tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226841062024-03-05T19:55:02.857-08:00CVESD REPORTA blog about Chula Vista Elementary School District in Chula Vista, CaliforniaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-59880823437889923242015-10-31T11:00:00.000-07:002015-10-31T12:11:35.245-07:00Florin High and most other schools maintain secrecy, keep voters in the dark about what is going on<i>Most public schools are desperate to keep the public from knowing about problems in schools. School board members' primary goal is to present a smooth, unruffled surface to the public, and to hide the serious problems lurking underneath that surface. They expect administrators to make sure this happens. </i><br />
<br />
Why is it so important to schools to cover-up problems? Two reasons:<br />
<br />
1) Board members want to get reelected;<br />
2) Board members and administrators and teachers want to make their jobs as easy as possible.<br />
<br />
I have said for years that school board elections are a farce because the public doesn't know what is going on in schools.<br />
<br />
Schools do NOT have a legal right to stop students from talking about matters of public interest.<br />
<br />
“I don’t want this to become a First Amendment rights issue..." said one Florin High administrator. No, of course not. Schools want the right to keep secrets.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article41898858.html">Florin High’s punishment of student whose video went viral draws free speech questions</a><br />
By Loretta Kalb and Diana Lambert<br />
Sacramento Bee<br />
October 29, 2015<br />
<br />
After Florin High School suspended a student who recorded a cafeteria melee this week on her cell phone, free speech experts said Friday that administrators may have overreached by disciplining someone who captured video in a public gathering place.
The video recorded by Tiana Johnson, 15, quickly went viral, airing on “Inside Edition” and landing on several national news media sites.<br />
<br />
It brought <b><u>unwanted attention to the campus</u>, where Principal Don Ross decried the <u>negative light cast on the school</u> and called it “hurtful” to students.
Johnson received a<u> three-day suspension for recording the fight</u>, filing “inflammatory” remarks on social media </b>and declining to “write a statement” about her actions, according to school paperwork.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">[Maura Larkins' comment: Could that video threaten the Principal's job security? Is that why the student is being punished?] </span></i><br />
<br />
That disciplinary move drew questions from Johnson’s parents and free speech experts.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;"> “She had a right to be where she was </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">and she took the video and she posted it online,” said Jim Ewert, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
He</span><b><span style="font-size: small;"> noted that the cafeteria was crowded and not private. “That’s protected activity. To the extent that she’s being disciplined for having done that, it violates state law.”...</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>Just four days after the Florin incident, student video that appeared to show a McClatchy High School teacher wrestling a student from his desk to the ground resulted in the teacher’s arrest on Friday.</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>[Maura Larkins' comment: If this video had not been made, would this assault by a teacher have been concealed? I have seen many illegal actions concealed in Chula Vista Elementary School District. Many, if not most, school districts violate the law to protect officials and teachers who have political influence.]</i> </b><br />
<br />
<b> </b>During Monday’s altercation, a student slammed [Florin High principal] Ross to the floor of the cafeteria as he tried to break up the fight. Three students – two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old – were arrested and sent to juvenile hall. They have not been identified because they are minors.<br />
<br />
Johnson started her suspension Friday, four days after the brawl that involved eight to 10 students. After Ross was thrown to the floor, he jumped back up in an effort to restrain his assailant. He and two other school officials suffered minor injuries.<br />
<br />
The district’s order of Johnson’s home suspension came Monday afternoon and was shared with The Bee by a family member. It complains that Johnson disrupted school activities “and otherwise willfully defied the valid authority” of those engaged in performing their duties. The details of the decision do not cite the specific language of the school handbook that she is accused of violating.
District officials said they are unable to comment on any disciplinary action.
