AFTER TRUSTEE'S ABRUPT RESIGNATION, SCHOOL BOARD SEEKS APPLICANTS

Chula Vista Elementary School District Seeks Applicants for Vacated School Board Spot

By TAWNY MAYA McCRAY

March 20, 2012

The Chula Vista Elementary School District is looking desperately to appoint a new board member.

It was announced Monday that board member Russell Coronado is resigning from his post effective March 31, nine months before his term is up in December. Board President Pamela Smith said Coronado, who was elected in 2008, was leaving due to “personal reasons.”

“(Coronado) has been very dedicated and it’s been a pleasure to serve with him,” Smith said at Monday’s meeting. “He’s brought a lot of expertise to the board and always focused. I have never been in a conversation publicly or in closed session with this board that isn’t always about kids, kids first, and Russell has been very true to that. We’re going to miss him.”

The remaining trustees, minus Douglas Luffborough who was absent, voted Monday to begin accepting applications to fill the position on the five-member board. Coronado was also absent from Monday’s meeting.

Applications are due at the district office by noon April 11.

Applicants must be at least 18, a U.S. citizen, a resident of the school district, a registered voter and not legally disqualified from holding public office by state law (for bribery or perjury convictions, for example).

The board decided not to fill the vacancy through a special election because of its estimated cost of $770,000 to $800,000. Trustees plan to interview the applicants and appoint the new member at a special board meeting April 23. The chosen candidate will serve the remainder of Coronado’s term.

This will be the third time since 2007 that the board has decided to appoint a new member. Trustee David Bejarano was chosen out of a pool of 39 candidates in 2007 after Cheryl Cox stepped down following her election as mayor of Chula Vista. Luffborough was selected out of 23 applicants in 2009 after Bertha Lopez resigned to serve on the Sweetwater Union High School District board.

“We have been through this process before and it’s been a good one and has resulted in some outstanding board members,” Smith said at Monday’s meeting. “I think it is a very inclusive process and we take the process very seriously. We look forward to hearing from our community and seeing who’s interested in this.”

Applications are available at the superintendent’s office, 84 E. J St. or on the district’s website at cvesd.org. Eligible community members must submit a letter of intent, the completed application, and two letters of recommendation to Soreli Norton, assistant to the superintendent and the board of education.

BACKGROUND

Head of CV school board to move temporarily

Russell Coronado, president since last year, is tending to a family member, officials say...

Ashly McGlone

Aug. 30, 2010

The board president of Chula Vista Elementary School District has temporarily moved to the North County to care for an ill family member, officials said Monday.

“I have a commitment to the students and people of Chula Vista, but at this time I also need to provide care and support to my family members,” Russell Coronado said. “At an appropriate time, we will make a decision about my position on the board.”

Further details were not disclosed.

Coronado was named school board president in December 2009 after being elected the previous year.

When asked whether there is a threshold for how long a board member may live outside of the school system's boundaries, district spokesman Anthony Millican said officials were looking into it.

Millican said the district’s day-to-day operations will be unaffected.

Originally Posted by Maura Larkins at 2:39 PM 
CVESD Reporter

Labels: . Coronado, Chula Vista Elementary School District, CVESD,  board members

WHY WON'T THE ACLU FIGHT FOR FREE SPREECH for EDUCATORS?

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2012

Is the ACLU actively supporting the suppression of free speech in schools?

    

Originally Published on the
San Diego Education Report Blog



By Maura Larkins

Why is the San Diego ACLU trying to silence free speech for teachers at the same time that it is protecting free speech for students (protecting free speech for all is one of its major stated purposes.) I understand why school attorneys want to keep the public unaware of what goes on behind closed doors in our schools, but why is ACLU attorney David Loy so interested in helping them?

I have long wondered if the ACLU was doing California Teachers Association little favors by refusing to take free speech cases for teachers. The recently-retired CTA head counsel Beverly Tucker had previously worked for the ACLU.

