R2 Supt. Travel Expenses

Reporter Michael Smith has written an interesting article for The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County about the travel expenses for the past two years of Supt. Davis. You can read the article here.

Davis' expenses and reimbursements show a pattern that deserves careful examination.

The Richland 2 Board should form an Audit Committee and look carefully at the expenses. The Board should also examine anticipated travel and expenses of the superintendent and not just allow him carte blanche for what he thinks he needs to do.

The Voice article quotes part of a prepared statement from District 2.

“It’s been a long standing practice in Richland Two that the superintendent attends professional learning opportunities with members of the board,” the statement reads. “The superintendent is charged with working with the school board to develop and implement policies that define organizational expectations and to establish and maintain effective channels of communication with board members.

“As a result, the superintendent regularly attends professional development conferences with school board members as a way to meet performance standards that are part of the superintendent’s evaluation criteria,” the statement continued.

That written, prepared statement follows wording used often in reports to the Board at meetings. In other words, lots of words that don't really mean anything. And does it lead to a question about how much Richland 2 School District spends for travel for Board members to attend the same meetings and conferences? How many Board members attended those same conferences, and at what cost?

Exactly how many of those conferences provided training on "working with the school board"? 

"Effective channels of communication with board members"? Is there something new we don't know about? Something besides telephone, email and in-person reports? 

For example, Board members have trouble getting sufficient advance information on which they will be expected to vote. Trustee Elkins-Johnson has asked for information sooner on more than one occasion. How many conferences must one attend to understand, when the Board asks for something, they get it?

In a subsequent article I'll write about some of the expenses that need careful review.

Richland 2 H.S. Graduation Schedule

From Richland 2 School District:

"High school graduation is an exciting and important time in the lives of our Richland Two families. The district will hold graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020 on June 1-5 at Harry Parone Stadium, located on the campus of Spring Valley High School at 120 Sparkleberry Lane.

Ceremonies will begin at 8 a.m. each day. The schedule is as follows:

·         June 1: Spring Valley

·         June 2: Richland Northeast

·         June 3: Blythewood

·         June 4: Westwood

·         June 5: Ridge View

Social distancing practices will be observed, and each graduate will be permitted two guests. Graduation ceremonies will again be streamed live online. More specifics will be shared with seniors and parents by each school as details are confirmed.

It’s more than fair to say that 2020 has posed significant challenges to this school year, especially for seniors. The global health pandemic caused by COVID-19 prompted the Colonial Life Arena, where the district has held graduation in recent years, to cancel all events through July 31. In April, the district assembled a task force to come up with multiple viable options for graduation ceremonies observing social distancing as well as alternatives to a traditional ceremony. Representatives from each high school including students as well as district administrators served on the task force.

Richland Two Superintendent Dr. Baron R. Davis said, “I want to thank the task force for the hard work they have put in to make graduations possible for our seniors. They did a phenomenal job examining all the possibilities and providing a solid recommendation for a meaningful and safe way to honor our seniors.

“As we finalize the logistics for the ceremonies, our focus remains on the safety and welfare of those who will attend. These graduation ceremonies will look very different from those in the past but they will certainly reflect the resiliency of the Class of 2020 and provide a meaningful tribute to our seniors.”

Only invited guests of each senior will be permitted to attend these ceremonies. Each graduation will be streamed live on the Richland Two website at https://livestream.com/richland2."

School Board Changes Meeting Time - May 12

The agenda for the May 12th Regular Meeting of the School Board has been published on the District's website. Go to www.Richland2.org
Click on EXPLORE
Click on School Board
Click on AGENDA
Click on the calendar icon under Meetings
     NOTE: the new starting times
Click on View the Agenda

The Regular meeting will be called to order this week at 4:30PM.
The Board will immediately go into Executive Session.
The Board will re-convene in open session at 5:00PM.

This represents a 1½-hour advance in the meeting times.

The Board will not meet in public on May 12, although it could. It will meet on the Zoom video-conference platform. The agenda contains NO link to that Zoom meeting. (See below for the link.)

Now, why is the meeting so early?

At the April 28 Regular Meeting the Board blindly followed the Board Chair and the superintendent off the cliff, after the Chair and the superintendent placed an item on the agenda for a first-reading vote that would give authority to the Chair and superintendent to change the time of a Regular Meeting during a "state of emergency".

If you want to try to understand the reasoning that was given in response to questions and comments by two Board members, I invite you to watch/listen to the April 28 board meeting. The explanation made no sense at all to me. The other four board members, who normally roll over for anything the superintendent wants, just sat there like bumps on a log.

When it was time to vote, the vote was, unsurprisingly, 5-2.

