R2: Publish violence

Should Richland 2 School District publish information promptly on its website about gun and other weapons, fights, school disruptions?

Rumors were flying this week about shots fired at or near Ridge View High School. Some posters on social media thought they were fired on the campus of RVHS; others thought they were fired nearby. Some thought perps were apprehended in the RVHS parking lot.

Individual schools sometimes send out alerts to parents.

Why not post all the information on the District's website for all to see?

I can think of one good reason. That is that, then, many more people would know about the levels of violence and threat to the students.

Think more people would show up at school board meetings? 

Teresa Holmes and the Richland 2 logo

 

Teresa Holmes has a Facebook page that is private. I'm not supposed to be able to see it. But ...

Here's what she recently posted, after Richland 2 issued a press release that questioned the use of a District logo on a campaign ad.

Isn't that great? Watchdog Teresa is "on the move".

What she forgot to include was a copy of her own ad:

Care to play, "I spy"?

Sort of looks to me like the Richland 2 service mark. Comments?

This is NOT a promotion of Holmes' candidacy. Through her chaos-creation and antics of the last school year, she has earned the privilege of coming in #12 on election day in this race.

Notice the outright lie in her ad? She is not the "School Board Chair". That ended on June 30, 2022, before she filed for re-election!

Angela Nash on Richland 2 logo use

https://www.facebook.com/AngelaNashforR2schoolboard/videos/450883893521132/

School Board candidate Angela Nash delivered a very important and powerful message on Facebook. She began with comments on the school district's whining about someone who put together a flier with names and photos of four candidates and dared to include the District's logo. 

The District's friends in the media jumped on it like it was the biggest news story of the year. The candidates had not created the flier; it was created by their supporters.

No one in his right mind ever would have thought that the District was promoting those four candidates. People are wondering who complained to the District. Did someone? Or did someone on staff decide, "Whoa! This is a big violation. Stop the presses!"

When I saw the flier, all I thought was "those four are in the race that is happening in Richland 2." 

But Richland 2 made a big deal out of it. That's called going after "low-hanging fruit".

Then Angela addressed comments online by Chris Leevy Johnson. Chris is a good friend of the superintendent and of "certain" current school board members. One of Chris' posts referred to "MAGA-MAFIA". I saw Chris' post and he also referred to "neo-conservatives". 

One of those "certain" members is Teresa Holmes. Angela did not mention that Teresa created a campaign flier that very clearly uses the District's logo. I wonder - has Teresa removed all signs and campaign fliers with that logo?

Watch and listen to Angela's powerful message! She spoke only for herself, but her words could be those of other strong candidates in this race. Not all of them, but of some of them.

Thank you, Angela. Well said!

Living High on the (Richland 2) Hog

When Teresa Holmes went to San Diego for the April 2022 National School Boards Association, her costs for attending were $4,006. No, she wasn't there for a month. She was there April 1-5.

That was for the conference fee ($600.00), airfare ($976.19), hotel ($1504.12), food ($248.00), car rental ($587.30).

What?

Car rental? 

She was making a business trip on the taxpayer's dime to attend a business conference. What was she going to need a car for?

The hotel was two (2) miles from the conference center.

How much did the District pay for her to have a car?

Teresa's expense report listed $587.30 for the car, plus $55.00/night at the hotel for Overnight Valet Parking. Four nights of that cost $220. So the car cost was $807.30!

Did she feel "entitled" because, after all, she was the Richland 2 Board Chair?

Was there a shuttle from the airport to the Hard Rock Hotel? 

Could she have taken a taxi or Uber from the hotel to the conference center? Even shared a taxi or Uber?

One trustee exclaimed to me, "Teresa rented a car???"

When Teresa calculated her local mileage to the airport here, she recorded 62 miles. At the District's Mileage Rate of $0.585, she entered $81.32 for that expense.

Remember now, she is a product of a Spring Valley High School education. And proudly so. Anyone eyeballing that expense would have instantly estimated it at $36.00 (rounded off, 60 x .60). So what was the correct expense? $36.27 (62 x $0.585). How did she get $81.32?

Somebody in Accounting changed her 62 to 52 and then multiplied it by $0.585, getting the correct expense of $30.42. 

Remember ... she was the Board Chair until 6/30/2022 and is the Board Secretary now. You should have lot of confidence when you go to the polls on November 8.

Comments on her stewardship of Richland 2 funds?

Knife at Westwood High School

WACH/FOX-TV has reported that a 17-year-old student at Westwood High School (Richland 2) was found with a knife today.

Richland 2 will consider a knife to be a weapon. In some cases, it is. Most often it is a tool.

No details about the knife in the media, of course.

Does anyone know? Big knife? Little knife? Straight knife? Folding? In a sheath on a belt? In a back pack? Pocket?

A parent called me a couple of weeks ago because her child had been found with a knife at school. For the kid, it was a tool; not a weapon.

Remember (most readers won't) when all the boys used to carry pocket knives? I still have the Swiss Army Knife that I got when I was about 12 years old. It has been all over the country with me (by car and motorcycle). Across Mexico, into Belize; and back. 

And when pick-up trucks had gun racks in the back windows? With guns in them? In the school parking lot! And when students in ROTC had real rifles? And when schools had rifle teams?

No school shootings. No thefts from pick-up trucks.

So it's not the weapon. It's what between the ears that counts. And THAT is what Richland 2 ought to be working on.

What's cooking at Westwood H.S.?

Not much, from what I hear. Did students get bag lunches again today? No hot lunches?

Where is all the money going?

The District receives Federal dollars for meals for the free-meal program and the reduced-price meal program. Isn't it cheaper to serve a bag lunch than a hot lunch?

Who keeps the profit?

Does starving students cause better behavior?

When I was a kid and hungry, my behavior got worse. Is that still true? Yes. For me and for others. Just ask.

In Richland 2 school district how many students get their only hot meal of the day at school? If Westwood H.S. has stopped serving hot meals, what about their diet?

How is Principal Jackson communicating with the parents of students whose meal plan is being radically changed? Is it punishment for all, due to behavior of some?

What does Supt. Davis have to say about what is occurring at Westwood? 

Is the school being informed of the Draconian measures being implemented at Westwood?

Every student, teacher and staff member at Westwood is invited to comment below. Am I getting it right? No? Let me know.

CUBE Conference, Miami - Canceled

Thanks to Hurricane Ian, the CUBE Conference in Miami, scheduled for Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, has been canceled.

This is the meeting that three school board members whose terms expire in November were planning to attend on the District's dime just before leaving office.

So Ian has saved Richland Two somewhere between $10,-15,000.

The conference is postponed to December 8-10, which will be after Manning and McKie, and hopefully Holmes, will have left office.