CVESD REPORT

Chula Vista bully Cheryl Cox joins Ben Hueso for anti-bully posturing

2011-03-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the reasons that schools fail to stop bullying is that many of the individuals charged with stopping it are bullies themselves. Cheryl Cox is a prime example. She authorized $100,000s of tax dollars to pay lawyers to cover up bullying by teachers at Castle Park Elementary. When the bullying got worse and worse, the district finally decided to transfer bullies and their supporters. Then the bullies turned on the very people who had helped them.

March 14 2011
Assemblymember Calling For Bullying Awareness in California Schools

Today Assemblymember Ben Hueso announces a state resolution (ACR 22) to declare March as California School Bullying Awareness Month. The resolution urges school districts to discuss the issue of bullying and methods of preventing it in California schools. Hueso will be joined by Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox, Dr. Francisco Escobedo, Superintendent of Chula Vista Elementary School District, and Otay Elementary School’s first and fifth grade students and parents.

“School bullying statistics show that 77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally and physically almost on a daily basis. These statistics are increasingly viewed as an important contributor to youth violence, including homicide and suicide. In fact, bullying statistics point to revenge as the strongest motivator for school shootings,” said Hueso. “Commemorating March as California School Bullying Awareness Month is an important step to ensure that this issue stays at the forefront of discussions in schools, local communities and at the Capitol.”

ACR 22 will be presented on the Assembly Floor Friday, March 25 by Hueso along with students from El Toyon Elementary School, located in National City, CA.

Can you spot the applicant without an agenda among the 23 applicants for CVESD board appointment?

2009-01-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: DOUG LUFFBOROUGH WAS CHOSEN AS CVESD'S NEW BOARD MEMBER.

[Photo: CVESD board in November 2008]

The following post is taken from San Diego Education Report:

Is there an applicant on the list below who has the courage to stand up to corrupt CVESD attorney Dan Shinoff and his loyal board members?

Board members Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham are Mr. Shinoff's longtime champions, and have approved his many illegal actions on their behalf. In fact, Shinoff gets paid to intimidate whistleblowers and anyone else who threatens to reveal the shady side of CVESD.

MiraCosta College trustees got a big sampling of Shinoff's techniques on June 20, 2007 when Mr. Shinoff worked long into the night pressuring unwilling trustees to sign a $1.6 million settlement for his pal President Victoria Richart.

Perhaps Mr. Shinoff wanted to keep Victoria Richart happy so she would remain silent about his role in the $1.5 million investigation $305 worth of stolen palm trees.

The $1.5 million spent on the investigation by Shinoff and Richart, some of which went to Shinoff, was not expended because they and the board were interested in palm trees. The once-enormous collection of palm trees has dwindled severely: the few trees that have not died of neglect are now barely clinging to life. The real reason that Shinoff and Richart spent $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars was to wage war against the MiraCosta faculty and administrators who supported them.

Perhaps Mr. Shinoff simply wanted to reward Ms. Richart for her work. This explanation would be consistent with the theory that Daniel Shinoff uses "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu as his guide in the practice of law. In this theoretical scenario, Mr. Shinoff would have been guided by chapter II, paragraph 16 in Sun Tzu's book: "Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards." If you want loyal soldiers in your war against your enemy (in this case, the enemy was the faculty), you must reward them, right?

Unfortunately, Shinoff and Richart ignored the Sun Tzu's warning: "...if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain."

But getting back to the choice that Shinoff's pals on the CVESD board will soon be making:

Who is there on the list below who has the desire and the strength to say no to Daniel Shinoff's illegal games? I don't know. It would be nice if such a person would identify himself/herself to Chris Moran at the San Diego Union Tribune. This might cause Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham to immediately nix the applicant's appointment, but it would put the applicant in a good spot for the next election. At that time such a person might unseat Pamela Smith or Larry Cunningham.

School board gets 23 applications for single vacancy
By Chris Moran
San Diego Union Tribune
January 3, 2009

CHULA VISTA — The Chula Vista Elementary School District has received 23 applications to fill a vacant seat on the five-member school board...

Trustee Bertha Lopez vacated her Chula Vista board seat last month after her election to the Sweetwater Union High School District board...

San Ysidro High School Principal Hector Espinoza

former Montgomery High School Principal Mary Anne Stro

former teachers union presidents Frank Cherry and Leroy Petty...

former Chula Vista PTA President Carol Green...

Myllissa McCann, wife of Chula Vista Councilman John McCann...

Douglas Luffborough, executive director of a social-services agency in Chula Vista...

Pamela Bauer-Fischer, attorney.

Jolyn DePriest, former teacher and counselor.

James Doud, former water district board president.

Beatrice Fernandez, San Diego Unified School District parent involvement coordinator.

Mel Lopez, former Chula Vista assistant superintendent.

Hector Martinez, water district manager.

Perry Mathes, cardiovascular engineer for General Electric.

Archie McAllister, substitute teacher.

David McLellan, former telecommunications company employee.

Aurora Murillo-Clark, property manager.

Edalia Olivo-Gomez, environmental specialist for San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

Christopher Shilling, public safety director for Otay Ranch Town Center.

Christian Slike, IBM marketing leader.

Felicia Starr, hospital secretary.

John Vogel, information systems analyst for the city of San Diego.

David Wallace, Chula Vista business owner...

Vietnam school officials control teachers with cruder methods and more demands than US school leaders

2008-12-28T18:46:00.000-08:00

Vietnam whistle-blower suffers for war on graft
Dec 27, 2008
By BEN STOCKING
AP
HANOI, Vietnam

The thugs came after dark, as Do Viet Khoa and his family were getting ready for bed.

