Board Meets on Parliamentary Procedure

On Tuesday, March 21, at 4:45PM the Richland Two school board met in a public session devoted to parliamentary procedure. The invited speaker/trainer/consultant was Attorney Helen McFadden.

Attorney McFadden is a noted expert on Robert's Rules of Order. Her clients have included the Richland Two board itself (that's where I first met her; she noticed I had a copy of Robert's Rules of Order with me). She has been a parliamentarian for several public bodies, including Beaufort (S.C.) County Council (at $250/hour in 2021), the Democratic National Committee, the State legislature, and other organizations.

For an hour she led a discussion on Motions and secondary motions. I was the only visitor at yesterday's meeting. It was an official meeting of the school board, because a quorum was present.

Was that sole topic worth the cost of hiring her for that meeting?

Have the Board members taken the available online trainings on Robert's Rules of Order? Have they attended workshops at SCSBA conferences, the attendance for which costs Richland Two more than a pretty penny? Is the District getting its money's worth for those expenses?

The public should be seeing a steady increase in professionalism and organization at board meetings, starting with control over the agenda and significant steps to curtail the length of board meetings.

There are one chief (Board Chair) and six Indians. This board is acting like there are one chief and five Indians who want to be Chief. The Board is not an after-school club. It should be considered a serious business organization. It is! It's a Billion Dollar business with a $300 Million budget.

It should be a leader in efficiency and professionalism. It should understand its role.

Most of this board have only had to balance their family checkbooks. It is imperative that they learn to function as executives and leaders, not as managers or employees. Will they?

If the Indians don't like the way things are being run, on June 27, 2023 they can elect a new Chief.

Where is the Sense of Urgency?

I admit I would be a terrible committee person.

If the school building were on fire, I would not be concerned with what color the firetruck was painted or whether its paint was dry.

I'd want water on the fire and rescuers in the building.

That sense of urgency is not present with the Richland Two Safety Committee.

Why so easy on the new board?

Yesterday I received a telephone call from a community member who asked why I was being so "easy" on the new board. That person reminded me (correctly) that I had been hard on the old board.

Indeed, I had. And they deserved it.

And the caller was right that I've cut the new board some slack. Why is that? It's not because they are doing better than the old board. I explained that the reason is that I'm tired.

More than once I've thought to myself, "OK, the honeymoon is over." It's time to call it like it is.

This last election was proof that you don't need to be qualified to be a school board members. What you need is more votes than the others. 

How long will it take them to learn to function as a board? Board meetings should not be longer than 90 minutes. That's how long they were five years ago. 

If they wonder (and I doubt they do) why the public is not showing up at meetings, all they have to do is look at the clock.

Three meetings today (March 21, 2023)

Here is how the school district has announced the THREE meetings for this afternoon:

The Richland Two Board of Trustees will hold three committee meetings this week. All meetings will be held at the R2i2 Conference Center. Please see below for meeting rooms.

The Richland School District Two Board of Trustees will hold a Parliamentary Procedure Workshop on Tuesday, March 21 at 4:45 p.m. workshop will be held in the executive conference room.

Review the agenda for the March 21 Parliamentary Procedure Workshop.

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The Richland School District Two Board of Trustees will hold a Safety Committee Meeting on Tuesday, March 21 at 6 p.m. The safety committee meeting will be held in boardroom 1.

Review the agenda for the March 21 Safety Committee Meeting.

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The Richland School District Two Board of Trustees will hold an I.G. Committee Meeting on Tuesday, March 21 at 6 p.m. The committee meeting will be held in boardroom 2.

Review the agenda for the March 21 I.G. Committee Meeting.

Is the Parliamentary Procedure Workshop a meeting of the full School Board or of a yet-to-be-announced committee? Will it be structured to end on time, so that the two committees can start on time?

If you have a split-personality, then you should be able to attend both the Safety and I.G. Committee meetings. Each is important. It's unfortunate that the I.G. Committee announced its meeting for exactly the same time as that of the Safety Committee.

Why Two Meetings at the Same Time?

With many days and hours available in March for the two first committees of the school board to meet, why are they meeting at the same time on Tuesday, March 21?

The first committee to announce March 21 at 6:00PM was the Safety Committee of the school board.

Then the Inspector General Recommendations Committee picked exactly the same date and time for its March meeting!

This demonstrates very poor regard for the public and even for the committee members of the other committee who might wish to sit in on the other's meeting.

Of course, should even one of them decide to attend, that would create a quorum under State law and present a legal problem for the School Board.

Although Richland 2 decided that quorum is five board members (for the purpose of terminating a superintendent), there is still that pesky South Carolina statute that says a quorum is four.

Scheduling the meetings on the same date and at the same time prevents a member of the community, parent, teacher, staff member, or student from attending both meetings. Let's hope this does not happen again!

Ilya Shapiro for R2 Superintendent

Credit - Fox News Digital

Should Richland 2 quickly contact Ilya Shapiro and consider him for the job of Superintendent?

Read this FoxNews article about Professor Shapiro, who commented on the stupidity (my term) of the Stanford Law students when they interfered with a speaking engagement that invited Federal Circuit Court Judge Kyle Duncan to campus.

The woke crowd at Stanford shouted him down. Worse, DEI associate dean Tirien Steinbach supported them and further disrespected Judge Duncan.

Read what Prof. Shapiro, formerly with Georgetown Law, has to say.

What if Richland 2 had a leader like Prof. Shapiro? Would he correct the years of DEI leanings in Richland 2?

Who is Lily Bou?

No one had every heard of Lily Bou. Now everyone can know her name.

Lily Bou is a Stanford Law student who apparently thinks it is all right to disrupt a meeting and shout down a Federal Judge, but then she takes offense when a newspaper prints her name.

See this FoxNews article about the bravery of the Washington Free Beacon newspaper, whose journalist said, "You can't make it up." Some would have said it slightly differently.

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Kyle Duncan had been invited to speak to Stanford Law students on March 9th but was interrupted, shouted down, and prevented from speaking.

Don't miss the part about the associate dean of DEI.

Don't you just love it, when kiddies want their way and then whine after the tables are turned on them?

Lily, BOO! (Pass the tissues to her.)