I can't believe they painted over the windows. Do they want the kids to feel like they're underground?
Less than a year ago Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced $60 million in grants to the Castle Park area. More recently, Castle Park Middle School wanted the place to look nice for Mr. Duncan's recent visit.
See all posts re Castle Park Elementary School from this blog and from CVESD Reporter.
Chula Vista school hurries to get ready for Arne Duncan
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
Sept. 4, 2013
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is paying Sweetwater Union High School District a visit. Duncan is on a Southwest bus tour and will be at Castle Park Middle School September 13.
Why Castle Park Middle? In 2012 the U.S. Department of Education awarded $27.8 million in Promise Neighborhood grant money to a section of west side Chula Vista, which includes Castle Park Middle School.
South Bay Community Services is the lead agency in administering the grant and provides “wrap around” social services to students and families.
The agency is funded through the Sweetwater school district to provide after-school programs for students—which comes into play at Castle Park.
The principal of Castle Park Middle is Robert Bleisch. He is credited with turning schools around with a model he developed at Granger Middle School, although critics say the teachers, not Bleisch, turned the school around.
The model, now being applied to Castle Park, emphasizes attendance. The policy is enforced by escalating repercussions for students beginning with Saturday school, followed by after-school hours, and ending with appearance before an attendance board at the local police department.
One source for this story says, “Kids are rounded up at 2:30 and taken to the O room for the after-school program, some respond negatively.” Another source said, “Parents on the east side would never stand for this program.”
Preparation for Duncan’s visit to Castle Park Middle is frenzied.
First the media. On August 23, the Chula Vista Star News carried a story titled: “Attendance Numbers are up at Castle Park.”
Then Castle Park Middle got a facelift. New solar panels are being installed; new red flags wave in front of the school, and new banners bearing the name of every college in the country are draped around the campus. But the most sensational accoutrement is the fresh red paint—right over the windows of classrooms facing Second Avenue.
According to trustee Bertha Lopez, several teacher and constituents complained to her about the painted windows. She emailed Superintendent Brand on August 23 about constituent concerns regarding student headaches and safety. She contacted board president Jim Cartmill. Neither of them responded.
Over the Labor Day weekend two sources contacted the Reader. Beyond the concern with the red windows, sources raised concerns that either the student body or district money is being spent to the tune of $40,000 to gussy up for Duncan. One item, sources reported, was a stage that allegedly cost $25,000.
Principal Bleisch did not return phone calls by September 3.
Manny Rubio, spokesman for the district, responded to a public record request about the expenses on August 28 with these words, “The district is not making any additional expenses for Secretary Duncan's visit.”
However, on September 4, Sweetwater’s Chief Financial Officer, Albert Alt, responded to an email query with this update: “Some of the purchases are general fund, some are ASB funds….In any event, all of the expenditures are legal expenditures.”
Friday, October 04, 2013
Castle Park Promise Neighborhood gets a visit from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan--but has there really been a turnaround?
Less than a year ago Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced $60 million in grants to the Castle Park area.
Castle Park Elementary, the troubled school I attended as a child and taught at as an adult, certainly deserves a break. But I'm not sure that's what it's getting, even with $60 million in grants to the neighborhood.
Here's the problem: the culture of the school district and teachers union is as bankrupt as ever. Improved attendance has little impact when the dysfunctional culture of the district and the teachers union remains the same.
Here's a comment by a reader of the Chula Vista Star-News:
Sosocal says:I agree with the commenter. The network of corrupt officials in San Diego schools is fostered by San Diego County Office of Education. SDCOE protects officials who should be long gone. Why can't some of the $60 million in grants be used to clean up corruption in South Bay? Because the people involved in the grants are closely connected to the school districts, and they all protect each other. The public needs to know more about what's going on in schools, behind the red-painted windows.
Sat, Sep 14 2013 04:30 PM
What could have been a great opportunity for honest dialogue unfortunately turned into something quite different: the Secretary of Education being spoon fed Ed Brand's scheme of the hour. Yes, principal Bleisch has created quite a stir, but what is the substance? Some might say, as long as the kids go to school and the district gets the funding, it's all ok. But is it?
We need honest answers regarding the finances of this district. We need honest answers from those who purport to represent us, but who really represent their own careerist issues.
What are the students learning from this? I hope the public is learning that they need to be involved.
See all posts re Castle Park Elementary School from this blog and from CVESD Reporter.
A Promise Neighborhood staff member works with students after school in the Castle Park Elementary computer lab in Chula Vista, Sept. 19, 2013. The software, paid for by the Promise Neighborhood is helping students improve their reading skills. Photo By Christopher Maue
See all posts re Castle Park Elementary School from San Diego Education Report Blog and from CVESD Reporter.
How A Federal Grant For Promise Neighborhoods Is Changing A Chula Vista Community
By Kyla Calvert
KPBS News
October 3, 2013
CHULA VISTA, CA — Ten-year-old Emily Jimenez Ayon wants to be a doctor. To do that, she knows she’ll need to go to college. And to get there she’s willing to make some sacrifices. For the moment that includes giving up her Qiunceañera, which is kind of like a coming out party that many Mexican-American families throw for their daughters’ fifteenth birthdays.
Last year, a partnership of almost 30 organizations in Chula Vista's Castle Park neighborhood received a five-year grant to provide "cradle-to-career" support for the neighborhood’s children and families.
“I want to save the money for when I get into the university," she said.
That’s right – she wants the money to go toward the cost of college. Her mother, Gladys Ayon, said this is a new outlook for her daughter that came after a few weeks of summer camps provided through a program called Promise Neighborhood.
“Before, we didn’t talk a lot about it," Ayon said in Spanish. "But the people from Promise came with the mentality of helping the mothers from the time they’re pregnant and helping them so that their children do well, and little by little, get to college.”
Castle Park’s Promise Neighborhood program is one of about a dozen Promise Neighborhoods operating across the country. The federal government has set aside about $100 million over the last three years for programs like these. Last year, a partnership of almost 30 organizations in Castle Park received a $28 million, five-year grant to provide what’s being called "cradle-to-career" support for the neighborhood’s children and families.
“We saw a lot of gaps in services and we saw a lot of what was keeping kids from being successful in school or keeping kids from going to college,” said Kathryn Lembo, CEO of South Bay Community Services, the group leading the Promise Neighborhood. “You had parents – 96 percent of the parents – saying they wanted their children to go to college and they talked to their kids about it. But then when you asked them what they were talking to them about, it was that, “we can’t afford it, you can’t go to college.”
But changing that mentality is a tall order in a neighborhood like Castle Park, where English proficiency is low, two-thirds of adults don’t have a high school diploma and more than half of households do not have a full-time breadwinner. That’s why they have to start early.
“There’s an early learning network and that has to do with preventing any gaps or getting rid of the gaps kids have even before they enter school," Lembo said.
A preschool that opened this year on the Castle Park Elementary campus where students are learning in English and Spanish is part of that network. It also includes newborn home visits by staff from family clinics and parenting classes called Universidad de Padres, or Parent University. Those classes are giving Gladys Ayon tools to get involved with her daughter’s education.
“This helped me a lot because in my daughter’s classroom everything is in English and the teacher gives me all the work in Spanish so I can explained it to her," Ayon said. "Now I communicate a lot with the teacher. It helps me with my daughter because I struggled a lot with English.”
Ayon is also spending more time on the school’s campus. Not just in classes – but planting and tending a once-neglected garden that parents took over as a result of those Promise Neighborhood classes. She says her two daughters are eating fruits and vegetables they would have refused before - or that she never would have thought to give them.
Evidence of Promise Neighborhood programs is everywhere on campus, from in-class and after-school tutors to an after -school computer lab where students catch up on reading skills.
The school’s resource teacher, Kim Callado, said they're also getting a direct connection to important services.
“We had a family that needed immediate help with shelter, so we went through the Promise Neighborhood, we ask them if they could do a referral then they helped them through the whole process,” she said.
Those connections have only been in place since school started at the end of July, but Callado said they’re starting to pay off.
“We’re still working on it, but yes, we’ve already seen a difference because we’re getting so much support on calling parents, asking them why they’re absent," she said. "So last week we were celebrating that we did really well with our attendance.”
But being on campus isn’t enough to make the Promise Neighborhood idea work.
On a recent afternoon the Promise Neighborhood’s Promotoras were getting ready to go knocking on doors to recruit for one of their programs. Cyndi Gonzalez became a Promotora after years of volunteering at her son’s school, Castle Park Middle, which is one of the four other schools that are part of the Promise Neighborhood.
“We are the eyes, the ears and especially the voice of the community," she said. "We’re there to inform the community of everything that we’re learning and we’re also there to navigate them through all of the programs.”
The Promotoras are neighborhood residents – so Gonzalez believes parents trust them in a way they may not trust school administrators. If parents are more comfortable, they’ll open up and let Promotoras know what services they may really need.
Gonzalez saw first hand what the influx of support and extended school day programs meant at her son's school.
“I would hear every morning, ‘I don’t want to go to school, I don’t want to go to school.’ And it was a struggle,” she said.
But – along with Promise Neighborhoods came a new philosophy.
“It holds them accountable for not going to school, for not doing their homework," she said. "And he would have to make up his days on Saturdays. I stopped hearing that every morning 'I don’t want to go to school,' because he knew – there’s consequences.”
Now, he’s in high school outside the neighborhood, but he knows college is in his future. Gonzalez's family is planning for him in ways they didn’t for his older sister.
“We didn’t have all the information," she said. "I’m sure the school had it, but it wasn’t accessible, readily accessible to us at the time and I think that’s one of the reasons why I got involved also, because I wanted to share that information with the community also.”
When the five-year grant ends, the schools and organizations will have to find other ways to keep the successful programs running, Lembo said.
They’ll be gauging success in a lot of different ways -- tracking things like how many infants and toddlers have access to medical care somewhere other than an emergency room, asking parents how much they read to young children and harder data like high school graduation, college enrollment and test scores...
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to hold town hall forum in Chula Vista
Forum held at Castle Park Middle School
Channel 10 News
09/13/2013
SAN DIEGO - Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and senior U.S. Department of Education staff are scheduled to conduct a town hall forum on education Friday morning in Chula Vista.
The event at Castle Park Middle School will conclude the officials' fourth annual back-to-school bus tour, which has included 15 events in 11 cities in the southwestern United States.
Duncan is scheduled to kick off the forum with a pep rally at 9 a.m., when he's expected to make remarks on the role communities plays in educating children.
"The strength of America's economy is inextricably linked to the strength of America's education system," Duncan said before beginning the bus tour.
The town hall topic will be "Promise Neighborhoods," which the Department of Education describes as "cradle-to-career initiatives that call on the entire community to provide comprehensive place-based supports such as high-quality early learning, rich after-school activities, health and wellness services, and crime prevention."
Breakout sessions on a variety of topics will follow.
Castle Park Middle School is one of four schools in Chula Vista that belongs to the Chula Vista Promise Neighborhood, which received a federal grant last year of almost $5 million.
Chula Vista Promise Neighborhood
South Bay Community Services provides the most comprehensive range of services and programs for families, children and individuals in South San Diego County. Our programs are for everyone at anytime in their lives when they need it the most. With the continuous support from community members and generous sponsors, we are able to respond to the overwhelming needs of our community . . . touching the lives of more than 50,000 annually.
