COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland District Two hosted a special called board meeting on Thursday, and on the agenda was the Superintendent's contract, which raised concerns for a lot of people in the community.
In June of last year, Governor Henry McMaster called for an investigation of the Richland Two School District in connection to misconduct allegations. People in the community assumed that the executive session item about the contract was connected to the findings of the investigation.
However, Board Chair Lindsay Agostini assured this was not the case. She says the review was for the newly elected board members to understand the contract's boundaries and limitations. Agostini explained that if Davis's contract were to be changed it would have to be over the summer during the superintendent review.
"We can't do that, looking at a contract would take place at the end of the school year after his evaluation which is done in the summer," Agostini stated. "For the board to amend the contract, we can't look at it or amend the contract until the summer."
One teacher in the district, Jackie Stokes waited for the entire 4-hour meeting and says she is relieved that nothing happened and hopes the district can keep working toward a brighter future.
"We want him [Dr. Davis] to know and we want the board to know that we appreciate him and they need to go ahead and go through that report and they need to straighten things out. We need to move forward and we don't want to go backward by getting rid of Dr. Davis," Stokes said.
Also on the meeting agenda was a discussion of the Inspector General's report of the district that was published back in November.
After that three-hour executive session, the only new thing to come out of the special called meeting was a committee in charge of implementing changes and taking steps toward following the inspector general's recommendations.
The next school board meeting will happen next Tuesday at 5:30 at the R2i2 building.