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Lex Rich 5 superintendent BullS$&? Resignation

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Rhizzlebop

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Sep 30, 2009
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So I’m sure some of you all have seen the mess with the super in district 5 resigning snd one more member resigning and sending out a public statement that she was forced out in closed door session and the board tried to get everyone to sign an NDA to the deal.
This is ridiculous. We live in d5 and it’s been at or close to the top district in the state for a few years. Melton was an excellent super and the board has been overstepping their bounds constantly.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to get the board members removed prior to waiting out their cycle for re-election?
seems like an ethics issue here if they forced her out in private session without phblicly discussion their cause for getting her out. Also sounds like they used her buyout as legverage to make her agree to resign vs firing her.
This is ridiculous and I’m totally posed about it. This needs action until these board fools are gone.
 
Quite odd to force a resignation of someone right after celebrating them being named best superintendent in the state for the year. I met Melton only once but was extremely impressed with her as a person. The way decisions have been made lately I think the board is in fact a train wreck. The board basically let local parents dictate everything due to mask issues. Regardless of what you feel about masks, there were only a few weeks left of school. Put your big boy/girl pants on and tell the parents to deal with it and it will be reassessed in the summer. Under no circumstances can you start giving in to the parents like this because those same parents will never be happy and will have a new issue in a few weeks and will expect to be obeyed agin. This clearly is not all parents but those involved here are very self righteous all about themselves people without a care for anyone or anything but themselves and the board caters to them at the expense of what is best decision to be made. All I can say now is I do NOT want to see how things go if the state or someone requires the vaccine. All heck will break lose and will get extremely ugly. I am in lexrich5 and dread it and have no faith in this current board to do what’s best. Melton was great and didn’t deserve this at all.
 
Exactly, so how can we get this board dismissed from duty for breach of trust and ethics violations?
 
That’s funny, ethnics violation my a.. if it is ethnic violation, there are many more to be dismissed or resign. JMO. Go Cocks
 
Once one of y'all gets the REAL story, then "circle back" to this thread.😗

yeah, this is what I want to hear too, and I don’t even live anywhere close to Lexington. I just want to hear something other than “I met her and she was nice.” I absolutely DESPISE the superintendent where I live and WISH the school board would fire him.
 
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So I’m sure some of you all have seen the mess with the super in district 5 resigning snd one more member resigning and sending out a public statement that she was forced out in closed door session and the board tried to get everyone to sign an NDA to the deal.
This is ridiculous. We live in d5 and it’s been at or close to the top district in the state for a few years. Melton was an excellent super and the board has been overstepping their bounds constantly.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to get the board members removed prior to waiting out their cycle for re-election?
seems like an ethics issue here if they forced her out in private session without phblicly discussion their cause for getting her out. Also sounds like they used her buyout as legverage to make her agree to resign vs firing her.
This is ridiculous and I’m totally posed about it. This needs action until these board fools are gone.
County school boards in SC- the most drama-filled, powerful organizations that exist in our 46 separate republics.
 
You don’t need the story to know the story. School boards are elected positions. They routinely cave to parents because the last thing they want are upset community members. The could mean voting them out of office.

The mask issue has been the hot button political issue of 2020-2021. So when rich parents started whining and complaining, the board forced their hand on the superintendent.

Disclaimer: I’m not in this district, but this is pretty much how all these issues are going down. Most school districts changed their Covid protocols not because of science, but because of pi$$ed off parents and caving in to catering votes. A few of those pi$$ed off parents won school board elections on the promise to “unmask the kids” and “open schools five days a week”. The problem is when you elect these parents to a school board they have no knowledge about what is best for a school/district. Running off the state superintendent of the year is a great example of that.
 
Despite being named the state’s top superintendent just a month ago, Lexington-Richland Five chief Christina Melton was forced to resign by a group of school board members, according to a statement from another school board member.

Lexington-Richland Five trustee Ed White said there was “no basis” for pushing out Melton, who wept while announcing her resignation without stating a reason during a board meeting June 14.

White accused district trustees Nikki Gardner, Catherine Huddle and Ken Loveless of leading the effort to get rid of the state’s reigning Superintendent of the Year in a closed session during the meeting.

 
Be thankful you don’t live in Richland 2….

God bless Texas!

I must have missed the reason as to why she resigned.

If she was being forced out, then make them fire you.

