After-school shoplifting - Food Lion near RVHS

The Food Lion across the street from Ridge View High School is having a problem with shoplifting. The problem is mainly after school - after Ridge View High School releases students at the end of the day. This store is right across the street from RVHS.

The only reason for a student to be in Food Lion after school (or at any time) is to make a purchase. If you see gangs of kids loitering, call RCSD to clear them out.

Employees are not loss-prevention officers or law-enforcement officers. They should not be expected to interfere with some crackpot who is stealing merchandise. 

Food Lion works hard to be a good neighbor and is happy to see all students and parents. 

I, for one, am unwilling to see any of our stores turned into a "San Francisco experience" or a "L.A. experience". 

If you see anything suspicious going on, get out your phone and start recording. Be sure to get good face pictures and distinctive clothng or bookbags. Video is always good, if you have a steady arm. Get pictures of vehicles and license plates, too.

I have emailed Principal Brenda Mack, the new superintendent, the school board chairman, the lieutenant in charge of SROs, and the RCSD captain and lieutenant in charge of Region 7, which includes The Summit. You may notice an increased law-enforcement presence there.

Disclosure: I am a regular shopper at this store. I do not work for or speak for Food Lion.

Traffic Woes

Everyone knows by now that Richland Two security officers are no longer directing traffic at schools. 

Why not? Big Brother says No-No. In this WACH-TV article is the reason. There's this Federal thing called the "U.S. Department of Transportation's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices".

The article says that Richland Two has been breaking the law. But is this Manual actually "law"? Or is a set of rules or guidelines that fall short of "law"?

What would happen if Richland Two said, "Ease of traffic movement around students and student safety are more important than some stupid Manual"? 

Would Big Brother come crashing down on their heads and threaten to withhold Federal funds?

Most of the "crossing guards" were doing a pretty decent job. I don't recall hearing about any crashes in front of schools that were caused by the security officers. 

I do remember one employee at Blythewood High School who was directing traffic on the roadway into the school, on school property. He didn't have a clue how to do it. That was the date Matt Sherman and I met. 

Directing traffic looks easy, but it's not. You must be alert to all the drivers, because some will do stupid things and endanger pedestrians and other cars. 

A one-day training would be sufficient for existing security staff who have been directing traffic. Approve them at 4:30PM, and put them back out on Monday. And then take care of the paperwork with the US DOT. 

Where is Sen. Tim Scott when you need him?

Religious Studies?

On the agenda for tonight's school meeting is Item 11.1 Discussion: Release Time for Religious Study. This is under New Business - No Action Requested.

How did this ever get on the agenda?

You want your kid(s) to study religion? There is plenty of time after school and nights and week-ends. Why should schools "release" students during the school day for that?

Read the presentation here. It will be interesting to see who makes the presentation.

Now, lest you think I am anti-religion, I favor classes in comparative religion. Kids today have their hands full just trying to master reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. How about cursive writing and telling time other than with a digital clock? Let's get the basics covered first.

Religion is good, on your own time.

Security officers - off-duty now for traffic?

I read a Facebook post this morning that Richland 2 had announced that school security officers cannot direct traffic at schools. One comment to that post mentioned a "new law".

So I Googled "school security officer cannot direct traffic". Check out the results for yourself. This is not a new issue.

Unless traffic control officers are highly trained and supervised, there is a pretty good chance that an "accident" (crash) might happen and the school district will find itself in the middle of a lawsuit.

I have experience in directing traffic, both while in uniform and not. It is imperative to take control of the flow of traffic. Otherwise, chances increase for a crash to occur. 

S.C. Code of Laws §56-5-740: "Obedience to authorized persons directing traffic. No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer, fireman or uniformed adult school crossing guard INVESTED BY LAW [emphasis added] with authority to direct, control or regulate traffic." 

Very likely, Richland 2 security officers are/were not "invested by law."

How was this announced? Did parents get a Notice? There is nothing on the District's website about this.

DEI in Richland 2 - now?

What have you heard about DEI in the Richland 2 school district for 2023-2024?

Will there be more emphasis? Less? The same? Will the DEI Department continue? Grow? Shrink? Vanish?

It was concerning to me that the superintendent-search firm recommended a group out of which the three finalists all presented DEI strengths. Where was the diversity? Either presented by the search firm or selected by the majority of the board?

Are parents going to have to fight this year about gender identity, pronouns, secrecy for students who think they want to be the other gender (and don't you tell my parents, either), which boy wants to be in which girl's shower room?