He says they punched him, kicked him, stole his camera and terrified his wife and children.

Khoa, a high school math and geography teacher, thinks the message was clear: Stop blowing the whistle on school corruption - or else.

For several years, Khoa has been fighting the petty bribery and cheating that plagues schools across Vietnam, where poorly paid teachers and administrators squeeze money out of even poorer parents.

Vietnam's leaders approved a sweeping anti-corruption law in 2005, but implementation is uneven. The country still ranks poorly on global corruption surveys, and for ordinary Vietnamese, who treasure education, school corruption is perhaps the most infuriating of all.

Few dare to fight it, for fear of retaliation.

A slight, ordinary-looking man from a farming village, 40-year-old Khoa made a dramatic entrance onto the national scene two years ago. He videotaped students cheating on their high school graduation exams while their teachers watched and did nothing. State-owned TV stations played the tape repeatedly.

With TV cameras in tow, Vietnam's education minister went to Khoa's house to hand him a certificate praising his courage. Khoa appeared on Vietnam's version of the Larry King show. The principal of the Van Tao High School, where Khoa has taught since 2000, was transferred.

But back in his farming village of Van Hoa, about 15 miles outside Hanoi, Khoa got anything but a hero's welcome.

Teachers and administrators resented the unflattering spotlight. Even among parents and students, who stood to gain most from Khoa's efforts, few came to his defense.

All the parents wanted was to get their children through school and into jobs, even if they had to cheat to pass their exams, Khoa said.

"The entire community has shunned me," Khoa said. "They harass me on the phone, they send me letters. They say I put my thirst for fame ahead of their children's welfare. Some of them even threatened to kill me."

Thinh Van Nam, 27, a teacher at the school, thinks Khoa has brought his problems on himself.

"Khoa says we isolated him, but it is not true," Nam said. "When someone feels ostracized by his peers, he needs to ask himself why."

Matters escalated last month, when the four men came to Khoa's house - two of them guards at his school, according to news reports. Police are still investigating.

Khoa has also run afoul of the new principal, Le Xuan Trung, after sending a letter to national and local officials alleging that Trung imposed various unfair fees to enrich school staff at parents' expense.

One of Khoa's biggest complaints is the "extra classes" implemented at his school and others across the country, in which regular school teachers tutor students for money.

"If they don't go, the teachers give them bad grades," said Khoa.

A teacher can triple a salary by packing students into the sessions. These cost parents about $6 a week - nearly as much as they earn farming rice.

Principal Trung did not respond to an interview request. But he was quoted in the People's Police newspaper as saying enrollment in the classes is voluntary.

Trung reportedly said Khoa "did not always concentrate on his teaching and follow the school regulations," and "he used his camera and recorder too much, so people did not feel comfortable talking to him."

One man defending the teacher is Vu Van Thuc, whose son goes to the school. "He is raising his voice against these absurd requirements imposed by the school," he said.

"He is really brave," said Giang Xuan Dung, a math teacher. "I admire him for his courage and patience."

Other schools have offered to hire Khoa.

"I thought we should support him," said Van Nhu Cuong, a Hanoi headmaster who tried to hire him. "We really need people who dare to speak out."

Khoa refused because the school is too far from his home.

His wife, Nguyen Thi Nga, worries about her husband's crusade.

"This has caused us a lot of stress," she said. "I wish everyone would join the fight against corruption so that we wouldn't be the odd ones out."

No matter what happens, Khoa said, he won't stop fighting to uphold the ideals of honesty and integrity promoted by the communist revolutionaries who freed Vietnam from colonial rule.

"Many teachers are soiling the image of education," he said. "Corruption is a betrayal of communist ideology and of the country."

Patrick Judd loses, Bertha Lopez wins in CVESD

2008-11-05T14:10:00.001-08:00

Russell Coronado takes Judd's seat in Chula Vista Elementary School District.

Maura Larkins finally provides us with a summary of her case against CVESD

2008-10-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a summary written by Maura Larkins about her case against Chula Vista Elementary School District:

Here's a summary of what happened in my case:

Many people have told me that my case is so complicated that they simply don't understand it. They have asked for a summary, and here it is.

Maura Larkins v. CVESD was the result of an odd confluence of circumstances, and at the same time it was a typical event in the system that prevails at many schools across the United States. This system values politics and personal loyalty among adults over the duty to educate and protect children.

MY EX-SISTER-IN-LAW WANTED TO BE MANAGER OF MY FATHER'S APARTMENTS

I had been teaching at Chula Vista Elementary
School District for 27 years when the problem began.
It started with a family problem: I was
co-administrator of my father's estate,
and one of my brothers was secretly
unhappy about it. He and his ex-wife decided
to use the police to remove me from my position.

MY TROUBLED EX-SISTER-IN-LAW IS TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY THE DISTRICT

I was removed from my classroom
on February 12, 2001 due to a false police report
(see "A False Police Report" on this page)
made by my mentally-ill and substance-abusing
ex-sister-in-law. However, the district didn't
want to admit this, since using the
illegally-obtained police report
(no charges were filed against me)
was a misdemeanor.

THE DISTRICT DECIDES TO COVER-UP ITS MISTAKE

There is no chance that the district
would have been charged with a crime
for its silly little misdemeanor
(Labor Code section 432.7), but the district
decided it would rather spend $100,000s
of tax dollars to pay its lawyers to cover up the mistake
than to simply admit it made a mistake.