The 90-page student handbook does bar students from using electronic devices to make audio and/or video recordings that infringe upon the privacy rights of students and or staff. It makes no mention of social media. But it says parents may appeal a suspension.<br />
<br />
Keith Mims, coordinator of student support and health services for the Elk Grove Unified School District, said he did not want the discussion to focus on freedom of expression. “I don’t want this to become a First Amendment rights issue as opposed to safety,” he said.<br />
<br />
<b><i>[Maura Larkins' comment: Isn't it secrecy that the school is worried about in this case, not safety?] </i></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“The school was embarrassed,” Johnson said. He said that he and his daughter wondered if she would have faced suspension if she had recorded something that put the school in a positive light. </span><br />
<br />
Read more here: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article41898858.html#storylink=cpy">http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article41898858.html#storylink=cpy</a></blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-29339830575192235312011-03-15T10:13:00.000-07:002011-03-15T10:20:13.883-07:00Chula Vista bully Cheryl Cox joins Ben Hueso for anti-bully posturing<span style="font-style:italic;">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<span style="font-weight:bold;"> <a href="http://mauralarkins.com/CastleParkElementarySchool.html">Castle Park Elementary. </a></span> 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. </span><br /><br />March 14 2011<br /><a href="http://asmdc.org/members/a79/press-releases/item/2635-assemblymember-calling-for-bullying-awareness-in-california-schools">Assemblymember Calling For Bullying Awareness in California Schools</a><br /><br />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.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-89734429884267104422009-01-05T11:49:00.000-08:002009-02-15T18:49:08.053-08:00Can you spot the applicant without an agenda among the 23 applicants for CVESD board appointment?<span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />UPDATE: <a href="http://mauralarkins.com/CVESD.html">DOUG LUFFBOROUGH</a> WAS CHOSEN AS CVESD'S NEW BOARD MEMBER.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsUSxTEvondwxp6MnTx1XqHFotx8aOGAUe-naCSPkOUxbPswhnCb97dzv3Tyjq9lLQSqEff9XpJ39a1pclrrltyG2tKFjflysO4q39DjvHxpjExGeTtJsG_XvKfZLQ8MR1dnj/s1600-h/nov182008CVESDbdmtg.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsUSxTEvondwxp6MnTx1XqHFotx8aOGAUe-naCSPkOUxbPswhnCb97dzv3Tyjq9lLQSqEff9XpJ39a1pclrrltyG2tKFjflysO4q39DjvHxpjExGeTtJsG_XvKfZLQ8MR1dnj/s320/nov182008CVESDbdmtg.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287195311108861458" /></a><br />[Photo: CVESD board in November 2008]<br /><br />The following post is taken from San Diego Education Report:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">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? <br /><br />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. <br /><br />MiraCosta College trustees got a big sampling of Shinoff's techniques on <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/MiraCostaShinoff.html">June 20, 2007 </a> when Mr. Shinoff worked long into the night pressuring unwilling trustees to sign a $1.6 million settlement for his pal President Victoria Richart. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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."<br /><br />But getting back to the choice that Shinoff's pals on the CVESD board will soon be making:<br /><br />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.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/03/1sz3apply233051-school-board-gets-23-applications-/?zIndex=31339"><br />School board gets 23 applications for single vacancy</a><br />By Chris Moran<br />San Diego Union Tribune<br />January 3, 2009<br /><br />CHULA VISTA — The Chula Vista Elementary School District has received 23 applications to fill a vacant seat on the five-member school board...<br /><br />Trustee Bertha Lopez vacated her Chula Vista board seat last month after her election to the Sweetwater Union High School District board...<br /><br />San Ysidro High School Principal Hector Espinoza<br /><br />former Montgomery High School Principal Mary Anne Stro <br /><br />former teachers union presidents Frank Cherry and Leroy Petty...<br /><br />former Chula Vista PTA President Carol Green...<br /><br />Myllissa McCann, wife of Chula Vista Councilman John McCann...<br /><br />Douglas Luffborough, executive director of a social-services agency in Chula Vista...<br /><br />Pamela Bauer-Fischer, attorney.<br /><br />Jolyn DePriest, former teacher and counselor.<br /><br />James Doud, former water district board president.<br /><br />Beatrice Fernandez, San Diego Unified School District parent involvement coordinator.<br /><br />Mel Lopez, former Chula Vista assistant superintendent. <br /><br />Hector Martinez, water district manager.<br /><br />Perry Mathes, cardiovascular engineer for General Electric.<br /><br />Archie McAllister, substitute teacher.<br /><br />David McLellan, former telecommunications company employee.<br /><br /><a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/2008/09/chula-vista-candidate-forum-for-cvesd.html">Aurora Murillo-Clark, property manager.</a><br /><br />Edalia Olivo-Gomez, environmental specialist for San Diego Gas & Electric Co.<br /><br />Christopher Shilling, public safety director for Otay Ranch Town Center.<br /><br />Christian Slike, IBM marketing leader.<br /><br /><a href="http://cvesdreporter.blogspot.com/search/label/Felicia%20Starr">Felicia Starr, hospital secretary.</a><br /><br />John Vogel, information systems analyst for the city of San Diego.