Tag: Horry County Board of Education

One More Week More Word Salad in Conway Election Campaign

For the third week in a row, the Richardson for Mayor of Conway campaign has run a full-page ad in the local newspaper which is long on newsprint but says nothing of substance.
This has been a trend around the campaign since the hyperbolic article in a local blog announcing Richardson’s run. That particular article spoke of a “groundbreaking moment” in the political history of Conway and a “compelling message” for all residents. We are still waiting to hear the message.
Last week’s ad spoke of Richardson’s “monumental task” of “overseeing a budget exceeding 900 million dollars” and “ensuring the well-being of over 7,000 employees” when he was Chairman of the Horry County Board of Education. The numbers are used to impress.
Richardson was a good chairman for Horry County Schools. His signature achievement during that tenure was working with district staff and other board members through the mess Covid created for enclosed public spaces. Of course, the contributions of staff and other board members are never mentioned.
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School Board Members Apparently Broke State Open Meetings Law with Email Messages

A series of email messages sent to all 12 members of the Horry County Schools Board of Education apparently broke state laws on open meetings by public bodies.
The email chain originated with board member Debbie Edmonds who sent a group email to the other 11 members of the board addressing an issue that she believed occurred during public comment at the regular meeting of the board the previous evening.
Two other board members, Janet Graham and David Koch, responded, again including their messages to all board members.
All email messages sent by and to public officials from a public domain are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. In this case, the “@ horrycountyschools.net” email address was used. Furthermore, when such messages are sent to a majority (quorum) of the governing members of a public body, in this case every member, and responses are sent to these messages, the email string alone is considered to have been a meeting of the body without proper public notice or public transparency regarding the content of the emails.
(click on headline above to read more)

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Horry County Schools Building Projects

The Horry County Schools Selection Committee will meet tomorrow to decide on what firm or firms it will recommend for each of five new school projects.

Three teams, Thompson Turner Construction, First Floor Energy Positive and M.B. Kahn Construction Company, were invited to make offers on at least two projects to all five of the projects, at their discretion.

After several months of review and consideration of the proposals submitted, the committee will recommend one offering team proposal for each of the five building projects being considered.

Interviews with the teams will be held tomorrow with the committee tentatively scheduled to present its recommendations to the full Horry County Schools Board of Education at its October 12, 2015 workshop for an up or down vote on the recommendations.

If the board votes to approve the list as submitted, final negotiations with the winning offering team for each project will begin.

The proposals submitted are for design-build delivery of each of five planned new school facilities. The overall projected total cost of the five new facilities is $150-200 million.

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