100,000 Pageviews - Thank you!

Within the past few days the counter on this blog rolled over 100,000 pageviews. Thanks to all the readers and those who have called me with tips.

If you like an article, share it with friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. Share the link for the article, or simply click on the M in the box at the end of the article and type in your friend's email address. I never see that email address or your use of it. It remains private.

At this point I am mostly interested in the safety and security issues.

Will they be solved by the people who have been charged for years with solving them (and who haven't)?

Should more parents, community members, teachers, staff, and students be involved?

Personally, I think the BeSMART program is meaningless, and Richland Two should separate itself from the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) that Baron Davis touted so heavily. 

BeSMART is part of MOMs Demand Action and Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety. They are left-wing, anti-gun groups. Passing out gun locks will not stop the gun violence in Richland Two schools.

I have requested the schedule for meetings of the Richland Two Board's Safety & Security Committee. When (if?) I get it, I'll post it. I missed the last meeting due to a conflict, but there should be 100-200 parents and community members there.

What are your concerns with safety and security? Post them in Comments below.

If you are hesitant or fearful about posting comments, email them to me at gusphilpott@gmail.com  I'll post them, as written, and without your name or email address. Confidentiality is assured.

Safe and Secure PSA - Thoughts?

Watch the new, short Safe and Secure PSA on the District's website. It's  production of Richland 2. 

And that's exactly what it is - a "production". 

Do you think it will stop one kid from taking a gun or a knife to school?

I am writing to the Trustees today to ditch that ineffective BeSMART M.O.U. that Baron Davis put together and to get serious about a plan and a program to make Richland 2 schools safe.

It's not metal detectors at every door. It's not drug K-9s sniffing their way through the halls. It's not dumb, "professional", glitzy PSAs like the one currently on the District's website.

"Another... another... another..." Whose idea was that???

Watch the PSA. Email your opinions to the school board and the interim superintendent.

The 2/28/2023 board meeting. Were you there?

Or did you watch it online?

Budget transfers under Board Policy DBF are discussed, beginning at 2:01:12 on the 2/28/24 livestream. Here.

Frankly, it's painful to watch.

I sent the following email to the Board, Mrs. Gregory, and Dr. Miley:

Board members,

There must be a better way to conduct business than trying to revise a Policy (DBJ) on the fly. 

Trustee Trapp's proposed revision should have been projected on the screen for all to see, read and follow during his proposal. He could have presented it briefly and generally, since this was a No-Action-Requested item. If it made sense to a majority of the trustees, it could have been included in the draft for the next meeting. At the next meeting, it could be fine-tuned, then adopted or rejected.

I urge the board to retain a consultant to explain how to function as a board, so that business flows smoothly, rapidly, clearly, and in accordance with generally-accepted business procedures.

I appreciate that everyone is "trying", but it certainly is painful to watch.

You are micro-managing the District with the proposed revision to DBJ. I agree with Chair Agostini that DBJ is fine just the way it is. No one on the board has hands-on experience in dealing with millions of dollars. You either trust Mr. Miley and the superintendent, or you don't. He has earned the trust of the District, and I hope you won't drive him away.

It appears that you have other micro-managing revisions on the way. 

Gus Philpott

Teachers' union president meltdown

This is what is leading teachers in the United States now. 

Watch this FoxNews clip of Randi Weingarten as she earned her pay, ranting and raving about the Supreme Court's pending decision on blowing Biden's student-loan pay-off out of the water. 

And, of course, that is exactly what the SCOTUS ought to do.

She didn't die in the saddle yesterday, but she certainly appears headed for a heart attack. Will that be a line-of-duty death, with a huge pay-off from the American Federation of Teachers?

Her gross salary in 2020-2021 was over $426,000 in 2020-2021, according to the union's Federal LM-2 filing. Not bad for a gay Democrat. What do you suppose she really does to earn that amount of money, besides mail out dues notices to lots of teachers? I wonder how all those $30,000/year teachers feel about her pay. 

Time to cancel her?

Change for the sake of change?

Why is the Richland 2 school board consumed with making so many policy changes?

Many on the board are learning about board policies, some for the first time. Four on the board took office in mid-November. This is only the end of February - three full months, including the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

I am reminded of the Federal government, where incoming presidents go nuts unwinding what their predecessor spent four years putting together. "Let's rip it up and make our own." Sound familiar?

There is a new Board Policy BBBD in the wind, thanks to that almighty SCSBA - South Carolina School Boards Association. There is NO NEED for such a policy, which would reflect the Governor's authority to remove a board member.

If the Governor proposes removal of a school board member, of what value would a Board Policy BBBD be? If the Governor is going to attempt to do that, no school board policy is going to stand in his way. 

I bailed out the first time when the revision to Board Policy BEDGA came up. I don't know how long it took, but the start indicated a lengthy, time-consuming discussion. I hope I was wrong.

According to the livestream timer, they finished tonight about 9:00PM. Maybe they'll aim for 8:30PM for the March 14th board meeting and aim for 8:00PM for the March 28th board meeting.

Baron Davis' website is back, including errors

In 2022 I tried to find Baron Davis' website for his private consulting business. It was nowhere to be seen. I had first written about his private consulting business on November 8, 2021.

Now it's back. According to the website, Davis formed The Noegenesis Group in 2018. He reported its existence on his Ethics Commission Statement of Economic Interests Report, as he was required to do. He was not required to disclose the amount of income earned from the Group.

I was amused to see Noegenesis spelled in different ways on his own website.