<br /><br />David Wallace, Chula Vista business owner...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-79705138395158160532008-12-28T18:46:00.000-08:002008-12-28T18:51:02.061-08:00Vietnam school officials control teachers with cruder methods and more demands than US school leaders<a href="http://apnews.excite.com/article/20081227/D95B8B300.html">Vietnam whistle-blower suffers for war on graft</a><br />Dec 27, 2008<br />By BEN STOCKING<br />AP <br />HANOI, Vietnam<br /><br />The thugs came after dark, as Do Viet Khoa and his family were getting ready for bed.<br /><br />He says they punched him, kicked him, stole his camera and terrified his wife and children.<br /><br />Khoa, a high school math and geography teacher, thinks the message was clear: Stop blowing the whistle on school corruption - or else.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /> <br />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.<br /><br />Few dare to fight it, for fear of retaliation.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />But back in his farming village of Van Hoa, about 15 miles outside Hanoi, Khoa got anything but a hero's welcome.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />Thinh Van Nam, 27, a teacher at the school, thinks Khoa has brought his problems on himself.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"If they don't go, the teachers give them bad grades," said Khoa.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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."<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"He is really brave," said Giang Xuan Dung, a math teacher. "I admire him for his courage and patience."<br /><br />Other schools have offered to hire Khoa.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />Khoa refused because the school is too far from his home.<br /><br />His wife, Nguyen Thi Nga, worries about her husband's crusade.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"Many teachers are soiling the image of education," he said. "Corruption is a betrayal of communist ideology and of the country."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-83507657368969378202008-11-05T14:10:00.001-08:002008-11-05T14:11:35.999-08:00Patrick Judd loses, Bertha Lopez wins in CVESD<a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/2008/11/russell-coronado-beats-patrick-judd-in.html">Russell Coronado takes Judd's seat</a> in Chula Vista Elementary School District.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-25296047853456205472008-10-14T13:50:00.000-07:002008-10-16T19:45:00.502-07:00Maura Larkins finally provides us with a summary of her case against CVESDHere's a summary written by Maura Larkins about her case against Chula Vista Elementary School District:<br /><br />Here's a summary of what happened in my case:<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>MY EX-SISTER-IN-LAW WANTED TO BE MANAGER OF MY FATHER'S APARTMENTS</strong><br /><br />I had been teaching at <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/CVESD.html">Chula Vista Elementary <br />School District</a> for 27 years when the problem began.<br />It started with a family problem: I was <br />co-administrator of my father's estate, <br />and one of my brothers was secretly <br />unhappy about it. He and his ex-wife decided <br />to use the police to remove me from my position.<br /><br /><strong>MY TROUBLED EX-SISTER-IN-LAW IS TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY THE DISTRICT</strong><br /><br />I was removed from my classroom <br />on February 12, 2001 due to a false police report<br />(see <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/LawEnforcement.html">"A False Police Report" on this page</a>) <br />made by my mentally-ill and substance-abusing <br />ex-sister-in-law. However, the district didn't <br />want to admit this, since using the <br />illegally-obtained police report <br />(no charges were filed against me)<br />was a misdemeanor. <br /><br /><strong>THE DISTRICT DECIDES TO COVER-UP ITS MISTAKE</strong><br /><br />There is no chance that the district <br />would have been charged with a crime <br />for its silly little misdemeanor <br />(Labor Code section 432.7), but the district <br />decided it would rather spend $100,000s <br />of tax dollars to pay its lawyers to cover up the mistake <br />than to simply admit it made a mistake.<br /><br /><strong>THE DISTRICT COMES UP WITH A STORY</strong><br /><br />The reason given by the district for my removal was that <br />two teachers had called assistant superintendent Richard Werlin <br />at home on a Saturday evening and said they believed <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/jhtestimony.html"><br />I might be about to kill them.</a> Oddly, the district <br />created NO DOCUMENT at this time to explain <br />the reason I was removed from my classroom, <br />nor did it investigate the alarming report.<br /><br /><strong>THE DISTRICT CHANGES ITS STORY</strong><br /><br />Within a month, the district changed its story,<br />saying that only one teacher, Jo Ellen Hamilton,<br />had called Richard Werlin about me. Hamilton later<br /><a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/jhtestimony.html"> testified under oath</a> that she had simply called <br />Werlin <em>at his invitation</em> to discuss a planned meeting.<br /><br /><strong>THE FAX THAT CAUSED CVESD TO DO AN ABRUPT ABOUT-FACE</strong><br /><br />On April 3, 2001 I sent a<br /><a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/april32001faxtowerlin.html"> fax </a>to the district. The next day I was abruptly <br />asked to return to work, and at the <br />same time the district belatedly <br /><a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/April4letterfromWerlin.html">prepared a document</a> to explain why <br />I had been removed from my classroom <br />in the first place. The document <br />contained a new, completely false <br />accusation by Richard Werlin and <br />never mentioned the teacher reports.