Poor Timing for Session

 From Richland 2:

BUDGET INPUT SESSION

A Budget Input Session for the Richland School District Two community will be held 5-5:30 p.m. on April 13, 2021 in the Conference Center at R2i2 located at 763 Fashion Drive, Columbia, 29229.

 

The Richland Two Board of Trustees and district administrators are holding the input session to give employees, parents, students and community members the opportunity to provide suggestions for next year’s budget. The suggestions shared during the input session will be considered during the development process of the FY 2021-2022 General Fund Budget. A timeline for the budget development process is available on the district’s website at: https://www.richland2.org/Departments/Business-Services/General-Fund-Budget

 

All individuals in attendance at the input session will be required to wear masks and observe social-distancing protocols.

Now, why the District insists on holding a Budget Input session at 5:00PM, I can only guess. Many parents are working people and probably work until at least 5:00PM. Thus, there is no way to show up for a 5:00PM community meeting. Is there? There is also the "dinner-hour" with family to consider. 

And then there is a half-hour, cool-your-heels break until the Regular Board Meeting starts.

Why doesn't the Board hold the Budget Input Session as the first half-hour of the regularly-scheduled Board meeting? Usually almost no one shows up for it, so all they are doing to going through the formality of announcing the Session, knowing that no one will show up.

The District's announcement reads that "All individuals in attendance" must wear masks. Will that apply to Teresa Holmes?

An Important Message from Carol Swain

This is long. This is important. Are you always hearing about and talking about racism and disadvantages? Read this by Carol Swain. Copied from Facebook.

WHAT I CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT RACISM

Carol Swain

Let me tell you how my story ends: I become a tenured, award-winning professor of political science at an Ivy League university, and then at one of the leading universities in the South.

Now let me tell you how my story begins: I grow up in rural Virginia, literally dirt poor. I drop out of school in the eighth grade and have three children by the time I'm 20.

I consider myself to be a reasonably modest person, but even I have to admit that's quite a journey.

How did I do it?

I worked hard. Not crazy, 24/7 hard—just hard. I made good decisions. Not brilliant, three-dimensional-chess decisions—just good ones. I met people along the way who helped me and sincerely wanted to see me succeed—not because they had something to gain, but because they were decent people. Almost all of these individuals, by the way, were white.

But mostly, I think I was blessed in one crucial way: I was born in America, a true land of opportunity for anyone of any color or background. In this country, where you start your life does not determine where you end up.

That works in both directions, by the way. You can start out with every advantage and waste them all. Or you can start out with nothing and become a success. It all depends on you. Your attitude is far more important than your race, gender, or social class in determining what you will accomplish in life.

When I hear young blacks—or anyone, for that matter—talk about systemic racism, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I want to laugh because it's such nonsense. I want to cry because I know it's pushing untold numbers of young blacks into a dead end of self-pity and despair. Instead of seizing the amazing opportunities America offers them, they seize an excuse to explain why they're not succeeding.

I was born into a world where systemic racism was real—no-fooling, outright-bigotry, back-of-the-bus real. But here's what you need to know: Yes, that racism shaped the black experience—but even then, it did not define it. Change was in the air. Call it systemic reform.

The modern Civil Rights Movement was in its infancy, and the leaders who fought for equal rights for blacks were men and women of all races. They believed in America and were determined to see it live up to its highest ideals—ideals manifest in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

Did I know, growing up, that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves? I don't think I ever thought about it. If I did, I'd like to think that I would have had enough common sense to know that we can't judge men who lived 250 years ago by the moral standards of our own day.

But I know that Jefferson wrote the words in the Declaration of Independence that made slavery ultimately impossible: that all men are created equal. And I know that Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Adams and the rest of the Founders risked everything to make my world, my America, possible. How could I not be grateful for that and for the sacrifices so many others have made to preserve it?

The truth is I cannot remember a time when I did not love America and feel pride in the belief that I live in the greatest country in the world. I knew if I diligently pursued my ambitions, I could leave the poverty of my early years, with all its abuse and depression, behind me.

