Richland One board re-authorizes course of action previously deemed unlawful by judge

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Richland School District One’s board voted at its meeting on Tuesday night to re-authorize a course of action that was previously deemed unlawful by a judge earlier this month.

Two initial votes on Feb. 1 dealt with the paused construction project known as the Vince Ford Early Learning Center.

At that time, the board had voted approve legal recommendations given behind closed doors about the learning center.

The $31 million project has been on hold since January, and is the subject of an active probe by the South Carolina Office of the Inspector General.

Essentially the board took one of the Feb. 1 votes lawfully on Tuesday night.

The vote was to hire the Wyche Law Firm to work with the district during the course of the Inspector General’s investigation.

It passed 6-1, with only board member Barbara Weston voting against the motion.

There were three agenda items for this meeting that specifically addressed the controversy surrounding the early learning center.

One dealt with the recent lawsuit, another dealt with the active Inspector General investigation and a third mentioned legal advice about the project.

That lawsuit, brought by district parent Clint Wallace, alleged that “secret government” action at that Feb.1 meeting violated the Freedom of Information Act, which is a law that aims to keep the public informed about its government.

Judge Jocelyn Newman concurred with that assessment, and in an order from May 16 she barred the board from taking any action on those votes.

The ruling did state, though, that the board is welcome to reconvene and take the same votes in public view in compliance with the law. That appears to be what happened on Tuesday.

Of note on Tuesday’s agenda: the specificity. Lack of specifics were a key issue in those initial Feb. 1 votes, Newman wrote in the order.

While the Wyche Law Firm was retained on Feb. 1, it was not explained until a subsequent meeting that the hiring of the law firm had to do with the Inspector General’s investigation.

The Inspector General’s investigation into the district started after it became clear the district began construction on the learning center without the proper permits.

Since the construction stoppage in January, the Vince Ford Early Learning Center has cost the district more than $800,000.

In a separate, unanimous vote Tuesday night, the board voted to comply with Newman’s order.

However, board member Jamie Devine said he disagreed with her ruling.

“While I will vote to comply with the order, I disagree with the order that was presented based off some things that, in my opinion, was done correctly by this board,” he said. “I think some things were, in my opinion, conflated together. So while I disagree with the judge’s order, however, I will vote to go and end the matter and move on to educating our young people.”

The board also explained that they will be releasing a statement about Newman’s order at a later date.

The vote on Tuesday night about the ruling initially included an approval of that statement, but board member Robert Lominack suggested that the reference to the yet-to-be-written statement be removed.

“My only concern is that we’re voting on a statement that hasn’t been drafted,” he said. “When we’re talking about legal opinions, the details matter.”

The motion was amended to only include compliance with the court’s order, per Lominack’s request.

In executive session, the board also received legal advice Tuesday night related to an inquiry from a board member regarding possible district liability in another matter.

The board also discussed next year’s budget at Tuesday’s meeting, a $2,000 teacher retention bonus and explained that more than 300 teachers will not be returning for the next school year for various reasons.

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