I got my answer on April 28, 2010 (see email below from David Loy). Yes, I learned, the ACLU definitely tries to silence teachers who don't speak through the union.

I attended the Annual Membership meeting of the San Diego ACLU today, and listened to ACLU attorney David Loy boast about how the ACLU had protected student free speech.

I asked him, "What about free speech for teachers?"

Mr. Loy responded with only one case, Johnson v. Poway, a case in which the ACLU supported a teacher who draped huge banners with religious admonitions across his classroom. The ACLU's victory in the district court was overturned by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal:

"We thus reverse and remand with instructions that the district court vacate its grant of injunctive and declaratory relief, as well as its award of damages, and enter summary judgment in favor of Poway and its officials on all claims. Johnson shall bear all costs. Fed. R. App. P. 39(a)(3)."

Daniel R. Shinoff, Jack M. Sleeth, Jr. (argued), Paul V. Carelli, IV, Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, APC, San Diego, California, for defendants-appellants Poway Unified School District, et al

David Blair-Loy, ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties, San Diego, California, for Amicus Curiae American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties in Support of plaintiff (Johnson)

Apparently California Teachers Association didn't take part in this case.

Neither David Loy nor Kevin Keenan could think of another case in which the ACLU had defended freedom of speech for teachers, but they noted that the ACLU frequently defends the free speech rights of law enforcement officers. Is this perhaps because the police unions don't donate to the ACLU like the teacher unions do?

Even Lori Shellenberger, the San Diego ACLU's "civic engagement" attorney, is vehemently uninterested in free speech for teachers. She spoke at the Annual Membership meeting about the voting rights workshops she held for parents throughout the school district, and giving parents the chance to speak about what they wanted from schools. I told Ms. Shellenberger, "What good are voting rights when parents don't know what is going on in schools? Democracy requires an informed electorate. You want to expand parent participation, but you keep parents ignorant by silencing teachers who know what's going on in schools." Ms. Shellenberger said she wasn't interested in free speech. Her associate Vince Hall specifically told me he wasn't interested in my letter to the ACLU board.

It would seem to me that Shellenberger and Hall are unlikely to improve schools unless they're willing to work toward transparency in schools, to reveal the secret life of schools. They are basically asking parents to stand up and address the powers behind the curtain of secrecy in schools in the manner in which Dorothy, the Tin Man and friends addressed the Wizard of Oz. The ACLU wants to make sure the curtain is not pulled back revealing a charlatan pulling strings.

Interestingly, Mr. Keenan is convinced that the U.S. Supreme Court will overrule the Ninth Circuit. "We always win," said Kevin Keenan. If the ACLU wins in the U.S. Supreme Court, it will not be with the aid of the civil libertarians on the court, I believe. It will be with the aid of those who want the U.S. to be a Christian nation. Mr. Keenan's goal is apparently to win, not to stick to the ACLU's principles. He spends years trying to get the cross taken down from Mount Soledad in San Diego, only to turn around and try to get it erected (figuratively speaking) in a classroom in Poway.

Not so. The ACLU tried to silence my website discussions about Stutz law firm, which represented the school district in this case. The Court of Appeal didn't go along with the ACLU's position, ruling instead thatan injunction completely silencing my discussion of Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz was "exceedingly unconstitutional."

Mr. Keenan bemoaned the fact that the San Diego Zoo has more members that the ACLU does, even when counting all ACLU members in the entire country. The reason might be that the ACLU compromised its principles a bit too often, pushing out ordinary people who demand equal treatment with the good old boys and girls in the ACLU power structure. In fact, Mr. Keenan said to me, "I'm surprised you're still a member." I'm not the one who has a problem with equal treatment for everyone, Mr. Keenan. But I'm curious, how many ordinary people has the ACLU intimidated into giving up their civil rights? They tried to get me to take down my website, but I didn't think much of their exhortations.