South Bay Community Services (SBCS) has been part of the community since 1971 providing the most comprehensive range of services and programs for families, children and individuals in South San Diego County. Our programs are for everyone at any time in their lives when they need it the most.
SBCS began as “Our House”, opened by the City of Chula Vista in an effort to combat the groups of “long-hair” teens who were using and dealing drugs in Memorial Park. Our House was a drop-in center where teen drug users could go for counseling and drug rehabilitation. Its success brought about the need for growth and a board of directors. And grow we did. Soon, Our House came to be called South Bay Community Services and has been growing with the needs of the community ever since. Today, we have a staff of more than 400 with many stationed throughout South San Diego County at shelters, clinics, police departments, schools, affordable housing facilities and family resource centers. SBCS is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) with a main office located at 1124 Bay Blvd.
There have been many notable milestones reached throughout the years...
1982 Kathryn Lembo takes role of Executive Director...
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
CVESD sues federal government over teacher accused of child molestation
CVESD has hired Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost to sue the United States Department of Justice. In its Freedom of Information Act complaint asking for a copy of the immunity deal teacher John Kinloch received in the late 1990s for testifying in a case about child pornography, the school district states, "The public interest in knowing those details far outweighs any privacy interest..."
I couldn't agree more. But CVESD has made clear over the years that it believes its own secrets about illegal actions of staff are not the public's business. CVESD reflexively pays lawyers to quash subpoenas seeking information information about serious problems.
Why didn't CVESD fire accused child molester John Kinloch after Victim #1, a former Feaster student, revealed five years ago that he had been molested for years by Kinloch? Why did he stay in his classroom until his recent arrest?
Who made the decision to keep Kinloch in the classroom? The Superintendent and board have a habit of looking away whenever any employment decision with legal ramifications must be made. They rubber stamp whatever decision the HR head presents after receiving instructions from lawyers. They don't like to know too much or think too much about such things, so they'll have plausible deniability when the decision turns out to be harmful or illegal. The public doesn't know what went on, so the board members are returned to office.
The principals I have worked with in CVESD didn't know most of the teachers on their staffs. Only a few teachers were close to the principals, and those few practically lived in the principals' offices. They served as the principals' eyes and ears. These powerful teachers were often motivated by school politics to sabotage many of their colleagues at the expense of children's well-being and education.
If Raymond Kinloch's principals had met with each member of their staffs for an informal 10-minute chat once a month about what was going on in the teachers' classrooms and the teachers' minds, I believe that CVESD would have found out years ago that something peculiar was going on.
Does CVESD now suddenly believe the public has a right to know? Can we now expect that Chula Vista Elementary School District is going to start seriously investigating problems, and producing information in court cases? Or can we expect more debacles such as the handling of a report by two teachers at Castle Park Elementary that a school shooting might be imminent? Instead of investigating, the board called in lawyers to conduct "investigations". But then the lawyers refused to produce their information in court, claiming attorney-client privilege, and--get this--LOST a slew of documents. Shame on the board, particularly Pam Smith and Larry Cunningham, for showing so little concern about student safety and the education of students. Their neglect caused my school to spin out of control due to the incompetent and malicious handling of the "imminent shooting" hoax. The school ended up having 11 principals in 11 years, and two separate embezzlements by PTA officials, before the district managed to push out the problem teachers and administrators.
Ironically, the federal judge in the infamous Moser v. Bret Harte High School District case ordered Fagen Friedman Fulfrost partner Howard Fulfrost to take ethics training because of "lying and obstruction" by his former firm, Lozano Smith. Apparently Mr. Fulfrost has a higher opinion of truth-telling now that the shoe is on the other foot.
See all posts about arrested CVESD teacher John Kinloch.
DISTRICT SUES U.S. OVER TEACHER TIED TO CHILD PORN
By Greg Moran
SDUT
Sept. 21, 2013
Chula Vista Elementary School District officials are suing the federal Department of Justice, trying to figure out why no red flags came up when the district went to hire a teacher who had been involved in a child pornography ring.
The lawsuit filed in San Diego federal court on Tuesday says the government has refused to acknowledge it made an immunity deal more than 15 years ago with the man, 42-year-old John Kinloch.
The deal had been reported in the media as far back as 1998, and Kinloch himself testified about it in court.
Kinloch was arrested in December and charged with molesting a former student and persuading other boys to send him nude photographs. He pleaded not guilty and is on unpaid leave from his job as a teacher at Wolf Canyon Elementary School.
The district says it needs the federal documents to figure out why Kinloch’s past did not come up in the background check it conducted before he was hired, and determine whether any legislative fixes could prevent a repeat in the future.
The Justice Department cited a provision of the federal Freedom of Information Act that said confirming or denying any records of a deal with Kinloch would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
The department refused requests to turn over information, and last week declined to comment because of the pending litigation.
“We would hope the Department of Justice would share our concerns of preventing this from ever happening again,” school district spokesman Anthony Millican said. “Why did the background check fail? We need their records to explain how this happened, so we can change it and stop it from happening again.”
Kinloch was hired by the district in 2000 and taught at two schools, most recently at Wolf Canyon.
Two years before he was hired, Kinloch testified in a trial in England against a man charged with what was then the relatively new crime of transmitting child pornography over the Internet. The investigation into the man in England led police to Kinloch, who would later testify he had traded child pornography with the man since 1995.
Kinloch struck a bargain with U.S. authorities: He would get immunity here from child pornography charges, so long as he went to England and testified. The agreement wasn’t really a secret, since Kinloch spoke about it in open court.
“They said they would not prosecute me if I told the truth and cooperated,” he testified, according to a news account of the trial in a British newspaper.
Also, the San Diego Reader in 1998 published a story about the case and Kinloch’s role, quoting Mitchell Dembin, the prosecutor who arranged the plea deal and is now a U.S. magistrate judge in San Diego.
When Kinloch returned to the states, he completed his course work at San Diego State University and got a teaching credential. When Chula Vista hired him in September 2000, nothing about his involvement in the ring, or the immunity agreement, turned up in his background check.
That could be because Kinloch was never formally charged here, so no court or arrest record would be in the system. The news stories did not turn up because the district did not conduct Internet searches then on potential employees and does not now.
Background checks for teachers in California are handled through a program administered by the state Department of Justice when applicants apply for teaching credentials.
The exact reason the background check didn’t uncover Kinloch’s past isn’t known, and the district wants to find out. It wants copies of the immunity arrangement as well as any correspondence with the department and with officials from Great Britain.
The public interest in knowing those details far outweighs any privacy interest, the district contends. Millican said that the public relies on the integrity of background checks to identify people like Kinloch, who testified that he was attracted to boys who were teenagers, and younger.
I couldn't agree more. But CVESD has made clear over the years that it believes its own secrets about illegal actions of staff are not the public's business. CVESD reflexively pays lawyers to quash subpoenas seeking information information about serious problems.
Why didn't CVESD fire accused child molester John Kinloch after Victim #1, a former Feaster student, revealed five years ago that he had been molested for years by Kinloch? Why did he stay in his classroom until his recent arrest?
Who made the decision to keep Kinloch in the classroom? The Superintendent and board have a habit of looking away whenever any employment decision with legal ramifications must be made. They rubber stamp whatever decision the HR head presents after receiving instructions from lawyers. They don't like to know too much or think too much about such things, so they'll have plausible deniability when the decision turns out to be harmful or illegal. The public doesn't know what went on, so the board members are returned to office.
The principals I have worked with in CVESD didn't know most of the teachers on their staffs. Only a few teachers were close to the principals, and those few practically lived in the principals' offices. They served as the principals' eyes and ears. These powerful teachers were often motivated by school politics to sabotage many of their colleagues at the expense of children's well-being and education.
If Raymond Kinloch's principals had met with each member of their staffs for an informal 10-minute chat once a month about what was going on in the teachers' classrooms and the teachers' minds, I believe that CVESD would have found out years ago that something peculiar was going on.
Does CVESD now suddenly believe the public has a right to know? Can we now expect that Chula Vista Elementary School District is going to start seriously investigating problems, and producing information in court cases? Or can we expect more debacles such as the handling of a report by two teachers at Castle Park Elementary that a school shooting might be imminent? Instead of investigating, the board called in lawyers to conduct "investigations". But then the lawyers refused to produce their information in court, claiming attorney-client privilege, and--get this--LOST a slew of documents. Shame on the board, particularly Pam Smith and Larry Cunningham, for showing so little concern about student safety and the education of students. Their neglect caused my school to spin out of control due to the incompetent and malicious handling of the "imminent shooting" hoax. The school ended up having 11 principals in 11 years, and two separate embezzlements by PTA officials, before the district managed to push out the problem teachers and administrators.
Ironically, the federal judge in the infamous Moser v. Bret Harte High School District case ordered Fagen Friedman Fulfrost partner Howard Fulfrost to take ethics training because of "lying and obstruction" by his former firm, Lozano Smith. Apparently Mr. Fulfrost has a higher opinion of truth-telling now that the shoe is on the other foot.
See all posts about arrested CVESD teacher John Kinloch.
DISTRICT SUES U.S. OVER TEACHER TIED TO CHILD PORN
By Greg Moran
SDUT
Sept. 21, 2013
Chula Vista Elementary School District officials are suing the federal Department of Justice, trying to figure out why no red flags came up when the district went to hire a teacher who had been involved in a child pornography ring.
The lawsuit filed in San Diego federal court on Tuesday says the government has refused to acknowledge it made an immunity deal more than 15 years ago with the man, 42-year-old John Kinloch.
The deal had been reported in the media as far back as 1998, and Kinloch himself testified about it in court.
Kinloch was arrested in December and charged with molesting a former student and persuading other boys to send him nude photographs. He pleaded not guilty and is on unpaid leave from his job as a teacher at Wolf Canyon Elementary School.
The district says it needs the federal documents to figure out why Kinloch’s past did not come up in the background check it conducted before he was hired, and determine whether any legislative fixes could prevent a repeat in the future.
The Justice Department cited a provision of the federal Freedom of Information Act that said confirming or denying any records of a deal with Kinloch would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
The department refused requests to turn over information, and last week declined to comment because of the pending litigation.
“We would hope the Department of Justice would share our concerns of preventing this from ever happening again,” school district spokesman Anthony Millican said. “Why did the background check fail? We need their records to explain how this happened, so we can change it and stop it from happening again.”
Kinloch was hired by the district in 2000 and taught at two schools, most recently at Wolf Canyon.
Two years before he was hired, Kinloch testified in a trial in England against a man charged with what was then the relatively new crime of transmitting child pornography over the Internet. The investigation into the man in England led police to Kinloch, who would later testify he had traded child pornography with the man since 1995.
Kinloch struck a bargain with U.S. authorities: He would get immunity here from child pornography charges, so long as he went to England and testified. The agreement wasn’t really a secret, since Kinloch spoke about it in open court.
“They said they would not prosecute me if I told the truth and cooperated,” he testified, according to a news account of the trial in a British newspaper.
Also, the San Diego Reader in 1998 published a story about the case and Kinloch’s role, quoting Mitchell Dembin, the prosecutor who arranged the plea deal and is now a U.S. magistrate judge in San Diego.
When Kinloch returned to the states, he completed his course work at San Diego State University and got a teaching credential. When Chula Vista hired him in September 2000, nothing about his involvement in the ring, or the immunity agreement, turned up in his background check.