THE DISTRICT COMES UP WITH A STORY

The reason given by the district for my removal was that
two teachers had called assistant superintendent Richard Werlin
at home on a Saturday evening and said they believed
I might be about to kill them. Oddly, the district
created NO DOCUMENT at this time to explain
the reason I was removed from my classroom,
nor did it investigate the alarming report.

THE DISTRICT CHANGES ITS STORY

Within a month, the district changed its story,
saying that only one teacher, Jo Ellen Hamilton,
had called Richard Werlin about me. Hamilton later
testified under oath that she had simply called
Werlin at his invitation to discuss a planned meeting.

THE FAX THAT CAUSED CVESD TO DO AN ABRUPT ABOUT-FACE

On April 3, 2001 I sent a
fax to the district. The next day I was abruptly
asked to return to work, and at the
same time the district belatedly
prepared a document to explain why
I had been removed from my classroom
in the first place. The document
contained a new, completely false
accusation by Richard Werlin and
never mentioned the teacher reports.

I GO BACK TO WORK

I went back to teach in April 2001 because
it seemed clear that my accusers had
been deemed unreliable (either crazy
or dishonest or some combination of the two),
and I assumed that the fabricated excuse in
Richard Werlin's document , was merely
an effort by an embarrassed human resources director
to cover up his mistake.

But I was wrong. It was more than a cover-up;
it was, in fact, a set-up.

BIZARRE NEW ALLEGATIONS

A week after returning, Linda Watson, one of the
teachers who had accused me earlier,
and a new accuser who made a written report,
came forward with bizarre allegations.

AN IMPENDING ELECTION CAUSED THE TEACHERS UNION TO ABANDON ITS OBLIGATIONS

I did not know it at the time, but the teachers
union, Chula Vista Educators, was
working with my accuser Linda Watson. CVE President
Gina Boyd had worked at my school until 1995, and
although she did not share the motivations
of her friends at Castle Park Elementary,
she was running for reelection and felt she
needed to keep them happy in order to win.
This effort was supported by California Teachers
Association Board of Directors member Jim Groth.

Richard Werlin, with the approval of the cabinet
(including Libia Gil and Lowell Billings),
had triggered an all-out hysteria at my school.
Two staff members told me that many teachers were afraid
that I was "going to come to school and shoot everybody.”

DISTRICT DOESN'T BOTHER TO INVESTIGATE MASS MURDER RUMOR THAT CAUSES HYSTERIA AMONG TEACHERS

Without making any effort to
establish that a Columbine-type
event was not in the offing, the
district demanded that I come back
to work in September of 2001. This
time I refused.

My lawyer demanded an investigation
to clear my name and cool down the crucible
that Castle Park Elementary had become, but
the district refused. It was clear that anyone
could make any accusation against me, and it
would be believed and acted on: I was not
safe at work.

SCHOOL ATTORNEY MARK BRESEE GETS HELP FROM DANIEL SHINOFF

Attorney Mark Bresee, who was then working with
Parham & Rajcic and was recently chosen as chief counsel
for Terry Grier at SDUSD, had been giving legal advice
to CVESD up to this point.

When I filed a tort claim on October 4, 2001, attorney Diane Crosier and claims adjuster Rodger Hartnett of San Diego County Office of Education Joint Powers Authority, along with their favorite attorney, Daniel Shinoff of Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, became involved.

THE DISTRICT RETALIATES WHEN I FILE GRIEVANCES

I filed 3 grievances on November 13, 2001. The very next day the
district threatened me with dismissal. This was a violation of
the Elementary Education Relations Act (EERA) and other laws.

The district took no action on its
threats, however, until I filed a
lawsuit on March 12, 2002. On May
7, 2002 Patrick Judd, Cheryl Cox,
Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez and
Larry Cunningham voted to dismiss
me, thus violating California Labor
Code section 1102.5 which prohibits
retaliation against employees for
reporting wrongdoing. This was also
a violation of the constitutional right
to petition for redress of grievances.

THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS SEEMS TO HAVE A GIFT FOR COMEDY

My dismissal was upheld by the
Office of Administrative Hearings.
Judge H. James Ahler conducted
a hearing that was almost as comical
as it was illegal. At one point
Judge Ahler jumped up and
ordered the panelists to join him in a
side room, where he told them to
disregard my testimony. I heard his
words because I was sitting on the
witness stand a few feet from him.
The court reporter and all the rest of us
sat at attention during the ten
minutes the panel was in the little
room, but the judge's words were
not included in the transcript
because the reporter couldn't hear
them.

The school district spent many tax
dollars, and the California Teachers
Association spent plenty of teachers'
dues, to get my lawsuit thrown out.
Perjury by employees was also
required, but the effort seemed to pay off
for the district and CTA when my lawsuit was
dismissed in 2005.

DISTRICT LAWYERS BRING THE CASE BACK TO COURT IN 2007

As fate would have it, however, my case
is back in court. CVESD’s law firm,
Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz,
brought this case back to San Diego Superior Court
in 2007 by filing a defamation suit against me
for publishing this website.

So it’s still possible that justice and sanity
will find their way back to Chula Vista Elementary
School District.

by Maura Larkins

Mary's garden grows quite well, but Nancy Kerwin's has a bare spot

2008-06-19T12:30:00.001-07:00

Mary Guzman (far Left, holding check), a fourth grade teacher at Valley Vista Elementary, received a $1,200 school garden grant from the California Fertilizer Foundation at an all school assembly on Monday, May 19, 2008. Principal Gloria McKearney helped Mary hold the check.

Nancy Kerwin, the Chula Vista Elementary School District’s Executive Director of Student, Family, and Community Services and Support stood behind them.