Mr. Loy tried to get me to obey an obviously unconstitutional injunction:

from dblairloy@aclusandiego.org
to Maura Larkins
date Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 9:18 PM
...However, the law does not allow anyone - a government official or a private person - to disobey a court order because they believe it is illegal. Under the law, the proper course is to seek appellate review of an order, and/or a stay of the order,rather than to disobey it. The rule of law in our system depends on compliance with court orders until or unless they are stayed or reversed...
David

Mr. Loy must also have known I was not legally required to de-publish the information about Stutz law firm on my website while the injunction was under appeal. (The mandative aspects of an injunction are staying during that time.) Either Mr. Loy was shockingly ignorant of the law, or he was intentionally deceiving me about the law to protect Stutz law firm when he said, “The rule of law in our system depends on compliance with court orders until or unless they are stayed or reversed...”. Why would he do this? To earn “civility” awards from the Bar Association? As a sort of trade-off of free speech rights, helping Dan Shinoff silence a teacher in exchange for Mr. Shinoff’s agreeing to settle student speech cases? To please donors to the ACLU who care less about education than they do about preserving the power of certain individuals in schools?

The Court of Appeal didn’t agree with Stutz law firm and the ACLU; on August 5, 2011 it ruled that the injunction Mr. Loy wanted me to obey was “exceedingly unconstitutional.” Of course, Mr. Loy knew perfectly well that the injunction was unconstitutional when he insisted that I must obey it.

But here’s the larger question: why did the ACLU board support Mr. Loy’s actions?

JUDGE JAMES STIVEN

I asked this question of ACLU board member Hon. James Stiven. He said, "I'm not getting involved because I'm a part of this organization." Wait a minute. Isn't that exactly why he has an obligation to get involved? He's on the board! He's in charge!

I said, "So if ACLU lawyers do something hostile to civil rights, you wouldn't intervene?"

He said, "I don't know that they have done anything wrong."

I said, "Yes you do. You're a judge."

Here's what they've done wrong:

1) To start with, David Loy aided and abetted a violation of my constitutional rights. I believe he intentionally gave me false legal advice in an effort to silence me.

2) The San Diego ACLU seeks and gets money by false advertising. I have heard ACLU speakers around town repeating what Kevin Keenan said at the 2012 Annual Membership meeting, "We guarantee rights for all people, not just the people we like. We stand up for equal protection of all people."

3) The above tactics have been approved at the highest levels of the San Diego ACLU. The San Diego ACLU Board knows about and tacitly approves the above actions.

Disenfranchised-Educators

Moreno Valley Educators

 Are You In or Out? 

The Neo-School Counselor
School Counseling Videocast
Disenfranchised-Educators

Moreno Valley Water Company   Embezzlement Was Reported Repeatedly But The Board Refused To Act. Three Years and $280,000.00 Later ...

First Published: 17 March 2012 06:25 PM

BY LORA HINES 

The former general manager of the Box Springs Mutual Water Co. in Moreno Valley said he thinks the alleged embezzlement of $280,000 could have been prevented had authorities paid attention then. Between 2004 and 2009 he reported theft of money from the company.

Bruce Gottschalk worked at the company between 2004 and January 2009. He twice contacted the Moreno Valley Police Department in 2009 to report the theft of $31,000 by a former employee after bookkeepers auditing the company’s accounts alerted him. Nothing came of Gottschalk’s reports because of lack of information and cooperation from the water company, police said.

He said he also tried to warn the company’s board of directors, of which he was a member. In January 2009, Gottschalk quit his job and was forced off the board when he said colleagues became hostile toward him rather than investigate the theft.

“It’s been very frustrating,” he said.

William Batey, the Moreno Valley councilman who represents the area, said he’s heard allegations about water company corruption for years. He said he told people to report their suspicions to law enforcement officials, but he could do nothing more because the city doesn’t oversee the company.

The company’s troubles have led to the community’s decay and impoverishment, making it unattractive to potential developers and homeowners.