That could be because Kinloch was never formally charged here, so no court or arrest record would be in the system. The news stories did not turn up because the district did not conduct Internet searches then on potential employees and does not now.
Background checks for teachers in California are handled through a program administered by the state Department of Justice when applicants apply for teaching credentials.
The exact reason the background check didn’t uncover Kinloch’s past isn’t known, and the district wants to find out. It wants copies of the immunity arrangement as well as any correspondence with the department and with officials from Great Britain.
The public interest in knowing those details far outweighs any privacy interest, the district contends. Millican said that the public relies on the integrity of background checks to identify people like Kinloch, who testified that he was attracted to boys who were teenagers, and younger.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
CVESD teacher John Kinloch to be tried in child sex case
John Raymond Kinloch (Photo from Crime Voice.com)
See all posts regarding CVESD teacher John Raymond Kinloch.
See also "California Teachers Association protects child molesting teacher."
UPDATE MAY 2015
Preliminary Exam scheduled for May 28 2015 8:45AM at the San Diego Superior Court, North County Division, Vista Regional Center in Department 5. Event Felony Jury Trial Location San Diego Superior Court, South County Division, South County Regional Center, Dept. 16 Defendant John Raymond Kinloch Defense Counsel Kerry Armstrong Court No. CS261258 DA No. BBQ194 Click Here to request automatic e-mail notifications about this case.
Update 2014
Former teacher gets new trial date
Neal Putnam
Aug 28 2014
A former Chula Vista elementary school teacher accused of molesting five boys has received a new trial date of Nov. 10 after the prosecutor was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to be a judge. The appointment of Enrique Camarena to the San Diego Superior Court bench may not be related to the trial delay as the attorney for John Raymond Kinloch, 43, had planned to seek a delay. Kinloch was to have stood trial Aug. 25 in Chula Vista Superior Court but it was moved to Nov. 10. Defense counsel had sought delays before as he has a number of other cases in trial. The new prosecutor is Harrison Kennedy. Kinloch has pleaded not guilty to 35 counts of committing lewd or lascivious acts, attempted lewd acts with underage boys and one count of possession of child pornography. He was arrested Dec. 5, 2012, and remains in jail on $1.9 million bail.
UPDATE SEPT. 7, 2013:
It would be nice if Chula Vista Elementary School District were as forthcoming with documents as it wants other agencies to be. For example, it would be appropriate for CVESD to provide the police with documentation of any suspensions it may have imposed on Mr. Kinlock in previous years. The second story below states, "It wasn't until he was in 7th grade that the alleged victim spoke out." That was five years ago. So why did CVESD keep Kinloch in the classroom for several more years, until the police stepped in and arrested him?
Teacher to be tried in child sex case
U-T San Diego
Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, said the district has made two requests for records from the U.S. Department of ...
ORIGINAL POST:
Teen Testifies Ex-Teacher Molested Him After School
By Sherene Tagharobi and R. Stickney
NBC 7
Sep 5, 2013
A young man testified in graphic detail Thursday, describing how he was molested by a former teacher after school in the classroom of a Chula Vista charter school.
Former teacher John Kinloch was arrested in November 2012 as part of a national child pornography bust, accused of posing as a 13-year-old girl to befriend boys ages 12 to 16 through a website.
At the time of his arrest on child molestation charges and child pornography charges, the 41-year-old had been teaching for 14 years and had passed background checks designed to protect students in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
The alleged victim, identified in court as “John Doe 1”, met the defendant when he was a student in Kinloch’s 2nd grade class at Feaster Charter School on Flower Street.
The 7-year-old would often hang out in the teacher’s classroom every day until about 6 p.m. according to the teen's testimony. The two would sometimes go out to dinner together. After, the student would walk home or Kinloch would drive him home, he said.
Then, when the child was in 3rd grade, “John Doe 1” said Kinloch asked him to take off his clothes. The teenager testified he didn't want to do it but didn't want to get his former teacher upset.
“He told me that if I truly cared about him that I would get naked and he told me that his friends told him it was the best way for someone to show that they cared about someone,” the alleged victim testified Thursday.
The alleged victim, now 17, didn’t make eye contact with the defendant while testifying. Kinloch shook his head as if in disagreement with what the teenager was saying several times during the testimony.
“I didn’t want to whatsoever but he just kept dragging it on and sort of getting aggravated where he’d sigh deeply and show that he was getting sort of mad so I didn’t want to make him too upset so I did,” the teenager testified.
The abuse continued as the child moved into the 4th grade with the defendant allegedly asking the child to expose himself “many times” but touching the boy’s genitals only occasionally, according to testimony.
The teenager stated the alleged molestation happened on school grounds at least twice when the classroom door was locked. The molestation continued for five to six years the teenager testified.
He lived at home with his mother and two sisters at the time. He said his father was never around much. The teenager testified that he started hanging out with Kinloch because he thought he was cool.
The teacher and his former student would tell each other “I love you” when others weren't around the teen testified.
It wasn't until he was in 7th grade that the alleged victim spoke out. He said he kept hanging out with Kinloch because he wanted to get past it and would attempt to delay the act of undressing when asked.
He admired Kinloch for other things and said the former teacher taught him manners and how to be a good person.
Under cross-examination, the teenager said he read several news accounts of Kinloch’s arrest and was angry about the allegations.
“John Doe 1” was the first of three alleged victims who were expected to testify in the case against the former teacher.
Kinloch faces an additional 12 counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 18 involving a second alleged victim. The allegations involve situations that happened between August and December of 2012, investigators said. The alleged victim was under the age of 13 and not a student.
He also faces six additional lewd act charges involving a third victim who was 14 or 15 between 1996 and 1998 when he alleges inappropriate contact. The incident allegedly occurred when Kinloch was 24 or 25 and not working as a teacher.
Kinloch was teaching first grade at Wolf Canyon Elementary School at the time of his arrest. He was placed on unpaid leave of absence during criminal proceedings.
If convicted of all charges, Kinloch faces 450 years to life in prison.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
CVESD Teacher Accused of Luring Children Online
In my experience, school politics plays a huge role in protecting bad teachers. There was an incident involving this teacher several years ago.
Teacher Accused of Luring Children Online
By Nicole Gonzales and Monica Garske
NBC 7 San Diego
Dec 1, 2012
John Kinloch, a first grade teacher at Wolf Canyon Elementary School in Chula Vista, is accused of luring children online. NBC 7's Nicole Gonzales reports on his arrest and gets reaction from parents and the school district.
A local elementary school teacher was arrested Friday morning on felony charges involving allegedly luring children online.
Suspect John Kinloch, 41, is a first grade teacher at Wolf Canyon Elementary in Chula Vista. He’s been teaching for the past 14 years.
Federal agents believe the veteran teacher lured children online in order to obtain nude pictures of minors. Kinloch is now being held at San Diego Central Jail on three felonies involving minors.
On Friday, the Chula Vista Elementary School District handed out 900 letters informing parents of Kinloch’s arrest. The letter reassured parents that none of their students were targeted and none of the alleged crimes were committed on campus.
The news left both the school district and parents in disbelief.
“It hurts me that the kids have established a relationship with this teacher, so I'm really going to be asking some questions,” said Wolf Canyon parent Denise Roldan. “My kids [have] only mentioned him a couple of times. They say he was a cool teacher; kids were really happy with him.”
Anthony Millican of the Chula Vista Elementary School District said Kinloch’s arrest came as a complete surprise, especially since there were never any red flags concerning the teacher.
“There's nothing in the individual's file to indicate anything of this nature, thus [we’re feeling] a sense of surprise and concern and shock,” said Millican.
The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force says Kinloch posed as a 13-year-old girl online.
He has allegedly been in contact with boys between the ages of 12 and 16, getting them to send him nude photographs and videos.
In addition, Kinloch is accused of selling or sending the obscene materials.
Now, the well-liked teacher is under investigation and on administrative leave from his position.
“Anyone who harms children isn’t someone we want in our system,” said Millican.
Kinloch’s neighbors say the teacher was not married, lived at home with his mother and generally kept to himself.
He’s scheduled to appear in court and face a judge on Dec. 7.
Teacher Accused of Luring Children Online
By Nicole Gonzales and Monica Garske
NBC 7 San Diego
Dec 1, 2012
John Kinloch, a first grade teacher at Wolf Canyon Elementary School in Chula Vista, is accused of luring children online. NBC 7's Nicole Gonzales reports on his arrest and gets reaction from parents and the school district.
A local elementary school teacher was arrested Friday morning on felony charges involving allegedly luring children online.
Suspect John Kinloch, 41, is a first grade teacher at Wolf Canyon Elementary in Chula Vista. He’s been teaching for the past 14 years.
Federal agents believe the veteran teacher lured children online in order to obtain nude pictures of minors. Kinloch is now being held at San Diego Central Jail on three felonies involving minors.
On Friday, the Chula Vista Elementary School District handed out 900 letters informing parents of Kinloch’s arrest. The letter reassured parents that none of their students were targeted and none of the alleged crimes were committed on campus.
The news left both the school district and parents in disbelief.
“It hurts me that the kids have established a relationship with this teacher, so I'm really going to be asking some questions,” said Wolf Canyon parent Denise Roldan. “My kids [have] only mentioned him a couple of times. They say he was a cool teacher; kids were really happy with him.”
Anthony Millican of the Chula Vista Elementary School District said Kinloch’s arrest came as a complete surprise, especially since there were never any red flags concerning the teacher.
“There's nothing in the individual's file to indicate anything of this nature, thus [we’re feeling] a sense of surprise and concern and shock,” said Millican.
The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force says Kinloch posed as a 13-year-old girl online.
He has allegedly been in contact with boys between the ages of 12 and 16, getting them to send him nude photographs and videos.
In addition, Kinloch is accused of selling or sending the obscene materials.
Now, the well-liked teacher is under investigation and on administrative leave from his position.
“Anyone who harms children isn’t someone we want in our system,” said Millican.
Kinloch’s neighbors say the teacher was not married, lived at home with his mother and generally kept to himself.
He’s scheduled to appear in court and face a judge on Dec. 7.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Local 6th grader told he cannot take 8th grade algebra: School says boy would be truant
Chula Vista Elementarty School District supports teachers who teach math at only one level; a good teacher can teach at several levels at once.
Local 6th grader told he cannot take 8th grade algebra: School says boy would be truant
Parents say son passed algebra readiness test
Joe Little
10 News
07/23/2013
A Chula Vista 6th grader has been told he will be truant if he goes to an 8th grade algebra class instead of his own grade level class.
10News was contacted by Myssie McCann shortly after she was told her 11-year-old son Grant would be punished for not attending Salt Creek Elementary's math classes.
"Never dawned on me in a million years that Chula Vista Elementary School District would say, 'No, you can't do this,'" McCann told 10News. "I was told by the principal [Lalaine Perez] that she was obligated to tell me that if I pursued him taking the Eastlake Middle algebra class, my son would be marked truant on those days."
McCann said Grant has excelled at math since 2nd grade. She said last year, the then-5th grader was placed in a 6th grade math course. This summer, McCann said he passed an 8th grade algebra readiness test.
Grant's parents contacted the nearby Eastlake Middle School, where Grant will be going for 7th and 8th grades to see if he can attend algebra classes. He would then go back to Salt Creek for all his other courses.
McCann said she petitioned the school district. She contacted 10News after she was told her son would be marked as "truant."
"I was not happy," McCann said. "I told her that was unacceptable."
Grant was not happy either.
