Regarding the public concern over R2 staff throwing lunches in the trash after student’s lunch charges reach $10.
I suggest getting several reports of the total debts owed for meals. Those reports should have been available at the special called board meeting last Tuesday night.
Get one report listing debts by amount owed (by each student), in descending order from largest to smallest. Get another report listing the age of the debt from the most recent to the oldest,
I believe it will become quickly obvious that the cost involved to collect those debts just isn’t worth it. Many will be old and small debts.
Why would you want a $100,000/year administrator and other salaried employees to waste time chasing $50-100 account balances that are years old?
Just write them off and assign the blame to the office where the buck stops.
Ask yourselves why this District should try to collect old, small, stale debts, when the S.C. Dept. of Revenue won’t even collect a $57,100 debt owed by Amelia McKie? Has it decided that it is uncollectable?
Frankly, the District should be embarrassed by looking for donations to settle the meal debts.
I also urge the board to reject any request from Richland School District Two to bail them out on its meal debt.
Such use of your funds does not meet your mission.
Funds would not “encourage and support excellence in Richland School District Two by enhancing educational opportunities for students, fostering community involvement, and providing resources that promote success in the district.”
The District’s management of the meal debt is the District’s problem, not yours.
Any director of the Foundation who is a RSD2 employee should recuse himself from discussions and votes, due to a conflict of interest.
Gus Philpott
The Summit
Clarification of my Sept. 1st Opinion. It should read, “I also urge the school board to reject any request by the superintendent to the Richland Two Educational Foundation to bail them (the District) out on its meal debt.” This Mission of the Foundation does not permit such use of funds. The school board should direct the superintendent NOT to request funds from the Foundation.