Scholarships truth?

Did you read the banner on the District's homepage?

"1997 RICHLAND TWO GRADUATES EARNED $168,756,900 IN SCHOLARSHIPS!"

Did they "earn" them or were they offered them?

I suspect that number of $168¾  million is the total that was offered. What is the purpose of that number?

This number works out to an average of $84,505 per graduate.

How about reporting the amount of scholarship money that was accepted by the 1997 graduates?

Schools like to publish numbers like these, even if they don't make any sense.

Remember the news about the high school graduate who received total scholarship offers of more than $9,000,000? Dennis Barnes of Louisiana, whose GPA was 4.98, was offered aid from 125 colleges and universities. There is a young man who is serious about education.

But why would someone even apply to 125 colleges and universities?

Stakeholder Report - where to find it now

The District has moved the Stakeholder Input Report off its homepage, and one parent has told me that it is now very hard to find. (To search on the District's website, first click on EXPLORE (top right); then enter a keyword in the Search field.)

For your convenience the Stakeholder Input Report, prepared by the superintendent-search firm of McPherson & Jacobson, can be found by clicking here. (For those who don't like to click on blind links, you'll find the survey at    https://www.richland2.org/News/Stakeholder-Survey-Results)

This report contains what McPherson & Jacobson heard in May from six groups: Business & Community Leaders; Classified Staff; Community Meetings; Parents; Students; and Teachers.

Read for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Clock Is Ticking

The next Superintendent for Richland Two is supposed to start on July 3, 2023, according to the search timeline. Today is June 8th. That's 3½ weeks from now.

Is anyone getting nervous yet?

The Board hasn't even received the list of candidates yet!

On Monday, June 12th, the search firm is supposed to present its list of candidates, and the Board is supposed to select the finalists. Somebody, explain that to me! How will this board possibly choose a number of finalists from the candidates in one session on June 12. Seriously?

The Search Timeline can be viewed here.

June 20-22. Interviews with the Board and with "Stakeholder Groups". Stakeholder groups? Who? Why? Who came up with that idea???

On June 23 the Board is to select the finalist and offer the job. Tell me, how will they possibly do that? Will they care at all about feedback from the Stakeholder Groups?

The timeline says the Board will announce the new Superintendent on June 27, the last board meeting of the School Year. That means that the selected candidate will be expected to make an immediate decision. What about time to negotiate the terms of his/her contract?

And s/he (dare I say "it"; will the board go for a non-binary (breathing person?)) is expected to start on July 3rd. 

I ask again, Is anyone getting nervous yet?

Board Policy BC - Conduct - 6/13/23 Agenda

On the agenda for the June 13, 2023 board meeting is Item 9.1 - Board Member Conduct.

Why in the world is this school board wasting valuable time on that? Aren't they grown-ups? Can't they be polite and professional and speak nicely to one another? I guess not. But just having a revised Policy won't do much to improve relations between the board members.

First, read the current Board Policy BC. Go to the District's website; then click on EXPLORE; then School Board; then BOARD POLICIES; then (on the left side) B - SCHOOL BOARD GOVERNANCE AND OPERATIONS; then Policy BD Board Member Conduct. Read the existing policy.

Then read the proposed revisions to BC. This link will take you directly to it. Or click on the attachment with the June 13th agenda. The underlined words/sentences are what is proposed to be added!

The I.G. may have expressed some concerns in his Report. However, this revision is over-kill. The board ought to be making things simpler, not more complicated. First, I wonder who wrote it? Did it come from Deputy Supt. Franklin or from Karla Hawkins, the Legal person on Richland 2's staff? Where did she get her guidance? How much time went into the draft of the proposed revision?

And why now? There is nothing more important right now than hiring a new superintendent - which leads me to my next blogpost.

Lawsuit against Richland 2 by stabbing victim

On April 28, 2023 the Post and Courier newspaper reported that on the previous day, April 27, attorney John Mobley had filed a lawsuit against Richland School District Two for failing to provide safe spaces for students.

https://www.postandcourier.com/columbia/education/parents-of-stabbing-victim-sue-columbia-area-school-district/article_a27c5564-e5de-11ed-8a73-433bee7cd996.html

The lawsuit pertains to a stabbing of a 16-year-old Ridge View High School student on April 25th. The article says that Abrams assaulted the same victim with brass knuckles on the previous day (April 24) and stole jewelry from the victim.