"It would be challenging for me because when I'm not challenged, math is actually boring," the soon-to-be 6th grader said.
Grant's father is John McCann, who sits on the Sweetwater Union Board of Trustees.
Monday evening, a spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District told 10News the district does not have a process in place for students like Grant to take classes out of district.
He said the district is looking at it and will make a decision on Tuesday just in time for school, which begins Wednesday.
The school district released the following statement to 10News:
"We were asked to make special considerations for the child of a Board Member in a neighboring district. We believe it is wiser to establish a process that would benefit any student in that circumstance, rather than just a one-time exception for the benefit of the child of an elected official. The public does not like special considerations for elected officials. So we will work with our counterparts in Sweetwater to establish a process for independent study agreements that would allow for any qualifying students in the elementary district to take classes in the middle or high school district. Our student-based decisions will be backed up by data. They will not be made on word of mouth or handshake agreements with elected officials in another district."
Local 6th grader told he cannot take 8th grade algebra: School says boy would be truant
Parents say son passed algebra readiness test
Joe Little
10 News
07/23/2013
A Chula Vista 6th grader has been told he will be truant if he goes to an 8th grade algebra class instead of his own grade level class.
10News was contacted by Myssie McCann shortly after she was told her 11-year-old son Grant would be punished for not attending Salt Creek Elementary's math classes.
"Never dawned on me in a million years that Chula Vista Elementary School District would say, 'No, you can't do this,'" McCann told 10News. "I was told by the principal [Lalaine Perez] that she was obligated to tell me that if I pursued him taking the Eastlake Middle algebra class, my son would be marked truant on those days."
McCann said Grant has excelled at math since 2nd grade. She said last year, the then-5th grader was placed in a 6th grade math course. This summer, McCann said he passed an 8th grade algebra readiness test.
Grant's parents contacted the nearby Eastlake Middle School, where Grant will be going for 7th and 8th grades to see if he can attend algebra classes. He would then go back to Salt Creek for all his other courses.
McCann said she petitioned the school district. She contacted 10News after she was told her son would be marked as "truant."
"I was not happy," McCann said. "I told her that was unacceptable."
Grant was not happy either.
"It would be challenging for me because when I'm not challenged, math is actually boring," the soon-to-be 6th grader said.
Grant's father is John McCann, who sits on the Sweetwater Union Board of Trustees.
Monday evening, a spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District told 10News the district does not have a process in place for students like Grant to take classes out of district.
He said the district is looking at it and will make a decision on Tuesday just in time for school, which begins Wednesday.
The school district released the following statement to 10News:
"We were asked to make special considerations for the child of a Board Member in a neighboring district. We believe it is wiser to establish a process that would benefit any student in that circumstance, rather than just a one-time exception for the benefit of the child of an elected official. The public does not like special considerations for elected officials. So we will work with our counterparts in Sweetwater to establish a process for independent study agreements that would allow for any qualifying students in the elementary district to take classes in the middle or high school district. Our student-based decisions will be backed up by data. They will not be made on word of mouth or handshake agreements with elected officials in another district."
From cop to superintendent, Francisco Escobedo now runs CVESD
See all Francisco Escobedo posts.
From cop to superintendent
Allison K. Sampite
Chula Vista Star-News
Aug 27 2010
New Chula Vista Elementary School District superintendent Francisco Escobedo.
For those who know Francisco Escobedo, the newly appointed superintendent for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, they recognize his dedication to excellence in serving more than 20 years in education. But not many people know his career path came at a crossroads in his life.
Escobedo grew up in the upper west side of Manhattan in New York City and lived there for 17 years. During this time, his heart belonged to science and he received his degree in biology at Yale University, with an interest in forensics. "The East Coast was tough," he said. "We lived a few blocks from Hell's Kitchen in the most drug-infested area at the time."
Escobedo's parents encouraged him to focus on education. His father, born and raised in Mexico, and, mother, born and raised in Puerto Rico, met as immigrants in New York. "My parents did the best with what they had, and they knew the value of education," he said. "The teachers I had were almost like my surrogate parents."
At 23, Escobedo moved to the West Coast.
He became a police officer in San Diego two years later, but that job lasted only a year. Escobedo admits that seeing children's cadavers was too difficult for him. A colleague at the time suggested Escobedo would be an ideal teacher, noticing his counseling skills during youth arrests.
"Those words burned in my heart," Escobedo said. "I took the week off and went to UCSD. I decided I wanted to become a high school science teacher, but there weren't any positions available."
Escobedo began teaching kindergarten in the South Bay district and in 1988 became an aide at Valley Vista. "Being a teacher and educator truly was never something I wanted to do until that moment in time ... and then when my partner said that, I knew it was what I needed to do," he said.
Matthew Tessier is the director of technology and student assessment in the National school district and has known Escobedo for nearly 10 years. Escobedo was the principal at Feaster-Edison Charter School when Tessier was a third grade teacher.
"Escobedo bases a lot of his decisions on data, which is a good way to spend money appropriately," Tessier said. Escobedo said one of the challenges he faces is decreased enrollment in the South Bay.
In the last eight to nine years, Escobedo said the South Bay has been steadily losing 200 students a year. "When coupled with the state revenue decline it's double jeopardy," he said.
Escobedo said it's important to never lose touch with the classroom. Each week he visits two to five schools to meet with principals, go to classrooms and talk with teachers to ensure that plans and initiatives are being applied.
"It's been a difficult yet enjoyable experience, but it's something I have a passion for," Escobedo said. "I've seen how education has transformed my life and I want to offer the same thing for all students."
Escobedo will take over for retiring Superintendent Lowell J. Billings who will leave in December.
In accepting the new position, he will become responsible for the largest elementary school district in the state with 44 schools serving approximately 27,000 students.
Escobedo's last day at South Bay Union district, where he makes $144,000 a year, is Oct. 29.
When he takes over at Chula Vista it's not clear what his salary will be, though it won't be more than Billings' annual $247,000 salary, Escobedo said.
From cop to superintendent
Allison K. Sampite
Chula Vista Star-News
Aug 27 2010
New Chula Vista Elementary School District superintendent Francisco Escobedo.
For those who know Francisco Escobedo, the newly appointed superintendent for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, they recognize his dedication to excellence in serving more than 20 years in education. But not many people know his career path came at a crossroads in his life.
Escobedo grew up in the upper west side of Manhattan in New York City and lived there for 17 years. During this time, his heart belonged to science and he received his degree in biology at Yale University, with an interest in forensics. "The East Coast was tough," he said. "We lived a few blocks from Hell's Kitchen in the most drug-infested area at the time."
Escobedo's parents encouraged him to focus on education. His father, born and raised in Mexico, and, mother, born and raised in Puerto Rico, met as immigrants in New York. "My parents did the best with what they had, and they knew the value of education," he said. "The teachers I had were almost like my surrogate parents."
At 23, Escobedo moved to the West Coast.
He became a police officer in San Diego two years later, but that job lasted only a year. Escobedo admits that seeing children's cadavers was too difficult for him. A colleague at the time suggested Escobedo would be an ideal teacher, noticing his counseling skills during youth arrests.
"Those words burned in my heart," Escobedo said. "I took the week off and went to UCSD. I decided I wanted to become a high school science teacher, but there weren't any positions available."
Escobedo began teaching kindergarten in the South Bay district and in 1988 became an aide at Valley Vista. "Being a teacher and educator truly was never something I wanted to do until that moment in time ... and then when my partner said that, I knew it was what I needed to do," he said.
Matthew Tessier is the director of technology and student assessment in the National school district and has known Escobedo for nearly 10 years. Escobedo was the principal at Feaster-Edison Charter School when Tessier was a third grade teacher.
"Escobedo bases a lot of his decisions on data, which is a good way to spend money appropriately," Tessier said. Escobedo said one of the challenges he faces is decreased enrollment in the South Bay.
In the last eight to nine years, Escobedo said the South Bay has been steadily losing 200 students a year. "When coupled with the state revenue decline it's double jeopardy," he said.
Escobedo said it's important to never lose touch with the classroom. Each week he visits two to five schools to meet with principals, go to classrooms and talk with teachers to ensure that plans and initiatives are being applied.
"It's been a difficult yet enjoyable experience, but it's something I have a passion for," Escobedo said. "I've seen how education has transformed my life and I want to offer the same thing for all students."
Escobedo will take over for retiring Superintendent Lowell J. Billings who will leave in December.
In accepting the new position, he will become responsible for the largest elementary school district in the state with 44 schools serving approximately 27,000 students.
Escobedo's last day at South Bay Union district, where he makes $144,000 a year, is Oct. 29.
When he takes over at Chula Vista it's not clear what his salary will be, though it won't be more than Billings' annual $247,000 salary, Escobedo said.
Peevey, supposed to be neutral, pushed secretly for Pio Pico
Update July 23, 2013:The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) website shows that President Michael R. Peevey (above photo) is still in charge.
Peevey, supposed to be neutral, pushed secretly for Pio Pico
CPUC head requested another agency to write a letter to help SDGE
Don Bauder
San Diego Reader
February 27, 2013
Tomorrow (Feb. 28, 2013), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) votes on whether to permit San Diego Gas & Electric to push ahead with three gas-fired power plants. The most important is Pio Pico in the Otay area. But, it is very clear from evidence, one person who is supposed to be an impartial adjudicator in the decision, Michael Peevey, head of the CPUC, has been secretly pushing for it. San Diego attorney Todd Cardiff, through a document request, learned that Peevey contacted Robert Weissenmiller, head of the California Energy Commission, urging Weissenmiller to write a letter in support of Pio Pico. On December 6, Weissenmiller wrote a letter to a colleague saying "Peevey wants a letter from me" to push Pio Pico while San Onofre is out of commission. The same day, one Kevin Barker said in an email "Bob [Weissenmiller] was asked today to support Pio Pico...."
Cardiff wants Peevey to recuse himself from tomorrow's vote. Says Cardiff, "We find it absolutely outrageous that the president of the CPUC, who is supposed to be sitting in a quasi-judicial manner over the project approvals, has clandestinely requested another agency file a letter in support of the project. This is a very serious violation of due process and brings into question the very integrity of the CPUC board." Cardiff adds, "Peevey's actions were designed to have the maximum influence on not only the public, but on fellow commissioners, because they wouldn't know the source of the letter."
Earlier, I had a blog item showing that CPUC Commissioner Carla Peterman had been a lead author of a report showing that Pio Pico was necessary. Initially, she said she should not vote in the matter because of an obvious conflict. But then she changed her position because of "evolving legal advice."
Cardiff wants both Peevey and Peterman to recuse themselves. I would go further, and stress this is my opinion, not Cardiff's. There is plenty of evidence, revealed many times in the Reader, showing that Peevey should be removed from the CPUC by Governor Brown. Peterman, a new appointee, has time to change her ways. The public is increasingly aware of the CPUC's pro-utility, anti-consumer bias, and deeply inculcated corruption.
UPDATE:
Don Bauder Feb. 28, 2013 @ 3:32 p.m.
CPUC DELAYS DECISION. The CPUC today (Feb. 28) delayed its decision on SDGE's push to get the Pio Pico plant approved. However, the commission turned down Todd Cardiff's attempt to get Peevey and Peterman to recuse themselves from the decision because of blatant bias.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
CAMARENA ELEMENTARY READY FOR STUDENTS
See previous story on this school HERE.