Box Springs, a private nonprofit organization, provides water to about 3,300 people in the Edgemont community on Moreno Valley’s west side. As Moreno Valley’s east side thrives with development, Edgemont looks as if time forgot it. Side streets between Alessandro and Eucalyptus avenues are filled with potholes. Many houses appear uninhabitable and have yards covered with dirt, not grass. Most residents are renters.

The area needs developers, whose fees would pay for improvements to sidewalks, hydrants and the water-system. But builders and property owners can’t get building permits because of safety issues.

Box Springs’ water lines don’t provide enough water needed to fight a fire. Water company officials have said there's no money for upgrades, estimated to cost at least $15 million. So, new construction and property upgrades are out of the question. The water company can’t benefit from any new customers.

“I’ve got 3 acres behind my house that I can’t build anything on,” Gottschalk said.

He said he was on vacation in Mexico when he found out that his successor, Debra Sutton, resigned last month from the company. Investigators served search warrants at her home and office Jan. 23 seeking evidence that $280,000 in company funds were used to pay for cruises and casino gambling.

Sutton, who lives around the corner from the water company, has not been arrested or charged with any crimes. Her salary was $42,000 annually.

She declined to comment when reached at her house following the warrants.

Search warrants claim that a water company ATM card issued to Sutton was used for cruises to Alaska, the Bahamas, Mexico, the Caribbean and other places. Additionally, the ATM card was used for purchases and withdrawals at the Morongo and Edgewater casinos. Charges also were made to Alaska, Continental and United Airlines; Cheaptickets.com; Macy's; and Disneyland. The warrant also listed Carnival Cruise Lines of Florida; San Diego Cruise ship terminal; and Sam's Club in Bullhead City, Ariz.

According to court documents, Sutton told a Riverside County district attorney’s investigator that she thought she was using her personal money for the trips and casinos. Sutton also said she would make restitution if she had used the water company card, according to court documents.

The search warrant affidavits also showed her company ATM card was frequently used at Soboba Casino near Hemet. Casino records showed that Sutton gambled $5.6 million from February 2003 to December 2011.

“It’s a waiting game now,” Gottschalk said. “We’re waiting for indictments to come down.”

Sutton began working at the water company in January 2009 when Gottschalk said he hired her as a secretary. She replaced the employee who Gottschalk said he suspected of theft late in 2008. That employee was fired but was never charged.

Sutton later was promoted to general manager after Gottschalk left the company.

During Gottschalk’s tenure, Western Municipal Water District provided contract services for Box Springs, including bookkeeping. Box Springs is one of several of Western’s wholesale agencies. Western’s bookkeepers told Gottschalk about the missing $31,000 in 2008, he said.

Western spokeswoman Michele McKinney Underwood said she couldn’t comment because of the investigation. Western stopped providing Box Springs with contract services in February 2009, she said.

Moreno Valley Police Department records show that Gottschalk reported the embezzlement of $31,000 on Jan. 14, 2009, and April 6, 2009. Records indicate that Moreno Valley police tried to investigate both times.

The first time, officers didn’t have enough information to start a case, according to reports. Following the second report, officers contacted board president Joseph Heeter, who told them he didn’t want a criminal investigation, a police report states. He told police that he wanted to conduct an audit, records state.

When reached at the Box Springs office on Wednesday, Heeter, who has been board president since January 2009, declined to answer questions about the water company.

Records show an investigator met with Heeter and Sutton on Dec. 19, 2011, about the missing money. Heeter has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

For years, the Box Springs board has been mired in dysfunction stemming from longstanding feuds and mistrust among members and shareholders, said several members and shareholders who were interviewed. They accuse each other of stealing, lying, being disrespectful of one another, conspiracy and using the company for personal gain. No charges have been filed, they said.

Board member Irene Kendall, who has been active in the company for decades, said she believes the board should have kept a closer eye over company recordkeeping. She doesn’t think it was negligent.

