Richland 2 school board members need to work together for good of students, taxpayers

At one point in Tuesday’s somewhat rowdy Richland Two School Board meeting, Vice Chairman James Manning described how the board and the superintendent usually work out a new contract.

The board’s designee, the superintendent and their respective legal counsel have input and come up with a contract that is then taken to the board.

Manning added, “That’s the way that it’s always been done. If it was a group process, that would make it much more difficult to make decisions, but ultimately it is a board decision.”

During the meeting, however, three board members - Lindsay Agostini, Monica Scott and Lashonda McFadden - walked out because they believed they had each been cut out of that decision-making process.

They each said they received information about the proposed new contract for Superintendent Baron Davis with very little time to read the document or ask questions about it.

Before she walked out of the meeting, McFadden, who has been on the board for about eight months, said she received a copy of the draft contract just that day and had no opportunity to properly review the contract, understand the process or get details before voting.

“I want information that I can look at and go through,” McFadden said, adding that it was her responsibility as a board member to understand what she is being asked to vote on.

McFadden said that while she wanted to “do right by Dr. Davis,” she could not in good conscience vote on a contract that she had little time to read or evaluate.

With the departure of Agostini, Scott and McFadden, the board no longer had a quorum and the meeting had to come to an end.

Board Chairperson Teresa Holmes apologized to the audience and said she had never seen this happen before.

“I’m not actually here for the shenanigans and the games and the politics, because what I am beginning to see too much of is politics beginning to eek its way into our school district,” Holmes said.

We’d agree that school boards should not engage in shenanigans or gamesmanship, but what happened Tuesday night could have simply been avoided if the board members received the information they needed well in advance.

Davis is a respected superintendent and many of the board members spoke of their confidence in him, but the school board is entrusted with spending taxpayer dollars.

Why shouldn’t they have ample time to be certain that that money is being spent wisely? By all accounts there was no need to rush a vote.

Also, consider what Manning, a board member for some 11 years, said. “That’s the way that it’s always been done.”

Our public institutions should never become complacent and the way it has always been done is sometimes not the way it should be done in 2021.

Walking out of a meeting is dramatic, but we hope Tuesday’s events lead to renewed efforts to better inform all board members and residents when taxpayers funds are involved.

We don’t encourage grandstanding just for the sake of it, but we do want school board members who are willing to take a stand.