Who is your pick?

Somewhat over 72 hours from now, Richland 2 may announce its new superintendent.

I say "may" because it really depends on whether they can strike a deal with their Number 1 pick, Candidate X, before the board meeting. We, John Q. Public, don't even know who is doing the negotiating for Richland 2. 

Is it up to the lawyers to handle negotiations? Let's hope not. Is one board member authorized to negotiate on behalf of the Board (District)? I didn't hear any discussion or vote about that. Does a 4-day negotiating period give the advantage to the candidate? The Board is under the gun to make a deal by 5:30PM Tuesday.

Who is your pick? I'd say, "Choose X. Y, or Z", but ... Should I ask "A, B, or C?" Or #1, #2, or #3? OK, in alphabetical order...

Nia Campbell?

Benjamin Henry?

Kim Moore?

I heard that the superintendent search firm presented six candidates to the board, out of the 39 applicants from 20 states.

Were there any South Carolina candidates? Were there any internal candidates?

Any questions about any of the finalists?

June 27 Board Agenda - marathon?

The agenda for the last board meeting of the school year (June 27, 2023) has been published, and it's a doozy.

5:30 Executive Session - SIX ITEMS

6:30 Public Hearing - Budget

Inspiration Moment - hope for a 2-minute "moment"

Pledge

Consent Agenda

Public Participation 1

Voting on Executive Session items

New Business - Action Requested - FIVE ITEMS

New Business - Action No Requested - Two Items

Draft Agenda

Public Participation 2

Executive Session 2, if needed

Voting on Executive Session 2 items

Old Business - Action Requested - Re: Supt.

Board Officer Elections for 2023-2024

Board & Supt. Comments

Adjournment

WOW! Bring your X-Large cup of strong coffee and NoDoz. If that doesn't work, bring your pillow and blankie.

How about revising the agenda on Monday?

Pledge of Allegiance

Report on status of job offer to supt. candidate

Elect officers for next year

Go home at 7:30PM

You're worn out.

We're worn out.

Offer goes to Candidate X

And the winner is ........

Candidate X

At today's Special-Called Board Meeting the board voted to extend the position of superintendent to Candidate X.

The Special-Called Meeting started at 1:00PM and, after a hiccup in getting the Motion to enter executive session, the Board did so at 1:03PM. Trustee Niki Porter was absent from the meeting.

The Board returned at 3:55PM. 16 hearty souls were tuned in remotely.

After the Motion to re-convene, Chair Agostini (she must be exhausted) asked for a motion to adjourn. Oops. Then she asked for a motion for executive session.

Then Trustee Washington made a Motion to enter into contract negotiations with Candidate X. The motion was seconded by Trustee Scott.

SURPRISE! For those of us who sat around for three hours expecting to hear the name of the selected finalist, we were greatly disappointed.

The vote was 6-0-0-1  (Yea-Nay-Abstain-Not Present at Vote)

Trustee Nash moved to adjourn the June 22, 2023 special-called board meeting. She had to be corrected, because today is June 23.

To view the portion of the meeting after the executive session, go to livestream.com/richland2 and advance the timer bar to 2:59:04

Perhaps I'm the only one who mistakenly thought the board might announce its choice. Could the Chair or the interim superintendent have said earlier in the week, "So that there won't be any misunderstanding on Friday, the board will not announce the name of its choice on Friday. A contract offer will likely be extended, and the name will not be released until the offer is accepted and negotiations have been completed."

An Embarrassing Opening of 6/23 Board Meeting

Be sure to watch the opening of what may be the most important board meeting of the current school year. This Special-Called Board Meeting is the one where the board will likely vote on which of the three Finalists will get the offer of the superintendent's position.

Six trustees were present; Niki Porter was not. No roll call was taken. There was no explanation given for her absence. 

You'll notice right away that Angela Nash is seriously distracted by whatever is going on with her purse on the floor.

After the standard motion to adopt the agenda, Chair Agostini asked for a motion to go into executive session.

It was the Secretary's place to make the motion, but she was still distracted. Vice Chair Scott looked at Nash but didn't say anything to her. And what happened? 

Nothing. Nothing is what happened! Silence for ten seconds!