Sue, if you like. Why would you not?

There sounds like a whole lot of cause for a suit unless there is something these elected dolts have over her.
 
Despite being named the state’s top superintendent just a month ago, Lexington-Richland Five chief Christina Melton was forced to resign by a group of school board members, according to a statement from another school board member.

Lexington-Richland Five trustee Ed White said there was “no basis” for pushing out Melton, who wept while announcing her resignation without stating a reason during a board meeting June 14.

White accused district trustees Nikki Gardner, Catherine Huddle and Ken Loveless of leading the effort to get rid of the state’s reigning Superintendent of the Year in a closed session during the meeting.



Not doing what a school board wants is always a basis for removal as Superintendent. Lots of Superintendents say "I recommend against Policy X or Action X, but if you as a board order me to do it, I will." Some Superintendents, even good ones, think they run the school district, not the board.
 
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God bless Texas!

I must have missed the reason as to why she resigned.

If she was being forced out, then make them fire you.

Sue, if you like. Why would you not?

There sounds like a whole lot of cause for a suit unless there is something these elected dolts have over her.

If they fire you you don't get severance. At some point, if a board and its Superintendent can't resolve differences, one has to move on. Usually the employee, unless the board isn't reelected.
 
Exactly, so how can we get this board dismissed from duty for breach of trust and ethics violations?
What breach of trust or ethics violation happened? Looks to me like the board just has bad judgment. For that, the remedy is to vote them out.
 
Once one of y'all gets the REAL story, then "circle back" to this thread.😗
And you have the real story? Please do tell. It sure seems like you always have the real story. It never tell it. I live in this district and work with lots in the schools and much is pretty accurate. The board is screwed up.
 
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Not doing what a school board wants is always a basis for removal as Superintendent. Lots of Superintendents say "I recommend against Policy X or Action X, but if you as a board order me to do it, I will." Some Superintendents, even good ones, think they run the school district, not the board.
Yeah it’s a shame that people with actual experience and degrees in education have to bow down to soccer mom and ego dad who both walked up hill both ways in driving snow to get to school every day.
 
Yeah it’s a shame that people with actual experience and degrees in education have to bow down to soccer mom and ego dad who both walked up hill both ways in driving snow to get to school every day.

sooo, do you have specific info about this firing, or you just making general statements? Because the limited info I’ve been able to gather is that POSSIBLY/MAYBE (again, no idea) it had something to do with reopenings and/or mask wearing? If so, my question would be…is this superintendent’s “experience and degrees” in worldwide pandemics, or in education? Because unless it’s the former, I don’t see where her
“Experience and degrees” make her any more qualified than soccer moms and dads, or the school board. Now, some seem to be saying that an entire school board just happened to arbitrarily decide to fire the “superintendent of the year” for no reason. Maybe, but I doubt it. What I imagine is that there’s multiple sides to the story and we’re not getting the whole picture. The more plausible explanation to me is that it’s likely there’s a subordinate employee who is refusing to follow the directives of her superiors and she ended up fired. Again, maybe I’m wrong. If you got details, let’s hear them
 
Around 70% off the taxes you pay go to the schools and the school board can raise your taxes every year. Add in some bonds for projects and they get into your pocket very deeply
Wow is this true? 70%
And are we talking county taxes?
 
sooo, do you have specific info about this firing, or you just making general statements? Because the limited info I’ve been able to gather is that POSSIBLY/MAYBE (again, no idea) it had something to do with reopenings and/or mask wearing? If so, my question would be…is this superintendent’s “experience and degrees” in worldwide pandemics, or in education? Because unless it’s the former, I don’t see where her
“Experience and degrees” make her any more qualified than soccer moms and dads, or the school board. Now, some seem to be saying that an entire school board just happened to arbitrarily decide to fire the “superintendent of the year” for no reason. Maybe, but I doubt it. What I imagine is that there’s multiple sides to the story and we’re not getting the whole picture. The more plausible explanation to me is that it’s likely there’s a subordinate employee who is refusing to follow the directives of her superiors and she ended up fired. Again, maybe I’m wrong. If you got details, let’s hear them
That is what pretty much is the running rumor on this and you aren’t just talking about “world-wide pandemics” but how those things impact a particular environment. It’s one thing to say I don’t mask in my minivan and another to decide that applies to a 20x20 room with 18 kids and a teacher. Let’s keep in mind this was also for the last four weeks of school and they decided to make their own rules against the state guidance. I get that it became a convenient time to make a political stance because we didn’t want to rock the boat all of last year but one group who are neither infectious disease experts or school administrators aren’t experts in anything other than using their money to get involved in something they have no clue about.
 
