Board Members' Email "To All" OK?

The Inspector General's Report hit the previous Richland 2 Board hard about the use of "Reply All" in emails. The IG apparently felt that such use violated the FOIA statute in South Carolina.

I'm not a lawyer, and I disagree. 

Board members should be allowed to express opinions and discuss board business by email, including sending email to all the other board members and using "Reply All". This would save considerable time, because they can be educated between meetings. They should be careful not to solicit voting commitments or to "survey" other members about future votes.

Such emails would be subject to disclosure under FOIA requests, and such emails should not be used to avoid discussion in public at board meetings.

All board members now have and should be using the District's official email system. Personal email accounts should not be used to discuss official school district business. 

Because two board members used personal email addresses for 4-10 years, the school district should be proactive in securing those GMail accounts and preserving ALL emails related to official business. NOW is the time for the District to take action on this. It should not wait for any future FOIA request. Those two board members should not delete any  official emails from those accounts -ever. And they should not close those email accounts.

That problem with those two personal email accounts could have been fixed four years ago, but it wasn't.

BeSMART MOU w/Richland 2 - worthless?

What are the odds that a student will be killed by a gun in a school in the United States? 

Would you believe 1 in 5,000,000?

An article in The Boston Globe (5/27/22) reported, "Yet the risk of such fatalities at school is actually low. ... with more than 50 million school children in America, the likelihood is about 1 in 5 million that a child will be killed by an armed assailant at school in any given year."

I'm not a fan of anything to do with Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety. In my book, it is an anti-gun organization, not an anti-gun-violence organization.

At the November 29th school board meeting, two representatives of BeSMART which, along with MOMs Demand Action, is aligned with Everytown, spent much of their three minutes asking "Did You Know..." questions. They didn't provide any answers. It was as "flat" presentation without any energy. If you want to watch it, go to (1:40:19) at   https://livestream.com/richland2/events/10692311/videos/233986166

It was a year ago that Richland 2, with great fanfare, announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with other area school districts, healthcare facilities, and law-enforcement. But it seems to me that the incidence of guns at Richland 2 schools has increased.

BeSmart has given away lots of gun locks. Gun locks are not the answer. Education is the answer.

It is the mindset of students that must be changed. Safe handling of firearms will reduce some injuries, but stopping the kids from bringing guns to schools or stealing them from Richland County vehicles is what is needed. And stopping them from using guns to settle differences and in crimes will not be accomplished by gun locks.

School administrators know the kids most likely to bring guns to schools. Identify them. Watch them like hawks. Engage with them. 

Is that profiling? Even if it is, do it. Are we going to reduce gun violence or just talk about it?

District Investigations - Who is involved?

Remember when the news came out about the Blazers' football team scandal of Ridge View High School?

There are many unanswered questions. The public wants to know the answers. Parents want to know the answers. I'm sure members of the football team would like to know the answers. 

And I'm also sure that there are some faculty and administrators who would like to know the answers.

What are just some of the questions?

- Who was RSD2's P.I. for the football players' residency investigation?

- Does Richland School District Two (RSD2) have a private investigator on retainer or salary?

- Why does RSD2 have a P.I.?

- Under what conditions is a P.I. used?  

- How much is a P.I. paid?

- Who EXACTLY determines when they are to follow and whom they are to follow?  

- Does the School Board have to approve the target of the investigation or does the District Office (DO) decide on their own?

- Are they placing electronic surveillance or tracking devices on students', faculty, or staff automobiles?  

- Is the P.I. (or any RSD2 staff) driving by teachers' homes when they call in sick, to see if their cars are in the driveways?

- Are the DO and their PI able to track teachers' movements because they force teachers to use their personal cell phones as part of district computer safety protocols?

- Is having a PI standard practice for other districts?

- To what extent is RSD2 Safety & Security Director Marq Claxton involved as a P.I. or in the hiring of one? He is a former NYPD officer and detective. 

Do you have other questions? Post them below in Comments or email them to gusphilpott@gmail.com

Mold already on the RVHS Football Scandal

How quickly the scandal involving the Ridge View High School Blazers football team was buried! 

What is really the whole story? Who is investigating? Is anyone investigating?

Who is leading any investigation? Principal Brenda Mack (Foxworth no longer appears on the school's webpage)? Deputy Superintendent Marshalynn Franklin? Superintendent Baron Davis? Anyone?

The residency violation(s) or recruiting violation(s) should not be swept under the rug. 