<br /><br /><strong>I GO BACK TO WORK</strong><br /><br />I went back to teach in April 2001 because <br />it seemed clear that my accusers had <br />been deemed unreliable (either crazy <br />or dishonest or some combination of the two),<br />and I assumed that the fabricated excuse in <br /><a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/werlinwcccusd.html">Richard Werlin's document </a>, was merely <br />an effort by an embarrassed human resources director<br />to cover up his mistake.<br /><br /><br />But I was wrong. It was more than a cover-up; <br />it was, in fact, a set-up.<br /><br /><strong>BIZARRE NEW ALLEGATIONS</strong><br /><br />A week after returning, <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/lwreport.html">Linda Watson, one of the <br />teachers</a> who had accused me earlier, <br />and a <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/ASrpt.html">new accuser who made a written report</a>, <br />came forward with bizarre allegations.<br /><br /><strong>AN IMPENDING ELECTION CAUSED THE TEACHERS UNION TO ABANDON ITS OBLIGATIONS</strong><br /><br />I did not know it at the time, but the teachers <br />union, <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/CVEducators.html">Chula Vista Educators</a>, was<br />working with my accuser Linda Watson. CVE President <br />Gina Boyd had worked at my school until 1995, and <br />although she did not share the <a href="http://sandiegoeducationreport.org/ComerMotivatedTeachers.html">motivations <br />of her friends</a> at <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/CastleParkElementarySchool.html">Castle Park Elementary,</a><br />she was running for reelection and felt she<br />needed to keep them happy in order to win. <br />This effort was supported by California Teachers <br />Association Board of Directors member <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/grievancehoax.html">Jim Groth.</a> <br /><br />Richard Werlin, with the approval of the cabinet <br />(including Libia Gil and <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/lowellbillings.html">Lowell Billings</a>), <br />had triggered an all-out hysteria at my school. <br />Two staff members told me that many teachers were afraid <br />that I was "going to come to school and shoot everybody.” <br /><br /><strong>DISTRICT DOESN'T BOTHER TO INVESTIGATE MASS MURDER RUMOR THAT CAUSES HYSTERIA AMONG TEACHERS</strong><br /><br />Without making any effort to <br />establish that a Columbine-type <br />event was not in the offing, the <br />district demanded that I come back <br />to work in September of 2001. This <br />time I refused.<br /><br />My lawyer demanded an investigation <br />to clear my name and cool down the crucible<br />that Castle Park Elementary had become, but <br />the district refused. It was clear that anyone <br />could make any accusation against me, and it <br />would be believed and acted on: I was not <br />safe at work.<br /><br /><strong>SCHOOL ATTORNEY MARK BRESEE GETS HELP FROM DANIEL SHINOFF</strong><br /><br />Attorney <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/markBresee.html">Mark Bresee,</a> who was then working with <br />Parham & Rajcic and was recently chosen as chief counsel <br />for Terry Grier at SDUSD, had been giving legal advice <br />to CVESD up to this point. <br /><br />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 <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/SanDiegoCountyOfficeofEducation.html">Joint Powers Authority,</a> along with their favorite attorney, <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/stutzartianoshinoff.html">Daniel Shinoff</a> of Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, became involved.<br /><br /><strong>THE DISTRICT RETALIATES WHEN I FILE GRIEVANCES</strong><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/page12.html">I filed 3 grievances</a> on November 13, 2001. The very next day the <br />district threatened me with dismissal. This was a violation of <br />the <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/DidCVESDviolateEERA.html">Elementary Education Relations Act (EERA) </a> and other laws.<br /><br />The district took no action on its <br />threats, however, until I filed a <br />lawsuit on March 12, 2002. On May <br />7, 2002 Patrick Judd, Cheryl Cox, <br />Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez and <br />Larry Cunningham voted to dismiss <br />me, thus violating California Labor <br />Code section 1102.5 which prohibits <br />retaliation against employees for <br />reporting wrongdoing. This was also <br />a violation of the constitutional right <br />to petition for redress of grievances.<br /><br /><strong>THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS SEEMS TO HAVE A GIFT FOR COMEDY</strong><br /><br />My dismissal was upheld by the <br />Office of Administrative Hearings.<br />Judge H. James Ahler conducted <br />a <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/MauraLarkinsOAHhearing.html">hearing</a> that was almost as comical <br />as it was illegal. At one point <br /><a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/page22.html">Judge Ahler </a>jumped up and <br />ordered the panelists to join him in a <br />side room, where he told them to <br />disregard my testimony. I heard his<br />words because I was sitting on the <br />witness stand a few feet from him. <br />The court reporter and all the rest of us <br />sat at attention during the ten <br />minutes the panel was in the little <br />room, but the judge's words were <br />not included in the transcript <br />because the reporter couldn't hear <br />them.