Latest news with #Ropp
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SC Bill would require every school board meeting to be recorded and posted
Columbia S.C. (WSPA) – In Columbia, lawmakers are making headway on a bill that would make school board meetings more accessible to the public. Supporters said this will increase transparency. The bi-partisan bill would require all South Carolina public and charter schools to record their school board meetings and post the videos within two business days of the event. 'They should always be doing it, and we need concrete requirements for live streaming spelled out so that parents and constituents can go back and watch meetings after the fact,' said Felicity Ropp, with the Palmetto Promise Institute. The bill would have the state board of education create a model policy and each school district would have to adopt a similar one. The model will then need to be approved by the district's superintendent and the state board of education. The recording cannot impact the public's request for in-person attendance. 'This meeting isn't being live streamed. Why not? Because it's not required. So that makes it difficult for somebody like me who's in the community,' said Debbie Heim, Lexington County resident. The bill was passed in the senate unanimously and will be debated on the house floor the committee meeting last week, Ropp testified the bill should not include an added cost. 'As long as you have a camera on your cell phone, you should be good to go. In 2025, it's not a huge ask for school districts, and it should be common sense,' Ropp said. Heim added it's crucial for lawmakers to record every meeting for South Carolinians, and it should be the same for schools. 'The purpose of FOIA is to prevent secret government activity and asking school districts not to stream their meetings or not making a requirement that all meetings subject to FOIA,' said Hopp. If schools do not follow the policy, penalties could include taking away one percent of their state passed, the one exception is a lawful executive school board session. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Yahoo
Woman dead after being found unresponsive in her Fayette County Detention Center cell
A female inmate at the Fayette County Detention Center died Saturday after being found unresponsive in her cell. Jail staff found Alicia Meredith Marie Ropp, 27, unresponsive at 8:16 a.m., according to officials at the city's Community Corrections division. Officers, YesCare Medical staff who provide medical services at the jail, and Lexington Fire Department members who were called to the scene tried to revive Ropp, but they were unsuccessful. The Fayette County Coroner's Office pronounced the Lexington woman dead at 10 a.m. Saturday. 'Lexington Police and the Coroner's Office are investigating the cause and manner of her death. Such an investigation is normal in the case of an in-custody death,' the jail said in a news release. The detention center will also complete an internal review of the incident. Ropp's death comes on the heels of a Herald-Leader investigation published last week that found 234 people died in Kentucky jails between 2020 and 2024, eight of them in Fayette County. Critics say the rising numbers are caused by a jail system ill-equipped to provide adequate medical care, while corrections officials blame the trend on factors including COVID-19, increasing use of powerful drugs and the effects of inmates' lifestyles. Ropp was booked on Tuesday on charges of probation violation, leaving the scene of an accident, not having insurance and failure to register a motor vehicle, authorities said. A police uniform citation filed in Fayette County District Court indicates that Ropp was arrested at her workplace, the Dollar General store on Legends Lane, on a charge of probation violation for a misdemeanor offense. Court records indicate the case was scheduled for a hearing March 4. Ropp was on probation after being convicted on two drug possession charges in January 2022 in Fayette County, court records show. The charges related to the vehicle collision appear to stem from another incident in 2022, when a warrant was issued for Ropp's arrest in Fayette County District Court. Court records show Ropp had cases in Russell County related to bail jumping and drug possession from 2022.
