Governor Henry McMaster has requested that the office of the state Inspector General (OIG) conduct an investigation of Richland School District Two following allegations of serious failures of leadership in the Midlands S.C. school district.
Readers unfamiliar with the district can acquaint themselves with some of the problems the district faces by reading our coverage of the district from first half of 2022.
In January the district’s superintendent was accused of lashing out physically at a parent during a school board meeting. Days later a lawsuit was filed alleging that the district ignored sexual harassment by members of the Ridge View High School basketball team. Another suit filed in May alleged that a district kindergarten teaching assistant gave an amphetamine pill to a kindergartener. The coup de grâce, though, was school board member Lashonda McFadden threatening to “catch” the chair of the school board’s “motherf***** a** outside” at a school board meeting in May.
In his letter to inspector general Brian Lamkin, McMaster cites concerns about well-documented “organizational or institutional dysfunction” and “significant concerns pertaining to Richland Two’s financial status, including assertions that Richland Two’s leadership-related issues have negatively impacted the district’s ability to conduct, manage, and oversee its fiscal affairs in an appropriate and effective manner.”
Lamkin’s investigation and how McMaster’s office handles Lamkin’s findings will be closely watched by school officials across the state as the governor could potentially exercise his newly granted statutory authority to remove school district trustees who have “willfully committed or engaged in an act of malfeasance, misfeasance, chronic unexcused absenteeism, conflicts of interest, misconduct in office, or persistent neglect of duty in office.”
***
I’ve advocated for the passage of the legislation that is now enabling the inspector general’s investigation, updated readers when speculation that Richland Two would be investigated was reported, and will continue to provide updates and analysis of the findings of the investigation.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to proactively address? We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