CAMARENA ELEMENTARY READY FOR STUDENTS
Students at school that opens next week will try out some new concepts
By Caroline Dipping
SDUT
JULY 18, 2013
Principal Dan Winters describes himself as Camarena’s CEO, or chief encouragement officer.
About 900 students are enrolled in Enrique Camarena Elementary School, which opens next week in Otay Ranch. hool!]
CHULA VISTA — When the new Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School opens next week, one of the first things students will learn is that they can write on their classroom walls and desks. And they won’t get sent to the principal’s office because it was he who led the charge to make it possible.
The walls of the 36 classrooms are swathed in a special paint that mimics a whiteboard, where pen markings easily wipe away with a dry cloth. Student desks are also of a durable fabrication that can withstand the punishment of spelling tests and math calculations.
“The concept is that you want to use the materials you have,” said Principal Dan Winters. “I mean, talk eco-friendly.
“Think of all the paper you don’t need to use. When kids do some work that needs to be saved, they can take a picture of it with their digital device.”
Welcome to Camarena Elementary, the first new campus to be built in the Chula Vista Elementary School District since 2007. Where chalkboards and text books are so last century and digital devices such as iPads, Chromebooks and Android tablets will be the tools to help students, particularly those in the upper grades, learn their core subjects.
Winters, 50, has been in the Chula Vista district nine years, most recently as principal of Salt Creek Elementary. In January, he was selected to be Camarena’s inaugural principal, a role he has embraced wholeheartedly.
Describing himself as the school’s CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer), Winters said he wants to create among his handpicked staff a professional, collaborative culture like Google and Facebook where everyone works together. With literacy as the foundation, the curriculum will include elements of project-based learning, dual immersion, and technology.
Winters’ vision for staff, students and community is so straightforward he fit it on his business cards: “We are a neighborhood school developing digital literacy in a multilingual, creative environment.”
“It starts with literacy,” he said. “It is still the foundation, and common core standards are coming next year and they give credence to the fact primary literacy is still how we do things.
“And digital means literacy in our current environment whereby kids learn how to use digital tools effectively to get information to share and which to communicate.”
Although it has yet to crack a single textbook, digital or otherwise, Camarena Elementary is already poised to do a booming business. Located in the Otay Ranch Village 11 area — at 1650 Exploration Falls Drive, to be precise — the 11.85-acre campus has capacity for 975 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Currently, 900 are enrolled.
The school district purchased the property for $2.7 million in 2008 but did not have the money to build. It wasn’t until last spring that the district was able to break ground, the estimated $30 million construction costs coming from CFD/Mello-Roos special tax assessments.
Also last spring, the school board approved the Camarena name for the school to commemorate the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnapped and killed in 1985 while on assignment in Mexico. By November, the ceremonial last beam was placed in position during a particularly festive “topping out” ceremony, where it was noted that contractor Balfour Beatty Construction was ahead of schedule.
CAMARENA ELEMENTARY READY FOR STUDENTS
Students at school that opens next week will try out some new concepts
By Caroline Dipping
SDUT
JULY 18, 2013
Principal Dan Winters describes himself as Camarena’s CEO, or chief encouragement officer. About 900 students are enrolled in Enrique Camarena Elementary School, which opens next week in Otay Ranch. hool!]
CHULA VISTA — When the new Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School opens next week, one of the first things students will learn is that they can write on their classroom walls and desks. And they won’t get sent to the principal’s office because it was he who led the charge to make it possible.
The walls of the 36 classrooms are swathed in a special paint that mimics a whiteboard, where pen markings easily wipe away with a dry cloth. Student desks are also of a durable fabrication that can withstand the punishment of spelling tests and math calculations.
“The concept is that you want to use the materials you have,” said Principal Dan Winters. “I mean, talk eco-friendly.
“Think of all the paper you don’t need to use. When kids do some work that needs to be saved, they can take a picture of it with their digital device.”
Welcome to Camarena Elementary, the first new campus to be built in the Chula Vista Elementary School District since 2007. Where chalkboards and text books are so last century and digital devices such as iPads, Chromebooks and Android tablets will be the tools to help students, particularly those in the upper grades, learn their core subjects.
Winters, 50, has been in the Chula Vista district nine years, most recently as principal of Salt Creek Elementary. In January, he was selected to be Camarena’s inaugural principal, a role he has embraced wholeheartedly.
Describing himself as the school’s CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer), Winters said he wants to create among his handpicked staff a professional, collaborative culture like Google and Facebook where everyone works together. With literacy as the foundation, the curriculum will include elements of project-based learning, dual immersion, and technology.
Winters’ vision for staff, students and community is so straightforward he fit it on his business cards: “We are a neighborhood school developing digital literacy in a multilingual, creative environment.”
“It starts with literacy,” he said. “It is still the foundation, and common core standards are coming next year and they give credence to the fact primary literacy is still how we do things.
“And digital means literacy in our current environment whereby kids learn how to use digital tools effectively to get information to share and which to communicate.”
Although it has yet to crack a single textbook, digital or otherwise, Camarena Elementary is already poised to do a booming business. Located in the Otay Ranch Village 11 area — at 1650 Exploration Falls Drive, to be precise — the 11.85-acre campus has capacity for 975 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Currently, 900 are enrolled.
The school district purchased the property for $2.7 million in 2008 but did not have the money to build. It wasn’t until last spring that the district was able to break ground, the estimated $30 million construction costs coming from CFD/Mello-Roos special tax assessments.
Also last spring, the school board approved the Camarena name for the school to commemorate the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnapped and killed in 1985 while on assignment in Mexico. By November, the ceremonial last beam was placed in position during a particularly festive “topping out” ceremony, where it was noted that contractor Balfour Beatty Construction was ahead of schedule.
Monday, July 01, 2013
Sweetwater/Alliant deal tinged with cronyism
Movement on Alliant partnership includes pizza party; no public records
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
June 29, 2013
Does Sweetwater Union High School District superintendent Ed Brand have something to hide regarding the memorandum of understanding between Alliant International University and the district?
Why else would he have stonewalled public record requests to see the memorandum from community advocate Maty Adato since May 16 and the San Diego Reader since April 23? Both requests asked to see the memorandum of understanding between Alliant and Sweetwater, among other things.
A letter composed and signed by Brand was sent to Adato and the Reader, saying that the requested information would be ready on June 28. The day came and no records were produced, and emails and phone calls to the clerk of the board were not returned.
The district’s deal with Alliant is tinged with cronyism.
Brand obtained his degree from United States International University (USIU) in 1983. One of Brand’s good buddies is former Sweetwater coach Gary Zarecky. Zarecky left Sweetwater to become the men’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director at USIU/Alliant in 1985. He remained a
Brand brought Zarecky down in 2011 and gave him a $35,000 contract to work on his Funds for Education Committee. The committee, which was going to squeeze funds out of district vendors, was disbanded.
Observers have speculated that Zarecky, who currently coaches at DeAnza College, will play a part in the partnership with an Alliant sports program or with the new breakaway California Interscholastic (CIF) section that the U-T wrote about in May.
When the Alliant memorandum of understanding was brought before the Sweetwater trustees in May, board member Bertha Lopez questioned various clauses in the agreement. She read aloud a section that sounded more like a musing than an MOU: “Will Alliant or Sweetwater manage and control an athletic program? Will Alliant fund it or will Sweetwater fund it? Will they [Alliant] allow admission to CIF Section ll?”
Another longtime friend of Brand’s, Sweetwater economics teacher Tom Hassey, held a pizza party June 27. Hassey bought pizza for students and former students while representatives from Alliant were in attendance, presumably so they could answer potential students’ questions.
Hassey and Brand attempted to start a bank together in 2008.
According to the Alliant International website, the annual tuition for the not-for-profit university is $16,350. Brand told trustees at a May 13 board meeting that the Sweetwater/Alliant program will be open to students with a 2.0 grade-point average and that various tuition benefits will be conferred to Sweetwater students or graduates. He also advised that students who established need could apply for federal assistance (FAFSA) loans.
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
June 29, 2013
Does Sweetwater Union High School District superintendent Ed Brand have something to hide regarding the memorandum of understanding between Alliant International University and the district?
Why else would he have stonewalled public record requests to see the memorandum from community advocate Maty Adato since May 16 and the San Diego Reader since April 23? Both requests asked to see the memorandum of understanding between Alliant and Sweetwater, among other things.
A letter composed and signed by Brand was sent to Adato and the Reader, saying that the requested information would be ready on June 28. The day came and no records were produced, and emails and phone calls to the clerk of the board were not returned.
The district’s deal with Alliant is tinged with cronyism.
Brand obtained his degree from United States International University (USIU) in 1983. One of Brand’s good buddies is former Sweetwater coach Gary Zarecky. Zarecky left Sweetwater to become the men’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director at USIU/Alliant in 1985. He remained a
Brand brought Zarecky down in 2011 and gave him a $35,000 contract to work on his Funds for Education Committee. The committee, which was going to squeeze funds out of district vendors, was disbanded.
Observers have speculated that Zarecky, who currently coaches at DeAnza College, will play a part in the partnership with an Alliant sports program or with the new breakaway California Interscholastic (CIF) section that the U-T wrote about in May.
When the Alliant memorandum of understanding was brought before the Sweetwater trustees in May, board member Bertha Lopez questioned various clauses in the agreement. She read aloud a section that sounded more like a musing than an MOU: “Will Alliant or Sweetwater manage and control an athletic program? Will Alliant fund it or will Sweetwater fund it? Will they [Alliant] allow admission to CIF Section ll?”
Another longtime friend of Brand’s, Sweetwater economics teacher Tom Hassey, held a pizza party June 27. Hassey bought pizza for students and former students while representatives from Alliant were in attendance, presumably so they could answer potential students’ questions.
Hassey and Brand attempted to start a bank together in 2008.
According to the Alliant International website, the annual tuition for the not-for-profit university is $16,350. Brand told trustees at a May 13 board meeting that the Sweetwater/Alliant program will be open to students with a 2.0 grade-point average and that various tuition benefits will be conferred to Sweetwater students or graduates. He also advised that students who established need could apply for federal assistance (FAFSA) loans.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
The death of teacher Teri Coffey: do CVESD and Chula Vista Educators contribute to stress of teachers?
Teri (Teresa) Coffey
Schools don't do much for the mental health of kids, but they do even less for the mental health of teachers. A few years ago, I was shocked at how officials at CVESD and Chula Vista Educators manipulated teachers at Castle Park Elementary to advance their own careers and protect their friends. Some fragile teachers were put under so much stress by powerful teachers and administrators that they lost touch with reality (or else they lost touch with their moral compass, which is also very psychologically damaging). Teachers were pulled aside at school and pressured to follow instructions by other teachers and by administrators. I remember one teacher whose voice got higher and higher over a period of a few months, as if she were reverting to childhood. She was selected to begin the drama at Castle Park Elementary, but many others were called upon before the crisis calmed down. In a better world, these frenzied teachers would have been given mental health care. They and their students deserve it.
The following is from the Allen Elementary School website:
It is with great sadness that we announce that one of our staff members passed away suddenly last weekend. Because school is out of session, there is not a personal way to inform our school community of this tragedy. We are mourning the loss of our beloved Miss Teri Coffey, 1st grade teacher and Safety Patrol Advisor.