UPDATE:
Jan. 13, 2008
It seems that Nancy Kerwin's smile in the above photo might have had more than one cause. A month before the photo was taken, Nancy apparently got someone she didn't like, Dale Parent, demoted. Dale Parent's lawsuit may be found HERE.

No blaming the parents and community at this middle School

2008-06-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

Keillor Leadership Academy in southeast San Diego improved its test scores.

By EMILY ALPERT
June 10, 2008
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/06/14/education/896keiller061008.txt
"A southeast San Diego charter school has quietly done the improbable, becoming one of only two California middle schools to pull itself out of No Child Left Behind's purgatory...

"It's so easy to blame the parents, or the community" for low achievement, Executive Director Patricia Ladd said. "All those things we can't control. We have to take things as they are and stop the blame game."

"Keiller's director attributes many of its reforms, including its changed culture and new focus on vocabulary, to the freedom it enjoys after converting into a charter school. Charters are independently run but publicly funded schools that are not bound by school district rules..."

Richard Werlin has surfaced again

2008-06-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Richard Werlin has surfaced again
After causing big problems in Chula Vista and Richmond, the amazing Richard Werlin has gotten himself hired in Compton, by none other than his old pal at WCCCUSD, Kay Burnside.

And Kelly Angell, who helped get a lawsuit against Werlin regarding criminal actions thrown out of court on technical grounds, without any findings of fact, is now an employee of Fagen, Friedman and Fullfrost.

Is it a small world, or do certain people just come together naturally? Or both?

Here's the article I found:

School Board [Compton Unified School District] Considers Fourth Audit of District Operations
May 14, 2008
By Allison Jean Eaton

"...Last month, the school board supported three other similar audits at a total cost of $46,000 in the areas of human resources and personnel services, legal services and fiscal services, the latter of which will include an in-depth look at facilities funding and the affect it has on the district’s overall financial status.

"Consultant Richard Werlin is being paid $6,600 to audit the human resources and personnel services department. The Los Angeles-based law firm of Fagen, Friedman & Fulfrost is studying the district’s legal services at a cost of $9,600...

"Superintended Kaye Burnside Ed.D., who officially took the helm of Compton Unified March 1, is exercising an “administrative best practice,” according to district Communications Director Christine Sanchez..."

from Jane Swanson blog

Bilingual education rejected at Castle Park Elementary

2008-06-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Why has Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista had 11 principals in 11 years?

Because of the bilingual program. And because past is prologue.

The serious problems at Castle Park Elementary started when the bilingual program was introduced in 1994. Many teachers were furious, and took out their anger on the single bilingual teacher who came that year to teach kindergarten. The result? She was dismissed at the end of the year by a district whose policy is to not make any effort to determine why a teacher has been targeted for dismissal; district administrators allow school politics to make those decisions.)

The bilingual program added a teacher a year until it had a final total of four bilingual teachers in September 1997.

The program was sagotaged by the many teachers who refused to allow bilingual classes into their teaming arrangements.

Rae Correira, a district administrator who tried to arrange teaming in the 1997-1998 school year was suddenly transferred to a different job in the middle of the year.

The teachers ran the school. The principal did exactly what teacher leaders told her to do. And that included dismissing another bilingual teacher in 2001 (the dismissal was initiated the day after she filed 3 grievances).

It's June 2008 now, and the teachers have just gotten rid of their 11th principal since the bilingual program started. The twelfth principal in fourteen years will be chosen soon.

by Maura Larkins
Charlotte Blogs

CVESD is suffering from a bad case of "white chalk crime" at Castle Park Elementary

2008-06-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

An Interview with Karen Horwitz: White Chalk Crime
By Michael F. Shaughnessy
Senior Columnist EdNews.org
05/29/2008

1) Karen, you have just written a book entitled "White Chalk Crime" The Real Reason Schools Fail. What prompted you to write this book?

The knowledge that those running our schools have absolute power to control what people can know about our schools prompted me to put together a book that would speak truth to this unbalanced power and thus empower the public to force change.

2) Your book, which is published by BookSurge Publishing out of South Carolina seems to document the issue of " teacher abuse". Could you define " teacher abuse " for us?

Teacher abuse...includes a myriad of ways of silencing educators from tormenting them with false evaluations, setting them up as pariahs amongst their colleagues, to pushing them out of their positions and it serves as an example so other educators will know to just go along with whatever the powers that be want even when it is harmful to children and/or illegal...

This culture of abuse invites the worst in people and does lead to teachers abusing others...

3) Now, what do you mean by "teacher cleansing"?

Teacher cleansing is pushing teachers/educators out of their position and out of the profession by using trumped up charges or setting teachers up to fail with stacked classes, impossible, abusive parents, or inappropriate assignments and using these devious set-up's against them. By blacklisting any teacher who speaks truth to power, any teacher who is a nuisance to EducRAT$ will be cleansed from the profession.

4) What are EDucRat$, and how are they influencing education?

EducRAT$ are unethical, self-serving "leaders," administrators, and board members that use this out-of control power to have their way. They are "rats" whose concern for money ($) and power drives them to take advantage of whatever they can from kickbacks when ordering supplies, to squandering tax funds on legal fees to cleanse excellent teachers out of the system – all forms of White Chalk Crime.

The ways they influence education are obvious. They prioritize their needs and corrupt education to the point that it is dysfunctional. Most significantly, part of this corruption is their ability to make sure the public doesn't know they have corrupted it.

Their power to keep the truth from the public is the single most devastating aspect of all. It has enabled them to escalate their bad acts, while the public remains clueless...

Dysfunction at Castle Park Elementary School and CVESD

2008-05-25T14:42:00.001-07:00

How dysfunctional is Castle Park Elementary School in Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD)?