That is what pretty much is the running rumor on this and you aren’t just talking about “world-wide pandemics” but how those things impact a particular environment. It’s one thing to say I don’t mask in my minivan and another to decide that applies to a 20x20 room with 18 kids and a teacher. Let’s keep in mind this was also for the last four weeks of school and they decided to make their own rules against the state guidance. I get that it became a convenient time to make a political stance because we didn’t want to rock the boat all of last year but one group who are neither infectious disease experts or school administrators aren’t experts in anything other than using their money to get involved in something they have no clue about.

so IF that’s what happened, you’re saying that a district superintendent who has no medical or science background should have the ultimate say over parents or school board who have no medical or science background. I’d disagree with that, because at the end of the day…..

-the parents are the ultimate boss
-the school board are the elected representative of the boss
-the superintendent is the subordinate employee who is hired to carry out the directives of the officials who represent the bosses.

if the superintendent feels that she is the ultimate authority and cannot carry out the lawful directives of her bosses, then she was rightly fired.

And again, that’s IF that’s what happened
 
so IF that’s what happened, you’re saying that a district superintendent who has no medical or science background should have the ultimate say over parents or school board who have no medical or science background. I’d disagree with that, because at the end of the day…..

-the parents are the ultimate boss
-the school board are the elected representative of the boss
-the superintendent is the subordinate employee who is hired to carry out the directives of the officials who represent the bosses.

if the superintendent feels that she is the ultimate authority and cannot carry out the lawful directives of her bosses, then she was rightly fired.

And again, that’s IF that’s what happened
In that instance then yes the person who has experience with a particular aspect of things should carry a little more weight.

I also don’t believe the school board should be in charge of anything. In many interactions with members from various districts most of them can’t spell school much less have any clue what actually goes on in one. At best they should be a slightly more influential version of a PTO.
 
In that instance then yes the person who has experience with a particular aspect of things should carry a little more weight.

I also don’t believe the school board should be in charge of anything. In many interactions with members from various districts most of them can’t spell school much less have any clue what actually goes on in one. At best they should be a slightly more influential version of a PTO.

she DOESN’T have any expertise with a worldwide pandemic or the efficacy of masks in a classroom. She’s an educator. So you’re saying that one single person should be able to override the people who are the parents of the children and who pay the taxes, as well as the people elected by them. Sorry, but no. If the school board directed her to do something illegal, she’s right to stand her ground. But otherwise, it’s her job to perform lawful directives. If she feels students’ should wear masks, that’s her opinion, and her opinion only. It doesn’t carry any more weight than the peoples opinions that she works for
 
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Wow is this true? 70%
And are we talking county taxes?
Richland county property taxes are near the top if not highest in the state. Car tax bill I got last month gives the breakdown of where the money goes. 45.5% to school taxes, 13.9% to school bonds, 1% to Midlands Tech. That ain’t 70, but 60.4% is a dang lot.
Richland County tax rates are also double from what I’ve paid in other counties across the state.
 
she DOESN’T have any expertise with a worldwide pandemic or the efficacy of masks in a classroom. She’s an educator. So you’re saying that one single person should be able to override the people who are the parents of the children and who pay the taxes, as well as the people elected by them. Sorry, but no. If the school board directed her to do something illegal, she’s right to stand her ground. But otherwise, it’s her job to perform lawful directives. If she feels students’ should wear masks, that’s her opinion, and her opinion only. It doesn’t carry any more weight than the peoples opinions that she works for
At least she has experience in a classroom and the classroom environment and one would hope is making a decision based on those experiences which isn’t the case for many of the board members. If you have a whole group of people without experience in a particular field maybe it’s best to not go with the group that’s going against the established state guidelines because they feel like it as opposed to them knowing something different.

Again though the whole school board concept is completely ridiculous. In most cases the members do not have kids currently in the school system or that ever attended school in those systems and the people that vote for them aren’t being polled to find out their feeling about what goes on. I’d guess the majority of the peop who vote for the school board don’t know who the people are or what the board is actually in charge of.
 