<br /><br />The school district spent many tax <br />dollars, and the California Teachers <br />Association spent plenty of teachers' <br />dues, to get my lawsuit thrown out. <br />Perjury by employees was also <br />required, but the effort seemed to pay off <br />for the district and CTA when my lawsuit was <br />dismissed in 2005. <br /><br /><strong>DISTRICT LAWYERS BRING THE CASE BACK TO COURT IN 2007</strong><br /><br />As fate would have it, however, my case<br />is back in court. CVESD’s law firm, <br />Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, <br />brought this case back to San Diego Superior Court <br />in 2007 by <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/artianodeposition.html">filing a defamation suit </a>against me <br />for publishing this website. <br /><br />So it’s still possible that justice and sanity<br />will find their way back to Chula Vista Elementary<br />School District.<br /><br />by Maura LarkinsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-47582890517055964892008-06-19T12:30:00.001-07:002009-01-14T11:46:01.274-08:00Mary's garden grows quite well, but Nancy Kerwin's has a bare spot<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9gowd2bTd7xPbGVvjYPDj-hoXNROT-fGe_jLxE3FunNkxYmHm4y0UOHfpxHgJXyEKkOKwdgqdEO8keX2izahFaE0IKrhi6QKvjO8hrFM-C4iSA1VVi5JHQVGW6wn9JI2Ajj3Z/s1600-h/VV_grantRevMaryGuzman.jpg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9gowd2bTd7xPbGVvjYPDj-hoXNROT-fGe_jLxE3FunNkxYmHm4y0UOHfpxHgJXyEKkOKwdgqdEO8keX2izahFaE0IKrhi6QKvjO8hrFM-C4iSA1VVi5JHQVGW6wn9JI2Ajj3Z/s320/VV_grantRevMaryGuzman.jpg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213677309375110402" /></a><br />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.<br /><br />Nancy Kerwin, the Chula Vista Elementary School District’s Executive Director of Student, Family, and Community Services and Support stood behind them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">UPDATE:<br /> Jan. 13, 2008<br />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 <a href="http://sandiegoeducationreport.org/DaleParentVcvesd.html">HERE.</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-44566369711405224552008-06-14T18:05:00.000-07:002008-06-19T12:42:20.707-07:00No blaming the parents and community at this middle School<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwVVSo3figgBTym5Bda3N-HtVB9lcgRCDscAcJGfUbe-kwcEwswOLv75z8XTgfkmBvTSjZj9ccOIrMLgISVJnjxDXYJyzedBmKDcRqQGoN6HdOdOQCz-9AQNdi0wBKrrJKc4v/s1600-h/inspirationphoto.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwVVSo3figgBTym5Bda3N-HtVB9lcgRCDscAcJGfUbe-kwcEwswOLv75z8XTgfkmBvTSjZj9ccOIrMLgISVJnjxDXYJyzedBmKDcRqQGoN6HdOdOQCz-9AQNdi0wBKrrJKc4v/s320/inspirationphoto.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213680276738608834" /></a><br /><strong>Keillor Leadership Academy in southeast San Diego improved its test scores.</strong><br /><br />By EMILY ALPERT <br />June 10, 2008 <br />http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/06/14/education/896keiller061008.txt<br />"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...<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />"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..."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-50422319967406141312008-06-06T20:14:00.000-07:002008-06-19T12:49:13.068-07:00Richard Werlin has surfaced again<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfOa1RlnVQLFF5c3WgraW8nwD-f4NroTSbny2cGFhacJ7zsgC-eKjdZHnCMT5GdRcR7yPDJp2XeaPyxEp1iszsfpmwYr2rZJytGirdv-z1vzJ3uRzRFPypg8AfGk0S-MVTjdt/s1600-h/comptonSD.jpg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfOa1RlnVQLFF5c3WgraW8nwD-f4NroTSbny2cGFhacJ7zsgC-eKjdZHnCMT5GdRcR7yPDJp2XeaPyxEp1iszsfpmwYr2rZJytGirdv-z1vzJ3uRzRFPypg8AfGk0S-MVTjdt/s320/comptonSD.jpg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213681922116078578" /></a><br /><strong>Richard Werlin has surfaced again <br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />Is it a small world, or do certain people just come together naturally? Or both?<br /><br />Here's the article I found:</strong><br /><br /><a href="http://www.thecomptonbulletin.com/news06_051408/index.html">School Board [Compton Unified School District] Considers Fourth Audit of District Operations</a><br />May 14, 2008<br />By Allison Jean Eaton<br /><br />"...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.<br /><br />"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...<br /><br />"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..."<br /><br />from Jane Swanson blogUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-62440740736313727872008-06-03T11:53:00.000-07:002008-06-03T11:55:37.028-07:00Bilingual education rejected at Castle Park ElementaryWhy has Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista had 11 principals in 11 years? <br /><br />Because of the bilingual program. And because past is prologue.<br /><br />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.) <br /><br />The bilingual program added a teacher a year until it had a final total of four bilingual teachers in September 1997. <br /><br />The program was sagotaged by the many teachers who refused to allow bilingual classes into their teaming arrangements.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />by Maura Larkins<br /><a href="http://charlotteblogs.