The Blazers' entire football year blew up. Who was responsible?

It is the superintendent's responsibility to get to the bottom of it, and the board of trustees should demand a report with a full examination of the details. Oh, the District will want to say, "We can't talk about it; it's a human resources issue." Or, it's an Executive Session item. Wrong!

Baloney! 

Was it utter carelessness in the Administration? Not likely. Were there recruiting violations? More likely. Did people in-the-know speak up? Were they shut down?

The Inspector General's Report indicated a huge lapse in the District's policies and procedures are investigating wrong-doing. 

This makes it a Board matter.

Index for Nov. 29th Board Meeting

Following is an index for the November 29th board meeting, to help you find specific portions of the meeting without listening to all of it. The recorded meeting is at   https://livestream.com/richland2/events/10692311/videos/233986166  The times shown are for the time-marker on the recording.

05:54 Beginning of the 5:30PM brief open session, after which the board moved to Executive Session.

1:19:36 Open session re-convened. Executive session ran late.

1:21:37 Inspirational Moment and Pledge of Allegiance

1:31:34 Approval of Agenda

1:32:42 Approval of Consent Agenda

1:35:28 Public Participation. First two names called were no-shows. 

     1:36:50 Gus Philpott

     1:40:19 Angela VanDelay for BeSmart

     1:43:35 David Oberly

1:46:24 Voting on Executive Session items

2:08:03 SCSBA Resolutions

2:28:35 Superintendent's Highlights

2:35:36 Q1 Pupil Services Report

2:51:11 Q1 Financial Report

3:19:03 Draft Agenda

3:25:54 Board and Superintendent Comments

3:34:24 Adjourn

Inspector General's Report - Now what?

The South Carolina State Inspector General released his report on Richland 2 early in November. My first story was on November 3rd. (Go to TheState.com and search for "Inspector General". The Report is not among results.)

OK, now what? 

Will Richland 2 just sweep it under the rug? Just file it under Miscellaneous?

At the November 29th board meeting I asked the Board to appoint a committee to examine the Report and make recommendations for action. And there is a LOT of action that should take place. One board member could be the liaison with the board, and the committee could include parents, community members, teachers and staff (if they are brave enough), and other interested parties.

Have you read the Report? 

Read it now (or again). Go directly to it by clicking here.

If you believe the School Board should take action on this Report, email them now. Their email addresses can be found here: https://www.richland2.org/School-Board/Members

Click on a Trustee's name for the next webpage, which shows the email address and phone number.

Trustees' Dream List

Here are some items I think the school board trustees should consider early in the remainder of the school year.

- Direct the superintendent to rescind the no-contact letter from his attorney to Trustee McFadden. She is an equal board member and deserves the same respect that all other board members should have from him.

- Start the 6:30PM meetings on time. The public is waiting. This may require better time-management in the executive session or a change in the number of items on its agenda. Adjourn at 6:20PM. Finish business in the second Executive Session.

- If the 6:30PM meeting will be delayed, have an announcement made as to the delay and the reason.

- The motion at 6:30PM should probably be to re-convene in open meeting, not end the executive session. Consult a Parliamentarian.

- Take roll call at 5:30PM and again at 6:30PM. Announce the presence of a quorum. If a trustee departs early, verbally note that for the record and state whether a quorum continues to be present.

- Direct the superintendent to reverse Libby Roof's decision (or whoever made it) to restrict District meeting recordings on Livestream and YouTube from the use of clipping software such as Vibby.

When I complained about the new block earlier this year, Mrs. Roof replied to me on March 29, 2022, "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."

I'll refrain from expressing my honest reaction to that email. I realized it would be futile to try to persuade her otherwise. Either it was she who made the decision or the decision was made higher up. Vibby and similar tools allow the clipping of a segment of a recording. (It was very useful for calling attention to the antics of the former chair in the 2021-2022 school year.)

- Shorten the meetings. Work against an Ending Time; for example, 8:00PM Maximum!

- Reduce the number of staff members required to show up. If they need to know something from the meeting, they can be directed to the relevant portion of the meeting and can watch it on Livestream.

- Severely curtail the length of the dog-and-pony shows by the superintendent's staff.

- Re-title the Inspiration Moment to "Student Showcase". Last night's was good, but not inspirational. Establish a time-limit for that agenda item. 

- Determine the superintendent's role in board meetings. These are meetings of the Board. He is not a member of the Board.

What else should be on this list?