Jury awards Chula Vista teacher $1 million for gender discrimination

See Laurie Madigan, Leslie Devaney post HERE. For more information, see Madigan at San Diego Education Report Blog. Also see Leslie Devaney.


For the latest news about the Danielle Coziahr case, please go to:
San Diego Education Report.

Chula Vista Elementary needs new trustees!

A message from Russell and Alice Coronado about the SDCOE meeting to discuss grassroots proposals for geographic "Trustee Areas" for the school boards of Chula Vista Elementary School District and Sweetwater Union High School District:

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: January 9th (4:00pm) at 6401 Linda Vista Road, San Diego, CA, 92111 (County Office of Education Board Room)!


The San Diego County Board of Education (Committee on School District Organization) will hold a special meeting at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, January 9, 2008, to consider the grassroots proposals for geographic "Trustee Areas" for the school boards of Chula Vista Elementary School District and Sweetwater Union High School District. The Board MAY VOTE AT THIS MEETING WHETHER OR NOT TO PLACE THE PROPOSALS ON THE NOVEMBER 2008 BALLOT!


IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO SHARE YOUR OPINION WITH THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION! You may send a letter of support (instructions below) or ATTEND THE JANUARY 9 MEETING TO SPEAK TO THE BOARD!


As you know, our two school boards currently have 8 of their 10 members residing in the Bonita area! If "trustee areas" are adopted by South County voters at a future election, the Western, Southern and Central areas of these 2 HUGE Districts would be guaranteed to ALSO have a school board member residing in their communities, in addition to the Northern and Eastern areas of the Districts where ALL 10 of the school board members currently reside!


NOTE: The County Office of Education would be responsible for officially mapping each school district into 5 equally proportionate population-based "trustee areas" prior to placing the items on the ballot for a public vote. Voters from the entire school district would still vote for the candidate of their choice from each trustee area (as required by Education Code). A candidate seeking election to the school board would compete against residents of their same general community, allowing for a more FAIR COMPETITION than the current system allows.


LET'S GIVE A VOICE TO PEOPLE FROM ALL CORNERS OF OUR DISTRICTS!


LET'S SHOW THAT ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES FROM DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS CAN CONTINUE TO WORK TOGETHER FOR THE COMMON GOOD OF CHILDREN - AND BE MORE ACCESSIBLE AND RESPONSIVE TO THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS THEY REPRESENT!


THE COUNTY BOARD NEEDS TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO SEE THIS PROPOSAL PLACED ON THE BALLOT!


PLEASE either MAIL or CALL or EMAIL A LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE CVESD AND SUHSD PROPOSALS FOR TRUSTEE AREAS!
- "Sample Letter" Attached if you want to use it as a model...feel free to use the letter as is, or put into your own words.
- EMAILS ARE BELOW
- See mailing addresses below.


You can E-MAIL the County Board of Education Members ("Committee on School District Organization") directly at the listed emails:
Nick Aguilar
Board Member, Second District
phone: (858) 292-3609 email: naguilar@sdcoe.net


Sharon C. Jones
Board Member, Third District
Phone: (858) 292-3609 Email: shrnjones@sdcoe.net


Susan Hartley
Board Member, Fifth District
phone: (858) 292-3609 email: shartley@sdcoe.net


Robert J. Watkins
Board Member, Fourth District
phone: (858) 292-3609 email: bwatkins@rjwatkins.com


John Witt
Board Member, First District
phone: (858) 292-3609 email: jwitt@sdcoe.net



- OR -


MAIL the County Committee (County Board of Education)...see attached word document.
(One signed letter with all board member names listed is fine; you can put a little note asking the secretary to copy the letter for each board member.)


ADDRESS THE ENVELOPE AS FOLLOWS:


Marcia Buompensiero, Executive Assistant
San Diego County Board of Education
6401 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111-7399


- OR -


If you wish to CALL and leave a message for the Board members, contact:
Marcia Buompensiero, Executive Assistant to the Board, Phone: (858) 292-3515, mbuompensiero@sdcoe.net


Please FORWARD this Message! THANK YOU!


***For more information on the proposals to create community representation on our school boards, please visit WWW.SCCFEA.COM (South County Community for Educational Accountability)***
Please email any questions you have about this issue to akcoronado@cox.net

A plea to San Francisco 49ers player Alex Smith

Dear Alex:
You are a hero for starting a foundation to help foster kids when they turn eighteen.

I know you could be a hero to kids and adults in Chula Vista Elementary School District where your mom is on the school board.

She's been under the influence of extreme right-wingers Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham for many years. I don't know why Pamela Smith calls herself a Democrat, because she always votes with Pat and Larry, no matter what.