Well, what do you expect from a school where teacher crimes have been covered up for years at taxpayer expense?

Even in this day of almost universal lamentation over the state of education, Castle Park Elementary stands out.

There are many good teachers on the staff, but the veteran teachers at the school, although they've become smaller in number in recent years, have grown in power. Two veterans of the school have become presidents of Chula Vista Educators (CVE), the teachers union, during the past decade. This was not a coincidence.

The current Chula Vista Educators president, Peggie (Peg) Myers, earned political points for helping former presidents Gina Boyd and Jim Groth to violate every law and rule that had to be violated in order to protect Castle Park Elementary teacher Robin Donlan from having to retract her false allegations and say she was sorry for committing a misdemeanor against Maura Larkins.

Why not just say you are sorry when you hurt someone, you ask?

It would have prevented a lot of harm to children at Castle Park. But that's not how CVE and CVESD operate. They operate in secret, and in tandem, and protecting their power is more important to them than any number of children.

The number of dysfunctional teachers at Castle Park has been reduced, but those that remain have been causing lots of trouble. Nikki Perez has managed to cause big trouble for both principals.

As a result, Principal Carlos Ulloa has now resigned from the school in a manner eerily similar to the way principal Ollie (Olympio) Matos left the school three years ago.

Daniel Shinoff to appeal Danielle Cozaihr court decision

2008-04-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

The Chula Vista Elementary School District board has once again abdicated its responsibility for moral decisionmaking. It has rehired attorney Daniel Shinoff, after an effort for a few years to use less controversial lawyers.

And Daniel Shinoff has decided to appeal the jury verdict won by teacher Danielle Cozaihr against the district.

A jury said the district violated the law.

I believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger's education budget cuts create a smoke screen for bad behavior by districts. CVESD probably won't lay off teachers (we've been through all of this before, when Rick Werlin was in charge of human resources at CVESD in 2003). But when they threaten to do it, everybody feels sorry for the pink slip teachers, and violations of the law against individual teachers don't seem as important any more. The first teacher that CVESD should rehire is Danielle Cozaihr.

But what happened to Danielle Cozaihr is an indicator of what is wrong with education: politcs matters more than kids.

Superintendent Lowell Billings is remarkably lazy. He doesn't pay any attention to what happens at schools until things go wrong. Then he does whatever the principal wants, or he fires the principal and does whatever the ruling clique of teachers wants. He never actually improves anything, just decides who gets fired.

And since the problems arise from a dysfunctional system--not from just one person-- the problems remain.

Larry Cunningham shows his support for Alex Cortes

2008-04-14T15:13:00.001-07:00

CVESD board member Larry Cunningham (right) shows his support for Alex Cortes, proving that a little gender discrimination isn't a problem for Mr. Cunningham. What does he care about the opinion of the San Diego Superior Court?

Feaster Elementary v. Lowell Billings and Daniel Shinoff

2008-04-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

See all Lowell Billings posts at CVESD Reporter.
See all Daniel Shinoff posts at San Diego Education Report.

from CVESD Reporter
by Maura Larkins

Chula Vista Elementary School District's Superintendent Lowell Billings apparently watched closely and learned from his predecessor Libia Gil, who promoted a system she called "site-based management." Billings continues to promote the system.

But the system as implemented at CVESD always involved top-down decisionmaking, never democracy at the school site.

It also involved laziness and neglect. So things would often get out of hand at various schools, and then the district office would swoop in and fire people, or, if they were political allies, bring them back to the district office for their own protection.

But now Lowell has a new problem. The school that is trying to make its own decisions is a charter school. They don't seem to think that principal Erik Latoni should make all the decisions.

Once again, Lowell wants to swoop in and take control. He is threatening to to terminate the charter of Feaster Elementary School because the people who run the school actually work at the school. Instead of "site-based decisionmaking," this is now being called "a conflict of interest" by Mr. Billings.

It's not ideas that matter at CVESD, it's words. And the meaning of the words changes whenever the people in charge feel it's necessary.

It's probably worthwhile to note that CVESD recently rehired Daniel Shinoff of Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz. Apparently the board was impressed with Shinoff's work at MiraCosta College. I notice a striking similarity in the arguments used to attack Feaster Elementary and the arguments used to justify the actions of the majority-bloc of trustees at MiraCosta.

The CVE gang is still together

2008-04-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

The current makeup of the Chula Vista Educators board of directors proves that not much has changed since the board rubber-stamped the illegal actions of Gina Boyd, Jim Groth, Robin Donlan and the lawyers who helped them cover up their wrongdoing.

Peggie Myers
cvepresident@yahoo.com
President 07-09
State Council 06-09
Full-Release CVE Office 427-1063

Monica Sorrenson
Vice President 07-09
Liberty Elementary School 397-5225

Nancy Potts npotts@cox.net
Treasurer 07-09
Valley Vista Elementary 479-7171 Ext. 5339

Barbara Dunwoodie
Secretary 07-09
monagin@cox.net
Hilltop 422-8323 Ext.3333

JAMES GROTH
James Groth
jgroth@cta.org
State Council 07-10
CTA Board

Barbara Dunwoodie monagin@cox.net (see also above)
State Council 05-08
Hilltop 422-8323 Ext. 3333

Allan Insko
PAR Chair 06-09
Sunnyside 479-0571 Ext. 5051

Joyce Abrams
Area Director A 07-08
nautilus@san.rr.com
Chula Vista Hills 482-7066 Ext. 2341

