Opening of this afternoon's board meeting?
Pitiful.
Give the Chair a big whip!
Another school board meeting will be held for the purpose of receiving legal advice regarding the superintendent's contract. That meeting is this afternoon, Jan. 17, at 4:30PM.
And why not?
Is there some reason that the Board should not understand his multi-year contract? It represents a $1,000,000 obligation of the District - three-and-one-half years of employment (School Years 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026) plus a severance package of 18 months' pay.
What company with $1 Billion in Assets and a $300,000,000+ Annual Budget would not want its board to understand the contract with its CEO or keyman?
Former board member and former chair James Manning waved a red flag at media earlier this month, when he surmised that the board was about to fire Baron Davis.
Now Hamilton R. Grant used yesterday's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration to defend Davis. See his post on Facebook on January 16.
Grant was "with" Terrance Cummings and Chris Leevy Johnson on Facebook when he published a long post linking Dr. King and Davis. Grant referred to Davis as "stellar", "nationally awarded", "beloved, homegrown and proven exemplary leader". Grant also wrote, "Davis has earned the respect of educators and academicians across the world."
Come on, man.
Grant asked, "... is a stellar leader as Davis next on the preverbal [sic] chopping block?"
What is a "preverbal" chopping block?
It is the Board's right and duty to understand Davis' contract.
Sugestions to Board Members,
At the beginning of the meeting, tell any of the public gathered that this is a Special-Called meeting and there won't be any public statement after the executive session. They are welcome to wait, but they should not expect a statement.
Set a deadline of 6:00PM for adjourning.
Show up with your written questions on 3x5 cards. Write your initials on the cards.
Appoint a time-keeper.
In Executive Session, take the first five minutes to group your questions and tape them to the wall.
Give the attorney 5-10 minutes (or less).
Then ask your questions. Limit the attorney to 60 seconds.
Wind up at 5:45PM and determine the next steps.
At 6:00PM (or earlier), return to open session, move to adjourn, and go home.
The Meal Plan got a lot of discussion at the school board meeting on January 10, 2023. The discussion starts at 4:53:26 on https://livestream.com/richland2/events/10733970/videos/234531948
Every parent and every taxpayer should watch this discussion.
There are three levels of payers for meals. There are Free Meals. There are Reduced-Price Meals. There are Full-Pay Meals.
If the student does not qualify for Free Meals or Reduced-Price Meals, then he (she) pays for his meals. Or he should.
Except now he (she) doesn't, because there is a Moratorium on charging for meals.
How did that happen? How could that happen? Did the prior school board authorize that? Did it have the right, the authority, the power to give free meals to those who are supposed to be paying for them?
Listen carefully to Supt. Davis' comments about the Moratorium. Somebody should try to figure out what he really said. He uses the "royal We" when referring to who decided.
WHO DECIDED ON THE MORATORIUM, which has caused the debt to increase from $70,000 to OVER $340,000 and to be headed for $500,000?
If you want to know, watch the presentation. And then ask specific questions that cannot be answered with "We ...". Who? the past board? The Superintendent?
The school board has scheduled a Special-Called Meeting for Tuesday, January 17, 2022, 4:30PM.
Are you kidding me?
After the marathon on January 10 and the executive session about the superintendent's contract, now the board is going to have yet another meeting that will entirely be an executive session, for the purpose of "Receipt of Legal Advice Regarding Superintendent Contract".
What part of his contract is the board unable to understand? They've all got a copy.
The contract IS the Contract. What can they expect to learn beyond the legal advice that they must have already received?
The Contract doesn't tell the superintendent how to run the District. It tells him that he is to run it.
If the board doesn't like how he is running it (Meal Plan, safety plan, this plan or that plan), they aren't going to get any from "legal" on that.
The superintendent runs the district. The Trustees direct the superintendent.
Set performance standards for the superintendent. SMART ones. You know, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Based.
For example, how much time was wasted on the Meal Plan item last week? All they needed to do was tell the superintendent, "No more free meals to those who should be paying for them. Collect from all those who owe Richland 2 money for past meals. We are not a bank." PERIOD. And then hold him accountable for doing so. He will either follow orders or he won't.
If you sign up to speak during Public Participation, then show up.
Whose brainchild was the electronic advance registration system? Did that person anticipate no-shows? How many times have speakers failed to approach the the microphones after their names were called?
Should registered speakers have to "check in" upon arrival? Can you still register in-person before 6:15PM?
If you change your mind, notify the Assistant to the Board, Christine Lewis, at chrislewis@richland2.org
Cancellation is a common courtesy to the board and to the public.
The Livestream recording of last night's board meeting was 5:46:00; that's FIVE hours 46 minutes from the beginning of the executive session to adjournment.
Subtract one hour (5:30-6:30pm), and the board went at it for four hours 46 minutes - about three hours longer than they should have.
I bailed the first time at about 6:55PM, after the super-long Inspirational "Moment". (How long is a "moment"?)
When the Minutes are incorrect, you don't approve them with known errors. You pull the Minutes from the Consent Agenda, approve the remainder of the Consent Agenda, move to correct them, and then approve them.
Somebody made a motion "to move..." or moved to make a motion. Please! Looks like the written version of the Minutes was cleaned up, because I couldn't spot that this morning. But it's in the recording.
I returned later for the public participation. The "I Love Baron" group was certainly there. The woman who bashed Lashonda should have been interrupted and admonished. Board Policy BEDH is clear; it prohibits "any expression of personal complaints about individual school personnel or any other person connected with the school system." Lashonda is clearly a protected person.
That woman was careful to avoid reference to Teresa Holmes' taunting and baiting of Lashonda and the continual disrespect Holmes had demonstrated toward Lashonda for months. Teresa and she must be friends.
Board members must learn Robert's Rules of Order. When a Motion is under discussion, board member comments must be germane to the Motion. Bringing up the kitchen sink was out-of-order and should have been stopped.
The Public is clamoring for the board to "take action" and act on their campaign promises. The board must resist that pressure and conduct the business before them.
If meetings continue like last night's, the I.G. will probably investigate further!
Was there something about a committee of the board (three members) trying to agree on planning future agendas with the superintendent? Remember when a committee was formed to design a horse? What did they end up with?