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I also don’t believe the school board should be in charge of anything. In many interactions with members from various districts most of them can’t spell school much less have any clue what actually goes on in one. At best they should be a slightly more influential version of a PTO.
Feel the same. Some of the ones at my local level are barely coherent, it's comical.

Same goes for county council. I can't think of a single one of ours that is a business man or at least corporate, yet they make decisions on how to spend millions of dollars. Most run because of insurance and the yearly "conferences" at HHI that's really a family vacation. Sooey, country done come to town.:D
 
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I don't think there is any violation here. There are only 2 overall duties of the school board. One is to set district policies and the other is to hire/fire the Superintendent. Most matters before the Board are required to be public. The exception is when there are personnel issues discussed. This is to protect the privacy of the employee. While what was done may seem underhanded and distasteful I don't think there is any violation here. The only thing approaching that is the one Board member speaking publically about it. He is not supposed to do that.
 
Yeah it’s a shame that people with actual experience and degrees in education have to bow down to soccer mom and ego dad who both walked up hill both ways in driving snow to get to school every day.
If you don't like the structure, then change your statutes and state constitution to eliminate school boards. Have Superintendents appointed by the Governor or by the State Dept of Education agency. Right now school boards are responsible for the school district and that doesn't work if Superintendents ignore their orders.
 
For those who might be misunderstanding some viewpoints on this topic:

Of course, the board had the right to fire her.
Of course, she isn’t an expert on infectious disease.


The issue here is: the school board had a nationally recognized administrator running their district. While the board and parents may not like her opinions on masks, it’s a bad look for the district to run her off over her preferences on what she was hired to do: run their schools.

I can’t help but think of the owners of professional sports teams who run off a highly successful coach/GM because they want things done differently. (Looking at you, Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder). If the person in charge is successful, trust them.
 
If you don't like the structure, then change your statutes and state constitution to eliminate school boards. Have Superintendents appointed by the Governor or by the State Dept of Education agency. Right now school boards are responsible for the school district and that doesn't work if Superintendents ignore their orders.
I actually talked to a state representative about this once and his response was a review of the political donations of certain members of the board which pretty much told the story of why things are structured the way they are.
 
At least she has experience in a classroom and the classroom environment and one would hope is making a decision based on those experiences which isn’t the case for many of the board members. If you have a whole group of people without experience in a particular field maybe it’s best to not go with the group that’s going against the established state guidelines because they feel like it as opposed to them knowing something different.

Again though the whole school board concept is completely ridiculous. In most cases the members do not have kids currently in the school system or that ever attended school in those systems and the people that vote for them aren’t being polled to find out their feeling about what goes on. I’d guess the majority of the peop who vote for the school board don’t know who the people are or what the board is actually in charge of.

so because she has “classroom experience”, that means she should be the be-all-end-all decider of kids wearing masks or not? How? The actual science says school kids are less susceptible to both catching Covid and being badly sick from it. So while people can talk about “people electing Trumpers to the school board”, sounds to me like this superintendent can’t leave her political opinions at the door either.

so you don’t like the school board system? So what’s a better system, allowing people to move their way up through the good ole boy system at the district office and then put their buddies in charge with absolute carte Blanche to decide how tax dollars are spent? Really, you think THAT would be a better system?
 
For those who might be misunderstanding some viewpoints on this topic:

Of course, the board had the right to fire her.
Of course, she isn’t an expert on infectious disease.


The issue here is: the school board had a nationally recognized administrator running their district. While the board and parents may not like her opinions on masks, it’s a bad look for the district to run her off over her preferences on what she was hired to do: run their schools.

I can’t help but think of the owners of professional sports teams who run off a highly successful coach/GM because they want things done differently. (Looking at you, Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder). If the person in charge is successful, trust them.
Pretty much the most concise assessment I've seen on this fiasco.
 
Wonderful example of not missing a chance to employ generalization in order to skew a discussion.

He took it right out of the playbook. Nothing factual, just throw in a generalization. The funny thing is, I have no clue about that district in SC, but there’s a bunch of crazy school board members all around these days……from what I see they would never be called a Trump supporter. Now I am really interested in the whole story. 😀
 
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I actually talked to a state representative about this once and his response was a review of the political donations of certain members of the board which pretty much told the story of why things are structured the way they are.

political donations can tell you why most everything is structured the way it is
 
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