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Tag: Richland 2 School Board

  • Residents push back against R2’s $468.4M bond as excessive

    BLYTHEWOOD – Before Richland 2 voters decide whether or not to approve a tax increase to pay for $468.4 million in various school projects, school officials are heavily promoting the referendum.

    One stop on the district’s information tour occurred Monday in Blythewood before a small crowd at Doko Manor. The public forum featured presentations from district staff and a question and answer session, which at times saw some residents questioning the referendum as excessive.

    Scheduled to appear on the Nov. 6 ballot, the referendum would increase taxes by about 10 mils. The last bond referendum, valued at $306 million, was approved in 2008.

    District officials say a typical homeowner living in a $167,000 home would pay an extra $65 a year in taxes. Taxes would also go up for cars, boats and other taxable property.

    If approved, construction projects could begin building as early as summer 2019, district documents state.

    At a public forum Monday in Blythewood, district officials said the intent was to present residents with facts.

    “This is about facts. We are not here in a persuasive manner,” said Superintendent Baron Davis. “We aren’t here to ask you to vote a specific way, but to give you facts. We are here in an educational capacity to address any misconceptions that may exist.”

    Davis said safety and security are the main drivers of the referendum. Richland 2 schools face additional infrastructure needs, including schools needing sufficient learning spaces, he said.

    “We have some immediate needs that have to be addressed in our school district,” Davis said. “There really is only one way to address these needs, and that’s through a bond. It will require us to borrow a significant amount of money to accomplish these things.”

    Other areas the referendum addresses include two new football stadiums, new buses and enhanced bus security and a Fine Arts center in the Sandhills area, about 12 miles from Blythewood.

    Residents at Monday’s forum, however, raised concerns about costs.

    “Why not design three separate schools – elementary, middle and high school? If you need to add, add,” resident Herb Wofford stated. “We can stop all of these million-dollar architectural fees, save some money and put it on something else. What in here is not absolutely necessary to educate our children? How much fluff is in there?”

    The crowd applauded.

    Another parent raised concerns that Blythewood projects, particularly those involving the fine arts, were receiving less priority than other projects in the district.

    “As a Blythewood parent, I don’t understand why those are under the third tier of things,” she said. “We need more space for our band. Why are we not expanding those facilities that we need for fine arts?”

    “This is all about patting ourselves on the back and putting a name on the building,” resident Rhonda Meisner said. “This needs to be student-centric, not facility-centric.”

    One resident asked what would happen if the bond fails.

    “We’ll continue to do what we’ve always been doing, to provide our students with a premier education with what we have,” Davis replied.

    Dr. Harry Miley, the district’s chief financial officer, said 98 percent of the district’s $250 million plus operating budget goes primarily to salaries and benefits, leaving little to address infrastructure.

    “A referendum really is our only option,” Miley said.

    The $468.4M bond referendum will be requested of voters in two parts.

    Question 1: Can the district borrow $381,952,000 for:

    Safety and security ($288.1M) include secure entrances, replacing Bethel-Hanberry Elementary, Forrest Lake Elementary and E. L. Wright Middle, applying film on windows, adding security cameras and reducing use of portables.

    Academic spaces ($61.5M) include creating collaborative learning spaces, and spaces for magnet programs.

    Transportation ($7M) includes 60 new buses, bus and transportation hub security, facility improvements.

    Technology ($25M) will go to infrastructure improvements and sustainability.

    Miscellaneous costs, including unspecified improvements, costs of land, engineering fees and legal costs.

    Question 2: If question 1 is approved by voters, can the district borrow an additional $86,454,000 for:

    Athletics/Arts ($86.5M) include two new football stadium so BHS and Spring Valley won’t have to share stadiums, performing arts center at Sandhills, new field houses.

    Davis urged residents to go to www.richland2.org/bond for more information about the bond.

  • Legal loopholes complicate R2 code

    BLYTHEWOOD – It’s being billed as a way to simplify the school district’s procurement code.

    But loopholes in state law could pose legal and ethical complications to the Richland 2 school procurement policy.

    Approved at its July 24 meet­ing, the Richland 2 Board of Education voted to strike a se­ries of policy revisions, includ­ing one that prohibited the dis­trict from doing business with board members.

    “No purchase of materials or services shall be made from any member of the Board,” the stricken measure states.

    Dr. Harry Miley, the district’s chief financial officer, said via email that the probation al­ready exists elsewhere in the board’s policy. He also said the district follows state law.

    “A board member may not provide services or sell prod­ucts to the district or to in­dividual schools,” the policy states.

    “We are undertaking a com­prehensive review and update of all of our policies with par­ticular attention to trying to eliminate places where the same topic is addressed in mul­tiple policies,” Miley said. “We are also undertaking a review of our procurement code to see if there are revisions needed.”

    State law, however, appears to provide an escape route for public bodies whose elected members could potentially be awarded contracts.

    The law states that: “A public official, public member, or pub­lic employee may not have an economic interest in a contract with the State or its political subdivisions if the public offi­cial, public member, or public employee is authorized to per­form an official function relat­ing to the contract.”

    “Official function” is defined in the law as “writing or pre­paring the contract specifi­cations, acceptance of bids, award of the contract, or other action on the preparation or award of the contract.”

    Similar verbiage appears on the State Ethics Commission website. But the law was revised in 1995, with an amendment that appears to allow elected officials to bid on contracts if they don’t participate in awarding the contract.

    “Nor does it [the law] prohibit the award of contracts awarded through a process of public notice and competi­tive bids if the public official, public member, or public employee has not performed an official function regarding the contract,” the amendment states.

    On July 24, Richland 2 board members voted unanimously to approve the revised purchasing policy. There was no discussion of the policy change prior to the vote.