She should be ashamed of herself for voting to non-reelect teacher Danielle Coziahr. A first-year principal got it into his head that he had a right to fire a teacher for having a young child and then having the nerve to get pregnant--and everyone in the top echelons of the district went along with it--including your mom. Doesn't your mom know that you can't legally agree to something like this? Well, of course she does.

Tonight the rest of the board will vote to appeal the decision made by the jury last Friday.

Please ask your mom to do the right thing, to apologize to Danielle, and to settle the lawsuit instead of appealing it.

CVESD can't seem to tell the difference between good teachers and a bad teachers

A Tale of Two Lawsuits

LARKINS V. CVESD
(Castle Park Elementary 2001-2005) See photo above, with teachers Peggie Myers and Karen Snyder standing together, and the famous Robin Donlan seated.

COZIAHR V. CVESD
(Silverwing Elementary 2006-2007)

After its bad experience with dishonest teachers who banded together at Castle Park Elementary, Chula Vista Elementary School District's Lowell Billings and Tom Cruz were less open than they should have been to a petition from fourteen honest teachers at Silverwing Elementary.

The teachers union, Chula Vista Educators, had worked closely with the district to make sure that teachers at Castle Park Elementary covered up illegal actions and committed perjury during depositions in the Maura Larkins case. After the union and the district committed these crimes together, there was a close bond between union leaders and CVESD administrators. That bond continues. The core agreement of the bond between CVE and CVESD seems to be "Politics trumps legality every time."

If Danielle Coziahr, whose case against CVESD is in court right now, had spent her time promoting the union instead of making lesson plans and collaborating with other teachers, the union would have fought hard for her job.

The union would have fought as hard as it did for Robin Donlan and current CVE president Peggie Myers, two of the Castle Park Elementary troublemakers. When the district decided it wanted some law and order to return to Castle Park, it transferred Donlan, Myers and three other teachers. The union wouldn't have it. CVE past presidents Gina Boyd and Jim Groth made a huge stink. They were determined that teachers who committed crimes and teachers who covered them up should not suffer the indignity of transfer to another school.

But of course, the district was completely dishonest when it said that instructional techniques were Danielle Coziahr's problem. The problem was that she had one young child, and was expecting another. She had "childcare issues." That's why she was chosen for non-reelection. She was marked for serious consideration on the day that her new principal met her. And her fate was sealed when that principal found out she was pregnant.

The latest on the Danielle Cozaihr case

For the latest news about the Danielle Coziahr case, please go to:
San Diego Education Report.

Do Diane Crosier and Keenan and Associates corrupt San Diego county schools?

See also Laurie and Mike Madigan at San Diego Education Report Blog. Also see Leslie Devaney.


Thanks to people like San Diego County Office of Education's Diane Crosier, insurance companies and brokers like Keenan and Associates are able to overrule public entities who might want to obey the law. Public entites (and private entities like Kaiser Permanente)are provided by Keenan and Associates with a list of lawyers who use cheap tricks to avoid the law.

Public entities should be allowed to choose ethical lawyers.

Here is an article from lawsuitabuse.blogspot.com about Diane Crosier, director of SDCOE-JPA and SDCOE's Office of Risk Management.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Lawsuit abuse by Dan Shinoff, Leslie Devaney, and Diane Crosier may have reached an all-time high in 2007. Leslie Devaney felt right at home in Cheryl Cox territory (Chula Vista), where she got the taxpayers to pay a big settlement to get rid of Laurie Madigan, the wife of a developer who was suspected of steering work to her husband's friends. You may remember Madigan as the woman who took sick leave BECAUSE SHE WAS AFRAID SHE MIGHT GET SICK BECAUSE SHE WAS BEING INVESTIGATED FOR A CONFLICT OF INTEREST. While collecting full sick pay, she continued with her evening teaching job.

Then there's Dan Shinoff, who helped make a mess of MiraCosta College at the same time he helped Victoria Munoz gain a life of leisure and luxury at the taxpayers' expense.

Here's what San Diego Union Tribune columnist Logan Jenkins says about the deal MiraCosta made with Victoria Munoz Richart to get her to resign as president. She'd long been working closely with Dan Shinoff to wreak havoc with the district's finances and human resources.

Logan Jenkins admires Victoria Richart's fabulous settlement with MiraCosta

Not everyone can waste two million dollars of precious education funds, and then be rewarded with another million in taxpayer funds. Victoria Munoz Richart of MiraCosta College, under the guidance of education attorney Dan Shinoff, did just that.

Yesterday, Logan Jenkins of the San Diego Union Tribune wrote:


"I don't know what element of the settlement to admire more.

"The $650,000 in “damages”? (You help blow up the place and then collect for your theoretical injury at the hands of dissident board members who may have illegally dissed your leadership. Fabulous!)

"Indemnification in all future lawsuits? (You walk away clean, no harm, no foul – forever!)