And Chair Agostini waited. And waited. Finally Trustee McFadden made the motion to go into executive session.

That was flat embarrassing. Kudos to Chair Agostini for waiting it out.

How long will they be in executive session?

How exciting? Seven remote viewers!

Seven remote viewers were all ready for the Richland 2 school board to start its meeting on time at 7:00PM.

I was thinking today about the order of interviews. I guess there is no reason that the Board could not have announced the order of candidate interviews, but perhaps they had one.

If you were one of three finalists for the position, would you want to be first? second? last?

In the world of sales, a strong salesman would want to make his sales presentation last. He'd want to be closest to the decision time. If he made a real zinger of a presentation and had a strong product or service, he might just get the nod; i.e., the Yes. 

I always wanted to be last. But the risk is that the deck could be stacked, and a decision might get made before I got my time at bat.

I recall a time when I was first. I was in Denver and a regional stock brokerage firm advertised for a person who would train their stockbrokers to sell life insurance. The ad was in the newspaper on Sunday and looked legit. I called at 8:30AM on Monday and arranged a 1:00PM appointment with the VP.

I arrived at 12:45PM and he hadn't returned yet from lunch. When he did, he greeted me and motioned for me to follow him into his office. As he went through the doorway, he held his hand out and asked for my resume.

"I didn't bring one," I said.

He asked why not, and I told him that I didn't know if I wanted the job, adding, "In five minutes I'll know if I want the job and you'll know if you want to see a resume." Pretty bold, eh?

An hour and 45 minutes later, he looked at his watch and asked me to bring him a resume. 

I wrote him a five-page proposal on why he should hire me. I had all the information I needed to sell him on my being everything he was looking for.

I called him a few days later and learned that he liked what I had given him, so I asked him for the job. He told me he had promised his boss in Kansas City to interview for two weeks. I suggested he give me the job; that would solve both our needs. And then tell his boss in two weeks that he had found the perfect hire. He wouldn't do it.

Two months later I found out that his company had not approved hiring anyone and had not funded the position. They were just testing the waters to find out what was available.

Two years later I wrote to him and thanked him for not hiring me. I was sincere. I meant it. I had finally broken free of being an insurance salesman! That was 1987. Free at last!!!

Third Finalist Interview - tonight

The Richland 2 school board will conduct the third and last Finalist interview tonight in a special-called board meeting scheduled to start at 7:00PM.

Last night's meeting was another three-hour meeting.

Each board member should now know whether s/he prefers Finalist #1 or Finalist #2. If tonight's meeting is three hours in length, then at 10:00PM and after the meeting ends, each board member can begin to decide between Finalist #3 and their choice of #1 or #2.

At 1:00PM tomorrow (June 23) the board will "debrief", whatever that is supposed to mean. It's the wrong word, because the board will receive the input of the several stakeholders' groups that met with the finalists this week. Will the board members read or hear anything to change their minds?

The agenda for tomorrow's special-called meeting has already been published on the District's website.

Item 4 (in Public Session) is "Voting on Executive Session Items", and Item 4.1 is "Personnel Matter: Selection of New Superintendent". 

Board Members will be voting in public for the next superintendent. 

You've read their bios; right? Whom do you pick?

FOIA Violation repeated tonight

The same FOIA violation that occurred last night occurred at tonight's Special Called Board Meeting.

Trustee Nash moved that the Board go into Executive Session for the purpose of "an interview of a superintendent search finalist."

That's a good Motion, but it didn't agree with the written purpose that was stated in the Agenda for tonight's meeting, which was "Item 3.2 Personnel Matter Related to Superintendent Candidates".

The same problem will occur tomorrow night, when the board meets to interview the third finalist. The agenda for the June 22, 2023 Special Called Board Meeting has already been published, and it contains the same Item 3.2. And it's too late to amend the Agenda, because it has to be published 24 hours before the start of the meeting.

The Board now faces a dilemma. If a Board member makes a motion that follows the wording in the agenda, a FOIA violation will occur because the agenda wording is wrong. It's not specific, and it's not what the Board will be doing.

If a Board trustee makes a motion that is more correctly worded (and is different from the agenda), a violation occurs.

Doesn't the Board want to comply with South Carolina FOIA law? It's really not that hard.