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/friday-april-18-bilingual-education/#comment-518">Charlotte Blogs</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-66293239828201509502008-06-01T20:16:00.000-07:002008-06-01T20:18:49.334-07:00CVESD is suffering from a bad case of "white chalk crime" at Castle Park Elementary<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZ3D5IfFCfa1ExuJENuhfg6rAkBeTD80xiWOE6jDwCyj5EZIoKkmUQBHT1PL4IJPfDXA38SYT1t9JiLAVImFvnlN6JtSPLoQxA8IRe6HDO_K-zVi_bV-4K8WqgUywklk3U_g4Nw/s1600-h/bumperboy.jpg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZ3D5IfFCfa1ExuJENuhfg6rAkBeTD80xiWOE6jDwCyj5EZIoKkmUQBHT1PL4IJPfDXA38SYT1t9JiLAVImFvnlN6JtSPLoQxA8IRe6HDO_K-zVi_bV-4K8WqgUywklk3U_g4Nw/s320/bumperboy.jpg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207117096825707154" /></a><br />An <a href="http://ednews.org/articles/26033/1/An-Interview-with-Karen-Horwitz-White-Chalk-Crime/Page1.html">Interview with Karen Horwitz</a>: White Chalk Crime<br />By Michael F. Shaughnessy <br />Senior Columnist EdNews.org <br />05/29/2008 <br /><br />1) Karen, you have just written a book entitled "White Chalk Crime" The Real Reason Schools Fail. What prompted you to write this book?<br /><strong><br />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.</strong><br /><br />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?<br /><strong><br />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...<br /><br />This culture</strong> of abuse invites the worst in people and does lead to teachers abusing others...<br /><br />3) Now, what do you mean by "teacher cleansing"?<br /><br /><strong>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.</strong><br /><br />4) What are EDucRat$, and how are they influencing education?<br /><br /><strong>EducRAT$ 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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br /><em>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...</em></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-38803691046331400792008-05-25T14:42:00.001-07:002008-05-25T21:17:51.972-07:00Dysfunction at Castle Park Elementary School and CVESDHow dysfunctional is Castle Park Elementary School in Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD)? <br /><br />Well, what do you expect from a school where teacher crimes have been covered up for years at taxpayer expense?<br /><br />Even in this day of almost universal lamentation over the state of education, Castle Park Elementary stands out. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />The current Chula Vista Educators president, <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/CastleParkElementarySchool.html">Peggie (Peg) Myers,</a> 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. <br /><br />Why not just say you are sorry when you hurt someone, you ask? <br /><br />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.<br /><br />The number of dysfunctional teachers at Castle Park has been reduced, but those that remain have been causing lots of trouble. <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/teacherNikkiPerez.html">Nikki Perez</a> has managed to cause big trouble for both principals.<br /><br />As a result, Principal Carlos Ulloa has now resigned from the school in a manner eerily similar to the way principal <a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/OllieMatosCastleParkprincipal.html">Ollie (Olympio) Matos</a> left the school three years ago.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-18556250611450625642008-04-16T10:22:00.000-07:002008-04-16T10:33:39.804-07:00Daniel Shinoff to appeal Danielle Cozaihr court decisionThe 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.<br /><br />And Daniel Shinoff has decided to appeal the jury verdict won by teacher Danielle Cozaihr against the district.<br /> <br />A jury said the district violated the law. <br /><br />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.<br /> <br />But what happened to Danielle Cozaihr is an indicator of what is wrong with education: politcs matters more than kids. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />And since the problems arise from a dysfunctional system--not from just one person-- the problems remain.<strong></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-46788450430270743552008-04-14T15:13:00.001-07:002008-04-15T13:22:13.618-07:00Larry Cunningham shows his support for Alex Cortes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSpjv35tRTWT-65ev8MkDFqLqXa_n4QRDLX5o7XnEc5T4xAR3oCQQlqxf-PMN6g1y9TbHZ15K2LnYTQBAObFBiWGQprLrbwJrfzXDHcKblV3tB4Q8iB8xn9YxtdixYWJVfys5/s1600-h/cunninghamCortes.jpg.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSpjv35tRTWT-65ev8MkDFqLqXa_n4QRDLX5o7XnEc5T4xAR3oCQQlqxf-PMN6g1y9TbHZ15K2LnYTQBAObFBiWGQprLrbwJrfzXDHcKblV3tB4Q8iB8xn9YxtdixYWJVfys5/s320/cunninghamCortes.jpg.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189228098634465458" /></a><br />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?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-3908452797394767972008-04-14T14:31:00.000-07:002010-04-18T22:21:49.327-07:00Feaster Elementary v. Lowell Billings and Daniel ShinoffSee <a href="http://cvesdreporter.blogspot.com/search/label/.%20Billings%20%28Lowell%20Billings%29">all Lowell Billings posts at CVESD Reporter.</a><br />See all <a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/.%20Shinoff%20%28Daniel%20Shinoff%29">Daniel Shinoff posts</a> at San Diego Education Report.<br /><br />from CVESD Reporter<br />by Maura Larkins<br /><br />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.<br /><br />But the system as implemented at CVESD always involved top-down decisionmaking, never democracy at the school site.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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 <a href="http://mauralarkins.com/MiraCostaShinoff.html"> MiraCosta College.</a> 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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-62324347635343721402008-04-14T14:29:00.000-07:002008-04-15T13:21:25.876-07:00The CVE gang is still togetherThe 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 <a href=" http://mauralarkins.com/CastleParkElementarySchool.html" >wrongdoing.