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

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...

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

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

Bilingual education rejected at Castle Park Elementary

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

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...

Jury awards Chula Vista teacher $1 million for gender discrimination

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


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

Chula Vista Elementary needs new trustees!

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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



- OR -


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


ADDRESS THE ENVELOPE AS FOLLOWS:


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


- OR -


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


Please FORWARD this Message! THANK YOU!


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

A plea to San Francisco 49ers player Alex Smith

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Tale of Two Lawsuits

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

COZIAHR V. CVESD
(Silverwing Elementary 2006-2007)

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

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

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

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

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

The latest on the Danielle Cozaihr case

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

San Diego Union Tribune letter about Cheryl Cox and Lincoln Club

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

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

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

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

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

CVE's Peggie Myers takes care of #1

From San Diego Education Report Blog:

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

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

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

In May 2005, the San Diego Union Tribune reported:

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

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

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

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

Libia Gil prevailed at CVESD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From mauralarkins.com/CVESD.html.

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