"The confidentiality clause? (All lips are sealed. No snitching!)

"Though not highlighted in the press, one clause of the settlement struck us as especially brilliant.

"If the college fails to pony up the dough by next Saturday, you'll “remain as Superintendent/President until those payments are made.”

"Talk about striking the fear of God into your marks. Pay me or I'll . . . stay!

"Madam president, you must be very tired, but deliriously happy."

Diane Crosier, director of the San Diego County Office of Education--Joint Powers Authority continues to steer the school districts of San Diego county to Shinoff and Devaney's firm, Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz. Superintendent Randy Ward refuses to cough up public records of how much money Diane Crosier channels to Stutz. In fact, SDCOE tries to put very little information in writing about its relationship with Stutz. As Terry Ryan revealed at a Grossmont Union High School District board meeting several months ago, Crosier has a "gentlemen's agreement" with Stutz. Isn't that nice for them? But not so nice for the public which pays the secret bills.

The Danielle Coziahr case against CVESD

Click here for the latest report on Danielle Cozaihr v. CVESD from San Diego Education Report.

San Diego Union Tribune letter about Cheryl Cox and Lincoln Club

Was it an immaculate conception?
Susan Watry
November 9, 2007
One has to find comfort in the recent filing of a complaint with the Chula Vista Board of Ethics regarding the San Diego Lincoln Club’s use of the city logo on its web site.

While it remains to be seen what will happen to the complaint, it made the public aware of the cast of characters in this caper. First there were the guests of honor, Mayor Cheryl Cox and Councilman John McCann, then there were the hosts, Kevin O’Neill who is a local developer who sits as Chairman of the Growth Management Oversight Committee, Dan Hom, who was on our Planning Commission for years and a one time city Council candidate but is currently the public relations guru for Bill Ostrem in his effort to build some 500 homes on the KOA Campground, and Jim Pieri who is building the Gateway and who wanted to build Espanada - with the new mayor he may still be hoping.

It did not go unnoticed that McCann had canceled a meeting with the neighborhood group opposing the KOA proposed housing development in order to attend this fundraiser. The fact that Dan Hom was co-hosting didn’t ease their fears.

Cox said that after learning about it she called T. J. Zane at the San Diego Lincoln Club to ask him to remove it, McCann said he never saw the announcement (It was a fund raiser for him), O’Neill, Hom and Pieri said also they hadn’t seen it - truly an immaculate conception!

The Lincoln Club played a huge part in electing Cheryl Cox by attacking Steve Padilla repeatedly with slick mailers. There is more than a little worry that they intend to “help” Cheryl get what she wants during her tenure. This is unfair to Chula Vista residents.

Who's best at hiding the truth? CVESD or Capistrano?

From San Diego Education Report Blog:


Chula Vista Elementary isn't the only secrective school board
Chuck Wheeler writes, at Dissent the Blog:

Ah, but infamy is fleeting. It looks like the Capo school district’s board are the new paragons of arrogance, incompetence, and secrecy. Check out this morning's LA Times: "Capistrano Unified secret meetings criticized":

"Capistrano Unified School District trustees routinely violated the state's open-meetings law, discussing in secret topics such as construction contracts, how to silence a district critic and ways to prepare parents for bad news about schools, all of which should have been debated in public, according to a report released by the Orange County district attorney's office Tuesday.

"Trustees tried to keep the community from participating in district decision-making and to manipulate public opinion, the report said.

"'That such discussions are undertaken in secret by a body charged with the community's most important obligation, to adequately educate its young, is nothing short of disturbing,' said the report by Assistant Dist. Atty. William J. Feccia.

"The 58-page report is the latest blow to the beleaguered southern Orange County district, which this year saw its former superintendent and another top administrator indicted on felony charges of using public funds to influence an election and create an enemies list. Although the alleged violations of the state's open-meeting law do not meet the bar for criminal prosecution, if the district disputes the findings, prosecutors could file a lawsuit to prove the violations occurred, the report said.

"…Though most of the district's 56 schools are well-regarded, its trustees and administrators have been mired in conflicts in recent years. Critics have loudly protested the location of a new high school, opposed attendance boundary changes and fought construction of a $35-million administration complex while hundreds of classes were being held in aging portables…."


http://dissenttheblog.blogspot.com/


The full Los Angeles Times article is at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-capo10oct10,1,3975985.story?coll=la-editions-orange&ctrack=1&cset=true

CVE's Peggie Myers takes care of #1

From San Diego Education Report Blog:

For CVE President Peggie Myers, it's all about what's best for #1
Anyone who has listened to Chula Vista teacher Peggie Myers rant regularly about uncooperative students must have been shocked to learn that Ms. Myers didn't think her daughter should have to attend class when a standardized test was being given.

Logical consistency is apparently not something Ms. Myers strives for.