I was fortunate in another way. I was spared the life-sapping, negative messages about America that are crippling a generation of young people. These ideas are poison:

☆ White privilege.

☆ Whiteness as a form of property.

☆ Unconscious racism.

☆ Reparations.

☆ Microaggressions.

☆ Police have it out for blacks.

☆ That the United States was created to protect and promote slavery.

These are the ideas young people are told they must accept. And then they're told to reject the ideas that can save them—the antidote: the success principles that enabled me and millions of other Americans to escape lives of poverty.

These principles aren't complicated: work hard, learn from your mistakes, take personal responsibility for your actions. When I made the decisions to get my high school equivalency, attend a community college, and then earn four additional college and university degrees, I believed that my education would open doors. And it did.

It was only when exposed to academic theories of oppression in graduate school that I was informed that because I was black, poor, and female, I could never do what I had already accomplished.

Thank God, it was too late for these toxic messages to stop me. Don't let them stop you.

—Carol Swain

Criticize equity training - Get Fired?

Could this happen in Richland 2 School District?

Read this article about an advisory board to the Loudoun County (Va.) Public Schools. This is what the world is coming to. Recall what Joe Biden said about "unity". For him unity, as I see it, is when you agree with him! 

Read the liberal nonsense spouted by Keaira Jennings in an alleged (according to the FoxNew article)  message to the Board and the superintendent:

"If our teachers and staff cannot be open and willing to learn how to be culturally competent then they do not need to be in the classrooms any longer as they will only hinder the process and most importantly cause irreparable harm to the vulnerable hearts and minds of our students."

Toe the line, teachers. Think and speak as you are told, and only as you are told! Or else.

All those buzzwords are becoming increasingly frequent: equity, inclusion, diversity, cultural diversity, cultural training, identifying and eliminating "whiteness", systemic racism, injustice, critical race theory, identity politics. Anyone else getting sick of it?

If Keaira gets her way, a teacher in Loudoun County, will get fired for criticizing equity training in private. Has she heard of the U.S. Constitution and freedom of speech? A school board is considered "government" and cannot infringe on the First Amendment. Even in Virginia. Even in Loudoun County.

And not in Richland County, either.

Who is the "Keaira Jennings" in the Richland 2 School District? Put your answer in the Comments. If you fear retribution or retaliation, email your answer to gusphilpott@gmail.com or text it to 8479717083  I'll put it in a Comment without your name. And then I'll delete your email or text.

We have a school board (majority) fully capable of instituting such a policy right here. All it takes is a majority of four out of seven. Who would vote for it? Holmes, McKie, Caution-Parker, McFadden. Who would not? Agostini. Who might vote for it? Manning and Scott (Elkins).

Of course, the problem continues to be that Holmes and McKie are not legal members of the Richland 2 School Board and should not be voting on anything. None of their votes since November 13, 2018 should count - for anything! One of these days the School Board is going to have to go back to November 13, 2018 and remove every vote by McKie and Holmes.

That will cause some decisions to change. Where a vote was 4-3 (passing) when the votes of McKie and Holmes are counted, the revised result will be 2-3 (failing) without their votes. The longer Richland 2 waits to correct these errors, the farther back it will have to go. Some students should not have been expelled; some students should have have been sent to Blythewood. Votes on some financial motions will change.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/virginia-advisory-board-calls-for-school-district-to-fire-teachers-if-they-criticize-equity-training

How much? $900,000???

 Reporter Travis Bland's article in yesterday's The State needs to be read by all.

This sentence got my attention. "Two lawsuits also were filed against the sheriff’s department and Richland District 2 officials. One of the lawsuits was settled last year for $900,000."

Many will already be familiar with previous local media reporting about former RCSD Deputy Jamel Bradley. Bradley had been an SRO at Spring Valley High School.

Read the article about the allegations and charges against Bradley.

