The symposium, McDaniel has said, dealt in part with closing the achievement gap for African American students. She offered to supply any Board member with a copy of the agenda, as well as a copy of the action plan developed as a result of the symposium.
McDaniel also commented on a “forced” executive session, saying that a voluntary motion was made to go into executive session and was approved by a vote of 6 - 1. Prior to McDaniel’s arrival at the meeting, the Board had agreed to discuss in public session the trip to the education symposium and the credit card. The discussion, McDaniel counters, was about a personality, not finances.
The District has a policy that requires that the body approve all employee travel costing more than $600. There is disagreement among Board members about whether this policy applies to Board members.
Public Comment
Numerous people addressed the Board on the controversies engulfing the District. Most of them spoke in support of McDaniel.
Ridgeway area resident Moses Bell was one.
“I was appalled to read the article in the paper that said that four of the School Board members had asked you to resign, Madam Chair,” he said. “Although that would constitute a meeting and it would be an illegal one.”
Bell urged McDaniel not to resign from the Board.
“Somebody must stand up to this ridiculous game of gotcha that is being delivered across this county to keep it,”he said. “
Winnsboro resident Kadena Woodard voiced concern about the current state of the School District. She called the audience’s attention to a handout she distributed prior to the start of the meeting, which contained some travel expense reimbursements for McDaniel.
“With the money that is in this brochure for travel use, every child in our District could have had a personal home computer,” Woodard said.
Proposal sought
During its meeting, the Board requested that Superintendent of Education Dr. Samantha Ingram provide them, at the next Board meeting, with a proposed policy on how to treat Board travel in the future.
Board member Bob Drake suggested to his colleagues that until a policy on the subject of Board travel is considered that his colleagues should approve all Board travel costing more than $600.
McDaniel statement
The meeting began with McDaniel reading a statement concerning the recent controversies.
“There has been no misappropriation of tax dollars or misconduct stemming from my attendance at the symposium,” she said. “As you no doubt are aware both South Carolina law and the School Board encourages officials to attend training that will aid us in serving the public.”
During her statement she proposed that the District ask either the Legislative Audit Council or the South Carolina Attorney General to perform an audit of District finances for the past three years, as well as for the Superintendent to provide them with a proposal on how to control Board travel. The motion failed.
Board letter
Last week a letter from Board members Bob Drake, Harold Heath, Becky McSwain and Henry Miller to McDaniel was provided to The Herald Independent.
In addition to asking her to resign her seat on the Board, the letter asked McDaniel to make restitution to the District of all costs associated with her recent trip and apologize to the Board for her actions including “publicly implying that we were complicit in your using public funds for personal travel.
The Board currently has a policy that requires that the body approve all employee travel costing more than $600. There is disagreement among Board members about whether this policy applies to Board members.
Post a Comment