Myers' behavior, particularly the behavior that earned her a place among the "Castle Park Five," indicates that she thinks her students should obey her, but she shouldn't have to take direction from any principal.

In May 2005, the San Diego Union Tribune reported:

"Parent Peggie Myers said her daughter, also a junior, was afraid she'd be unable to get the letters of recommendation she needed for her application to Columbia University's summer school program, which she was in the process of applying for last week. "The pressure these kids are under is ridiculous. It's out of control," Myers said. "Something has to give, and it can't be the emotional health of our children." "So no, I didn't want her taking the standardized tests," Myers said. "It's not going to get her into a better college."" (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040505/news_6m5tests.html)

Ms. Myers was outraged when the CVESD superintendent called her in and told her she was being transferred in August 2004 in order to improve the educational program. She claimed it was a violation of the contract that she not be given a more specific reason.

But it didn't bother her one bit that another teacher was transferred without any meeting with the superintendent, and absolutely no reason given. In fact, the transfer was done to aid the cover-up of illegal actions by members of the Castle Park Five. In that matter, Myers was represented by Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz.

Sadly, Myers has climbed her way to the top of Chula Vista Educators, thanks to assistance from Jim Groth. (She is president; he preceded her in that position.) The two of them have repeatedly shown themselves willing to discard the contract and the law in order to achieve power for themselves.

CVESD's own Jim Groth tells it like it is--sort of

From San Diego Education Report Blog:

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Jim Groth's October report to San Diego teachers
Jim Groth of the California Teachers Association Board of Directors (and Chula Vista Elementary School District) likes to explain how things work at CTA--leaving out some important facts. Here are some snippets from his October 2007 report entitled, appropriately enough, "Power and Resources."

1) Jim says:

"Legal Services is 3.6% of CTA dues. Legal Services provides CTA members and Chapters with comprehensive legal protection."

What Jim doesn't say:

"The 'comprehensive legal protection' only applies to teachers who are in favor with Beverly Tucker, the CTA chief counsel. These include child molesters like Albert Truitt, and probationary teachers who flunk exams, but not victims of crimes committed by me and my friends, such as the crimes committed at Castle Park Elementary School in CVESD. People like me and Robin Donlan and Peggie Myers are the ones who get the comprehensive protection, not competent, innocent teachers."

2) Jim says:

"Governance is 4.3% of CTA dues. Governance includes all direct membership involvement in the control, operation and direction of CTA."

What Jim doesn't say:

"The salaries of us folks who run the union are none of your business. But someone who will reliably parrot what Beverly Tucker and Carolyn Doggett dictate, and never disturb our board meetings with complaints about illegal actions and actions that harm children, can conceivably become president and live in luxury in Burlingame with a very comfortable income."

3) Jim says:

"The CTA budget is broad and far-reaching. It provides the financial resources so that we can exercise our power..."

What Jim doesn't say:

In this case, I've got to give Jim credit. He said it all.

Libia Gil prevailed at CVESD

Former Superintendent Libia Gil remade the district in her own image, and it has remained the same even though she herself was pushed out in March 2002.

Gil beat the union by co-opting and corrupting its leaders, specifically Jim Groth (currently on the CTA board of directors),Virginia (Gina) Boyd, Tim O'Neill and the board of directors.

They became like her, and achieved her goals instead of the goals they once had. It's no surprise that the Chula Vista Educators union endorsed in Chula Vista's 2006 elections the very same incumbents that it had fought for so many years.

Hearing transcript from CVESD proves perjury

Former Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin had a little trouble sticking to his script at the Office of Administrative Hearings.

Castle Park Elementary teacher Linda Watson swore under oath that she was not one of the two teachers who called Richard Werlin at his home on Saturday night February 10, 2001 and claimed Maura Larkins might kill them. She and current Chula Vista Educators president Jim Groth filed a grievance to prevent Werlin from revealing the truth to Linda Watson's victim.

Werlin agreed to hide Watson's involvement. But a story becomes complicated once you start lying.

Under oath, Werlin revealed that Linda Watson was deeply involved at a very early time in the illegal actions against Maura Larkins.

On page 59 line 14 through page 60 line 5, of the January 6, 2003 Office of Administrative Hearings transcript, Werlin was asked:

Question: And after this [Feb. 12, 2001] meeting with Maura Larkins and others, subsequent to the phone call that you received, did you follow up conducting addition inquiry or investigation at Castle Park?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And can you describe generally what you did?

Answer: We had numerous conversations with the principal where we had an opportunity to ask her about her perception of the relationship that Maura had with Mrs. Hamilton. We also had a chance to speak with Ms. Hamilton again who continued to be very concerned for her welfare, very concerned for her safety, and several other teachers had come up and talked with me wile I was at the site about similar concerns.

