Does Richland 2 Board have a Clerk?

At the November 10, 2020 work session (Special Called Board Meeting), the agenda indicates that a Chair is to be elected from among the board members.

Here's the state law that is relevant:

SECTION 59-19-70. Chairman and clerk of board. 

The trustees shall, as soon as practicable after the appointment of any new trustee, organize by the election of one of their members as chairman and another as clerk of the board. The chairman shall preside at meetings of the board and perform other duties imposed on him under the law, and the clerk shall keep a record of the proceedings of all meetings in a book provided for that purpose and perform all other duties required of him by law.

Because only a (legal) board member can be an officer of the board, this will mean that the choice for Chair must be made from Agostini, Elkins, Manning, Caution-Parker or McFadden. And the choice for Clerk (Secretary) must be made from the four left after the Chair is elected.

The Agenda, as it stands at 7:50AM today, does not indicate that the board will follow the state law and elect a "Clerk". This has been called to the attention of the board and the superintendent.

Because the duties of the "Clerk" are defined as keeping "a record of the proceedings of all meetings in a book provided for that purpose and perform all other duties required of him by law", it is easy to see that the position of Clerk in this statute is the same as the title given by the board of Secretary.

Thus, the District should be planning to elect a Clerk (Secretary) tomorrow, but that election is not on the agenda.

Will the District say, "We don't have a Clerk"?

What about the part of the statute that says 'The trustees shall"?

The District has played fast and loose with its "interpretations" of South Carolina law.

At the November 10, 2020 board meeting the District admitted, in the superintendent's words, that it had erroneously "interpreted" the state law about the beginning date of the term-of-office for a newly-elected trustee. It made that error in 2018, 2016, 2014 and 2010. The reason it didn't make that error in 2012 was the delay in certification of the election by the Richland County Elections Commission.

The District is also apparently misinterpreting the statute for swearing in a new trustee. In 2018 the District administered the oath of office to McKie and Holmes before they had filed their Statements of Economic Interests with the South Carolina Ethics Commission. That was a violation of S.C. Code of Laws 8-13-1110(A). It allowed McKie and Holmes to commence official duties before they filed their SEIs. And it has allowed them for two years to do their duties, although neither has ever taken the oath of office legally.

McKie, Holmes and the District don't think that's a big deal. Here's what the law says: 

SECTION 8-13-1110. Persons required to file statement of economic interests.

(A) No public official, regardless of compensation, and no public member or public employee as designated in subsection (B) may take the oath of office or enter upon his official responsibilities unless he has filed a statement of economic interests in accordance with the provisions of this chapter with the appropriate supervisory office.

Every word in a law is important. The order of the words is important. No one can just willy-nilly decide that a change in order is okay. It's not okay. First you file your SEI. Then you take the oath of office. Then you commence your duties. 

The Office of the S.C. Attorney General is wrong to overlook this. McKie and Holmes are usurping public office. That's a violation of another section of the law. 

The remedy is simple. All they have to do is take the oath of office, now that they are eligible to do so. (They became eligible to take the oath of office on December 4, 2018, after they filed their SEIs.)

After Holmes reported to the Richland County Sheriff's Department that I had been harassing her, a sergeant said to me in a rather harsh, accusatory tone, "You just want those women kicked off the board."

I responded, calmly, "No. I just want them to take the oath of office and become legal members of the board." That was on March 21, 2019. They still haven't done so.

The Criminal Investigations Division of RCSD concluded that no crime had been committed. Perhaps all the false statements attributed to Holmes in the deputy's report had everything to do with that conclusion.

Free COVID-19 Testing

 If you stuck around until almost the end of the November 10 Board meeting or tuned into the video-recording on YouTube, you could hear the superintendent announce free COVID-19 testing.

DHEC has set up a testing site at R2i2 and will take samples from 10:00AM until 4:00PM, Mondays-through-Saturdays, until December 31 (if I heard him correctly). Results can be expected in 24-48 hours.

For information, call 864-445-2141.

Speakers harshly cut off

At last night's school board meeting five members of the public addressed the board in the first segment of Public Participation.

(18:05 on the video timer) The first speaker was a female student from Spring Valley High School. She spoke in a confident, well-organized presentation. 

(21:45) The next speaker was a male student, also (I think) from Spring Valley. He tore into the board about use of low-skilled substitutes in his AP class. I'll have to listen to both comments again, as soon as the video is published.

The third (25:22) and fourth (28:59) speakers also ripped the Administration over lack of accommodations for at-risk teachers. 

They were cut off abruptly by Acting Chair Holmes, who was keeping a sharp eye on the timer. Her abrupt, loudly-spoken interruption of "THANK YOU" must have been shocking to the parent speaker and also was to me in the audience.

If only the moderators in the Presidential debates had had Holmes for a tutor!

Trustee Elkins asked Holmes, very politely and professionally, to allow speakers to at least finish their sentences. Holmes acted like she'd be committing a Federal felony if she let a speaker go one second past the allotted three minutes.

Holmes threw on her superiority tone at Elkins and shut down further discussion.

The problem was that the timer was behind the speakers. The board and the audience could see the timer winding down, but the speaker was facing away from the timer. Unless he had eyes in the back of his head, he would not realize he was running out of time.

BE SURE TO VIEW ALL FIVE SPEAKERS, when the video is published on YouTube. Each of the five speakers did a great job.

(33:07) The sixth speaker spoke with a heavy accent. It was difficult to understand everything he said. At one point, Holmes leaned toward the superintendent to comment, diverting her attention away from the speaker. 

