Who is stealing signs?

About three weeks ago I put out 60 signs for one of the candidates for the Richland 2 school board. Today I put out another 50.

I noticed that some of the previous signs were gone and at least one was torn into 5-6 pieces that were left on the roadside. 

If you see anyone tampering with, defacing or removing signs, call the Sheriff's Department. Get a description of the car and a license plate, and try to get a good look at the driver and passengers. 

While I was out, I stood up another candidate's signs that had been pulled out of the ground and reported to one candidate for State Senate that three of his signs by Rice Creek Elementary School were pulled out of their metal frames and left on the ground. The frames were taken.

Since there are only two candidates on the ballot for State Senate 22, gee, I wonder whose friends or campaign workers damaged Lee Blatt's signs!!!

Be sure to vote for Lee Blatt!!!

And here's an idea for the school board race. If you really only like one, vote only for that one. Then two other candidates won't have higher totals that might bump your favorite candidate.

Remember 2018?

Here's what happened in the Richland 2 School District election on November 6, 2018.

In the November 3, 2020 election there are ten candidates.

Candidate's Forum - when?

Is the school board candidates' forum still scheduled for October 20? Time? Still at R2i2 in-person?

I wonder how concerned the candidates might be about the lack of publicity? 

Is the forum the best-kept secret in Richland County?

The forum is being coordinated by the League of Women Voters (Columbia) and the Richland 2 Teachers Association. The last I heard was that it is scheduled for October 20 at R2i2. I cannot find any mention of it on the Richland 2 website (homepage Calendar) or the Library's website or the League of Women Voters website.

If you search on Google, note that the result is for 2018, not for 2020.

EDITED: Thanks to candidate Lashonda McFadden, who informed me that Richland 2 School Disgtrict tweeted on 10/12/20 that the candidates' forum will be a virtual event on October 20, 2020, at 6:30PM. Go to richland2.org/livestream

EDITED (10/18/20 10:53AM) An announcement of the candidates' forum is now posted on the Richland 2 homepage. Many thanks to Mrs. Libby Roof for her week-end posting.

I wonder if Richland 2 is aware that not everyone reads tweets. And then there are those of us in Twitter Jail who refuse to knuckle under to Twitter's censors. I'll be serving a Life sentence, because I am not going to recant my tweet to Smerconish on 6/6/2020 that looters ought to be shot.

Thanks, Lashonda!

A question of ethics

When a school board member is running for re-election, is it appropriate (ethical? legal? fair?) to wear a polo shirt denoting a current position on the Richland 2 School Board while campaigning?

Was the shirt paid for with public money and provided by the School Board to the trustee? (Hint - I don't ask a question to which I don't already know the answer.)

Could this shirt be worn within 200 feet of a polling place by a candidate on the ballot?

Could a facemask bearing any campaign message be worn within 200 feet of a polling entrance?

A quick check with the S.C. Department of Revenue State Tax Lien Registry today reveals that Shadd still owes $45,880 in unpaid income taxes on five personal income tax liens dating back to 2014. One lien was filed in 2014, one in 2017, two in 2019, and one in 2020. 

EDITED 10/19/20. I heard that some payment had been made but, according to https://dor.sc.gov/liens today, the total due on five liens is $46,255.85.

According to SC BIZ NEWS, "The Revenue Department said it exhausted efforts to collect the debts before the names were published, sending letters and making personal contact to attempt to get delinquent taxpayers to comply.   https://scbiznews.com/news/government/77984/

Well, that's a joke. If the State DOR cannot collect monies owed to the State, then get out of the way and turn collection efforts over to private enterprise.

Shadd was elected Board Chair on June 30, 2020. Why would the Board have a tax debtor as Trustee, much less the Board Chair?

What, Me Worry? Look at the Numbers!

Friday's DHEC report of new COVID-19 cases in schools, as reported by The State newspaper, listed these Richland 2 schools:

RICHLAND 2

• Catawba Trail Elementary School has less than five faculty cases.
• Forest Lake Elementary School has less than five faculty cases.
• L.B. Nelson Elementary School has less than five student cases.
• Muller Road Middle School has less than five faculty cases.
• North Springs Elementary School has less than five faculty cases.
• Richland Northeast High School has less than five student cases.
• Spring Valley High School has less than five student cases and less than five faculty cases.
• Windsor Elementary School has less than five student cases.

Stated another way:

RICHLAND 2

• Catawba Trail Elementary School has 1-4 faculty cases.
• Forest Lake Elementary School has 1-4 faculty cases.
• L.B. Nelson Elementary School has 1-4 student cases.
• Muller Road Middle School has 1-4 faculty cases.
• North Springs Elementary School has 1-4 faculty cases.
• Richland Northeast High School has 1-4 student cases.
• Spring Valley High School has 1-4 student cases and 1-4 faculty cases.
• Windsor Elementary School has 1-4 student cases.