Norma Pacheco-Davis
[new member--was NOT involved in wrongdoing 2001-2005]
Area Director B 07-08
pachecodavis@yahoo.com
Los Altos 690-5880 Ext. 3848

OPEN
Area Director C 07-08

Penny Martinez
[new member--was NOT involved in wrongdoing 2001-2005]
Area Director D 07-08
Valle Lindo 421-5151 Ext. 5254

Andra Johnston
Area Director E 07-08
Salt Creek 397-5494

OPEN
Bargaining Chair 07-09

Executive Director Mary Ellen Berumen
[New executive director; not involved in decisions of former director Tim O'Neill]
mberumen@cta.org
427-1063 Ext 205

Jury awards Chula Vista teacher $1 million for gender discrimination

2007-12-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-12-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-01T14:12:00.001-08:00

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

2007-12-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-12-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-30T21:32:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-10-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-18T22:14:00.001-07:00

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

2007-10-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-05-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

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.

CTA failed Angelides--and the kids of California

2006-12-16T13:26:00.000-08:00

by Maura Larkins

Phil Angelides says, "If everyone had done what CTA did in the last election, it would have made a world of difference. You were soldiers. You were lions. And I'll be forever grateful for everything you did."

The problem for Angelides is not what California Teachers Association does at election time, it's what CTA doesn't do the rest of the time.

CTA sabotages the efforts of creative teachers and parents to bring about real reform. CTA makes sure that loyalty, not interest in fixing education, determines not only who rises in its organization, but who is allowed on committees in the district.

In Chula Vista Elementary School District, the Chula Vista Educators (teacher union) board of directors on Nov. 18, 2002 rubber-stamped CTA Executive Director Tim O'Neill's recommendation that "The CVE Board of Directors BE GIVEN THE AUTHORITY TO REMOVE representatives..." Tim O'Neill disingenuously claimed that "It is impossible to predict the circumstances that would result in the removal of a CVE representative to the PAR Joint Committee..." The truth was, he knew exactly whom he wanted to remove. He and others had arranged the removal of Joyce Abrams because they wanted her replaced by a more loyal union member. Joyce Abrams was outraged, and wrote scathing letters about CVE bigwigs Jim Groth and Gina Boyd. Abrams was absolutely right in saying that Jim Groth and Gina Boyd have little respect for CVE rules (she would have been right if she had added that they don't respect the laws of California, either). The problem is that Joyce Abrams helped Tim, Jim and Gina cover-up much more serious actions against another teacher. So who needs to start practicing what she preaches, Joyce?

The Fred Kamper case in Mountain Empire School District

2006-12-16T11:40:00.000-08:00

by Maura Larkins

You sometimes wonder if the inmates are running the asylum.

Mountain Empire School District is a case in point. It's hard to tell whether it was the school board, its lawyers, or the teachers union that was most responsible in November 2006 for putting on the school board a man who can't keep enough space between himself and schoolgirls in his care.

The superintendent of Mountain Empire SD is Patrick Judd. He seems to be a problem magnet. (He moonlights as a board member in the troubled Chula Vista Elementary School District.)

Mountain Empire employee Fred Kamper was demoted from his position as principal when his lips "accidentally brushed" a girl's arm. Then he "inappropriately" touched a nine-year-old student who was sitting in his lap.

Daniel Shinoff, a lawyer for both Mountain Empire district, denied that Kamper was guilty, but nevertheless paid the girl's family $30,000. Why would he give away tens of thousands of tax dollars if there was no wrongdoing? Why did he get Kamper to agree to resign? It sure smells like wrondoing to me.

Months after the settlement and resignation, Kamper was elected board member with the help of California Teachers Association. Why would CTA endorse such a person? Part of the answer is that Fred Kamper was a former president of the CTA local affiliate, and CTA defends its local affiliate presidents, no matter what. (CTA also supported abusive and lawbreaking CTA leaders in Chula Vista. And none other than Pat Judd joined CTA in helping those Chula Vista leaders get away with wrongdoing.)

It seems that board members and union leaders seldom agree, but when they do, they are defending teachers and administrators from outraged parents.

CVESD Incumbents Out! They focus on politics, not kids

2006-09-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Voters should end guaranteed tenure for Chula Vista Elementary School District board members! There are serious character issues with every one of the members of the CVESD board: Cheryl Cox, Pamela Smith, Larry Cunningham, Patrick Judd and Bertha Lopez.

Vote for the challengers!

Here is what I know about the challengers:

Seat 1. So far TAMARA ARCE, community volunteer, looks good to me to oppose incumbent Bertha Lopez. Ms. Arce astutely notes that "site-based decision making has been used as a shield to avoid responsibility and dilute the programs we have."

I don't yet know much about the other two candidates, Casey Tyler, parent and business owner, or Perry Mathes, cardiovascular engineer.

Seat 3. RUSSELL CORONADO, principal and counselor, would be an excellent replacement for Pam Smith. Strangely, candidate Felicia Starr is strikingly similar to Ms. Smith, and not just in appearance. Both women have worked overtime to exacerbate problems at Castle Park Elementary. Smith is perceived to be anti-union, and Starr is perceived to be pro-union, but the truth is, they are both simply pro-strife. Perrennial also-ran Willard Howard is again trying to be a spoiler in this race.

Seat 5. STEVE YAGYAGAN is a member of the community who wants the best education for kids, and is not in the pocket of any vested interests. Norberto Salazar, unfortunately, must follow orders from CTA (California Teachers Association), which has caused tremendous problems at CVESD. Even Bob Filner has to follow CTA's orders. CTA operatives should take a break from playing politics with students' educations. These union leaders think their own personal power is more important than the children they're paid to teach. Both Steve Yagyagan, parent and bank manager, and Norberto Salazar, teacher, are far better choices than incumbent Larry Cunningham, but I prefer Steve Yagyagan because he has less baggage.