Perhaps I missed previous reporting about this pay-out. The reporter did not mention yesterday what portion of the $900,000, if any, was paid by Richland 2. I've asked him to report this in a future article.

The other thing I wonder about is how widespread was the suspicion of Bradley's involvement with students at SVHS. The article mentions "sexual assault". If Bradley is in a car with a 15-year-old behind Target, wasn't it by plan? By agreement? He didn't drag her off the street, did he?

When kids play with fire, they need to be held accountable for their actions and activities. Sure, there is no excuse for a cop in a car with a 15-year-old at 10:30PM. It's "assault" only because she cannot give "legal" consent. Maybe the laws need to change, so that consensual activity cannot be charged as "assault". I totally "get" that she cannot consent, because she is a minor and is not legally competent to consent.

But just talk to any 15-year-old girl today. She is sexually aware. She's probably sexually active. Should every boy in high school worry about being charged with rape? Maybe he should.

Edited: Thanks to a reader with keen eyes, I learned of an article published on December 1, 2020 (edited on December 4, 2020) in the Post and Courier that reported Richland 2 School District's share was $600,000! If it was published also by The State newspaper, I didn't see it, and no one alerted me to it. I wonder when the School Board approved that payment! And what action was taken against the administrators responsible for it!

After reading that article, all I can say is, "Seriously?" In the second paragraph, the first words were "The girl alleged that Jamel Bradley assaulted her multiple times...

So, do I think he "assaulted" her several times? Or did they meet up for an illegal activity that is called "assault" in the penal code because she was a minor? 

There is no reason to dole out $600,000 unless the girl really was assaulted which, in this case, I would guess she was not, if it occurred several times.

One of the girl's attorneys, James Moore, "praised his client for having the courage to come forward with information that helped lead to Bradley’s arrest." As our fearless leader would say, "Come on, man." Courage? Information that helped lead to Bradley's arrest? Was any willing participation just overlooked? Was she one of the "babies" so often mentioned by one school board member? Or was she truly an uncooperative victim who was kidnapped and forced to do any despicable act (s)?

Get Hired?

Looking for a temporary job? One of this blog's readers sent this to me. Hit this barcode and see what happens.

Whaddya think? Would they hire me?

I was reminded of a temp job I had in Richmond, Va. I wanted another couple of bucks an hour, so I sent what I used for a resume to a different agency.

The manager called and asked if I were a job-hopper, because I hadn't listed dates for the few past jobs I had put on it. I told her I was looking for temporary work and that, if she gave me a job, I would guarantee not to hop before I finished it.

Then she said that she couldn't tell how old I was because I hadn't listed the year of my graduation from college. I immediately asked if the concept of age discrimination had reached Richmond yet.

Then she said, "You know? They want a woman for this job, anyway.

You can guess what I said, but here it is. "Has the concept of sex discrimination reached Richmond, Va. yet?

There was a long silence.

Then I said, "It's a good thing I'm not recording this conversation. I wouldn't have to work for five years!" She gave me a great assignment the next week, and I finished it. And then moved away from Richmond.

School board sticks it to the taxpayers

Read this first paragraph of the press release published tonight right after the school board meeting. And I do mean, right after the meeting. The press release was published to media at 8:02pm. The District couldn't even show the courtesy of waiting until tomorrow to send it. Obviously, it was written before the meeting!

Why didn't the Board take under advisement the administration's proposal and think about spending $9,950,000 for a couple of week???

"COLUMBIA, S.C. — At the March 23, 2021 board meeting, the Richland School District Two Board of Trustees approved the administration’s proposal to allocate the $11.3 million surplus from the Fiscal Year 2019-20 General Fund Budget. The allocations include:

·        a one-time bonus of $1,580 to all full-time permanent employees and $789 to all part-time permanent employees (roughly $1,000 and $500 after taxes, respectively). The estimated cost of this investment is $6,450,000, which includes related fringe.

·        a one-time transfer of $3.5 million for the Building Fund to help lessen the impact on taxpayers for the funding of annual capital improvement expenditures."