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://mauralarkins.com/peggiemyershusbandletter.html">Peggie Myers</a><br />cvepresident@yahoo.com<br />President 07-09<br />State Council 06-09<br />Full-Release CVE Office 427-1063<br /><br /><a href="http://mauralarkins.com/CVEducators.html">Monica Sorrenson</a><br />Vice President 07-09<br />Liberty Elementary School 397-5225<br /><br />Nancy Potts npotts@cox.net<br />Treasurer 07-09<br />Valley Vista Elementary 479-7171 Ext. 5339<br /><br />Barbara Dunwoodie <br />Secretary 07-09<br />monagin@cox.net<br />Hilltop 422-8323 Ext.3333 <br /><br /><strong>JAMES GROTH</strong><br /><a href="http://www.mauralarkins.com/grievancehoax.html">James Groth</a><br />jgroth@cta.org<br />State Council 07-10<br />CTA Board<br /><br />Barbara Dunwoodie monagin@cox.net (see also above)<br />State Council 05-08<br />Hilltop 422-8323 Ext. 3333<br /><br />Allan Insko <br />PAR Chair 06-09<br />Sunnyside 479-0571 Ext. 5051<br /><br />Joyce Abrams <br />Area Director A 07-08<br />nautilus@san.rr.com <br />Chula Vista Hills 482-7066 Ext. 2341<br /><br />Norma Pacheco-Davis<br /><strong>[new member--was NOT involved in wrongdoing 2001-2005]</strong><br />Area Director B 07-08<br />pachecodavis@yahoo.com<br />Los Altos 690-5880 Ext. 3848<br /><br /><br />OPEN<br />Area Director C 07-08<br /><br />Penny Martinez <br /><strong>[new member--was NOT involved in wrongdoing 2001-2005]</strong><br />Area Director D 07-08<br />Valle Lindo 421-5151 Ext. 5254<br /><br />Andra Johnston<br />Area Director E 07-08 <br />Salt Creek 397-5494<br /><br />OPEN<br />Bargaining Chair 07-09<br /><br />Executive Director Mary Ellen Berumen<br /><strong>[New executive director; not involved in decisions of former director Tim O'Neill]</strong><br />mberumen@cta.org <br />427-1063 Ext 205Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-43933101649687419092007-12-14T13:09:00.000-08:002010-04-21T09:46:49.754-07:00Jury awards Chula Vista teacher $1 million for gender discriminationSee Laurie Madigan, Leslie Devaney post <a href="http://chulavistaelementary.blogspot.com/2007/12/do-diane-crosier-and-keenan-and.html">HERE</a>. For more information, see <a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/.%20Madigan%20%28Mike%20Madigan%20and%20wife%20Laurie%20Madigan%29">Madigan </a>at San Diego Education Report Blog. Also see <a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/Attorney%20Leslie%20Devaney">Leslie Devaney.</a><br /><br /><br />For the latest news about the Danielle Coziahr case, please go to:<br /><a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/.%20A%20school%20district%20lawsuit%20%28Cozaihr%20v.%20CVESD%29"> San Diego Education Report. </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-54436632693831765772007-12-14T13:05:00.000-08:002007-12-14T13:09:25.622-08:00Chula 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:<br /><br />MARK YOUR CALENDARS: January 9th (4:00pm) at 6401 Linda Vista Road, San Diego, CA, 92111 (County Office of Education Board Room)!<br /><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><br />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! <br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br />LET'S GIVE A VOICE TO PEOPLE FROM ALL CORNERS OF OUR DISTRICTS! <br /><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><br />THE COUNTY BOARD NEEDS TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO SEE THIS PROPOSAL PLACED ON THE BALLOT!<br /><br /><br />PLEASE either MAIL or CALL or EMAIL A LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE CVESD AND SUHSD PROPOSALS FOR TRUSTEE AREAS! <br />- "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.<br />- EMAILS ARE BELOW<br /> - See mailing addresses below.<br /><br /><br />You can E-MAIL the County Board of Education Members ("Committee on School District Organization") directly at the listed emails:<br />Nick Aguilar<br />Board Member, Second District<br />phone: (858) 292-3609 email: naguilar@sdcoe.net<br /><br /><br />Sharon C. Jones<br />Board Member, Third District<br />Phone: (858) 292-3609 Email: shrnjones@sdcoe.net <br /><br /><br />Susan Hartley<br />Board Member, Fifth District<br />phone: (858) 292-3609 email: shartley@sdcoe.net<br /><br /><br />Robert J. Watkins<br />Board Member, Fourth District<br />phone: (858) 292-3609 email: bwatkins@rjwatkins.com<br /><br /><br />John Witt<br />Board Member, First District<br />phone: (858) 292-3609 email: jwitt@sdcoe.net<br /><br /><br /><br />- OR - <br /><br /><br />MAIL the County Committee (County Board of Education)...see attached word document.<br />(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.)<br /><br /><br />ADDRESS THE ENVELOPE AS FOLLOWS:<br /><br /><br />Marcia Buompensiero, Executive Assistant<br />San Diego County Board of Education<br />6401 Linda Vista Road<br />San Diego, CA 92111-7399<br /><br /><br />- OR - <br /><br /><br />If you wish to CALL and leave a message for the Board members, contact: <br />Marcia Buompensiero, Executive Assistant to the Board, Phone: (858) 292-3515, mbuompensiero@sdcoe.net<br /><br /><br />Please FORWARD this Message! THANK YOU!<br /><br /><br />***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)*** <br />Please email any questions you have about this issue to akcoronado@cox.netUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-66247562344511271832007-12-11T15:34:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:42:23.940-08:00A plea to San Francisco 49ers player Alex SmithDear Alex:<br />You are a hero for starting a foundation to help foster kids when they turn eighteen.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />Tonight the rest of the board will vote to appeal the decision made by the jury last Friday.