Question: Do you recall who some of those teachers were?

Answer: Linda Watson, Rick Denmon, librarian Ms. Scharmach.

More news from Mountain Empire and Patrick Judd

Link: 2008 election results for Patrick Judd

From Jane Swanson's California Teachers Blog:

Pat Judd, superintendent of Mountain Empire School District, has made it clear that hazing of students will not be tolerated. On October 30, 2006, twenty freshman football players were led into a locker room, and had their heads dunked into a toilet while it was flushing.

Eight perpetrators were suspended for three days, and placed on social probation for 30 days. This cost the school some athletic trophies and concession income from football games.

Judd was right. Schools do NOT have to win trophies, but they DO have to teach respect for other human beings. And they DO have to keep students safe.

So why does Judd cover up hazing of teachers by teachers? This type of abuse does tremendous harm to the education system. Abusive teachers rule the roost, and excellent teachers are forced out of schools. Kids see it, and learn from it. Judd was a leader in the cover-up of Castle Park Elementary School criminal hazing in 2001. He used hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to hire lawyers to cover up wrongdoing.

What's the difference between the two cases? Judd couldn't cover up the toilet dunking. He thought he could cover up the teacher hazing.

Beverly Tucker has moved far beyond her pals at the ACLU

Here's an interesting post from CALIFORNIA TEACHERS BLOG by Jane Swanson:

I figured that California Teachers Association and its head counsel Beverly Tucker were just a run-of-the-mill union and run-of-the-mill lawyer: dishonest and abusive to members for two simple reasons: (1) it was in their personal interest; and (2) they knew they could get away with it.

Today I noticed something interesting on the Internet. Beverly Tucker was chosen multiple times to sit on the Board of Directors of the Northern California ACLU.

After some digging, I found that this is the same Beverly Tucker who refused to defend a teacher who was dismissed for filing grievances and a lawsuit!

I am in shock. Was it all an act, Beverly, pretending to be interested in constitutional rights? Was the ACLU a stepping stone for you? Was it all a publicity stunt for CTA?

It's long past time for CVESD and CVE to get out of Castle Park Elementary

Castle Park Elementary has gone from bad to worse over the years.

Teachers interested more in personal power than in the education of children became so bold that they committed crimes and got the teachers union and the district to cover up those crimes at a cost to taxpayers of several $100,000's.

Then these same teachers carried on like innocent victims when five of them were transferred. In the press, they badmouthed the best principal they ever had.

They demonstrated with the help of Chula Vista Educators Presidents Jim Groth, Gina Boyd, and a PTA President who embezzled $20,000. Now, there is no PTA, after two (2!) separate embezzlements.

The school has prevented the English Learner parents from giving their lawfully required input since Ollie Matos left.

Time for a housecleaning, folks.

Why not let Edison Schools come in and put this school in order?

Lawsuit against CTA head counsel Beverly Tucker for spoliatation of documents and perjury

Looking at the evidence presented in Maura Larkins' May 2007 lawusuit against Beverly Tucker and Michael D. Hersh, California Teachers Association lawyers, it appears that these lawyers suborned perjury and destruction of documents to undermine the defamation case of a member of CTA!

I sure hope all unions aren't this unethical. The scary thing is that this union is one of the most powerful in California, right after the prison guards union. They seem to have the same wall of secrecy that prison guards have. I sure would like to see teachers and prison guards working on separate planes. We want different things for our kids and our prisoners.

This case is related to the Robin Donlan/Michael Carlson/Linda Watson Castle Park Elementary case. Tucker and Hersh represented Chula Vista Educators President Gina Boyd, who was a personal friend of Robin Donlan.

“Castle Park Five” teacher Robin Donlan needs our help again!

CVESD teacher Robin Donlan is under investigation by the FBI, SEC, US Justice Department. She needs our help.

Robin Donlan has needed our help many times before:

1. Chula Vista Educators President Gina Boyd was a true friend to Robin Donlan, committing perjury and destroying documents to cover up misdemeanors Donlan committed in 2000 and 2001. Current CVE President Jim Groth helped out with a terrific grievance hoax.

2. Yet again, Gina and Jim proved to be reliable in 2004 when Chula Vista Elementary School District Superintendent Lowell Billings tried to return Castle Park Elementary to normal functioning after the crime wave initiated by Robin. Gina and Jim got the transfer ruled illegal! What a way to help children!

3. Now Robin needs help with a little securities fraud. It seems her husband transferred 700,000 shares of fraudulent stock options to her. Then Robin and Vence Donlan bought the stock and resold it at $7.7 million profit. She’s being investigated by the FBI, SEC, IRS and the Department of Justice. Who will pay Robin’s attorney bills now that her assets are frozen?