The District had collected that $6,450,000 from the taxpayers and other sources of income. Rather than either holding onto it as a future reserve or refunding it to "those what brung it in the door", the District leadership and the School Board chose to provide a bonus to employees.

This smells like the decision in Congress to give $1,400/week to Federal employees who stay home while their kids are not in school. YOU won't get $1,400/week, but the Federal employees will. For how many weeks? And that's in addition to the $1,400 Stimulus check(s).

What kind of responsible fiscal management is that?

An $11.3 million surplus can vanish in a heart beat (or one good disaster).

Richland 2 needs more people on the Board who understand financial management. Right now, there are at least five who do not.

False Police Report = Felony or Misdemeanor

Thanks to a posting on NextDoor.com by Jamie Raub last week (since removed, but not before being copied), I was reminded of a complaint filed against me by Teresa Holmes in March 2019. 

Two years ago a Richland 2 School District trustee-elect reacted to an email I had sent to the full board, on Wednesday March 20, 2019 at 10:30AM. She is believed to have left work in Fairfield County shortly after I sent the email. She went straight to the Richland County Sheriff's Department to file a report that I had been harassing her.

In my email to the full board I had written that, if the District did not inform me by Friday, March 22 (2019), that Teresa Holmes and Amelia McKie would be sworn in before the following Tuesday's board meeting, then I would go to the Sheriff's Department and file a Complaint that they were illegally in office.

No doubt you've heard "the best defense is a good offense". Right? But only if that offense works...

Teresa Holmes complained at RCSD to Deputy Robert Jenkins. In his report dated 3/20/2019 at 1:45PM, Deputy Jenkins wrote:

"C/V (School Board Member) came into RCSD to report that a man that has approached her at several Richland County School Board meetings is harassing her. C/V states she feels threatened by the subjects [sic] behavior. Besides the meetings where she has been approached by the subject, the C/V states he has sent her numerous emails attacking her. The emails provided by the C/V have the subject's PH# listed as 847.971.7083. A case number was issued to the C/V."

Here is the law about filing false police reports. See South Carolina Code of Laws 16-17-722.

SECTION 16-17-722. Filing of false police reports; knowledge; offense; penalties.

(A) It is unlawful for a person to knowingly file a false police report.

(B) A person who violates subsection (A) by falsely reporting a felony is guilty of a felony and upon conviction must be imprisoned for not more than five years or fined not more than one thousand dollars, or both.

(C) A person who violates subsection (A) by falsely reporting a misdemeanor is guilty of a misdemeanor and must be imprisoned not more than thirty days or fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both.

(D) In imposing a sentence under this section, the judge may require the offender to pay restitution to the investigating agency to offset costs incurred in investigating the false police report.

What was false in Holmes' report?

The man she is accusing is I, Gus Philpott. I had not approached her "at several meetings". We spoke at the front of the room after one (only one) meeting, and a Richland County Sheriff's deputy was standing right alongside us the entire time.

I never harassed her. Not even once. Don't you think the sheriff's deputy would have interceded, had I harassed her?

Holmes felt threatened by a polite, short conversation in a public meeting room with a deputy standing right next to her? Seriously?

Holmes claimed "meetings". She and I spoke after only one meeting!

Holmes claimed I had sent numerous emails attacking her. I sent NO EMAILS to her alone. All email communications were sent to the full board. 

I never "attacked" her. 

I did write about Holmes' (and Amelia McKie) taking the oath of office illegally, entering upon official responsibilities illegally, and never taking the oath of office after they had become eligible to do so on December 4, 2018 by filing their Statements of Economic Interests Reports. They still haven't!

When I asked RCSD for copies of the emails "provided by the C/V", they didn't have them.

So, did Holmes file a false police report? Should RCSD have charged her with so doing, after it completed its investigation and determined that no crime had been committed?

I have a copy of that follow-up report, which had to be written by an RCSD Sergeant after I asked for it. The follow-up closing report states no crime was committed.