Did the victim report that assault and theft? Why was Abrams in school on the following day, April 25?

The parents of the victim are also suing the mother of Tony Abrams, who is accused of stabbing the un-named victim.

An interesting fact is that the lawsuit against Richland 2 cannot be found * on the Public Index of the Richland County Fifth Judicial District. 

The Court Clerk can find no record of the lawsuit, and Attorney Mobley did not respond to an email last month, requesting the Case Number.

It is unclear if these are separate lawsuits. 

* [Edited: Case No. 2023CP4002181 was filed by Attorney Mobley against Richland County School District Two. No wonder the Court personnel could not find it!]

Superintendent Selection - Status?

The superintendent-search firm, based in Omaha, should now be sorting through the applicants and preparing its recommendations to the Richland 2 board. Actually, they should have been sorting through the applications and ranking them as they came in?

The closing date for applications was May 31. On June 12th McPherson & Jacobson is to present its candidates and the board is to select Finalists.

So here is something I am not understanding. It takes "Mac & Jake" from June 1-11 to pick through the applications, and the Board is supposed to pick Finalists in one meeting (June 12)?

Finalist interviews are to be held June 20-22.

Board will choose to whom to offer the position on June 23.

Board will announce the new Superintendent on June 27. Will this mean they will offer the position only to someone who is unemployed? 

What could possibly go wrong with this Timeline? (See the full timeline on www.Richland2.org)

Where is the adequate period of time for negotiating the deal with the new candidate?

What if the #1 candidate delays or doesn't accept?

Why did the Board lose three months (February, March, April)? Why didn't it start immediately on January 18th? (Too late for that answer!)

Notice the difference?

(This blogpost was written Saturday morning, but publication was delayed until Monday.)

Last week the attorney representing the family of Cyrus Carmack-Belton issued a press release. The attorney is Todd Rutherford, attorney in private practice in Columbia and South Carolina State Representative. One of the local TV stations carried it on its website.

"When Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s mother sent this picture to me I had to do a double take because he looked so much like my middle son,” Rutherford said. “What happened to him wasn’t an accident: it’s something that the Black community has experienced for generations: being racially profiled, then shot down in the street like a dog. Words can’t describe the pain I feel having known this family for decades. One beacon of hope is seeing the resilience of the Black community as they wrap their arms around this family that has joined the club that no Black family ever wants to be a part of. As our firm moves forward with this case, we are working to ensure that justice prevails and work towards building a safer community for all residents of Columbia and the greater South Carolina area, regardless of race. This is why I can’t help but fight to ensure history isn’t whitewashed or forgotten. This isn’t an anomaly, but I know America can be better. And that is what we’re fighting for. Because no family should have to deal with this in 2023."

"this picture" accompanied the release.

The first thing I noticed about this picture was "RUTHERFORD LAW". My immediate thought was, "When was such a current picture of Cyrus taken at Rutherford's office?"

I noticed the institutional tile wall behind Cyrus, and I wondered whether that photo had been taken at a school.

Was it photo-shopped?

The second thing I noticed was my strong negative reaction to Rutherford's assertion that Cyrus had been "racially-profiled". I had never read any such claim in articles or words of the sheriff. So why would Rutherford write that? Is it just his own "stuff" about a black boy's being suspected of (attempted) shoplifting?

And the third thing, worse than the second and even the first, was Rutherford's claim that Cyrus had been "shot down in the street like a dog." That isn't just "lawyer-talk". That's the talk that results in more protests, rioting, street crime, property destruction, vandalism, graffiti.

Then on Friday of last week I learned of the GoFundMe account that lists Todd Rutherford as the Organizer.  And there was a very similar (identical?) photo of Cyrus, but without "RUTHERFORD LAW".

I re-read Rutherford's opening sentence, "When Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s mother sent this picture to me ..."

Was the photo that Rutherford used really the picture that Cyrus' mother had sent to him? Was it deceitful and dishonest of him to add RUTHERFORD LAW to the photo?

So, what you think of Rutherford's comments and the difference in Cyrus' pictures?