4. Cheryl Cox, Pamela Smith, Patrick Judd, Bertha Lopez and Larry Cunningham spent several $100,000's of the public’s money to defend Robin Donlan regarding crimes she committed at CVESD. They are our best hope to save Robin from the claws of justice once again.

5. Also, we hope that Chula Vista Educators will step into the lurch as they have so often before. Monica Sorenson, Joyce Abrams and all the rest of the board of directors have always gone along with instructions from CTA attorney Michael Hersh—and they keep quiet about it, too. There shouldn’t be any problem at all!

6. The Castle Park Family is planning a big rally to raise money for Robin. We hope Bob Filner and Jill Galvez will be there, just like they were for Robin’s 2004 rally.

7. I’m sure former Castle Park PTA presidents Felicia Starr and Kim Simmons won’t miss it. They have nothing to fear now that Bonnie Dumanis has declined to press charges regarding the 2004-2005 embezzlement of $20,000 from the PTA.

It's time to investigate teacher reports of a possible mass shooting at Castle Park Elementary

The CVESD board has refused to investigate teacher reports of a possible mass shooting at Castle Park Elementary.

Superintendent Lowell Billings and board members Cheryl Cox, Patrick Judd, Pam Smith, Larry Cunningham and Bertha Lopez ignored the worries of these teachers for a long time. It's disgraceful that no investigation has ever been done regarding this matter.

New board member David Bejarano has years of experience investigating reports exactly like these. Will you help CVESD, Mr. Bejarano? Will you investigate? The other board members don't seem to take these reports seriously, but what could be more important? The board has demonstrated a troubling level of negligence in this matter.

Innocent Duke Lacrosse Players and CVESD teachers

The case of the three innocent Lacrosse players at Duke University reminds me that schools, law enforcement and the justice system all-too-frequently target the innocent and allow the guilty to continue to do harm.

Duke University is not much different from CVESD. Teachers in both places seem to allow reason and the law to be placed on the back burner when they smell blood.

At Castle Park Elementary and other schools in CVESD, teachers have been quick to condemn the innocent--and elect the guilty (as presidents of Chula Vista Educators (Gina Boyd and Jim Groth) and delegates to NEA (Peggie Myers)).

Something similar happened at Duke University in North Carolina. The Worcester, Massachusetts Telegram and Gazette noted on April 15, 2007, “…88 members of Duke’s faculty …condemned the lacrosse players in a letter published as an ad in the Duke campus newspaper.”

This “Group of 88” so outraged K C Johnson, a professor at Brooklyn College, that he began a blog about the faculty’s response, then about the lack of evidence in the case. He is now being called a hero by the vindicated Lacrosse players.

“[Blogger K C Johnson] didn’t know then that the players were innocent, but he did know that the professors at the university had crossed an ethical line before any of the facts in the case were even known,” writes the Telegram.

That ethical line continues to be crossed in CVESD.

An Open Letter to David Bejarano

An Open Letter to David Bejarano
Former Police Chief of San Diego and US Marshall

When Patrick Judd interviewed you for the open Chula Vista Elementary School District board position on January 23, 2007, he asked you, “If a board member feels strongly about a matter, but his/her position is not supported by the Board, how should this trustee conduct him/herself?”

The correct answer was words to the effect of, “I will keep my mouth shut.”

You must have passed with flying colors. Pat Judd and the rest of the board expect you to keep silent when the board commits crimes and other violations of law. In recent years, every single board member has been willing to authorize, aid and abet
CVESD's illegal actions.

But is this an appropriate mode of behavior for a former Police Chief of San Diego and former US Marshall?

No, it’s not. It’s a crime for ANYBODY to authorize, aid and abet any crime. But for a former high-level law enforcement officer, it’s egregious.

Many people with higher political ambitions have joined the CVESD board, including your processor, Cheryl Cox. I’m guessing that you are similarly motivated.

May I suggest that you lead the corrupt CVESD board away from its current policy of maintaining a wall of silence and lies, where politics rules at every level, causing bad employees to be given positions of power and good employees to be pushed out, no matter how many laws are violated?

CVESD has behaved like our current US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose office tried to turn the US Federal Courts into a Bush political machine. It was a partisan, un-American campaign to bring the federal judiciary under political control. Karl Rove claims to have “lost” thousands of emails regarding this matter. Did he get lessons from CVESD? CVESD appears to have “lost” documents, too. In addition, CVESD forced teachers to commit perjury to cover-up the alteration of documents, and even pressured
law enforcement officers to commit perjury. I would like to see CVESD to come clean and root out the deep corruption created by Pat Judd’s current board majority (with the aid of the teachers union, Chula Vista Educators and CTA) and repair the damage done to children and schools by the current board majority.

For too long, CVESD has placed the rule of law and the wellbeing of children on the back burner. It’s time for a housecleaning and change in focus at CVESD.