Will parents have to fight The 1619 Project? Revisionist History? Socialism?

Will everything be racism? Whiteness? Victimhood?

What will the discipline problems be this year?

Does anyone really think that metal detectors will solve the entire Safety problem?

Let's start off the 2023-2024 school year with lots of comments below.

SCDE Loyalty Oath?

Can you believe this?

The South Carolina Department of Education will conduct an internal session for some employees, and they must stand up, introduce themselves, and complete this sentence, "I believe it is essential for SCDE to provide ______ for every child to reach their full, God-Given potential."

Or, as it says further on in the article, "...God-given potential."

Not every employee was happy about that, and at least one queried WLTX.

Be sure to read Attorney Jay Bender's comment. He hits the nail squarely on the head. Maybe he should go by SCDE and hit a few heads, too. (This statement should not be read as urging, recommending, inciting, or condoning violence on any employee of SCDE (or anyone else)).

Did Llewellyn Sheally not see anything wrong before sending out the email mentioned in the article?

The SCDE apparently tried to say, Oh, that isn't what we meant. Of course, it did. It was compelling speech! Which employee was going to be brave enough to refuse to complete the sentence? Where would s/he like to be employed next?

Source: https://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/department-of-education-first-amendment-concern/101-4e1b4f80-01a5-4aad-b6b5-a248b8696f69

If media say it, it's true. Right?

Well, let's see about that.

In a gushy news article about Richland 2, WISTV.com fell all over itself to pat Richland 2 on its back. Too bad it didn't tell the story more accurately.

Here's the article:  https://www.wistv.com/2023/07/25/richland-county-school-district-two-announces-systemic-change-ahead-school-year/

Notice the catchy headline: 

Richland County School District Two announces systemic change ahead of school year

Now, read the article and see if you can find the "systemic change" referred to in the headline.

Did you notice the glee a couple of weeks ago when the 89% completion percentage of the IG's recommendations was mentioned at a school board meeting? And the "Nancy Pelosi" hand-clapping? Why are the trustees cheering?

The I.G. had slammed Richland 2. Sure, his report was based on the old board (the then-majority, all of whom are gone). What's happening now is that Richland 2 is cleaning up its act. So the "spin" is to say "Look what we have accomplished." 

All smoke and mirrors, folks.

Now here are a couple of statements from the WIS article. Read them and decide how you feel about the truthfulness.

Here's a quote from Supt. Moore:

“'I would describe [the progress] as exceptional. Because in seven months, we’ve reached 89% which is a result of really hard work by the entire district but some key people in particular,' continued Dr. Moore."

The Royal "We"

Notice her "... in seven months, we've reached 89%". Why is she including herself in the credit? Key people? Two of them are already gone! And she wasn't even here.

Moore was hired by Richland 2 (a Post and Courier article referred to her as "newly-minted". Not sure why a new hire would be described as "newly-minted". But that's how the reporter described her.

Her first day at work was July 3. She had no part whatsoever is the first six months of 2023. 

And a better example:

“'My focus this year has been on fiscal accountability as well as our HR practices, which is right in alignment with what the IG report states. Because we have to be very good stewards of the resources that we have, that the public has trusted us with. So, accountability and expectations are the foundation of the work we are doing here in our district,' concluded Dr. Moore."

Her focus this year? She hasn't been here a month yet. So her focus "this year" has absolutely not been on fiscal accountability. Look at the buzzwords right off the "get this right" shelf: "alignment"; "very good stewards"; "accountability"; "expectations"'; "foundation".

"My focus"? She is already claiming the prize for any accomplishment. There is no accomplishment here. It's a business. A business that was doing things wrong and got caught at it. Manpower in the District must have been stretched thin to get all the normal work done PLUS dealing with the I.G.'s critical report.

Remember when Harry Miley said his department couldn't crank out an extra paycheck to a large number of employees (but not all) before spring break? And Monica Scott said she had faith that he'd do so? Did he? How did he do it? How much overtime pay was required to send employees some vacation pay a week early? Did that pushback cost Miley his job?

Prioritizing the response to the I.G.'s Report had to cost a bundle, and no one is talking about that.

I have a personal interest in a small amount of that remaining 11%. It could have been handled in five minutes by the interim superintendent. Instead, it lingered in limbo for over two months. It should have been addressed and resolved before the new superintendent took office. It wasn't. So not she will get to deal with it. Or else Inspector General Lamkin will get to deal with it.