<br /><br />Please ask your mom to do the right thing, to apologize to Danielle, and to settle the lawsuit instead of appealing it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-72629753017962218042007-12-01T14:12:00.001-08:002007-12-06T19:05:25.468-08:00CVESD can't seem to tell the difference between good teachers and a bad teachers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiso8LyLnBfglHZ7sWIefwuiaPpEc4oFXYQ7dLKEkDxjrTsIvGKY5uBX7UFUIly1Xrug9o7qXW1_AWYffw9qimjw4jbqaCCWg_bdfPx1vUP5C5g1aY48UoQ3Jtm63FmE76KMG7twg/s1600-r/cvesdSnyderBd.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixJ4ucBlM40hHw0DHx_Z2KGXnHn0LGZNIfL1MCPaEef5ks2_pwu7DdkDhyphenhyphenA9yErwdtdNVayaL5rrWCfTyPc2W7aMGOZOec2BmxeJZq6IAg0KSRoUwr6foF7mmtB7TN2Fh0lT8PcQ/s320/cvesdSnyderBd.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138717015680994674" /></a><br /><br />A Tale of Two Lawsuits<br /><br />LARKINS V. CVESD <br />(Castle Park Elementary 2001-2005) See photo above, with teachers Peggie Myers and Karen Snyder standing together, and the famous Robin Donlan seated.<br /><br />COZIAHR V. CVESD <br />(Silverwing Elementary 2006-2007)<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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." <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-2154535621466281052007-12-01T11:42:00.000-08:002007-12-01T14:09:37.573-08:00The latest on the Danielle Cozaihr caseFor the latest news about the Danielle Coziahr case, please go to:<br /><a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/.%20A%20school%20district%20lawsuit%20%28Cozaihr%20v.%20CVESD%29"> San Diego Education Report. </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-16026401285774144622007-12-01T11:28:00.000-08:002010-04-21T16:09:08.001-07:00Do Diane Crosier and Keenan and Associates corrupt San Diego county schools?See also <a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/.%20Madigan%20%28Mike%20Madigan%20and%20wife%20Laurie%20Madigan%29">Laurie and Mike Madigan </a>at San Diego Education Report Blog. Also see <a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/Attorney%20Leslie%20Devaney">Leslie Devaney.</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKmbxLNU2r2zplj4lZkvN3VICQe8N7OBx9b-ZkjLHUrHqLhhTPA3jBEPhsE6iAsbbxvMLgMnqy6Xfgc28_cZ0aMOlaCzMt3aa_knxZ1QQKIS24QKyBhiKqkEtoIjWJfsMZP468/s1600-r/Crosier%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNBOWtQQQ1jqaND2AgC0V4Yx3aqEiZZBlGzTX5AK_6OP54N24I7nLktuG6P6quR0OJPDskOjOXPU8fIf3Ly3-PbalfMl2E63j2rs5uOiesTcpSUSVOca9ptRHs0FxzW9HmV1v/s320/Crosier%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139095144807529250" /></a><br />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. <br /><br />Public entities should be allowed to choose ethical lawyers.<br /><br />Here is an article from lawsuitabuse.blogspot.com about Diane Crosier, director of SDCOE-JPA and SDCOE's Office of Risk Management.<br /><br />Friday, June 29, 2007<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Logan Jenkins admires Victoria Richart's fabulous settlement with MiraCosta<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Yesterday, Logan Jenkins of the San Diego Union Tribune wrote:<br /><br /><br />"I don't know what element of the settlement to admire more.<br /><br />"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!)<br /><br />"Indemnification in all future lawsuits? (You walk away clean, no harm, no foul – forever!)<br /><br />"The confidentiality clause? (All lips are sealed. No snitching!)<br /><br />"Though not highlighted in the press, one clause of the settlement struck us as especially brilliant.<br /><br />"If the college fails to pony up the dough by next Saturday, you'll “remain as Superintendent/President until those payments are made.”<br /><br />"Talk about striking the fear of God into your marks. Pay me or I'll . . . stay! <br /><br />"Madam president, you must be very tired, but deliriously happy."<br /><br />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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-57400161395002413602007-11-30T21:32:00.000-08:002007-12-02T17:45:40.295-08:00The Danielle Coziahr case against CVESDClick <a href="http://learningboosters.blogspot.com/search/label/.%20A%20school%20district%20lawsuit%20%28Cozaihr%20v.%20CVESD%29">here for the latest report on Danielle Cozaihr v. CVESD from San Diego Education Report. </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-8880626506076055952007-11-23T14:31:00.000-08:002007-12-01T11:49:09.440-08:00San Diego Union Tribune letter about Cheryl Cox and Lincoln ClubWas it an immaculate conception?<br />Susan Watry<br />November 9, 2007<br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22684106.post-44185569463274042232007-10-18T22:16:00.000-07:002007-10-18T22:17:15.775-07:00Who's best at hiding the truth? CVESD or Capistrano?From San Diego Education Report Blog:<br /><br /><br />Chula Vista Elementary isn't the only secrective school board<br />Chuck Wheeler writes, at Dissent the Blog:<br /><br />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":<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />"Trustees tried to keep the community from participating in district decision-making and to manipulate public opinion, the report said.<br /><br />"'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.<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />"…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…."<br /><br /><br />http://dissenttheblog.blogspot.com/<br /><br /><br />The full Los Angeles Times article is at:<br />http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-capo10oct10,1,3975985.story?coll=la-editions-orange&ctrack=1&cset=trueUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0