By the way, Mr. Bejarano, Patrick Judd didn’t mention illegal actions in his question, so you wouldn’t be breaking your promise to keep silent. Anyone would assume that “a matter” meant “a matter of opinion,” not a violation of the law.

Blog reports Chula Vista Police Department efforts to cover up crimes related to Cheryl Cox

Today Maura Larkins's CVESD Reporter Blog reports Chula Vista Police Department 2005-06 efforts on behalf of Cheryl Cox to cover up wrongdoing at CVESD:

Chula Vista is not the place to go if you are looking for equal protection of the law. It makes a big difference to the CVPD if you're a Republican or Democrat. Republicans like Cheryl Cox get help from the CVPD in covering up crimes and other wrongdoing.

On the other hand, a Democratic employee of the City of Chula Vista who took two hours off work to spy on a Cheryl Cox fundraiser has been charged by Bonnie Dumanis with perjury for not admitting he was doing political work on the job.

There's a lot of political work being done on the job in Chula Vista, but you don't hear much about the work done by Republicans in the police department.

The Chula Vista Police Department is a friend of Cheryl Cox, who was a Chula Vista Elementary school board member before she was elected mayor. The CVPD failed for over a year to investigate a financial crime at Castle Park Elementary School reported in 2005. Why? The CVPD has a knee-jerk policy of covering up wrongdoing by Cheryl Cox and Chula Vista Elementary School District.

In 2006 I pursued a public records request for months before the CVPD admitted that it had a record of a police visit to Castle Park Elementary on April 21, 2001. When they decided I wasn't likely to go away, I finally received a copy of the Castle Park Elementary School "call" report.*

But the Chula Vista Police Department was doing a lot more than illegally hiding public records in its efforts to support Cheryl Cox's campaign for mayor of Chula Vista in 2006.

Between 2000 and 2006 a long string of crimes had been committed at Castle Park Elementary. Cheryl Cox and CVESD committed bigger and bigger crimes to prevent the exposure of earlier, smaller crimes and violations of law committed at Castle Park Elementary in 2000 and 2001.

See "Castle Park Elementary," "Teacher Reports," and "Law Enforcement" at MAURALARKINS.COM (link available on this blog's link list).

In 2005-2006, the most newsworthy crime being covered up by the CVPD and the media to protect Cheryl Cox and the CVESD school board was the embezzlement of about $20,000 from the Castle Park Elementary PTA.

Apparently fearing that this crime would eventually become public knowlege, perhaps because it was being reported by this blog and the San Diego Education Report website, the Chula Vista Police Department seems to have developed a plan in November 2006 to create the appearance that it was no longer covering up the embezzlement. Of course, by November 7, 2006, the election was over. The cover-up was successful. Larry Cunningham crowed that voters had seen throught the lies of his opponents. The truth is that the voters saw almost nothing because Larry and Cheryl had spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to cover up crimes and other violations of law at CVESD.

The police asked former Castle Park PTA president Kim Simmons to come in the CVPD office, where she was interviewed and arrested. Was Simmons arrested after a careful investigation? No, the CVPD does not carefully investigate incidents that might embarrass Cheryl Cox and the school board. CVPD arrested Kim Simmons simply to create the impression that they weren't covering up Castle Park crimes, and passed on their humble efforts to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

What did Bonnie Dumanis do? Prosecute the crime? Not likely. Just as she had refused to prosecute CVESD Assistant Superintedent Richard Werlin for obstruction of justice, she also refused to prosecute Kim Simmons.

Why? Maybe because Kim Simmons knew too much about crimes at Castle Park Elementary.

Did I mention that Kim Simmons was a close friend of transferred teacher Robin Donlan, a member of a powerful teacher clique at Castle Park Elementary that received a great deal of support form local papers when she and several other teachers were transferred out of the school?

Robin Donlan and her friends created a bizarre brouhaha, in which they and the media attacked the principal of Castle Park Elementary without ever mentioning the crimes of which Donlan had been accused. The truth was that the principal was attacked for daring to challenge the authority of the "family" that had created a crime wave at the school.

In October 2004, Kim Simmons entered a Castle Park Elementary classroom, and asked to use the school phone during class time so she could call up Robin Donlan and ask for instructions on how to proceed with her attacks on the principal of the school. The teacher gave permission, and took the opportunity to explain to her students that she was "mad at the principal." (There has been a dearth of professionalism at Castle Park Elementary since this "Castle Park Family" teacher group took over.)

Kim Simmons, along with Gina Boyd, the president of the teacher union, and school site council President Felicia Starr were working with transferred teacher Robin Donlan to get rid of the first principal who had had the nerve to stand up to the arbitrary power of the group of teachers who ruled the school.

