Here come the heavies

Don't miss this story about the National School Boards Association running off to ask the POTUS to clamp down on parents. 

Is this disgusting?

Do you know that there is a South Carolina School Boards Association? SCSBA.org  Do you have any idea what their influence is in the South Carolina legislature?

Why do I know about them?

Because I asked them to do something about the two illegitimate trustees on the Richland 2 School Board.

The SCSBA won't even refuse to seat a delegate from Richland 2 who is not even a legitimate school board member!

And then one of the SCSBA officials told me to stop writing to him.

You'd think that the SCSBA would represent the people, wouldn't you?

But its members are the school boards of the state. And you know what we've got right here in Richland 2. 

There was controversy last year involving Richland 2's board members at a SCSBA meeting. 

Which one just shows up for the parties?

Richland 2 got caught not playing by the rules when (trustee-elect) McKie was nominated to serve as a Regional Director. It got jammed through in a way that the SCSBA later didn't like, and the SCSBA told Richland 2 to fix it. 

If you deliver a passionatee message to the school board, do you want to have to worry about the Patriot Act being used against you?

If you object to Critical Race Theory and deliver a strong message to the school board, do you want to have to worry about being charged with a hate crime?

It's time for a change on the Richland 2 school board. Two trustees (Manning and Caution-Parker) are up for re-election (rumor has it that Caution-Parker might not run again) The two trustees-elect who are usurping public office (Holmes and McKie) are likely to run again. 

Strong, positive, well-funded candidates are needed to help those four into retirement. 

Was Holmes' previous bio honest and accurate?

Before Teresa Holmes' trustee bio on the Richland Two website was edited late in September, it read "...She currently serves as an assistant administrator and guidance counselor at the Fairfield County School District Career and Technology Center..."

Doesn't the title of "assistant administrator" imply that she is in a higher position than "just" a teacher?

Fairfield County School District (FCSD) clarified her previous position, and it appears differently to me. In response to a FOIA request, the FCSD wrote that 

"Effective August 1, 2021, Dr. Holmes retired from the position of School Counselor/Lead Teacher, a position designated as part of the administrative team, and in which she assumed administrative responsibilities and provided administrative governance in the Director's absence at Fairfield County School District Career and Technology Center."

What FCSD says is the Holmes was a school counselor and a teacher. They don't identify her as an Assistant Administrator. I wrote back about just that, and FCSD stands on its original reply.

The position of "school counselor/lead teacher" was part of the administrative team, but just a part. They say she "assumed administrative responsibilities", whatever that means. It does not say that she was assigned administrative responsibilities. 

FCSD says that Holmes "provided administrative governance "in the Director's absence ..." Did FCSD have a Director, and wouldn't it have been his job to run the Center? How often was he absent that she had to fill in, if any decisions in his absence were necessary?

Why is this important to me?

Because Holmes lied when she went to the Richland County Sheriff's Department in March 2019 and complained that I had been harassing her. The report filed by the deputy who interviewed her was full of false statements. Why did the deputy write down those false statements? Because that's what she told him. That's why her complaint went nowhere. It was quickly determined that no crime had occurred.

The deputy should have had her write out her complaint, and he should have attached it to his report. The deputy should have filed all those emails that she said I had sent her. He didn't, because she wasn't asked to write one out. 

So I want her to be truthful. Not say "her truth", but provide "the truth". She was a School Counselor/Lead Teacher at RCSD. That's it.

Was there something else that prompted to "retire" on short notice just before the start of the new school year?

Mask Jail at Richland Two

Do you know how many students refused to wear masks in District 2 schools yesterday and today?

Do you know how many knuckled under in the face of directions and orders to do so?

How many were sent to private rooms and separated from their classes.

How many were sent home for "disrespecting the authorities"?

How many did not get the Free and Appropriate Public Education that school districts are supposed to provide?

How many lawsuits will come from the superintendent's decision to enforce a mask mandate?

The legal fees will certainly be higher than his salary and termination pay.

As Larry Small said on Tuesday night, when he addressed the school board, HE is the medical authority in his child's life, not the teacher, not an administrator, not the superintendent, not the school board.

What's next? Will Richland 2 follow California Gov. Gavin Newsom and demand that all students be vaccinated? Wait for it. 

Is the school board playing with fire here?

I am reminded of the day I got fired from a job in Denver for refusing to sign a consent form to take a polygraph anytime the company asked me to do so. I told them to get the wires, and I'd take one right then, but I wasn't signing the form.

Of course, I refused. Three days after refusing, I was fired. The reason? Insubordination. When I asked for an expanation, the VP said I have refused to follow company orders. What orders? To sign the form.

I was told to clear out my desk. I got a box, and it took me over an hour. "Let's see; this is my pencil." "Let's see; this is a company pen." The VP was standing at my cubicle, watching me. I said in a loud voice, "Bob! There are only two honest people in this whole company, and they are here in my office. Wait. Maybe three, if we could the old man (the owner). But his sons? Numbers 44 and 45 out of the 45 employees."

I had the last laugh, when the VP walked me to the front door. I asked if he wanted the company papers from the trunk of my car, and we walked to my car. When I opened the trunk, he spotted my 9mm Browing Hi-Power right on top of the company papers. That's the one you can shoot 14 times before you have to re-load. (I had forgotten to clean if after firing at the pistol range the previous week-end.) 

His eyes got big as plates, and he was stuck to the ground. I picked up the box (with the gun) and started back to the front door. When he didn't move, I asked, "Bob, if I go back in there, you guys aren't going to beat me up, are you?" He said, "No."