Miss Coffey has been an integral part of our school community the past six years and before coming to Allen she taught at Castle Park Elementary for many years. Her wit, humor, and dedication to students are just a few of the qualities that touched our lives. As the author of the school's Allen Eagle Buddy Pledge, her legacy will be remembered each and every day. The service for Miss Coffey is planned for Friday, June 21 at 10:00am at the Glen Abbey Chapel of the Roses. Families that would like to pay their respects are welcome to attend. Miss Coffey's family requests that people wear bright colors or purple, her favorite color.
We will collect letters and condolence cards at the school and ensure they are given to her family. Condolence cards can be sent to the school. We will ensure they are given to her family.
Allen Elementary School
In Loving Memory of Teri Coffey
4300 Allen School Road
Bonita, CA 91902
Before the new school year begins in July, grief counselors will be available for students, parents, and staff. Those counselors will be at Allen on July 22 from 1:00-4:00 in the school library and private offices near the library. Miss Coffey will be greatly missed.
Teresa Lynn Coffey
Obituary
[Teresa Lynn Coffey Obituary]
Coffey, Teresa Lynn CHULA VISTA -- "TLC" was a beloved elementary school teacher, mother, daughter, sister, and grandma. Her motto was 'life's good' and she truly was the "Queen of Everything." A celebration of life will be this Friday, June 21, at 10:00 a.m. at Glen Abbey's Chapel of the Roses, Bonita. All who knew her are welcome. Please wear bright colors.
Published in U-T San Diego on June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Dennis M. Doyle turns up as CEO of the secretive charity CoTA (Collaboration of Teachers and Artists) in San Diego
UPDATE: CoTA finally responded to me after I contacted the San Diego Foundation and a reporter. The 2011-2012 Form 990 is now on the Internet.
ORIGINAL POST: School watchers may be wondering what happened to Dennis Michael Doyle after he suddenly resigned as Superintendent of the National School District in the middle of the school year in 2009. Mr. Doyle spent most of his career at CVESD (Chula Vista Elementary School District), then went to National School District for a very short time.
We don't know why he resigned, and his new job is no less secretive.
I have sent two emails and left one phone message asking why the organization's Form 990s for the years 2011 and 2012 are not on the agency's website, but Julie Kendrig, Doyle's assistant, is ignoring me.
Here's the email I sent:
May 25, 2013
to: jkendig@cotaprogram.org
subject: When will CoTA be putting its Form 990s for 2011 and 2012 on its website?
Hi Julie,
I could only find 2010 and earlier on your website. Is CoTA planning to put the more recent 990s on the site?
Thanks,
Maura Larkins
Julie Kendig
Here's more about CoTA and its board president Lucille Neeley's interesting relationship with San Diego Unified School District and real estate developer RNLN.
Photo: Dennis Doyle with former Assembly insurance committee member Paul Vargas*
*Paul Vargas left his insurance oversight post in 2006 to become an insurance company executive. Then he stepped up to the US House of Representatives. As my father used to say, California has the best government money can buy.
ORIGINAL POST: School watchers may be wondering what happened to Dennis Michael Doyle after he suddenly resigned as Superintendent of the National School District in the middle of the school year in 2009. Mr. Doyle spent most of his career at CVESD (Chula Vista Elementary School District), then went to National School District for a very short time.
We don't know why he resigned, and his new job is no less secretive.
I have sent two emails and left one phone message asking why the organization's Form 990s for the years 2011 and 2012 are not on the agency's website, but Julie Kendrig, Doyle's assistant, is ignoring me.
Here's the email I sent:
May 25, 2013
to: jkendig@cotaprogram.org
subject: When will CoTA be putting its Form 990s for 2011 and 2012 on its website?
Hi Julie,
I could only find 2010 and earlier on your website. Is CoTA planning to put the more recent 990s on the site?
Thanks,
Maura Larkins
Julie Kendig
Here's more about CoTA and its board president Lucille Neeley's interesting relationship with San Diego Unified School District and real estate developer RNLN.
Photo: Dennis Doyle with former Assembly insurance committee member Paul Vargas*
*Paul Vargas left his insurance oversight post in 2006 to become an insurance company executive. Then he stepped up to the US House of Representatives. As my father used to say, California has the best government money can buy.
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Chula Vista Elementary School District slow to make sensible adjustments to preschool rule
Why didn't Chula Vista Elementary put in half-doors at the bottom of each preschool bathroom doorway? That way the adults could keep track of them, and they would have enough privacy.
Child forced to use bathroom at school with door open, parents upset
Parents say children have no privacy at preschool
05/01/2013
Cristin Severance
10 News
Parents in Chula Vista were upset because children at a preschool were forced to go to the bathroom with the door open.
A school spokesperson sympathized with parents' complaints, and said kids are so embarrassed about having to go to the bathroom without the door shut, they were having accidents in the classroom.
The spokesperson said the policy is not by choice and the district is forced to follow state regulations.
(The district has made changes since Team 10 first started asking questions about the state regulations - see what those changes are to the district's bathroom policy on 10News At 5:00.)
The trouble began for the Ramirez family when Patricia Ramirez asked her 4-year-old daughter Emily what was new at her school, Castle Park Elementary School.
"She told me that they can't close the restroom doors anymore," Ramirez said. "And I asked her, 'Are you sure this is the thing you guys are doing?' and she said 'Yeah'," said Ramirez.
"I felt like it was taking their privacy away," said Ramirez.
Ramirez said she asked the teacher's assistant about her daughter's claim that all children must go the bathroom with the doors open.
"She said it was something from the state, that it's a new policy," said Ramirez.
Emily's dad, Daniel Ramirez, called the principal to complain. He said he was told he was the twelfth person to contact them with concerns.
Ramirez said he was transferred to the person in charge of the pre-school program at the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
"The woman said, 'I have kids and I don't understand the rules and I've been trying to figure out ways around it but they are pulling the licenses if they don't do it'," Ramirez said of his conversation with the school.
The family believes it sends mixed messages to small children. At home, Emily must close the door, while at school she has to keep the door open.
Team 10 went to the Chula Vista Elementary School District where a spokesman told us, this rule is coming straight from the state...
Millican said the district has to enforce a state regulation at all of its schools following a citation by the California Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division.
The citation happened at Feaster-Edison Charter Preschool in early March, for allowing kids to shut the door in the bathroom.
The district had to come up with a solution for 800 children in the preschool program that is acceptable to parents and the state.
Team 10 contacted the California Department of Social Services public information officer Michael Weston.
Weston said under the Visual Observation Rule, which is a state regulation, all preschool children 4 years old and younger must be seen at all times. Weston would not do a phone interview on the regulation, something he called black and white.
But Team 10 found some gray areas.
The visual observation rule states:
101229 RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROVIDING CARE AND SUPERVISION 101229
(a) The licensee shall provide care and supervision as necessary to meet the children's needs.
(1) No child(ren) shall be left without the supervision of a teacher at any time, except as specified in Sections 101216.2(e)(1) and 101230(c)(1). Supervision shall include visual observation.
The regulation does not specifically name the bathroom or give any other guidelines as to how this rule should be implemented.
Yet under the personal rights section in the child care center general licensing requirements, it states:
101223 PERSONAL RIGHTS 101223
(a) The licensee shall ensure that each child is accorded the following personal rights:
(1) To be accorded dignity in his/her personal relationships with staff and other persons.
(2) To be accorded safe, healthful and comfortable accommodations, furnishings and equipment to meet his/her needs.
(3) To be free from corporal or unusual punishment, infliction of pain, humiliation, intimidation, ridicule, coercion, threat, mental abuse or other actions of a punitive nature including but not limited to: interference with functions of daily living including eating, sleeping or toileting; or withholding of shelter, clothing, medication or aids to physical functioning.
The regulations say all school districts must be in compliance or districts could lose the license to have a preschool.
There are 10,532 day care centers licensed by the department.
The Chula Vista Elementary School district made some changes. Tune into 10 news at 5:00 to hear what the district is doing.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Fire set deliberately does $300,000 damage to computer lab building at Rice Elementary School
A more serious fire in the 1990s destroyed an entire wing of classrooms at another school in Chula Vista Elementary School District, Castle Park Elementary.
SCHOOL FIRE MAY SNARL ONLINE TESTS FOR STUDENTS
Temporary fixes sought in wake of suspected arson
By Caroline Dipping
SDUT
April 25, 2013 Updated
Computers destroyed at Rice Elementary
For students and staff at Lilian J. Rice Elementary, despite a fire that destroyed the school’s computer lab and damaged the adjacent library over the weekend, school was in session Monday, but students did not have access to the library or computer lab, which share a wall in the same building, nor will they for the foreseeable future. A preliminary estimate of the structural damage was $300,000, and more than 30 computers were destroyed, said Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
“There is concern about upcoming online testing of students in grades 3-6,” Millican said, referring to standardized state testing that takes place next month. “That is one of our biggest potential impacts, which may be addressed by obtaining mobile carts of computers for student use.”
Telephones were working Monday, but Internet service was down throughout a significant part of the campus, Millican added. Staff reverted to old-school communications, making paper copies of documents and lessons and being team oriented, he said.
“I think parents, students, and staff recognize how difficult it is to get this kind of equipment to begin with, let alone seeing rows of computers completely damaged,” said Rice Principal Ernesto Villanueva. “The building is cordoned off with yellow caution tape.”
The fire occurred about 8 a.m. Sunday at the school on L Street near Fourth Avenue and is believed to have been deliberate, according to Chula Vista police. The blaze was put out within 15 minutes. No one was injured.
Rebuilding the computer lab may be synchronized with a future face-lift of the campus that will be funded through Proposition E, a $90 million bond approved by Chula Vista voters in November. Whether it will be restored to its original look and utility has yet to be determined.
One of the oldest schools in the Chula Vista Elementary School District, Rice Elementary was built in 1938 and modernized in 1996. It has more than 700 kindergarten through sixth grade students. The campus is also home to Mi Escuelita Therapeutic Preschool for children affected by family violence, and a new family health center that provides the community with affordable health care.
Fire Damages Chula Vista Elementary School
The fire did $300,000 in damage to the computer lab, according to officials
By Christina London
NBC News
Apr 22, 2013
The fire started in the computer lab at Rice Elementary on Fourth Ave. in Chula Vista.
Investigators are trying to determine what caused a fire at an elementary school in Chula Vista.
Crews were called to Lilian J. Rice Elementary School around 8 a.m. Sunday. No one was injured.
According to the Chula Vista Elementary School District public information office, the fire was mostly contained to the computer lab. The estimate for structural damage alone is $300,000.v Classes took place Monday as usual. Students weren’t able to use the computer lab or library, which shares a wall with the lab.
District officials have promised to rebuild the lab.
SCHOOL FIRE MAY SNARL ONLINE TESTS FOR STUDENTS
Temporary fixes sought in wake of suspected arson
By Caroline Dipping
SDUT
April 25, 2013 Updated
Computers destroyed at Rice Elementary
For students and staff at Lilian J. Rice Elementary, despite a fire that destroyed the school’s computer lab and damaged the adjacent library over the weekend, school was in session Monday, but students did not have access to the library or computer lab, which share a wall in the same building, nor will they for the foreseeable future. A preliminary estimate of the structural damage was $300,000, and more than 30 computers were destroyed, said Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
“There is concern about upcoming online testing of students in grades 3-6,” Millican said, referring to standardized state testing that takes place next month. “That is one of our biggest potential impacts, which may be addressed by obtaining mobile carts of computers for student use.”