I am appalled by the way school board member Cheryl Cox refuses to face up to her record as a Chula Vista Elementary School District board member as she runs for mayor of Chula Vista. The character issue is important when evaluating the performance of Ms. Cox and her four fellow board members, who all seem to share one important trait: they refuse to take responsibility for the problems that have arisen and the tax dollars that have been wasted at CVESD during their tenure.

Who does Cheryl Cox work for as an "educational consultant"?

2006-07-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

I've long wondered exactly what Cheryl Cox does as an "educational consultant." Is she paid public funds when she does this consulting? Is she really more like a lobbyist? Is she paid taxpayer dollars to help clients get more public funds?

Apparently at least one San Diego educational nonprofit had a relationship with Copeland Lowery, the lobbying firm connected to Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the San Diego congressman sentenced to eight years in prison for handing out military contracts in return for bribes.

Today the Washington Post says, "Lobbying fees paid by the Foundation for Improvement in Math and Science Education, an independent nonprofit formed to improve San Diego junior high school teaching, were understated by $220,000."

The Post story says that Copeland Lowery, which is currently under federal investigation, "failed to disclose at least $755,000 in income from 17 nonprofit organizations and governmental entities, and $635,000 from 18 other clients."

The Post said, "...Some experts have called them unusual and suggested that Copeland Lowery might have been trying to play down how much money it was paid by those who received federal grants the firm arranged, particularly the clients who paid its lobbying fees with tax-exempt or public funds.

"Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said that 'what we've seen by Copeland Lowery is highly unusual. Lobby firms make amendments all the time, but we have never seen it at that level.'"

How Is Corruption Maintained in an Organization like Chula Vista Educators?

2006-07-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to Peggie Myers, who was recently elected to the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly

It appears that Jim Groth is grooming you for a leadership role in the corrupt teacher organization he hopes to maintain in Chula Vista. It is a shame that this influence has been exported to the NEA-RA. Obviously, you got votes based on your notoriety as one of the “Castle Park Five.” But you wouldn’t have received all those votes if the truth were widely known about you and Jim Groth. The two of you have so far succeeded in covering up the wrongdoing—including criminal actions—of teachers at Castle Park Elementary.

But how long do you think you can keep the truth covered up? I think you’ve got a few more months at most. After all, there’s a school board election in Chula Vista this fall. That will inevitably bring about a discussion about what happened at Castle Park. Don Sevrens likes to think he had the last word about Castle Park Elementary on May 25, but when he spread the Castle Park story all over the Union Tribune, he made it newsworthy beyond the Union Tribune. He can not silence further discussion of the story he brought, with your help, to the attention of the public.

Maura Larkins

A note to Steve Padilla: Don't become like Cheryl Cox!

2006-07-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

Is someone a little too friendly with developers?

Your opponent, Cheryl Cox, has been sliding in that direction for five years. The disgraced David Malcolm began his long slide to the wrong side of the law by doing just that. While on the California Coastal Commission, he appeared to sell himself to the highest bidder.

Don't follow in these footsteps.

You're better than that.

Cheryl Cox has gone along with the wrongdoing of the controlling majority of the board of the Chula Vista Elementary School District for half a decade. Don't be like someone who has been playing footsie with certain developers for years.

Hiding Public Records

I'm guessing that you were not part of the attack on David Rowlands, the well-respected city manager of Chula Vista who was recently forced to resign. It was the rest of the Chula Vista City Council that wanted to get rid of Rowlands, but who, to their shame, wanted to cover up the deal they made with him to get him to go away, so they paid him hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in return for signing a secrecy agreement. It was a purely political move, and the majority on the city council wanted to make sure that Rowlands couldn't reveal the truth to the public until after the November elections.

This sounds just like something Cheryl Cox would do. As a member of one of the most secretive school boards in the state, Cox has a history of thumbing her nose at the California Public Records Act and at many other California laws. For over a year I've requested public records regarding how much CVESD spends on laywers, but my requests have been ignored. Why? Because Cheryl Cox and her fellow board members think that I won't sue them. And if I do, they can just spend taxpayer dollars fighting the lawsuit.

How much will Cox and the CVESD board spend to fight public records requests? I don't know, but I do know how much the San Diego City Council has spent to fight public records requests: more than $20,000 (according to today's San Diego Union Tribune).

The last thing that the Chula Vista City Council needs is someone like Cheryl Cox as mayor.

Cheryl Cox and Chula Vista Elementary School District have worked closely with lawyers, in the process harming the proper functioning of several schools, including the notorious Castle Park Elementary, which continues to hold the attention of the media.

If you really wanted to work for the public good, why don't you take over Chula Vista Elementary School District, and fix it?

Maura Larkins

CTA Stopped Villaraigosa From Taking Over Los Angeles Schools (LAUSD)

2006-06-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

On June 21, 2006, Mayor Villaraigosa gave up his effort to take over Los Angeles Unified School District.

It's probably for the best since California Teachers Association (CTA) wouldn't have allowed any real reform. This is how CTA described this development:

"Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, along with ...Lynne Faulks of the California Teachers Association (CTA), announced a historic agreement in principle for a comprehensive legislative package ushering in a new era of progressive reform in LA's schools."

They agreed that the Superintendent should have more power. If that would take politics out of the decision-making process, then I'm all for it. But let's hope politics doesn't enter into the decision of who will be superintendent.

