R2 School Board Race

The race is on. The filing period for the school board election closed on August 15. As I recall, there are at least eight hats in the ring.

What should the qualifications be to win one of the three Trustee positions that will be elected this November?

First and foremost, the person should have executive leadership and decision-making skills and experience. Help elect these people, not just the ones with the most friends.

The Trustees on the Board are in charge of policy-making. They don't operate the District; that is the job of the superintendent. They should leave the "dirty work" to the superintendent.

Give direction to the superintendent and then monitor her performance.

Too many board members have been "in the kitchen" too often. Can you imagine what would happen if Directors of Ford Motor Company spent time on the factory floor, listening to employees who put fenders on cars or operate robots?

The persons elected should understand finances and the "big picture". 

They should understand that "they" make the decisions for Richland 2, not the South Carolina School Boards Association. They should stop wasting so much time on revising Board  policies.

Splashed on the District's website is "Purpose Driven, Future Ready". Seriously? Look at the grade-level reports. 

Abdullah Mustafa was the sole speaker in the Public Comment period on August 13. To view Mr. Mustafa's comments, go to this board meeting and scroll forward to 20:44 on the timer.

R2 Board Members - how much pay???

Do you, a taxpayer, really know how much pay a Richland 2 School Board trustee receives?

Be sure to read this article from The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County (July 15, 2024).

Pay special attention to this sentence in the article: "Invoking FOIA to justify higher school board trustee member pay is 'a very creative interpretation of state law and accounting practices,' Bender said."

Jay Bender is an attorney with strong skills in school board matters. Read that comment again, and then read "between the lines". What does "creative interpretation" mean to you???

Apparently, Richland 2 trustees have found a way to earn more than $395/meeting times 30 meetings in a year (is that a school year or a calendar year?).

A while back it was pretty clear that they got paid only for School Board meetings. Then some of the trustees wanted to have committee meetings - lots of them. Why not scarf up $395 for a 2-hour meeting?

And agenda-setting meetings? What the heck! "It's my time; I should get paid." Seriously?

Who is watching? Anyone?

2024 School Board Race

I almost hate to put the word "race" in the same sentence as "school board", but there it is.

Who will be filing to run for the three seats that are up for election?

The terms of Trustees Agostini, McFadden, and Scott expire in November. 

The filing period is August 1-15. Who will be filing?

The voters should pick the very best three, but they should have excellent candidates from which to pick. Unfortunately, there are few qualifications for the office other than getting the most votes. 

Should successful candidates have good critical-thinking skills? Be free from bias and influence? Be free of identity-politics?  Have a clear understanding of business management? Business finances? Think as executives, not as management (or, worse, as employees)? Understand the role of Trustee is to direct, not "do".

Will Release Time Make a Come-back?

Will Release Time for Religious Education make a come-back in Richland 2?

Several people went into the attack mode against Lindsay Agostini in her run for S.C. Senate District 35 over the Release Time issue. Many of the comments were libelous. She probably won't spend money to drag the liars into court. If she did, I'd certainly kick in some money for her expenses..

The people with loud voices and pens dripping venom don't understand (and don't want to understand) exactly what happened at the last school board meeting that addressed Release Time.

Release Time for Religious Education was on the agenda as a Discussion-Only item. No vote could be taken that night to approve or disapprove of the item. All the Trustees knew that (or should have known that).

Trustee Agostini made a motion to remove that item from the agenda. Her reasoning was well-based. All that the motion did was remove the item from that night's agenda. Nothing else!

Before* the vote to remove it, Board Chair Joe Trapp announced that the vote to remove the item from the agenda would effectively kill Release Time. He was wrong. He should have been challenged on the spot, but he wasn't.

Release Time could have been right back on the agenda of the very next board meeting. But it wasn't, and I don't think it has been on an agenda since then.

But there are rumors that some trustees want to resurrect it. Will they?

The terms-of-office of three school board members (Trustees Agostini, McFadden, and Scott) expire this November. (The terms of Trustees Nash, Porter, Trapp, and Washington run until November 2026.)

The filing period for Richland County school board elections is August 1-15, 2024. Who will be filing to run for Richland 2 Trustee?

* [Edited 7/21/2024] The original blogpost read "After the vote to remove it ..."

Are the Children Well?

Do you remember this from a couple of years ago (under the old regime)? How many times was that said?

"How are the children?"

"The children are well."

I received an email today from The Heritage Foundation with the subject line, "The kids are not alright. [sic]"

Overlooking the grammatical error ("all right"), the message is right. Here's that email, in part:

American children are in trouble.

The radical Left has infiltrated America’s core institutions, especially schools and universities.

From the minute American children enter our schools, they are overwhelmed with leftist ideas like transgenderism and critical race theory. 

An [sic] if they aren’t fully indoctrinated by the time they graduate high school, college professors and administrators finish the job by pumping their brains with intellectually childish lies about American history and denying basic facts like men can’t be women.

This toxic leftist indoctrination is what created the shocking protests across America’s elite universities this year."

What Do R2 Students Learn about the Constitution?

What do Richland 2 students learn about the U.S. Constitution?

It's too bad that school is not in session right now, so that they could study the SCOTUS ruling on Presidential immunity and learn why the Supreme Court ruled as it did.

The progressives are having a meltdown. Even Joe Biden doesn't understand or accept it, but perhaps we can cut him a little slack as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Except that Joe was probably reading off notecards written by someone in the shadows.

If you believe in the U.S. Constitution, you know that the Supreme Court issued a correct ruling in the Presidential immunity case, as well as in Dobbs.

The Left and many Progressives hate it. Too bad, so sad.

17-year-old arrested with stolen, automatic pistol

 Watch this interview with Sheriff Lott, when he talks about the shooting earlier this week at the pool at the Villages of Lakeshore. Two arrests have already been made.

Sheriff Lott stresses the importance of the partnership between the community, parents, schools, churches, etc. In the first video shown in the press conference, you can hear automatic fire; yes, true automatic fire. 

The sheriff showed a "Glock switch", an illegally-manufactured replacement part for a Glock pistol that allows the pistol to be fired on "automatic"; i.e., one trigger pull fires many bullets until the trigger is released or the magazine is empty.

Treshawn Keller, 17, has already been arrested and is being charged as an Adult. Deputies caught him after he ran from the area. They caught him with a stolen pistol.

Where is (was) he a student? Richland 2? Which school?

More arrests are expected.

Why did the Villages of Lakeshore allow large numbers of non-residents to gather at its pool?

We here at The Summit must be on the alert for gatherings of kids. If you spot a large group circling the pool or other amenities, notify the office AND call RCSD.

Lott advises parents to search the car, bedroom, backpack of their kids. Find the guns. 

Compare this presser with Sheriff Lott and the recent production of The Moore You Know, with Supt. Kim Moore and Marti Brown, a staff member at Westwood High School who is part of Be Smart. Which one do you think will be more effective at slowing or stopping gun violence?