The State bashes Trustee McFadden today

The State newspaper got all hot and bothered about spending at an Atlanta conference in September that school board members attended. The article is here.

Holmes and Caution-Parker have ragged on Lashonda McFadden, as usual.

Lashonda incurred personal expenses of some $425 for the September 7-10 conference and has reimbursed the District for them.

The reporter didn't mention Teresa Holmes' over-spending of almost $3,000 as of 5/10/2022. Has Holmes paid that back?

The following email has been sent to reporter Bristow Marchant.

Regarding today's story on TheState.com

If you would like to do a real story on Richland 2, rather than a bash job on Mrs. McFadden, write about former board chair Teresa Holmes and her irresponsible use of taxpayer money. Each School Year (ending June 30th) a trustee is allowed $7,000 for travel and training.

As of 5/10/2022 Teresa's spending total for travel and training was at $9,729.27, and she may have spent more by going to Myrtle Beach in June. 

The District paid $587.30 for her April 2022 car rental in San Diego at the National School Boards Assn. conference. Plus $220 for four nights' of valet parking. Want the receipts?

She put out some defensive "smoke-and-mirrors" at a previous board meeting about "sharing" the car with other board members. She didn't. Of the five who attended that conference, at least two of them didn't know about it. A third may not have known about it.

The hotel was four miles from the airport. The conference center was 0.2 miles from the hotel. The car would have remained parked during the three days of the conference. It was a personal-use rental. It never should have appeared on her reimbursement request. She should have paid the Overnight Valet Parking $220 bill by personal credit card as she checked out. 

Instead, the superintendent approved reimbursing her for the car and paying the hotel bill in full.

The District should demand repayment of every penny over $7,000 for 2021-2022 expenses. And they should collect it!

Caution-Parker getting on her high horse about Advances last night was nothing but a continuation of her disrespect for Mrs. McFadden. The District is better off for her departure from the board.

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

Subscriber

Three Trustees should walk out tonight

Item 10.1 "8% Bond Resolution" is on tonight's agenda as New Business - Action Requested.

This is a First Reading, and The Core Four (and the superintendent) want to jam this through before they leave office. Tonight is the final meeting for McKie, Caution-Parker and Manning and hopefully will be the final meeting for Holmes.

The normal process is a First Reading and then a vote at a subsequent meeting. What's the rush about tonight - except for the anticipated shift in the quality of the majority of the board.

The Core Four will also approve Item 9.1 Policy BK revisions and Item 9.2 Policy BID revisions.

All three of these should be tabled until the new board is seated on November 18.

The only way to stop this stampede is for Trustees Agostini, Scott and McFadden to leave the meeting, so that a quorum is no longer present. It shouldn't require this extreme action, but tonight it is again warranted.

McKie Ethics Hearing 10/20/2022

On Thursday, October 20, the S.C. Ethics Commission held a hearing on a violation of the ethics laws by Amelia McKie. The hearing started promptly at 9:30AM.

The complaint was that McKie had failed to report her Richland 2 School District income, received in the year 2020, on her 2021 Statement of Economic Interests Report (SEI). On that Report, she indicated only Personal Income from some entity identified as NLLC.

You can view that Original SEI, for Report Year 2021, filed on January 12, 2021, at ethics.sc.gov

After the ethics complaint was filed, she amended her 2021 SEI and reported $9,600 income from Richland School District Two.

The chairman spoke into his microphone and requested those giving testimony to do likewise. McKie spoke it a low voice and, at the beginning of her direct testimony (about 11 minutes into the hearing), the chairman again asked her to speak up. 

Three people in the gallery, behind her, could not hear all of what she said. At times, I thought I heard "stipend", "income", "sheriff's department" , "school boards association workshop".

I think she offered some excuse to the hearing commissioners. I'm not sure how she could have explained it away, because in previous years she reported her Richland 2 income on her SEIs.

The audio recording of the meeting is very difficult to understand, because McKie did not speak clearly into the microphone. When a transcript of the hearing is available, I'll read it and learn the content of her testimony.

The chairman of the hearing announced that a decision would be announced within two weeks. That'll make it by November 3rd, before she completes her term of office. McKie is not running for re-election. She still owes $57,100 to the S.C. Ethics Commission, and a judgment for $51,750 is on file with the Richland County Common Pleas Court.

Open Letter to the Board re 10/25

 The following email has been sent to the full Board.

Members of the Board,

On the 10/25/2022 Agenda is Item 10 - New Business, Action Requested - 8% Bond Resolution.

Why is this item coming to the Board at the last meeting of 3-4 trustees, who hold the majority of the board and who will pass this item?

Why is this not coming up for a First Reading, with time for public inspection and comment?