Telephones were working Monday, but Internet service was down throughout a significant part of the campus, Millican added. Staff reverted to old-school communications, making paper copies of documents and lessons and being team oriented, he said.
“I think parents, students, and staff recognize how difficult it is to get this kind of equipment to begin with, let alone seeing rows of computers completely damaged,” said Rice Principal Ernesto Villanueva. “The building is cordoned off with yellow caution tape.”
The fire occurred about 8 a.m. Sunday at the school on L Street near Fourth Avenue and is believed to have been deliberate, according to Chula Vista police. The blaze was put out within 15 minutes. No one was injured.
Rebuilding the computer lab may be synchronized with a future face-lift of the campus that will be funded through Proposition E, a $90 million bond approved by Chula Vista voters in November. Whether it will be restored to its original look and utility has yet to be determined.
One of the oldest schools in the Chula Vista Elementary School District, Rice Elementary was built in 1938 and modernized in 1996. It has more than 700 kindergarten through sixth grade students. The campus is also home to Mi Escuelita Therapeutic Preschool for children affected by family violence, and a new family health center that provides the community with affordable health care.
Fire Damages Chula Vista Elementary School
The fire did $300,000 in damage to the computer lab, according to officials
By Christina London
NBC News
Apr 22, 2013
The fire started in the computer lab at Rice Elementary on Fourth Ave. in Chula Vista.
Investigators are trying to determine what caused a fire at an elementary school in Chula Vista.
Crews were called to Lilian J. Rice Elementary School around 8 a.m. Sunday. No one was injured.
According to the Chula Vista Elementary School District public information office, the fire was mostly contained to the computer lab. The estimate for structural damage alone is $300,000.v Classes took place Monday as usual. Students weren’t able to use the computer lab or library, which shares a wall with the lab.
District officials have promised to rebuild the lab.
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
What to do if the public might not approve spending for new offices for Ed Brand? Call in Plan Nine Partners
See all Ed Brand posts.
Dear Ed Brand: If you're afraid the public wouldn't approve spending tax dollars on new offices for district administrators, maybe you should just stick with what you can afford.
Latest plans for ill-fated L Street land deal
Who can say no to soccer?
By Susan Luzzaro
April 9, 2013
During public comment at the March Sweetwater Union High School board meeting, Jacqueline King, a resident of Chula Vista who has worked in real estate development for 36 years, addressed the trustees regarding the district’s quirky surplus property deal on L Street.
King asserted that the district has “an abominable record of managing property” and regarding L Street transactions, “the layers of ownership and the crazy financial deals that you [Sweetwater] put together…are being looked at not only by the state but by the federal government as well.”
In 2004-05 the Sweetwater school district, with superintendent Ed Brand at the helm, concocted a complex real estate scheme to purchase property on L Street in Chula Vista—ostensibly to build a new district office and corporate/bus yard.
On February 1 2005 the loan agreement for L Street was signed. The property was purchased for $25,415, 000 in variable bonds, with another $8,235,000 in variable bonds to finance the payments and interest for subsequent years. But the name on the loan documents is not Sweetwater Union High School District, rather Plan Nine Partners LLC. (The property is now said to be worth $12 million.)
On the same day, February 1, 2005 the district signed a lease agreement to lease back the property from Plan Nine.
In 2004, in anticipation of the land acquisition deal, the district tied several pieces of surplus property (Third Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Moss Street) to the ill-fated L Street property in a land exchange agreement signed by Ed Brand and Marc Litchman of Plan Nine Partners LLC/California Trust for Public Land.
Regarding these elaborate transactions, one source suggested the point was to circumvent the education code and public participation: “The district could have gone by the high road — they picked the low road.”
The high road — or what normal California school districts do, is dispose of surplus properties (like L Street in Chula Vista or Third Avenue) in accordance with California Education Code (Section 17388), often referred to as the 7-11 plan.
This means that an advisory committee of no fewer than 7 and no more than 11 parents, students, and members of the business community meet and decide the best use of the district property and take their recommendations to the trustees.
In a recent interview, Litchman of Plan Nine Partners/California Trust gave his interpretation of the logic behind this byzantine deal-making.
Litchman said that initially, in 2004-2005, the district wanted to develop district headquarters on L Street. However, district offices cannot be built with school bond construction money.
So the idea was to develop condos or apartments on some of the district’s surplus land and use the capital generated to build district headquarters on L Street.
The district, according to Litchman, brought him into the deal because they wished to avoid the 7-11 education code process which would have made the district’s surplus property available for other public entities to purchase. Litchman also said the process is lengthy and expensive...
Dear Ed Brand: If you're afraid the public wouldn't approve spending tax dollars on new offices for district administrators, maybe you should just stick with what you can afford.
Latest plans for ill-fated L Street land deal
Who can say no to soccer?
By Susan Luzzaro
April 9, 2013
During public comment at the March Sweetwater Union High School board meeting, Jacqueline King, a resident of Chula Vista who has worked in real estate development for 36 years, addressed the trustees regarding the district’s quirky surplus property deal on L Street.
King asserted that the district has “an abominable record of managing property” and regarding L Street transactions, “the layers of ownership and the crazy financial deals that you [Sweetwater] put together…are being looked at not only by the state but by the federal government as well.”
In 2004-05 the Sweetwater school district, with superintendent Ed Brand at the helm, concocted a complex real estate scheme to purchase property on L Street in Chula Vista—ostensibly to build a new district office and corporate/bus yard.
On February 1 2005 the loan agreement for L Street was signed. The property was purchased for $25,415, 000 in variable bonds, with another $8,235,000 in variable bonds to finance the payments and interest for subsequent years. But the name on the loan documents is not Sweetwater Union High School District, rather Plan Nine Partners LLC. (The property is now said to be worth $12 million.)
On the same day, February 1, 2005 the district signed a lease agreement to lease back the property from Plan Nine.
In 2004, in anticipation of the land acquisition deal, the district tied several pieces of surplus property (Third Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Moss Street) to the ill-fated L Street property in a land exchange agreement signed by Ed Brand and Marc Litchman of Plan Nine Partners LLC/California Trust for Public Land.
Regarding these elaborate transactions, one source suggested the point was to circumvent the education code and public participation: “The district could have gone by the high road — they picked the low road.”
The high road — or what normal California school districts do, is dispose of surplus properties (like L Street in Chula Vista or Third Avenue) in accordance with California Education Code (Section 17388), often referred to as the 7-11 plan.
This means that an advisory committee of no fewer than 7 and no more than 11 parents, students, and members of the business community meet and decide the best use of the district property and take their recommendations to the trustees.
In a recent interview, Litchman of Plan Nine Partners/California Trust gave his interpretation of the logic behind this byzantine deal-making.
Litchman said that initially, in 2004-2005, the district wanted to develop district headquarters on L Street. However, district offices cannot be built with school bond construction money.
So the idea was to develop condos or apartments on some of the district’s surplus land and use the capital generated to build district headquarters on L Street.
The district, according to Litchman, brought him into the deal because they wished to avoid the 7-11 education code process which would have made the district’s surplus property available for other public entities to purchase. Litchman also said the process is lengthy and expensive...
Rick Werlin, Libia Gil and Francisco Escobedo are still pals; the culture of silence continues at CVESD
See all Francisco Escobedo posts.
An open letter to Pam, Larry, Rick, Libby, and Francisco:
Pamela B. Smith
Larry Cunningham
Francisco Escobedo
Rick Werlin
Libia Gil
Congratulations to board members Pamela B. Smith and Larry Cunningham. You have done an excellent job of socializing new board recruits into CVESD's culture of silence. It seems Chula Vista Elementary School District maintains many of the policies of administrators Libia Gil and Rick Werlin all these years after they left under cloudy circumstances.
I found this on Rick Werlin's Facebook page:
Rick Werlin recently got me thinking about CVESD's culture of silence when I noticed the above image on Rick Werlin's Facebook page. It says, "Everyone comes with baggage. Find someone who loves you enough to help you unpack."
I have a sneaking suspicion that Rick Werlin's pals helped him haul all his baggage up to the attic, and now Rick tries not to think about all that stuff mouldering away just above his head.
Here's the problem, educators.
Even with a pal like new superintendent Francisco Escobedo, whom you can trust to maintain your system of secrecy, your issues aren't resolved.
In fact, even with your pal Daniel Shinoff using the taxpayer-funded courts in his five-year effort to shut down my website, your issues still aren't resolved. (That pesky Constitution is the problem. You thought being VIP educators trumped the Constitution, didn't you? Sorry, that only works within your school district.)
I would suggest that all of you unpack that baggage again in the context of a truth and reconciliation meeting.
Yours truly,
Maura Larkins
An open letter to Pam, Larry, Rick, Libby, and Francisco:
Pamela B. Smith
Larry Cunningham
Francisco Escobedo
Rick Werlin
Libia Gil
Congratulations to board members Pamela B. Smith and Larry Cunningham. You have done an excellent job of socializing new board recruits into CVESD's culture of silence. It seems Chula Vista Elementary School District maintains many of the policies of administrators Libia Gil and Rick Werlin all these years after they left under cloudy circumstances.
I found this on Rick Werlin's Facebook page:
Rick Werlin recently got me thinking about CVESD's culture of silence when I noticed the above image on Rick Werlin's Facebook page. It says, "Everyone comes with baggage. Find someone who loves you enough to help you unpack."
I have a sneaking suspicion that Rick Werlin's pals helped him haul all his baggage up to the attic, and now Rick tries not to think about all that stuff mouldering away just above his head.
Here's the problem, educators.
Even with a pal like new superintendent Francisco Escobedo, whom you can trust to maintain your system of secrecy, your issues aren't resolved.
In fact, even with your pal Daniel Shinoff using the taxpayer-funded courts in his five-year effort to shut down my website, your issues still aren't resolved. (That pesky Constitution is the problem. You thought being VIP educators trumped the Constitution, didn't you? Sorry, that only works within your school district.)
I would suggest that all of you unpack that baggage again in the context of a truth and reconciliation meeting.
Yours truly,
Maura Larkins
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Sweetwater Union High School District doesn't see eye to eye with its Proposition O Bond Oversight Committee
Maybe SUHSD board members and administrators should have lunch meetings with bond oversight committee members instead of contractors. And the meetings should be on school property, with everyone bringing their own bag lunch. Contractors shouldn't be involved with board members in any way, shape or form.
Sweetwater's gathering storm
By Susan Luzzaro
The San Diego Reader
Jan. 30, 2013
Clouds hanging over the Sweetwater Union High School District have gathered into a storm. Four sitting board members, a former board member, and a former superintendent have been indicted. And serious financial woes may soon threaten the district.
At the December 2012 board meeting, Rick Knott, interim chief financial officer, gave a presentation to the Sweetwater board that enumerated signs pointing to serious financial challenges for the district. He prefaced his remarks by saying, “I’m not saying we are at risk, but we have some of the factors that could indicate a district getting into a difficult situation.”
At Sweetwater’s December board meeting, member Rick Knott presented a troubling financial picture of the school district.
Deficit spending was the first issue Knott addressed: “This district has a history of spending more money than we take in,” he said.
The deficit spending bomb is set to explode in 2015. Even with the benefits of Proposition 30 factored in, the district is still in trouble. Knott warned that in 2015, “We will have a negative fund balance, meaning we will have more obligations than we have assets.”