Her doing so was disrespectful to the speaker and also against meeting procedures for members of public bodies. Everything said by a board member should be audible to every other board member and to the public. Side-conversations are not to be conducted.

(Edited after watching the video on Nov. 12, 2020)

No Quorum last night

Last night, November 10, 2020, the Richland 2 School Board conducted a Regular Meeting, including an Executive Session, without having a quorum present.

The full body consists of seven members. There were four legal members present last night.

James Shadd was absent.

Trustee-elect Lashonda McFadden was sworn in, but her term-of-office does not begin until November 16.

Trustee-elect McKie was present and seated at the board, but she is not a legitimate member of the board because she has never taken the oath-of-office legally.

Trustee-elect Holmes was present and seated at the board, but she also is not a legitimate member of the board because she has never taken the oath-of-office legally. She conducted the meeting. Because an officer of the board must be a board member, she should not be Vice Chair and should not have conducted the meeting.

Trustees Agostini, Elkins, Manning and Caution-Parker were present. They were the only legitimate board members present last night. That's four. A quorum is five. The meeting should not have been held last night.

School District Resumes Following State Law

At last night's School Board meeting, the board was set to cause a newly-elected trustee to join the board before the legal beginning date of her term-of-office.

On Monday I wrote an email to all trustees, trustees-elect, the District's attorney, the District's Robert's Rules of Order consultant, the sheriff, the attorney general, and others, asking the District to follow S.C. Code of Laws 59-19-315.

S.C. CODE OF LAWS SECTION 59-19-315. Commencement of trustee's term of office.
The term of office of every elected trustee of a school district must commence one week following the certification of his election.

Supt. Davis explained to the public that the District had misinterpreted the law since 2010. After a "concerned citizen" raised the issue, the District got legal advice and will follow the law.

Mrs. McFadden was sworn in last night by Columbia Mayor Benjamin, and her term-of-office begins on Friday, November 16, 2020.

This is what the conference room on the second level of R2i2 looked like. The board was waaaayyyyy down at one end of the room, and visitors were seated at the other, socially-distanced.

New Procedure is Faulty

The District has announced a new procedure for public participation at board meetings.

It was published with the announcement for the Tuesday, November 10, 2020 board meeting. It reads:

"As the meeting is being held in person, the Board will return to the standard process for Public Participation. The Board sets aside a maximum of 30 minutes (15 minutes at the beginning and 15 minutes prior to the end of the public portion of the meeting). As each speaker is allotted three minutes, Public Participation will be limited to the first 10 people who sign up to speak (five during the first Public Participation and five during the second Public Participation). The sign-up to speak will open at 5 p.m. and close at 6 p.m. on Nov. 10 in the lobby of R2i2."

Why is it faulty?

1. If someone wishes to attend the meeting in person, he must arrive early and well before the 5:00PM starting time of the Installation Ceremony. Seating will be limited and on a first-come, first-seated basis. This person will be IN the room, in his seat, and unable to sign up, because the sign-up sheet will be outside the room in its usual place.

If the early bird leaves the room to sign up, will he be locked out when someone takes his seat?

2. Fifteen glorious meetings are set aside out of what is often a 2-3 hour meeting for the first Public Participation session, and fifteen minutes are allocated in the second half.

Time could be saved by calling out the names of the first three speakers, such as "The first speaker will be (Name), followed by (Name) and (Name). Be ready to step to the podium when the speaker ahead of you finishes." Then, "The next speaker is (Name), followed by (Name) and (Name).

Now the District is going to "let" five (only) people speak in the first segment and five in the second.

What is 15 people wanted to speak and each took only one minute? If a speaker talked as quickly as Mrs. Roof reads, he could say a lot in one minute and step aside for the next speaker. Then the board would get a big earful.

Why does the board make the second five speakers sit there and twiddle their thumbs while they plod through the meeting? Why not make the 30-minute Public Participation segment in one continuous block?

Perhaps future meetings won't be 2-3 hour marathons. November 10 will be James Shadd's last meeting as a trustee and as Board Chair. If the Board is wise enough (assuming it actually follows state law), will it elect a new Board Chair who is organized and methodical and who will keep the board on-task?

 

Will Richland 2 Follow the Law?

Will the three successful candidates in the school board election insist that state law be followed? 

The Board is planning an installation ceremony for Tuesday, November 10, at 5:00PM. This is three days before the official term-of-office begins because, if the election is certified on November 6, state law mandates the beginning of the term-of-office as one week later (this year, November 13, 2020.

In 2018 the Board and the District committed an as-yet-uncorrected error, when it swore in McKie and Holmes on November 13, 2018, before they were eligible to take the oath. Then Holmes was allowed to be seated on the board. McKie legally sat on the board on November 13, because it was her last official meeting in her 2014-2018 term-of-office.

But McKie has sat at the board illegally ever since, as has Holmes.

Elkins, Agostini and McFadden must file Statements of Economic Interests (SEI) with the South Carolina Ethics Commission before they can take the oath of office for the 2020-2024 term. There is probably no reason they cannot take the oath on November 10, if they have filed their SEIs.

But McFadden cannot commence her official responsibilities until her term-of-office begins on November 13, which is after the November 10 board meeting.

Elkins and Agostini will attend the November 10th board meeting as their final meeting of their 2016-2020 terms-of-office.

State law requires an election of Chairman and Clerk (Secretary) at the first meeting after a new trustee joins the board. That will be in December. Will the District observe this law?

Holmes should be replaced as Vice Chair. She is not a legal board member (has never taken the oath of office legally) and, thus, is not eligible to serve as a board officer. 

Caution-Parker should be replaced as Secretary.