    Miley said during the June 26 board meeting that the changes were made merely to simplify the district’s pro­curement code.

    “We think the policy should be very simple,” he said. “We have a procurement code. We think the policy should state that we adhere to the procure­ment code.”

  • R2 Board proposes $468.4M bond

    BLYTHEWOOD – Two football stadiums, a fine arts center and facility upgrades at several schools are among the taxpayer-funded initiatives Richland 2 voters will decide in a November referendum.

    Richland 2 school board members, though, aren’t prepared to dive into a proposed $20 million aquatic center just yet.

    On July 24, the board voted 6-1 to place $468.4 million worth projects on the November ballot. Board member Lindsay Agostini voted against the measure.

    If approved, school district millage would increase about 10 mils, with the typical homeowner paying an extra $65 a year in taxes, said Harry Miley, the district’s chief financial officer.

    Miley said the average Richland 2 home is valued at $167,000, the metric he used to define a typical homeowner.

    Board member Cheryl Caution-Parker said it’s been 10 years since Richland 2 last passed a bond referendum.

    “We always do what we say we’re going to do with the funds. There’s never been any question, there’s never been any doubt,” Caution-Parker said. “When we go for a bond referendum, it’s not spur of the moment. It takes a lot of time and effort.”

    Before the vote, Agostini said she supported everything in the bond referendum, but also pressed for the inclusion of a $20 million aquatic center. She said swimming is a needed skill for Richland 2 students, referencing two recent drownings.

    Agostini also said the Blythewood and Spring Valley high school swim teams lacked proper facilities to hold region swim meets.

    “We just don’t have the facilities,” she said. “I would like to see a pool included in a referendum.”

    Other board members were sympathetic, but also noted that upgrading existing facilities and making schools more safe were higher priorities. They also questioned whether voters would buy into an aquatic center with $468.4 million in projects already bundled into the referendum.

    “It would just be absolutely wonderful to have an aquatic center here in Richland 2,” Caution-Parker said. “However, I think we need to do a complete study. We need to pick a site. We need to have partnerships. We need to have the plan completely in place to present to the community.”

    Aquatic centers elsewhere in South Carolina, such as in Greenville, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, are largely functions of county or municipal governments, according to the aquatic centers’ websites.

    Other aquatic centers in which a school district is involved typically share costs with other government entities.

    For example, the York County Aquatic Center is a joint venture between Rock Hill area YMCAs and local schools, according to the Rock Hill & Fort Mill Visitor’s Bureau.

    The City of North Charleston and Dorchester 2 are joining forces to build a $20 million center, with Dorchester 2’s portion amounting to about $7.5 million, according to media reports.
    The ballot measure that Richland 2 board members approved actually contains two separate questions, according to the school district’s website.
    The first asks voters for permission to issue bonds totaling $381.95 million. Items covered under the bond issue include:

    • Safety improvements at all schools
    • Buying new buses and enhancing security in existing buses.
    • Replacement schools for Bethel-Hanberry Elementary, Forest Lake Elementary and Center for Knowledge North
    • Replacement school for E.L. Wright Middle, with renovations to the three-story existing building
    • Technology infrastructure improvements
    • Miscellaneous costs, including improvements to academic learning spaces, other unspecified improvements, and costs of land, engineering fees, and legal costs.
    • The second question is for a bond issue totaling $86.45 million. It includes:
    • Athletic facility upgrades at Richland Northeast and Ridge View high schools, including football stadium upgrades.
    • Miscellaneous unspecified athletic facility upgrades
    • Building a new School District Fine Arts Center
    • Miscellaneous costs, including improvements to academic learning spaces, other unspecified improvements, and costs of land, engineering fees, and legal costs.

  • Second Report Links Board Member to Coach

    Melinda Anderson

    BLYTHEWOOD – A second incident report from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department surfaced late last week, again linking Richland 2 School Board member Melinda Anderson to Westwood High School head football coach Rodney Summers.

    The report covers an incident of “intimidation” that took place on Oct. 30 at a Westwood High School football practice. According to the report, Anderson dispatched 69-year-old Clero Evans, of Rockingham Road in Columbia, to the football field to watch practice. Summers told deputies he felt threatened by Evans’s presence, the report states, and requested an official report for the record. Evans reportedly told deputies he had been sent by Anderson, and “after a verbal altercation” between Evans and Jason Nussbaum, the team’s trainer, Evans left the scene.

    “It was more like a conversation,” Nussbaum later told The Voice. “Eventually, the guy left when told to. We had great support from everybody, and we put it in the hands of the school board where it belongs.  We are here just to play ball.”

    Summers declined to comment, as he gets his Redhawks ready for this week’s road trip to Greer. Nussbaum, however, called the incident “disappointing.”

    “We were just looking out for our kids’ safety, as it were,” Nussbaum said. “We had a stranger in our presence. We didn’t know who he was, so we took the steps we would take with anybody.”

    Anderson, who in an Oct. 7 incident reportedly threatened the life of Summers, “was told to have no contact with coach Summers or his staff,” the most recent report states.

    According to the Oct. 7 report, Anderson was in a meeting at Westwood High School on Oct. 7 with Acting Superintendent Debbie Hamm and the District’s Human Resources Officer, Roosevelt Garrick Jr., to discuss the treatment of her grandson by Summers. Hamm, who filed the report, told the Sheriff’s Department that during the meeting Anderson said, “I’m so angry I just want to kill the coach, and I have a gun.” Summers was not present at the meeting.

    Anderson has since denied she made that statement, and last week told The Voice the alleged incident was nothing more than “some foolishness cooked up by certain administrators.”

    The Board issued a statement last week indicating that they had addressed the issue and that threats and harassment would not be tolerated. No charges were filed in either incident.

    Attempts to reach Anderson for comment on this most recent report were unsuccessful at press time.