Respect the U.S. Flag

During the public participation segment this evening, I read the following statement to the board.

Members of the Board and Supt. Davis,

My name is Gus Philpott.

In many places in the United States professional, college and high school sports players are “taking a knee” when the National Anthem is played.

In order to prevent such gross disrespect of the United States Flag in the Richland 2 School District, I request the Board to formulate a policy that clarifies respect for the U.S. Flag.

This policy should provide that at any school event no player will take a knee or in any other way show any sign of disrespect, including not taking the field before the National Anthem is played. I heard a rumor recently that a Blythewood High School football team stayed off the field until the National Anthem was played. I attempted to learn whether there was any truth to the rumor, but Supt. Davis has not replied to my October 26^th email yet. The Board and Coach Mizzell received a copy of my email to the superintendent.

As a concerned member of the community I offer to participate in the drafting of a policy that addresses this subject.

Thank you.

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When the public participation was introduced tonight, the Acting Chair stated that no names were to be mentioned. That isn't actually how the Board Policy reads, but I was careful not to mention any names. I didn't dare risk getting gaveled into submission.

Robert's Rules Training - desperately needed

Tonight's Regular Meeting of the Richland 2 school board started on time. Manning's chair was empty. Four legal trustees were present. That is not a quorum.  No business could be conducted.

Present were Holmes (Acting Chair), Caution-Parker (Secretary), Agostini, Elkins, McFadden, and McKie. That's six people, but there were only four legitimate trustees present and two trustees-elect.

Just after the meeting was called to order by Holmes, an incoming call's ringing could be heard over a microphone. It sounded like someone said, "Someone's calling in."

As the meeting progressed, motions were made, seconded and voted on. Votes were 6-1 and 7-0. How could the vote be a total of seven? Manning's chair was empty.

What was missing was any explanation to the other board members and to the public that James Manning had apparently called in to attend by telephone (if that's what the ringing phone meant).

I guess I'm going to have to spend $18 on my own copy of Robert's Rules of Order and stop relying on the library's copy. I'm pretty sure telephonic attendance and protocol are covered in Robert's Rules.

What should have happened is the Chair should have announced that Manning would not be attending in person and would attend by telephone, which is permitted under Board policy. In many public bodies the board votes to permit such telephonic attendance. They don't just sweep it under the table.

I can appreciate that the Acting Chair might not know the rules. Then it's the job of the superintendent to coach her, so that protocol is followed.

U.S. Flag - half-staff

Do you know why the U.S. Flag is flown at half-staff today?

And what the correct procedure is for returning it to full-staff? 

White Privilege training - San Diego

Leaked documents have revealed a White Privilege training in the San Diego Unified School District.

"What's that?" you say. 

Check it out by clicking here.

Is it here already (under another name) or is it coming to a school district near you soon?

As soon as I read "white fragility" in that article, I remembered checking out Robin DiAngelo's book from the Richland Library. What a waste of money that library purchase was. I don't think I read 10 pages before I returned it.

When I looked up articles about Gloria Boutee's Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, I almost fell out of my chair laughing. What I read in the top article about her work, was 

"Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP)" *

Culturally Relevant Pedagog

y (CRP)

Well, they got that right.

If I were a teacher and the district tried to jam that nonsense down my throat, they'd be looking for a new teacher the next day.

* Source: https://www.ijme-journal.org/index.php/ijme/article/view/343/512

Handwriting - becoming a lost art?

How is your penmanship?

Legible? I mean, to others... 

Are students learning cursive? Still? Again? I recall a middle-school teacher in Illinois who told me that my stepson didn't need to learn handwriting, because he could use a keyboard. 

She also told me he didn't need to know how to spell, beause he could use SpellChecker. And he didn't need to know arithmetic, because he could use a calculator.

I told her that, if we were playing baseball, she had just struck out!!!

Handwriting - legible handwriting - is an important life skill. Do you have it? Are you seeing that your children acquire it?

I still treasure my Cross pen and pencil set. I've had it for more than 30 years. And I still know exactly where I lost a Cross pen. In a library parking lot in Kansas City after a workshop I had presented. When I missed it, I knew where I had dropped it but, by the time I got back, it was gone.

I just purchased a new ballpoint pen, because I liked the design. Not cheap.

And I just purchased a new fountain pen and bottle of blue ink. There is something about writing with a fountain pen. When is the last time you wrote with a fountain pen? Ever?

In a recent Fireside Chat Dennis Prager mentioned his love for fountain pens. I sent this story to him.

When I was a life insurance salesman back in the late 1960s, I used a fountain pen. A new client complimented my use of a "real" pen and asked if he could use it to sign the application. I usually didn't loan my pen (you know why) but, in this case, I did. I uncapped it, put the cap on the end of the barrel and handed it to him. He signed the application and handed the pen back to me. I didn't notice that he had put the cap back on the pen. So I moved the cap to the other end and put the pen in my shirt pocket. You guessed it! I had to buy a new shirt!

Check out the Voice of Blythewood

Be sure to see the December 3rd article titled "R2 trustee threatens to sue constituent" in The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County. 

Reporter Debra McCown did a good job of summarizing problems facing Teresa Holmes about the issue of her (il)legitimacy on the  Richland 2 School Board.

It's basically very simple and easy to understand. Holmes has never taken the oath of office legally. Thus, she is on the board illegally and is usurping public office. 

She (and Amelia McKie) became eligible to take the oath of office on December 4, 2018 and they have not done so. 

The next legal step for me is to get leave from a Circuit judge to file a usurping charge in the South Carolina Supreme Court. Because of the importance of keeping unauthorized people out of public office, the state Supreme Court would hear the case in a matter of days. My case would not have to go to the end of the line and wait ten years to be heard.

McKie and Holmes would have to prove that they are not violating the South Carolina statute. The poblem for both of them is in two parts. They signed an notarized oath of office form on November 13, 2018, and they filed their Statement of Economic Interest with the South Carolina Ethics Commission on December 4, 2018 - three weeks later.

They should have filed their SEIs first and then taken the oath of office. They did it backwards!

Since they can't prove their innocense, they'll be convicted. The penalties are not minor. Read South Carolina Code of Laws Title 15 - Civil Remedies and Penalties.

If they want me to stop complaining about their being in office illegally, all they have to do is take the oath of office - this time, legally.

Keep debtors out of public office

The following email is being sent to S.C. State Representative Ivory Thigpen (District 79) and State Senator Mia McLeod (District 22).

"As a constituent in your district, I am writing to request that you propose legislation in your chamber to prohibit a person who owes a debt to any division of the S.C. State Government, including the S.C. Ethics Commission, from holding public office. If that person holds office, the person must pay the debt within 90 days of the effective date of the legislation or resign from office.

"Will you please let me know if you will sponsor such legislation? I shall appreciate an individual reply, not just your standard auto-response without any follow-up."

Richland 2 School Board Trustee-elect Amelia McKie owes $51,750 to settle a judgment in favor of the South Carolina Ethics Commission. She hasn't paid even one penny toward this debt in more than two years.

The S.C. Department of Revenue (DOR) is charged with collecting the judgment. There is no sign of any activity on their part. The DOR should be attaching her wages from Richland 2 School District, filing a lien against any income tax refunds and against her home and automobile, and attaching her bank accounts. 

According to the Ethics Commission on November 30, 2020, she still owes $51,750!