When will Pamela Smith and Felicia Starr talk about the money missing from the Castle Park Elementary PTA?

To: Don Sevrens
Editor, San Diego Union Tribune

I enjoyed your July 20, 2006 editorial about the Chula Vista Ethics Board.

I could tell it was you who wrote it because of the way you described Felicia Starr without even a hint of irony.

Felicia Starr was a member of the Castle Park Elementary site council, with oversight over the school, when $20,000 went missing from the PTA in 2005. Not a word of that apparent felony was whispered in your paper, the San Diego Union Tribune, although you printed many stories, letters and editorials about Castle Park Elementary. When Felicia wanted to assert her personal power, she brought the teachers union president, Gina Boyd, to observe the Castle Park School Site Council.

Felicia and the PTA president were joined at the hip, as was obvious from the stories the Chula Vista Star News wrote about them. Felicia was the immediate past president of the PTA in 2004, when the 2004-2005 PTA president was chosen. It appeared that she was chosen because she did what Starr told her to do.

I remember one school board meeting when the PTA president took pictures of me, and then Felicia and Gina huddled together over the digital camera, whispering about the pictures, as the board meeting progressed.

I was flattered by the attention. Do you think they were trying to intimidate me?

I think you and I are going to have an interesting election season. You’ll be telling lies with a straight face, and I’ll be telling the truth. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep a straight face when talking about the antics of your friends at Castle Park Elementary.

P.S. I wonder when mayoral candidate Cheryl Cox will talk about the $20,000 missing from the Castle Park Elementary PTA?

When money recently went missing from Valhalla High School, the East County Edition of the San Diego Union Tribune wrote about it. How come the South County edition of the paper keeps stories covered up? $2,000 also went missing from the Castle Park Elementary PTA in 1998! Do we have a trend here?

The Union Tribune never mentioned that Chula Vista Elementary School District had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend or represent members of the "Castle Park Five" in a lawsuit. Don Sevrens wrote about Robin Donlan, Peggie Myers, and Nikki Perez as if they were innocent teachers that were being picked on by the principal.

Why is it so difficult to get rid of a poorly performing teacher in California?

This question was asked by Richard Ehisen of the Sacramento News and Review on May 17, 2001. (See http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A6202.)

The answer is: their friends protect them.

On the other hand, these same teachers who protect incompetent peers often attack competent teachers. The reason? Jealousy, competition, jockeying for control of the school.

Wait a minute. Aren't institutions run by women, as many schools are, more gentle, kind, and caring?

Maybe not.

Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, said, "I'm not a person who thinks the world would be entirely different if it was run by women. If you think that, you've forgotten what high school was like."

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Why did CVESD protect Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz?

Susan Fahle
Assistant Superintendent for Business Services
Chula Vista Elementary School District

Dear Ms. Fahle:

I am trying to find out why CVESD defended Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz regarding my obstruction of justice lawsuit, when CVESD was not involved in the case.

When a public entity defends its lawyers for obstruction of justice, one begins to wonder just how corrupt that public entity is. It would appear that you, Ms. Fahle, as Assistant Superintendent for Business Services, authorized this action. Your actions do not pass the smell test.

Pursuant to the California Public Records act, I request that I be allowed to view the contract or contracts entered into by Chula Vista Elementary School District and Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz (STUTZ) or Stutz, Gallagher, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, during the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Is the San Diego Union-Tribune wrong about Castle Park Elementary?

The San Diego Union Tribune (SDUT) recently published an "editorial" about Castle Park Elementary.

The May 25, 2006 editorial said, "The uproar at Castle Park started in August 2004 and did not end until this month.""

Really? What happened this month? The editorial fails to tell the reader this crucial bit of information.

The statement, "The uproar at Castle Park started in August 2004 and did not end until this month," is a false statement. The writer knew the statement was false if he or she had any real knowledge of Castle Park Elementary. The Union Tribune has long been aware that the uproar at Castle Park Elementary began NOT IN AUGUST 2004, but WELL BEFORE FEBRUARY 2001. It began when one Castle Park teacher committed a crime against a fellow teacher. The teacher who committed the crime later became infamous as one of the "Castle Park Five."

The SDUT has also long been aware of the San Diego Superior Court case that resulted from this crime. Unfortunately, honest journalism is not a high priority at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The violations of law by Castle Park teachers and ex-teachers, including the President of Chula Vista Educators, have been covered up by the SDUT even as it has published an avalanche of letters, articles and anonymous editorials about the "Castle Park Five."

If it's an editorial, that means that an editor at the newspaper wrote it, right?

Not necessarily. The SDUT offers certain individuals a way out of the requirement that all letters to the editor must be signed in order to be published. I found out about this policy from an individual who was asked by the SDUT to write an editorial.

Sometimes you can tell when this happens because the editorial is poorly written. Other times, you can't tell. The May 25 article seems to be well-written, but it is clear that the writer is intentionally deceiving readers.

How, you may ask, do I know that the uproar at Castle Park Elementary is not over? I know because I am planning to file suit within the next few months regarding subornation of perjury by lawyers for Castle Park Elementary teachers who were being deposed during the above-mentioned Superior Court case.

This could be the year--or not

Chula Vista Elementary School District deteriorated over the last fifteen years, beginning about the time Libby Gil was brought in from Seattle. But Libby was not the basic problem, she was only the symptom of an underlying decay. The real problem is a board of education without imagination, courage or respect for students, teachers and taxpayers.