Its URL is www.thenoegenesisgroup.com

On the homepage in large capital letters is the name of his business:

THE NEOGENESIS GROUP

Further down the homepage the business is spelled "Noegenesis".

Also on the homepage is this sentence: "Founded and established in 2018, The Noegenesis Group is a solutions-focused and outcomes-driven Think Tank who's [sic] philosophical orientation of support is rooted in the belief that we are at all times working toward self-actualization and continuous improvement." [emphasis added]

But was it "founded and established" in 2018? The S.C. Secretary of State records reveal that it was incorporated as a LLC on December 5, 2013. 

Have those errors been there for years? Why didn't someone, anyone, call his attention to those errors?

Open Letter to TheState.com's Reporter

On January 30, The State newspaper re-hashed old news about Richland 2. I'd like to be able to say that the reporter got it right. I'd like to, but I can't.

Here is my letter to reporter Morgan Hughes (email: mhughes@thestate.com)

Good afternoon, Morgan,

I have been attending Richland 2 board meetings since February 2018 (immediately post-Parkland, Fla. shootings) and have been writing a blog (www.Richland2.info) since March 2019. I felt the board had legitimacy problems that it was not addressing. 

"In just the past year, police have had to escort people out of board meetings," is not correct, nor is "On at least one occasion, police escorted members of the public out of a meeting." In the first, you wrote "meetings" - plural; in the second, you wrote "members" - plural. There was only one meeting (1/25/2022). I was not escorted out by police. Two security officers followed me out, after I asked them whether they were going to walk out with me. Otherwise, I could have just headed out by myself.

I heard that a deputy did accompany Gary Ginn to the exit, but I had already departed by the time Superintendent Davis reportedly went after Ginn.

Supt. Davis and Mrs. Davis were the ones who should have been escorted out for causing the disruption. You can guess why they were not.

You missed the whole point of the walk-out by Trustees Agostini, Scott, and McFadden in September 2021. The Chair (Holmes) and the superintendent had failed to provide the revisions to the superintendent's contract to the three in a timely manner. Agostini and Scott departed, but a quorum still remained. Then Chair Holmes was rude and condescending to McFadden, and she walked out, leaving the board without a quorum. Holmes continued business, until Davis finally stopped her.

I believe you don't understand this. "During a meeting soon after, in October 2021, then-Board Chair Teresa Holmes and Scott got into a shouting match over comments made by a member of the public." Holmes continually demanded that public speakers not mention "names". Nothing in Board Policy prevents a public speaker from mentioning the name of a District employee or board member. Holmes refused to understand and properly apply Board Policy BEDH, which prohibits "expression of personal complaints" about anyone associated with the District. Holmes even prevented one speaker from complimenting the principal and staff at Round Top Elementary School.

You wrote, "Almost exactly a year ago, in Jan. 2022, police got involved at a school board meeting when a district parent had a “verbal disagreement” with Davis’ wife, a Richland 2 teacher. Davis intervened, getting into his own argument with two members of the public before district security escorted the two people from the building."

There were two separate incidents. One involved the superintendent's wife, Pamela Davis, shouting at me after I politely introduced myself. What I said was, "Hello, I'm Gus Philpott." What she shouted was, "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE! DON'T TALK TO ME! STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

I was told of the second incident, which occurred after I had left the building. Mrs. Davis cussed out a 14-year-student, Ethan Lopez. (I don't say "allegedly", because the student told me the words she used.) Gary Ginn intervened and told her she could not talk to a minor and student that way. That's when the supt. charged over toward Ginn and had to be restrained by District security and board members. 

Supt. Davis did not speak to me that evening. At all!!! Nor did the District Security Director explain why he was kicking me out.

Funny how the media has not reported that accurately!

Did you listen to Manning's recording of the executive session? Did you hear Holmes' demeaning, condescending, rude, taunting, teasing remarks toward Trustee McFadden? You soft-soaped that.

Board member Scott didn't go by ("went by") another name. Elkins-Johnson was her name, before she married Mr. Scott. You make it sound like she was improperly "using" a different name.

The "conflict entrepreneurs" mentioned in the IG's Report were not Agostini, Scott and McFadden.

There is no "faction" on the board that wanted to "revisit Davis' employment". The full, legitimate board did so, and ALL SEVEN (7) board members voted to accept Davis' resignation. 

Former board member James Manning is 100% wrong to tell you that this board wants a weak leader. 

You wrote, "Manning was specifically named in the report as well for recording an executive session discussion and sharing it with media." What you failed to report was that Manning violated Board Policy BEC by so recording. That Policy reads, in part, "Board members or any other persons attending will not use tape recorders or any other means of sonic or video reproduction to record executive sessions." That is a serious violation of Board policy, but the board never sanctioned or disciplined Manning. He was on the board for many years and was Vice Chair at the time. He knew the policies. Ask him why he violated that policy.

I suggest you do some investigative reporting about P-card usage and identify who bought $873 worth of clothing at Lululemon and other P-card purchases.

Also, you should get the complete story on the McFadden childrens' meal debt. I believe she stated at a recent board meeting that she didn't even know about the increasing debt until it hit $2,000. As superintendent, Davis was ultimately responsible for administering the meal plan. 

The new board is facing a steep learning curve. They are all nice people, but with mostly without executive experience in governing a huge business entity. Richland School District Two is a business with $1 Billion in assets and a $300,000,000+ annual budget. That's why there must be a strong leader (superintendent), not a weak one.

If you ever want the truth about what has been going on at Richland 2, please contact me. Yes, I have my biases, and I'll tell you the truth.

Gus Philpott

847.971.7083

www.Richland2.info