Will CTA take over Los Angeles Unified School District?

2006-06-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Why did Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa endorse Kevin DeLeon, a CTA official, for the state assembly seat Villaraigosa used to hold?

Probably because DeLeon made a deal with him, agreeing to give up his opposition to Villaraigosa’s plan for a mayoral takeover of Los Angeles Unified School District.

DeLeon used to be unequivocally, emphatically opposed the mayor’s plan.

Something made him switch.

My guess is that Villaraigosa agreed to adhere to CTA’s terms in any takeover, and to support DeLeon in his assembly race. In return DeLeon announced he’d agree to a takeover plan that met his specifications.

I no longer believe that Villaraigosa wants to fix schools. I now agree with an engineer from Venice and his wife, whom I met in Washington D.C.. They said that the mayor’s plan was just a power grab, and that the best thing for schools is to decentralize control over them.

Research does indicate that schools controlled by a small community produce better-educated students.

If Villaraigosa is planning to give CTA control over LAUSD, his plan will NOT help students.

Advice for Steve Padilla, Mayor of Chula Vista

2006-06-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh when Tanya Mannes reported that the Chula Vista city council was “criticized for voting as a bloc on issues that later became controversial.”

Voting as a bloc? On issues that later became controversial?

This sounds like a perfect description of Cheryl Cox and the Chula Vista
Elementary School Board.

In fact, the CVESD board engaged in, and covered up, a whole slough of illegal activities, including a handful of crimes. Secrecy is the lynchpin of CVESD’s governing style. And secrecy breeds illegality.

How did Cheryl Cox manage to get more votes than you on June 6, 2006? It’s clear that the Democrats can’t or won’t give you the support you need.

It’s time for you to stop being a lap dog for Democrats and unions. Take a page from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who realized during last year’s election that the Republicans couldn’t deliver results for him.

Expand your repertoire. Strike out on your own. Do the right thing. It’s supposed to be a non-partisan office.

I understand the feelings of physical danger which caused you to ask for a bodyguard. I can see that certain nasty characters could make you a target. It’s easy for others to criticize you, but I’ll bet some of your critics would be equally, if not more, paranoid in such a situation.

Now is the time for courage. Cheryl Cox takes orders from Patrick Judd, Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham. You can easily do better than that, Steve.

Why not start now?

Yours truly,
Maura Larkins

We Must Proceed Without Bob Filner

2006-06-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Congratulations on your win, Mr. Filner. I supported Juan Vargas, but am not surprised that you won. You've done a lot of good things, and you have curried favor with the powerful. You will almost certainly win in November, too.

But you will not succeed in covering up the truth about your knowledge of criminal actions on the part of Chula Vista Educators, and your craven scurrying about to please them even after you obtained that knowledge.

I'd like to think that Miles Blake and Dan Litwin will give you the courage to stand up to the small minds that control CVESD (Chula Vista Elementary School District) and CTA (California Teachers Association), and demand that they be replaced by people who care about children more than personal power.

If not, we can fix education without you. We will proceed without your help, and we will overcome the obstacles you put in the way of education reform.

Did CTA Lawyer Beverly Tucker miscalculate?

2006-06-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

The teachers of California deserve better legal representation than they are getting from the California Teachers Association. Teachers pay millions of dollars in dues, so CTA could afford top-notch lawyers. The problem is that the union is run by cronies, and perhaps the top crony is head legal counsel Beverly Tucker.

Cronyism has caused CTA lawyers to live in an isolated world into which reality is not allowed to intrude.

Even when these lawyers make serious miscalculations about what they can get away with, there aren't any leaders in CTA who can demand that the law be followed. The problem is that the lawyers have more power than the "leaders"! In a bizarre move, Beverly Tucker not long ago added the title of "Associate Executive Director" to her title of head legal counsel.

In my experience, nominal executive director Carolyn Doggett takes instruction from Beverly Tucker, not the other way around.

It appears that Beverly Tucker is the Dick Cheney of CTA, the real power behind the president, the real decision-maker. Unlike the President of the US, however, the president of CTA, Barbara Kerr, is not elected by the people she governs. She is chosen by a voice vote of the board of directors of CTA.

California Teachers deserve better representation.

Beverly Tucker and her cronies need to be thrown out, and be replaced by leaders who have respect for teachers and for the law.

An Open Letter to CTA Lawyers Beverly Tucker and Michael Hersh

2006-06-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to CTA lawyers Beverly Tucker and Michael Hersh

In the wake of the recent problems at Castle Park Elementary School, many union leaders and their lawyers have reverted to
an us-versus-them thinking in which they see themselves as righteous victims and ignore or minimize the injustices they have done, and continue to do, to other people.

In fact, being transferred to another school is not the horrific fate that CTA and the “Castle Park Five” have insisted. However, both students and teachers have suffered great wrongs at the hands of the California Teachers Association. These students and teachers have legitimate grievances, legitimate fears, and legitimate distrust of CTA’s willingness to compromise for the sake of peace.

CTA has made no attempt to build trust. The only alternative to continued dysfunction at Castle Park Elementary is a comprehensive settlement based on simple principles:

--All teachers and students have equal rights to protection of the law; these benefits should not be limited to the leaders of CTA and their allies.

-- If CTA is unwilling or unable to negotiate a policy of respect for the law and the wellbeing of students and teachers, the community must take the lead in promoting one.

-- CTA bears a special responsibility for the current impasse,
by virtue of its massive effort to help union leaders and their allies escape responsibility for their violations of law.

by Maura Larkins

CVESD REPORT

2006-02-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

We have a real opportunity right now to create change in Chula Vista Elementary School District.