In view of the push to pass Item 9.1 Policy BK and Item 9.2 Policy BID before you (the four) leave office and now the Item 10, 8% Bond Resolution, it may be necessary for three trustees to walk out to stop the irresponsible actions by the four in the majority.

Is this part of the $468MM bonds that were approved by taxpayers in 2018?

Why the rush? How can trustees, including the four who are leaving, study this Item with the necessary thoroughness and ask questions and get answers on or before Tuesday night, especially with the school district holiday on Monday?

I urge you to table Item 10 or amend the agenda to make Item 10 - New Business, No Action Requested.

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

Be sure to sign up to speak on Oct. 25

The next school board meeting is Tuesday, October 25th. Sign-up for public participation is now open. But where is it?

Executive session at 5:30PM. Open meeting begins at 6:30PM

There is no mention of it on the District's homepage. 

If you click on the Calendar for the October 25th board meeting, there is no sign-up button.

If you go to the agenda, there is no sign-up button.

If you click on Public Participation in the Agenda, there is no sign-up button.

Is there some conspiracy to keep the public from signing up?

Here is where you'll find the sign-up page:

From the homepage, click on EXPLORE;

Then click on School Board;

Then click on PUBLIC PARTICIPATION;

Then click on CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Could be a lot easier; right?

Ethics Commission SEI Woes - Holmes

Teresa Holmes, proud advertiser on a LAMAR billboard containing the line "Difference Don't [sic] Matter ... Kids Do", has more than spelling or grammatical problems.

Her 2022 Statement of Economic Interests Report, as filed with the S.C. Ethics Commission for the Calendar Year 2021, contains errors. 

It's a simple form that is filed electronically. You can view it (it's a public record) at ethics.sc.gov  Go the the homepage, then click on Public Reporting.

Under Ethics Filing Activity, click on Statements of Economic Interests.

Type in Holmes as the Filer, and select 2022 for the Report Year.

At the top left, notice the Viewing Version. It will show Amendment 1 (filed 9/29/2022). If you want to see the Original Version (filed 3/22/2022), just change the Viewing Version.

Two positions are reported: Candidate and Elected Official.

First, notice when she registered to run for office. "9/2023"

Private Income is what you earn if you are working (not as a school board member). Notice her two answers there. Apparently, she had no Private Income (non-school district earnings).

Then examine her Income from an SC Governmental Entity. 

If you believe what's listed, she earned $139,000 in 2021 ($12,000 + $9,000 + $59,000 + $59,000).

But did she? Wasn't it closer to $69,800 ($10,800 + $59,000)?

How important is it for a public official to have halfway decent comprehension and arithmetic skills? As School Board Chair for the 2021-2022 School Year, she led (if you want to call it that) a business with almost a billion dollars in assets and an annual budget of $300,000. 

And she blew right past her $7,000 annual travel allowance for the year ending June 30, 2022. Will she repay the $3,000 excess that she received from RSD2? Will the superintendent send her a bill and tell her to pay it? 

If she doesn't repay it, will the District send it to collection and report the debt to the major credit bureaus? If she doesn't repay it, does it become taxable income?

[Published 10/20/2022 9:30AM]

Critical Race Theory - Eric Rovelli Weighs In

Eric Rovelli is a candidate for the Richland 2 School Board. 

Why should you consider him?

Isn't he the one candidate who is talking about specifics? Go to his website at www.EricRovelli.com and watch his several videos.

This morning I watched his 21-minute video on Critical Race Theory. He acknowledges that it's a little long. How long is your attention span? This video includes three five-minute videos by other speakers.

Is CRT here in Richland 2? Remember the school board meeting when the chief of diversity, equity and inclusion couldn't tell the board what CRT is? That was at a meeting where her charge was to explain to the board what the difference was between CRT and Culturally Relevant Teaching (or Pedagogy), the brainchild of a USC professor. She couldn't define CRT.

Of course, CRT is here. No, it's not being "taught". Defenders are quick to say it's a graduate school-level course. But it is being applied here.

Rovelli meets the hard questions head on. Elect Eric to the board in November and there will be a board member who can and will tell the truth, clearly and directly. 

The board has an opportunity to do what it is supposed to do. Be Trustees. Be Directors. Be executives. Direct the business of education in Richland 2 schools.

That has not been the case for the past four years, when the board (majority (The Core Four)) let the superintendent run the whole show. When did the The Core Four ever criticize the superintendent? Certainly not after the Jan. 25th 2022 fiasco. Certainly not after the superintendent let trustees (and trustees-elect) over-spend their $7,000 annual travel allowances. Certainly not when his planned trip to Australia hit the news.

Eric Rovelli is desperately needed on the board. Cast one of your votes FOR Eric Rovelli.