with the school system." 

It does not prohibit mentioning names of school personnel.

Is that provision in BEDH unconstitutional?

Source: https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsbury-school-board-censorship-lawsuit-public-comments-20220715.html

Many thanks to the reader who sent this article to me. You know who you are.

Can Richland 2 learn from the mistakes of others? 

The Cost of DEI/CRT

You know these initials; right? DEI? CRT?

DEI? Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

CRT? Critical Race Theory (and Culturally-Relevant Teaching)

Check out yesterday's article in The Epoch Times titled, "California Spent $500 Million on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training, Report Reveals"

The Center for Organizational Research and Education (CORE) said, "“In recent years, the concept of critical race theory and its variants—often camouflaged as more generic ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) activities, has entered the national spotlight, and infiltrated publicly-funded entities.”

Learn more about CORE at www.coreprojects.com. The $500,000,000 figure for California was for the period 2020-2022.

How much has Richland 2 spent on DEI? At every meeting you hear DEI more and more. Even in the Dress Code revision that is proposed. 

Richland 2's DEI effort is led by Mrs. Helen Grant, who prefers to be called Dr. Grant. Now, she doesn't have a Ph.D. or even an Ed.D. She's a lawyer, holding at J.D. degree. She is the only lawyer I have ever heard of in my entire lifetime who wants to be called Dr. ____. 

Is that privilege? What "privilege" is it? 

Is it equity to be called whatever you want? Is it inclusion? Diversity? 

Can three board members control the School Board?

Many people will say that the school board is controlled by the majority of board members. In other words, four board members control. 

This is NOT correct.

Three board members can control the board, and they should. Judiciously, of course.

Remember when three trustees walked out because of the short notice they were given to consider the superintendent's proposed contract renewal? That worked!

They should have used that again when they were asked to vote on The Wyche Law Firm on such short notice. The superintendent and the chair apparently withheld information about Wyche from at least three of the trustees until the executive committee met. Did Manning, McKie and Caution-Parker get the information days earlier? Did they even care if they didn't?

Agostini, Scott and McFadden could have walked out, eliminating a quorum and halting the meeting.

And last Tuesday night, when the same three wanted more time to consider the $300,000,000+ budget for 2022-2023?

Walk-out time.

The same when they raised a Point-of-Order. When the Chair failed to recognize the call for a Point-of-Order, the trustee needs to say it again and more loudly. If still not recognized, then stand up and say it loudly. And if that doesn't work, three trustees can walk out.

They could remain in the hall for five minutes, hoping the Chair would decide to comply with Robert's Rules of Order. If not, the meeting is over for that evening.

I wrote to them earlier in the year and suggested they consider that philosophy. I told them it's like training a new puppy. 

When you train a puppy, it only takes a few times of discipline. 

If the chair refused reasonable requests and positions, walk out. 

I figured it might have taken a little longer with the Chair, but it would have worked. The bullying would have stopped.

Pass motion; then make secondary motion???

At Tuesday night's board meeting (July 12, 2022) there was a lengthy discussion of the proposed 2022-2023 Budget. 

Trustees Agostini and McFadden asked for more time to consider it. McKie had made a motion to approve the budget. McFadden made a (secondary) motion to delay the vote and  allow more time for deliberation. 

Manning said there was a  motion standing. He was right, but he knows full well what a secondary motion is and in which order motions are voted. He has been on the board since 2010, and he often had to explain secondary motions to last year's chair.

And then McKie chimed in the wrong information that she has spoken about in the past.

She should know by now that, when a motion passes, such a "secondary motion" is meaningless. The motion would have already passed.

But Manning, as chair and member of the pack of the Core Four, did not correct her.

And without a Parliamentarian the wrong information did not get corrected.

McFadden's secondary motion should have quickly been seconded by Agostini or Scott. Then there should have been discussion and a vote.

Unfortunately, the Core Four stood ready to approve the budget, so they would have voted en bloc 3-4 on McFadden's motion, causing it to fail. But there would have always been hope that Holmes would not have understood McFadden's motion and would have "hit the wrong button", making the vote 4-3 (passing).

That would have killed the primary motion and would have just taken them back to a starting point, and they would have had to wiggle to produce some kind of wording to get what The Four wanted - a passed Budget Tuesday night.

How much money did the District waste on the two "executive coaching and parliamentary procedures" trainings? $10,-15,000? More? Did anyone ever submit a FOIA request?