"Well, I guess I won't need this", and I put the gun back in the trunk. That was about 1986, and I'm still laughing.

What is "your truth"?

When V-P Kamala Harris, whose name I hate to even mention here, spoke out last week and supported a student's false claims about Israel, I was reminded of statements made right here by some on the Richland Two school board.

Remember when Teresa Holmes chastised Lashonda McFadden for speaking "her truth", while attempting to shut down her remarks before McFadden joined Lindsay Agostini and Monica Scott in departing a school board meeting and causing it to end, because there was no longer a quorum.

At the time I thought, What she means is McFadden's truth is not the same as Holmes' truth. Frankly, all I'm interested in is The Truth. 

What that George Mason University student voiced was her opinion, not "her truth". And it wasn't even correct. But Harris charged right in, opening her mouth where it would have been better to keep it closed.

SoV-P Harris deserves all the heat being directed at her. Like she cares, right? As a former prosecuting attorney, she knows how to handle "heat", and I suspect she doesn't care one whit about anyone else's opinion of her. Her staff recognized the damage, though.

What was she doing at George Mason University, anyway, when she should have been at work on the nation's problems? Maybe her little foray at GMU would have been better spent solving this country's illegal entry (invasion) crisis, not entertaining future voters in a classroom.

And don't forget Caution-Parker's shaming of "The Three" and urging a change in the Quorum policy from five back to four.

And McKie's comment on September 28th about changing the Quorum policy so that "The Three" could not hold the board "hostage". Naturally, no rebuke from the acting chair that night about her defamatory comment. Apparently, only The Three can defame board members.

S.C. Supreme Court nixes Richland 2 case

Be sure to read Richland Two's extensive statement following the decision by the S.C. Supreme Court that has been anxiously awaited. It's on the Richland Two website.

Now read it a second time. Now a third time.

Did you read that the S.C. Supreme Court ruled AGAINST Richland 2? I didn't, either.

Don't miss the statement by Teresa Holmes in the press release. Somebody should ask, "Who wrote that for her?"

If I put that statement alongside ANY of the emails she has sent me, any young reader would ask, "Who really wrote that statement?"

My guess? The lawyer(s), Libby Roof and the superintendent wrote it and just put Holmes' name on it.

Holmes missed Tuesday night's board meeting, because she had to babysit. Did she make a miraculous recovery from whatever illness her grandchild brought into the house? 

Why didn't she attend the board meeting telephonically? Does she get paid her stipend, even if she doesn't attend a board meeting?

You Tell Me - Legal or Illegal?

Since March 2019 I have been after the school board to recognize that there are two women on the board illegitimately. 

What do you think?

Teresa Holmes was elected to the board on November 6, 2018. Amelia McKie was re-elected to the board on November 6, 2018. 

They took the oath of office on November 13, 2018 and began serving on the board that same night.

Here is the problem. There's s sticky little item called the State law on when you can take the oath.

ARTICLE 11

Disclosure of Economic Interests

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.

I've highlighted certain words for your attention and easy reading. You can easily see the order of doing things.

1. File your Statement of Economic Interests (SEI) with the S.C. Ethics Commission.

2. Take the oath of office

3. Enter upon official responsibilitis.

Both Holmes and McKie filed their SEIs on December 4, 2018, after The Voice (newspaper) blew the whistle on them.

See the problem?

They chose this order: 2-3-1, not the correct legal order, 1-2-3.

Holmes insists she is qualified. Yes, indeed she is qualified - for the office. She was elected.

But neither Holmes nor McKie was eligible to take the oath of office on November 13, 2018. Both became eligible to take the oath of office on December 4, 2018, upon filing their SEIs.

Neither has taken the oath of office ince November 13, 2018.

Since they have never taken the oath of office legally, they are not legitimate board members. Since they are not board members, neither can be an officer of the board. Why did Manning Nominate Holmes on June 29, 2020, even after being asked to nominate only legitimate board members.

Why do the five legal membes of the board tolerate Holmes' and McKie's usurping public office?

Why do Holmes and McKie refuse to take the oath of office legally?

What should be done to correct this legal problem?

McKie : "be in line with law"

Wow! Can I believe my ears?

Amelia McKie said the board should be in line with law. Seriously? All the laws, I guess, except only taking the oath of office after filing the Statement of Economic Interests. No, no. Don't be in line with that law. 

If you'd like to hear one of the dumbest discussions the Richland 2 school board has ever had, listen to their discussion of Board Policy BEDC Quorum. It starts at 2:59:28 in the recording of the September 28, 2021 board meeting.

A number of board members don't even understand the difference between Quorum and Majority (for voting).

Without a Parliamentarian the discussion bounced back and forth and included extraneous comments that were not germane to Quorum.

Listen to McKie say that she doesn't want the board to be in a situation where it can be voluntarily held "hostage". That ought to have brought the wrath of the chair (well, vice-chair, or acting chair) down on her. How can she get away with insulting and defaming The Three like that??? McKie is apparently still bent out of shape that Agostini, Scott and McFadden walked out of a meeting earlier this month, as well they should have.

What's the difference between Quorum and Majority?

A Quorum is the number needed to do any business; that is, to hold a meeting. It has nothing to do with voting.

A Majority is the number of votes that determine a favorable decision on a motion. Majority rules in most voting situations. Sometimes a super-majority is needed; sometimes, it's a 2/3 majority (2/3 x 7 = 5). That "5" just happens to be the same number as needed for a Quorum.