What was Cheryl Cox's role in all this? She and all the other board members authorized the payment of hundreds of thousands of public dollars to Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz law firm to represent Robin Donlan and cover up the crimes initiated by her and Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin and several other CVESD officers and employees in 2000 and 2001. After fostering perjury and other crimes, and using huge sums of public money to keep bad teachers in power, Cheryl Cox ran for mayor on a platform of "charater" and "fiscal responsibility."

The San Diego Union Tribune has maintained to this day a complete black-out regarding crimes committed by Robin Donlan, Richard Werlin, Cheryl Cox and others at CVESD. On November 17, 2006 the SDUT published a small article about the arrest of former PTA Kim Simmons. The story immediately went into "partially hidden" status in the Union-Tribunes archives. (If someone does a signonsandiego search for "castle park PTA Simmons," he'll get a message back saying "No articles found.) The article can only be found by leaving "simmons" out of the search. If you already know about Kimberlee Simmons, the San Diego Union Tribune doesn't want you to know more.

Of course, there has been no follow-up to the SDUT story. But there should be--because the story created the false impression that the police were actually intending to do something about crime at Castle Park Elementary. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The police waited until Cox was elected, and then they did their hoax arrest, but Kim Simmons was never charged with anything.

When wil the SD Union Tribune publish the full story, revealing Kim Simmons' close association to Robin Donlan and the "Castle Park Five"? When will the San Diego Union Tribune apologize for so maliciously attacking the honorable and decent principal of Castle Park Elementary on behalf of Robin Donlan, Kim Simmons, and the rest of their clique, after the group was found to be responsible for yet another crime after the SDUT had written so much on its behalf? How about it, Don Sevrens?

The SDUT November 2006 story about Simmons arrest was published to create the impression that Bonnie Dumanis and the Chula Vista Police Department are not covering up crimes involving Cheryl Cox and Castle Park Elementary School. It appears that Simmons wasn't really the fall guy; she was actually the pretend fall guy.

Bonnie Dumanis, why don't you investigate the use of public resources for political purposes at CVPD? Why don't you investigate crimes at Chula Vista Elementary School District, including perjury by Cheryl Cox and Robin Donlan? Or do you only use the public resources under your control to investigate Democrats?


*The police "call' report that was hidden for months by the CVPD revealed Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin's attempt to silence a teacher who had suggested that the media might investigate what was happening at the school in 2001. The teacher clearly knew nothing about the media in San Diego. The San Diego Union Tribune, the Chula Vista Star-News and La Prensa still have not reported those crimes, although all three newspapers have long known about them. These three publications exposed their lack of journalistic ethics when they published a deluge of letters, articles and editorials defending the teacher, Robin Colls/Donlan who initiated the crime wave! All three papers were incensed when Robin Colls was transferred from Castle Park Elementary. Richard Werlin, who called the police when the teacher mentioned the media, didn't correctly estimate the power of his Chula Vista Elementary School Board bosses, including Cheryl Cox, to silence the media. Werlin did go on to achieve a certain amount of notoriety for his use of the police to silence teachers. He had second-grade teacher Jenny Mo arrested in front of her students at his new school district in Richmond, California this year when the teacher went to the media with a story about bullying at her school. Of course, Werlin didn't step up and take the credit/blame for the arrest. He let the principal sit in the hot seat. He took indefinite sick leave from his position.

Cheryl Cox still friendly with Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz and developers

In February 2006 CVESD board member Cheryl Cox announced that she was considering running for mayor because--get this--she has questions about how decisions are being made! How did YOU make the decision to cover up the crimes of Rick Werlin and other employees, Ms. Cox?

Why won't you release public records about how much Dan Shinoff and Mark Bresee have been paid for work on your behalf?
Update: In 2007 CVESD released records of how much it paid directly to Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff. It still has not revealed how much the SDCOE JPA has paid to Stutz on its behalf.

In November 2006, when Cheryl Cox was elected mayor of Chula Vista, I asked if she would continue to cover up wrongdoing.

I can't say that I see a reformed woman. Cox took office in December 2006 and didn't waste much time before funnelling more public money to her favorite law firm, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz--and to the wife of a developer.

On March 9, 2007, Chula Vista Assistant Manager Laurie Madigan's lawyers (Cheryl Cox's former lawyers) completed a deal that Madigan would receive $155,000 and lifetime retirement benefits (for about four years of work) in exchange for her resignation. She was being investigated for a conflict of interest regarding her developer husband. Cox says that the agreement was made to prevent a lawsuit. She says, "It's all very blurry because I didn't know who was working for whom or what the relationship might be." Cheryl Cox has a long history of pretending not to understand wrongdoing when she authorizes it. Blurriness seems to be her defense for everything.

From mauralarkins.com/CVESD.html.

See also Laurie and Mike Madigan at San Diego Education Report Blog. Also see Leslie Devaney.