Kendall, who turns 92 Monday, said she worries Box Springs and its board could be sued as a result of the alleged embezzlement. The board is to meet with the company attorney, Joe Aklufi, she said.

Aklufi couldn’t be reached for comment.

The water company on Wednesday is to have its regular monthly board meeting. Gottschalk wants most water company customers and property owners to attend and demand that new leadership be appointed.

Batey said he has repeatedly heard about possible mismanagement and embezzlement at Box Springs over the past 10 years. He said he always has urged people to report suspected wrongdoing to law enforcement officials.

“I’ve helped to the extent that I could,” Batey said. “We’ve got no say-so over there whatsoever.”

The City Council has no authority over Box Springs. The water company’s customers rely on the board of directors for company oversight.

Batey said Box Springs’ problems have negatively impacted the city and have reached a breaking point. Living conditions in many homes in the area have become some so poor that Batey said he thinks residents’ health and safety might be in jeopardy.

“Something has to be done,” he said. “Now it’s time to cooperate.”

Batey said he thinks the embezzlement investigation surrounding Box Springs will bring change. He wants Box Springs and Western to work with him to develop solutions to correct Box Springs’ problems and revitalize the Edgemont area.

“We can’t continue on the way it is,” Batey said.

Box Springs meeting

What: The regular monthly meeting of the Box Springs Mutual Water Co.

When: Wednesday, 12:30 p.m.

Where: At the company’s office, 21740 Dracaea Ave., Moreno Valley.

Diana DeGette You Go ! In the Name of Shirley Chisolm!

Mitt Romney declared, "Planned Parenthood has got to go!" Afraid if it had been around when he was conceived he wouldn't be here today ...

Republicans have a clear agenda for women: Defund Planned Parenthood, deny women access to health care and birth control, and even prohibit women the right to participate in the debate about women’s health care.

Grassroots Democrats around the country have united against the Republican War on Women to launch a Women's Health Accountability Fund. Our goal is to expose the truth about Republicans' war on women with an aggressive rapid response operation including ads, on-the-ground organizing and more.

San Diego Education Association Places Executive Director on Administrative Leave

The San Diego Education Association’s board of directors placed executive director Craig Leedham on paid administrative leave. Will Carless of Voice of San Diego has the story. As of today, no one from the union would explain the reasons behind the move. No one is talking on the record. Off the record, people who know Leedham describe him as ”nasty,” “aggressive,” “profane” and “paranoid.” 

Accurate or not, none of those attributes is sufficient to get you booted from a high-ranking position in one of the nation’s largest teacher union locals. Something very specific needs to have happened, and I suspect we’ll learn what it was before long. 

The union confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Leedham had been placed on leave. “San Diego Education Association Executive Director Craig Leedham is on paid administrative leave. It is inappropriate for further comment at this time about what is an internal matter,” President Bill Freeman said in a brief statement.

Leedham held several positions at various levels of the Wisconsin Education Association Council before taking a staff job with SDEA in 2006.

And the Press Enterprise Headline Read:

 "MORENO VALLEY: Six students arrested after ruckus at high school"

"ruckus.."

"ruckus.."

"ruckus.."

"Ruckus - A noisy disturbance and/or commotion."

PLEASE! How about some truth? Even if it might endanger an advertising dollar or two?  

After several weeks of gang and race related fights, an administrator was hit by a student as the administrator tried in vein to break up the fight. The police came as the ruckus turned to near RACE RIOT. A police officer while attempting to restore order had to cuff a defiant student who refused to follow his/her request to return to class. At that point at least five students attacked the officer from behind. The condition of the officer is not known. 

The campus was under strict lockdown half the day. It's a good thing no students were seriously hurt but what about that Deputy? Its a lucky thing no one was shot at that silly "RUCKUS."

Just My Opinion but...

Originally Podcast
07/20/2011
by I, Praetorian

I got up this morning, or rather this afternoon as it turns out, thinking about my experiences with district level management or administration is they prefer. It does take a unique personality to want to take on a job like that especially in these lean and education unfriendly times.


