Columbia-area school board member charged after threatening to beat up district chairwoman | Columbia

COLUMBIA — Lashonda McFadden, a board member in Columbia’s Richland Two faculty district, was billed with threatening the board chairwoman right after turning into law enforcement May well 11.

The spat is just the most current altercation for the board overseeing the state’s fifth-most significant college district where by turmoil has gotten so terrible that members employed a marketing consultant earlier this year to help conclusion their feuds.

In a 4-moment audio recording of the meeting obtained by The Post and Courier, McFadden can be heard arguing with Richland Two board Chairwoman Theresa Holmes all through a shut-door meeting discussing university safety on April 28. 

McFadden had desired to make an announcement at the meeting just before the trade commenced, according to an incident report from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

McFadden is read on the recording expressing anger about Holmes interrupting her with laughter. Following Holmes told McFadden to end what she was saying, McFadden responded that she “shut the (expletive) up.” 

Holmes then referred to McFadden several occasions as a “little girl” and asked if McFadden was upset.

“No, I’m not upset,” McFadden responded. “I am just allowing you know correct now that I will (expletive) you up and the (expletive) you rode in on.”

“That is jail,” board member Cheryl Caution-Parker can be listened to declaring.

“What you gonna do, boo?” Holmes asked.

“You believe I’m going to go to jail above you? No,” McFadden responded.

“I just want to let you know that if you assume that you are likely to go on to disrespect me, I will capture your (expletive) outside,” McFadden can be heard expressing.

“That’s a next danger,” Holmes responded.

Board member Lindsay Agostini then told Holmes she thought the chairwoman’s “absence of professionalism” in laughing at McFadden earlier in the dialogue had led to the fireworks.

“That’s what instigated this,” Agostini can be listened to indicating.

“You do not know what I was laughing at,” Holmes responded. “Are you in my head, ma’am?”

McFadden, who is Black, ongoing to choose concern with Holmes, who is also Black, contacting her a “very little woman,” for the duration of a current discussion, declaring she learned the phrase had the very same that means in South Carolina as “calling him a ‘boy.’ “

“In a minute, I’m heading to get in touch with protection, simply because you have threatened me — you have threatened me 2 times,” Holmes mentioned.

“Go in advance and get in touch with protection,” McFadden reported. “They are ideal outdoors the (expletive) doorway. … She just demands to understand that if you want a (expletive) little female, (expletive) you bought it.”

Later Holmes mentioned McFadden had threatened her a third time and to “keep chatting.”

“You are unable to determine if it is really a menace or not, that is your interpretation,” McFadden mentioned.

“No, you claimed you’d (expletive) me up,” Holmes mentioned.

The recording finishes with Holmes expressing the board should return to the discussion of security and security.

“Perfectly I’m happy you received that off your chest, do you experience superior?” Holmes asked.

“Oh, I do I come to feel better,” McFadden reported.

What precisely sparked the spat is unclear from the recording and no facts had been involved in the incident report filed soon immediately after the assembly finished. No details was introduced why McFadden was charged virtually two weeks immediately after the heated dispute.

McFadden, who has lived in the Columbia space considering that 2009 and served on the Richland Two university board since 2020, turned herself in right after a warrant was issued for her arrest, the sheriff’s office mentioned.

She was charged with threatening the everyday living of a general public worker, punishable with up to 30 days in prison and a good up to $500. She was booked at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center and released with no bond, according to on the internet data.

McFadden and Holmes did not react to phone calls Could 11.

McFadden has worked as a counselor at the Tennessee Wellness Office, S.C. Division of Health and fitness and Environmental Regulate and region educational institutions districts, in accordance to her profile on the university district internet site. She is earning a master’s diploma in community administration at the University of South Carolina, serving on the board on the South Carolina College Advancement Council and volunteering in the young adult and children’s ministry at her church.

The board overseeing 28,300 college students has been in these types of turmoil that they brought in a expert to resolve their conflicts.

The team-developing came just after some board associates walked out of a assembly in a dispute over the superintendent’s agreement previous year and some board customers required to self-control Superintendent Baron Davis right after he received into a indignant confrontation with some critics who argued with his wife.

All through a particular known as conference on April 26, two times before the altercation, board users mentioned a report from a mentor with the Charleston-centered Connection Consulting company.

“Exhibit respect to just about every other and the community. Converse when acknowledged. Keep silent when other folks have the ground and wait for them to end talking,” Holmes said, examining the consulting firm’s tips aloud.