The Zoom meeting may be available at www.richland2.org/livestream

Merely announcing "Zoom" on the agenda is insufficient notice to the public when to find and view the public meeting. You'd think by now the District would have figured out how to comply with South Carolina FOIA and Open Meetings requirements regarding public meetings!

On the agenda for a first-reading vote is a move that will result in Joseph Keels Elementary School's becoming a Magnet School. In the past, proposed actions have been submitted for a first reading and then followed with a vote on the proposal at a second board meeting, often two weeks later. The Chair and the superintendent have started a trend now to jam votes into the first reading, before trustees have time and resources to study and consider a matter.

On this issue, the vote should be postponed; if it isn't postponed, then the vote should be "No", so that the trustees have adequate time to do their due diligences. They are, after all, fiduciaries of the School District and are expected to make responsible decisions.

Traffic on Hard Scrabble Rd.

The choice of Rice Creek Elementary School for the three-day COVID-19 Testing Site was poorly thought-out. Drive by and figure out how fire, rescue or law-enforcement could possible get through.

Sound off. Tell the School District what you think about the choice. The Administration made the choice. Did the board even know about it?

Tell Mia McLeod and Ivory Thigpen what you think.

Tell Sheriff Lott and the Fire Chief what you think.

Demand better. And hope your house doesn't catch fire while Hard Scrabble Road is effectively shut down.

Board member's barking dog

Which board member owns a dog that barked during the 4/28/2020 board meeting?

Either the board member should mute her Zoom participation or the moderator should mute all except the Chair.

The video of the meeting was altered from what actually happened on April 28, 2020. When it was time for the pledge of allegiance, most of the board members stood and recited it. Trustee Elkins-Johnson did not.

When the video of the meeting was published, a U.S. Flag was shown in motion. That did not happen during the meeting! It should not have been inserted into the video that was published.

On the agenda was a Homeschool Application, with approval of it sought on first reading. Waiver of the two-readings rule was not apparently sought from the board, and they just let it slide right on through. Mrs. Agostini moved for approval of "the homeschool application presented to us tonight on April 28, 2020."

The draft of the application should have been attached to the agenda and made available to the public and to the board members before the meeting. Mrs. Agostini's motion makes it clear that the Administration did not inform the members of the board about the content of the application before the meeting.

I don't know why the board members stand for this type of control by the Administration of the District. Other board members have repeatedly asked the superintendent to give them adequate notice of proposals. That is not always happening, and they don't demand his compliance.

Who works for whom?

Does video of 4/28/2020 Meeting Exist?

This morning a FOIA Request was sent to Richland 2 School District for a copy of the video-recording of the April 28, 2020 Regular Meeting of the School Board.

Why did I send a FOIA Request?

The superintendent has not responded to Monday's email about the video.

The Board Chair has not responded to an email sent late yesterday afternoon about this video.

It either exists or it doesn't.

If it doesn't, there should be no delay in saying so and explaining why.

If it does exist, it should have been posted already. Videos are normally posted on YouTube and on the District's website by the Thursday following the Tuesday meeting.

Why is it different this time?

EDIT: The 4/28/2020 video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKOpcXiolLI&feature=youtu.be

COVID-19 Testing May 6-8

You can tell it's election season right around the bend.

The first email I received about the three days of free COVID-19 testing at Rice Creek Elementary came from State Sen. Mia McLeod. The second came from State Rep. Ivory Thigpen.

I may be the only person in the Richland 2 School District who wonders WHY this is being done at Rice Creek Elementary.

Schools are closed right? Presumably, the buildings have been deep-cleaned and sanitized.

Now Rice Creek Elementary will be the site of COVID-19 testing. Is this outside, drive-through only? Or will possible carriers of the virus be admitted into the school building? The announcement reads Drive-Thru and Walk-Up.

I don't recall hearing any mention at a school board meeting, when the Administration requested approval from the Board to permit this use of the building, especially since it is related to the pandemic about which many are worried.

The current school board has turned far too much discretionary authority over to the Administration.

Was this use of Rice Creek Elementary discussed at the April 28, 2020 Regular Meering?

If it was, the public will not know it, because the Zoom recording of the meeting has not been published by the District on YouTube or on the District's website.

Monday morning I emailed Supt. Davis to ask when it would be posted. As of now, he has not replied. Did the District botch the recording? If it didn't, is there a reason it is being withheld?

Remember all the hoopla surrounding the announcement that Zoom technology was going to be used and how the public would be able to watch a recording of the meeting?.While it was possible to watch it if you tuned in during the time for the meeting, it should be posted afterwards for those who didn't or who couldn't.

Maybe I'll hear from the Supt. or the Board Chair or someone else on Wednesday. Or maybe it will be posted on Wednesday.

NOTE: Will the doors of the school remained locked? Will no one be allowed to enter the school - for any reason, including bathroom use?