So I started to think about the personalities of the district level administrators that I have had any kind of lengthy involvement with. And some of them I've known personally some only in a professional setting, but all seem to have a uniquely similar facet to their personalities. And unfortunately in my experience although that facet varies from person to person there is a completely discernible link. This link becomes more pronounced at the higher levels of middle management. Simply put each of those personalities in my experience have a qualitative dysfunction. For many they lack a sense of humor in any commonly held sense of the term. Some of that is dictated by the wear and tear of the job itself. But in easy-going easy laughing kind of person would not probably last long. Here's why I think that:


First off, in this the year 2011 on the downhill side of public support for public education in general. With the exception of the great philosophical battles that incurred at public education's inception, there has never been a time when educating all children was of less importance. That is less importance to the voter and the talking heads that feed the common voter back the lowest common elements of his or her own dysfunctions in society and as a person. I believe there is no coincidental correlation between the collective rise of our sense of entitlement,  narcissism, and individual greed; and the rise in our unwillingness to fund the very institution that brought us and taught us how to use our democratic rights. For those of you who would argue that last statement, either comment or shut up. (I am so weary and sick and extraordinarily angry with those people who have a half-baked, ill thought out philosophy on anything if they are willing to stand up for what they believe no matter how informed or not informed they are on the subject.)


Okay. This is where I get off on another tangent in the very smallest percentage in
of the ranks of educators, there exist one or two individuals per say everyone thousand employed educators that are willing to stand and fight philosophically, emotionally, and mostly at risk of their own jobs, to fight for educators who taught the great talk but cower in the presence of district level and sometimes even site level administration. Although those of us in education know that there is no truth to the old tiredness that you can't fire a teacher, it is amazing how quickly our resolve dissipates at even the slightest hint of having to stand up like human beings and adults. I personally am going through the greatest most unjust most unfair fight of my 15 years in education. And it all started because I chose to stand up not just for my rights but for the rights of a handful of other teachers who for reasons of their own could not or would not stand up for themselves.


Further, I chose to get involved in the fight against what is now the mostly corrupt Board of Trustees (sorry CJ, you are not one of those) and a wholly corrupt and self-serving fear driven Department of human resources. At the directive of the strongest and probably the most narcissistic of the trustees personalities, I have been targeted by a series of extremely poorly evidenced lies. These liars were perpetrated and further resuscitated by the head of our human resources department. The following is simply my opinion: but this man ranks among the most cowardly and self-important men I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. He has all the potential of being a great director but instead he like so many others has chosen to cower and acquiesce to the assumed power of "life or death" of our very very dysfunctional Board of Trustees, School Board. For the last 20 years maybe more, the various board members have served as the quintessential bully boys at this low level of political power. They have interfered with, dictated to, and coerced many good administrators including two very good superintendents who were forced out by the insanity. And this insanity driven by local politics has continued and is still present today. Even though the board members no longer have fistfights and drunken rages as they had in the past. Yep that's right folks, in past years our board members have come to meetings drunk and getting into physical altercations amongst themselves in public session. That's the kind of quality that small to medium-sized districts often attract. Lastly, I am fighting this campaign not just to retain my avocation, but to show everyone in the district that you don't have to cower before those personalities of the lowest common denominator. Especially a retired yes-man from our otherwise esteemed Sheriff's Department. Mine I had's own deputies stormed their union hall in protest of the union backing him for a higher position. It was so outrageous and so blatant that his own street officers are deputies wouldn't stand for him in a position of power they made the newspaper and forced this trustee to withdraw his candidacy. And now I understand exactly why and probably more than I should. Corrupt and cowardly often go hand-in-hand.


Perhaps I will stop here for today I'm fed up just thinking about those trustees that I thought I knew and trusted. And those that I know had criminal pasts.


Until the next time, I wish you brazen foolishness, intelligent insight and the courage to laugh at it all....
I, Praetorian