In summary,

Five schools reported 1-4 faculty cases (why "faculty", not employee?)

Four schools reported 1-4 student cases.

Wouldn't exact numbers be more helpful?

There could have been 5-20 faculty cases last week.

There could have been 4-16 student cases last week. 

Out of 27,800 students!

Four cases? 0.014% of student body.

Sixteen cases? 0.057% of student body.

Like Alfred E. Newman said, "What, Me Worry?"

McKie's Debt - Still $51,750

How fiscally responsible should a school board trustee be?

Should a board member be able to add and subtract? And get a correct total?

Previous Board Chair and trustee-elect (since Nov. 13, 2018), Amelia McKie, still owes $51,750 to the State Ethics Commission. She has not paid one penny in two years toward her debt. A judgment was filed more than a year ago (July 2019) in the Richland County Common Pleas Court, and apparently the S.C. DOR has not been able to collect on it yet.

Each quarter McKie must file a Campaign Disclosure Report with the South Carolina Ethics Commission. It's a simple report; just a few lines. If you keep decent records, it should take about five minutes to complete and file online. It's a public document. To view her reports, go to ethics.sc.gov  At the top right, click on Public Reporting. Click on Individual Financial Reports. Click on Candidate Reports. In the Candidate Last Name field, type McKie. Click on Next. Click on her name for Election Date 11/6/2018. Select a report; any report.

And it's even simpler and faster to complete and file, if you've had no activity since the last quarterly report. But that doesn't mean you should blindly copy the previous numbers, assuming an error hasn't been made.

McKie has a problem filing the quarterly reports on time. The Report due January 10, 2020 was late (2/11/20). The Report due April 10, 2020 was late (4/16/20). The Report due July 10, 2020 was late (7/16/20). The Report due October 10, 2020 was early (9/10/20) and then amended (10/8/20).

A cursory glance at the Report filed for Filing Period October 10 (and amended) shows an error that is easily noticed, if the filer is paying attention.

McKie reports $8,943.25 in Total Contributions, including none received in the quarter ending 9/30/20.

She reports $5,725.78 in total Expenditures, including none in the quarter. And this is where the error is. 

She lists In-Kind Expenditures of $17.50 and Expenditures of $5,208.28. OK, now you do the math. You've heard of approximating? rounding off; right? If you are using the left side of your brain, you know the sum is going to be approximately $5,225. You know it is not going to be $5,725.78.

Where is the elusive $500 in missing expenditures? This arithmetical error goes back for several reports. Proof, I guess, that the S.C. Ethics Commission doesn't care what you put on your Report; just so long as you file it.

Will any of this matter when McKie is up for re-election in two years? 

Is McKie ever going to pay off her judgment and debt to the Ethics Commission? If she applied her entire School Board Trustee gross monthly income of $800 to it, it will take her 65 months to pay it off. That's 5 years 5 months.

If she pays only $100/month toward it, it will take her 518 months to pay it off. That's 43 YEARS.

Do she intend to pay any of it?

Remember that blackface Tweet at Blythewood H.S.?

On October 1 I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request to Richland 2 school district for the text of the freshman's tweet that riled up the principal and, therefore, the District. In my FOIA Request I specifically did not request the name of the student.

The FOIA Officer of the District today denied my request, deeming the information protected so as not to identify the student. The District relies on its belief that I would be able to identify the student, if I knew what he had said. I guess I have better investigative or psychic powers than I thought I had.

The District did acknowledge that I could access publicly any social media post that might exist. How nice of them.

The District did provide a copy of the message sent out by Principal Matt Sherman. I would post it here but it is a .pdf copy.

Principal Sherman did state, in part, "We immediately recognized that the tweet was inappropriate and insensitive and took measures to have the post removed."

The school had been "tagged" in the tweet, and I wonder whether the School demanded that the student delete the tweet from his personal Twitter account or only took down the "tag" to the high school. If the school demanded that he deleted his tweet from his personal account, I consider that a gross violation of the student's First Amendment rights.

The principal also used these words: "disappointed and hurt"; pain.

Further, he wrote: "As your principal, I'm even more motivated to help create a culture where everyone is valued and respected." 

Does that include the 9th Grader who posted the tweet? Is he to be valued and respected?

Squashing that student is a good example why Richland 2's cultural sensitive programs and efforts to "promote unity" will fail. Rather than using that tweet as a learning experience, it teaches students (and employees to be secretive and to post comments under names that will not identify them. 

I would like to meet the 9th Grader and his parents. I would like to read that tweet. If you can help me, please email or call. Confidentiality is guaranteed.