Only 84 more days; NOT 10 Years

Hey, I guess I'm really lucky.

My ban from ALL Richland 2 properties is only for 84 more days.

Just think; it could have been ten years! Good thing the Academy Awards "slap" was after January 25, or it might have given Marq Claxton and Baron Davis bigger ideas.

And Mrs. Pamela Davis didn't even slap me. But she did shout and disrupt the room before the meeting started. It felt like a slap. I mean, I backed up - fast!

I remember almost feeling sorry for Baron that night. If she yelled at me for a little thing like my introducing myself, then what it must be like in the Davis household. 

The first board meeting in July will be Tuesday, July 12. Join me at R2i2. By that time there will be a new board chair. Which one of the Core Four will be elected on June 28? McKie will still owe $57,100 to the South Carolina Ethics Commission. Holmes will have just finished a disastrous year. Manning? He knows the ropes but needs more chalk on his hands (to stop slip-sliding around). Caution-Parker will tell us again and again about her 40 years of "service" (existence) at Richland 2. 

As to the "slap". Too bad Will Smith didn't knock Chris Rock down with a solid right to the chin. Rock definitely hit below the belt with his not-so-humorous jab at Jada Pinkett Smith.

Where is the 4/7/2022 Video???

This morning I could not access the recording of last night's board meeting, and I submitted an inquiry through the Let's Talk function on the District's homepage.

This afternoon I received this response:

"Thanks for reaching out. There was an issue with the upload to the live stream. The video for the April 7, 2022 meeting is being processed for uploading on the Richland Two YouTube channel. It should be posted by tomorrow."

Last week I raised the question about why it was no longer possible to copy the YouTube recording into Vibby.com and select out a portion of the recording for a comment.

This is the response that I received on March 29th to that inquiry:

"The district's media production team recently standardized the settings for all videos uploaded on the district's YouTube channel. This standardization ensures that, no matter which member of our team uploads a video to the district's channel, we will apply the Video Details settings consistently and in line with our best practices."

What do I think really happened? I think the District changed the YouTube settings to prevent others and me from selecting embarrassing portions of meetings and placing a link in our messages and blogs, while allowed a reader quickly to access the specific portion of the meeting. 

The District didn't just "standardize" settings for uniformity of staff; it changed settings.

What chance is there that fiddling with the setting interfered withthe prompt posting of last night's video? It seemed to me that the live recording did not begin before the meeting was called to order. The Board was 25 minutes late, and I thought the live recording started after Vice Chair Manning called the meeting to order. He was saying something about Holmes' absence, but I didn't hear the reason.

I did hear her dog bark at one point, and Holmes was inattentive at times and not able to respond promptly and vote without prompting. That's our $400/meeting Chair for you. How many meetings has she missed (in-person)?

650PM Where is the Board???

Did the Board go home and forget to inform the audience and the public?

April 7th 6:50PM and they still have not returned from Executive Session.

Inexcusable. Terrible time management. Gross disrespect of the public and the staff.

No announcement to the public waiting online for the meeting to start. Was any announcement made in the meeting room?

Where are they???

Public Input on Proposed Budget

On the Thursday, April 7th board meeting agenda is "Item 3.1 Public Input on 2022-2023 Budget". This Item comes up as the very first item of business after the board re-convenes after the executive session.

I looked for the proposed Budget and couldn't find it. I noticed on Facebook that others were looking for it and could not find it.

So I wrote to the Richland 2 Ombudsman, and Libby Roof replied, in part,

A proposed 2022-2023 General Fund Budget does not currently exist. The district is still in the input/information gathering steps as outlined on the timeline:

 https://www.richland2.org/Departments/Business-Services/General-Fund-Budget​

My first thought was WHY is the District holding a public input session for a Budget that does not yet exist. Interested and concerned community members, parents, teachers and staff might like to know on what they will provide input. Don't you think?

World's Greatest Teacher?

A friend sent me yesterday's article about a teacher at Georgia State University, Newton Campus, who called campus police because two students were late to class.

No racism there. The teacher is black; the two tardy students are black.

Read the article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Associate Professor of English Carissa Gray is just a bad person. You think?

Then read her reviews on "Rate My Professors" website. 

https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1841747

To me, she looks like a great teacher. She expects students to do their work, arrive on time, not yawn in class (duh....) 

She got a bunch of "AWFUL" ratings from kids who look to me like they are "entitled"; i.e., entitled to A's for just making it to class a few times and not yawning too loudly.

Budget Input - two opportunities

Richland 2 will hold two Budget Input Sessions this month. Be sure to show up in-person and tell the board how you feel and what you want. Sending an email could end up - where? Speaking in-person? Be lively. Hold their attention. Don't let them hit Snooze.

Look them in the eye. Will they look you in the eye? Or will they stare at their tablets or phones or busy themselves with writing, while you are speaking?

First session. THURSDAY, April 7, 2022 6:30PM Jackson Creek Elementary School (why???)

Second session. Tuesday, April 26, 2022 6:30PM R2i2

From the District's website:

RICHLAND TWO TO HOLD TWO BUDGET INPUT SESSIONS IN APRIL

3/31/2022

The Richland Two Board of Trustees and district administrators are holding input sessions to give employees, parents, students and community members the opportunity to provide suggestions for the FY 2022-2023 General Fund Budget. 

Public input sessions will be the first item on the agenda during the public sessions of the board meetings on April 7 and April 26. Public session of the meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. The April 7 meeting will be held at Jackson Creek Elementary School (7150 Trenholm Road Extension, 29223), and the April 26 meeting will be held at the R2i2 Conference Center (763 Fashion Drive, 29229).

The board meetings will be called to order at 5:30 p.m. and the board will immediately adjourn into executive session. Public session will resume at 6:30 p.m.

Can't Find the Proposed Budget?

Have you searched on the District's website for the 2022-2023 Proposed Budget and can't find it?

You're in good company.

Making it impossible to find will certainly shorten the Public Input session scheduled for Thursday, April 7, 6:30PM as Item 3 on the board's annual for that meeting.

Add your own voice to that of others by emailing Richland 2 right now to ask where the budget is posted.

This morning I used Let's Talk to email the Ombudsman.

"Will you please ask for the 2022-2023 proposed budget to be posted on the District's website in an easily-found location, so that parents, community members, other taxpayers, and employees can examine it before the public input session on April 7th at 6:30PM?

Good places for posting it would be

1. link with Item 3 in the Agenda for that night's board meeting;

2. link in Public Input session announcement on the Disrict's homepage;

3. a result when a search on the website is made for "budget"

Thank you."