On January 18, in a follow-up interview, Knott said his presentation was meant to be a warning to the board and the public. He explained that the chronic overspending is a result of state revenue streams shrinking and the district’s reluctance to cut programs or lay off staff.
Another predictor of poor fiscal health Knott presented in December was the district’s cash-flow problems. “We also have not had sufficient cash to meet our obligations on a timely basis, and we’ve had to borrow from other funds.”
In a 2011 article, U-T San Diego drew attention to the fact that the district was borrowing from Proposition O funds. (Proposition O was a $644 million construction bond passed in 2006.) The district borrowed $40 million from the fund intended to modernize schools in order to pay for day-to day-operations. Following public outrage over this borrowing, the district backed off from borrowing an additional $58 million.
The district then turned to borrowing from Mello-Roos funds to make payroll. There are 17 Mello-Roos (or community facilities districts) in Sweetwater. Property owners in these districts pay additional property taxes to help fund public infrastructure and services.
The district’s continued borrowing from Mello-Roos funds has caused hard feelings in the community. Even though the money is paid back, Mello-Roos-paying residents believe their money is not being spent the way it is intended and that Mello-Roos-funded schools are being short-changed and falling into disrepair.
A sound household budget has accounts set aside that anticipate the future. But according to Knott’s report and the follow-up interview with him, the district has not been putting money aside for maintenance; he used leaking roofs by way of example. Nor has money been put aside to replace the district’s aging fleet of buses. They also failed to put money aside for elections. (Knott says he has addressed these problems in the new budget.)
Another way to assess the health of Sweetwater’s budget is by comparing it to the Chula Vista Elementary School District’s budget. Sweetwater and Chula Vista have essentially the same tax base and the same Mello-Roos districts.
Anthony Millican, Chula Vista elementary’s spokesperson, discussed in a January 17 email how his district handles budget challenges similar to Sweetwater’s.
On roof repair and such: “We regularly set aside two percent of our total expenditures as a budget for routine maintenance.”
On elections: “When we know a board member election is coming up, we set aside an amount for the cost of holding the election. We allocate about $51,000 for board member elections. This year (2012) we also allocated $53,000 for the Prop E election. That is the cost that we pay to the Registrar of Voters for holding such elections.”
Another contrast between the two districts is their budget reserves. The state recommends that a district have at least 3 percent in reserve. According to Knott, Sweetwater has 3 percent, or $7 million. Millican writes: “Our ending balance reserves are 19.18 percent, well above the state’s recommended three percent minimum requirement. That is $37.3 million in dollar terms.”
In his December presentation, Knott went on to advise the board that a district is in trouble when it has a combative relationship with oversight agencies. While Knott’s comment was not specific to Sweetwater, the district has had a combative relationship with the Proposition O bond oversight committee. The committee acts in an advisory capacity to the district on expenditures from the $644 million bond construction money. At one time, the bond oversight committee passed a no-confidence vote “on [Superintendent Ed] Brand’s interactions with the committee.”
After Knott’s presentation, the board voted to certify the district’s solvency. But since then, others have spoken out regarding Sweetwater’s financial issues.
Nick Marinovich, the committee’s chair, said in a January 20 interview that he finds it a struggle to obtain the financial documents the committee needs in order to do adequate oversight. Marinovich brought up the Voice of San Diego’s August report on capital appreciation bonds that will cost Poway residents $1 billion to borrow $105 million.
When Marinovich asked district representatives if Sweetwater had any capital appreciation bonds, he says he was led to believe they did not. But he later discovered the district does have capital appreciation bonds related to Proposition BB (a $187 million bond in 2000). While the bonds do not have the devastating interest rates Poway’s have, Marinovich says the issue points to the district’s lack of forthrightness.
Kevin O’Neill, also a bond oversight committee member, brought forward another financial concern during a January 20 interview. In November 2012, the board gave the green light for the district to seek a $38 million bond-anticipation note. A bond-anticipation note is a short-term bridge loan, according to O’Neill. It comes due in five years or less. Such loans are given in anticipation of increased bond money coming in as assessed property values rise. O’Neill is concerned that Sweetwater might be buying more financial woes if assessed values do not rise before the note comes due, in which case the debt will have to be paid from the general fund.
O’Neill believes that the district should hold off on construction projects for the time being. However, Knott says the district is going to market on the bond-anticipation notes in February.
Sweetwater's gathering storm
By Susan Luzzaro
The San Diego Reader
Jan. 30, 2013
Clouds hanging over the Sweetwater Union High School District have gathered into a storm. Four sitting board members, a former board member, and a former superintendent have been indicted. And serious financial woes may soon threaten the district.
At the December 2012 board meeting, Rick Knott, interim chief financial officer, gave a presentation to the Sweetwater board that enumerated signs pointing to serious financial challenges for the district. He prefaced his remarks by saying, “I’m not saying we are at risk, but we have some of the factors that could indicate a district getting into a difficult situation.”
At Sweetwater’s December board meeting, member Rick Knott presented a troubling financial picture of the school district.
Deficit spending was the first issue Knott addressed: “This district has a history of spending more money than we take in,” he said.
The deficit spending bomb is set to explode in 2015. Even with the benefits of Proposition 30 factored in, the district is still in trouble. Knott warned that in 2015, “We will have a negative fund balance, meaning we will have more obligations than we have assets.”
On January 18, in a follow-up interview, Knott said his presentation was meant to be a warning to the board and the public. He explained that the chronic overspending is a result of state revenue streams shrinking and the district’s reluctance to cut programs or lay off staff.
Another predictor of poor fiscal health Knott presented in December was the district’s cash-flow problems. “We also have not had sufficient cash to meet our obligations on a timely basis, and we’ve had to borrow from other funds.”
In a 2011 article, U-T San Diego drew attention to the fact that the district was borrowing from Proposition O funds. (Proposition O was a $644 million construction bond passed in 2006.) The district borrowed $40 million from the fund intended to modernize schools in order to pay for day-to day-operations. Following public outrage over this borrowing, the district backed off from borrowing an additional $58 million.
The district then turned to borrowing from Mello-Roos funds to make payroll. There are 17 Mello-Roos (or community facilities districts) in Sweetwater. Property owners in these districts pay additional property taxes to help fund public infrastructure and services.
The district’s continued borrowing from Mello-Roos funds has caused hard feelings in the community. Even though the money is paid back, Mello-Roos-paying residents believe their money is not being spent the way it is intended and that Mello-Roos-funded schools are being short-changed and falling into disrepair.
A sound household budget has accounts set aside that anticipate the future. But according to Knott’s report and the follow-up interview with him, the district has not been putting money aside for maintenance; he used leaking roofs by way of example. Nor has money been put aside to replace the district’s aging fleet of buses. They also failed to put money aside for elections. (Knott says he has addressed these problems in the new budget.)
Another way to assess the health of Sweetwater’s budget is by comparing it to the Chula Vista Elementary School District’s budget. Sweetwater and Chula Vista have essentially the same tax base and the same Mello-Roos districts.
Anthony Millican, Chula Vista elementary’s spokesperson, discussed in a January 17 email how his district handles budget challenges similar to Sweetwater’s.
On roof repair and such: “We regularly set aside two percent of our total expenditures as a budget for routine maintenance.”
On elections: “When we know a board member election is coming up, we set aside an amount for the cost of holding the election. We allocate about $51,000 for board member elections. This year (2012) we also allocated $53,000 for the Prop E election. That is the cost that we pay to the Registrar of Voters for holding such elections.”
Another contrast between the two districts is their budget reserves. The state recommends that a district have at least 3 percent in reserve. According to Knott, Sweetwater has 3 percent, or $7 million. Millican writes: “Our ending balance reserves are 19.18 percent, well above the state’s recommended three percent minimum requirement. That is $37.3 million in dollar terms.”
In his December presentation, Knott went on to advise the board that a district is in trouble when it has a combative relationship with oversight agencies. While Knott’s comment was not specific to Sweetwater, the district has had a combative relationship with the Proposition O bond oversight committee. The committee acts in an advisory capacity to the district on expenditures from the $644 million bond construction money. At one time, the bond oversight committee passed a no-confidence vote “on [Superintendent Ed] Brand’s interactions with the committee.”
After Knott’s presentation, the board voted to certify the district’s solvency. But since then, others have spoken out regarding Sweetwater’s financial issues.
Nick Marinovich, the committee’s chair, said in a January 20 interview that he finds it a struggle to obtain the financial documents the committee needs in order to do adequate oversight. Marinovich brought up the Voice of San Diego’s August report on capital appreciation bonds that will cost Poway residents $1 billion to borrow $105 million.
When Marinovich asked district representatives if Sweetwater had any capital appreciation bonds, he says he was led to believe they did not. But he later discovered the district does have capital appreciation bonds related to Proposition BB (a $187 million bond in 2000). While the bonds do not have the devastating interest rates Poway’s have, Marinovich says the issue points to the district’s lack of forthrightness.
Kevin O’Neill, also a bond oversight committee member, brought forward another financial concern during a January 20 interview. In November 2012, the board gave the green light for the district to seek a $38 million bond-anticipation note. A bond-anticipation note is a short-term bridge loan, according to O’Neill. It comes due in five years or less. Such loans are given in anticipation of increased bond money coming in as assessed property values rise. O’Neill is concerned that Sweetwater might be buying more financial woes if assessed values do not rise before the note comes due, in which case the debt will have to be paid from the general fund.
O’Neill believes that the district should hold off on construction projects for the time being. However, Knott says the district is going to market on the bond-anticipation notes in February.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Dan Winters to be first principal of Camarena Elementary
I agree with Mr. Winters that building kids up starting at an early age is extremely rewarding. And I think "Camarena" is an excellent choice as the name of the new school.
Dan Winters to be first principal of Camarena Elementary
By Caroline Dipping
UTSD
JAN. 21, 2013
CHULA VISTA — Veteran South County educator Dan Winters has been named the inaugural principal of Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School, which is slated to open its doors in July. Winters is currently principal of Salt Creek Elementary.
Winters, 50, has been a principal in the Chula Vista Elementary School District since he was hired at Halecrest Elementary in 2004. Before that, he spent 17 years at Castle Park High School as a teacher, basketball coach and administrator.
The Eastlake resident said making the move from the high school to elementary school level was a culture shock “all in a good way,” and he never looked back.
“I loved high school and loved that age, but found I really had an opportunity in elementary school to build kids from day one educationally,” Winters said. “It’s been a great blessing.”
Winters is already crafting his vision for the success of Camarena Elementary, which was named last spring to commemorate the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnapped and killed in 1985 while on assignment in Mexico. Located in the Otay Ranch Village 11 area, the 11.85-acre campus will accommodate up to 800 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about schools,” he said. “I would say if there is one thing I’d like to accomplish, I think of it as being when a kid wakes upon a Saturday morning, I hope the first thought is ‘Darn! It’s not a school day.’
“That is the picture I want to paint. Learning is exciting. My goal is to increase and multiply that in every classroom every day.”
Dual immersion studies and technology will play a big part in the school’s curriculum, Winters said. A passionate reader of fiction and nonfiction, he said literacy will still be the cornerstone of learning.
Winters graduated from Castle Park High in 1980. (“Once a Trojan, always a Trojan,” he said. “I bleed red and black.”) A graduate of San Diego State University, he earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from National University and his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of La Verne.
He joined Castle Park High’s faculty in 1986, where he taught English and ESL for seven years. An avid basketball player, he then coached Castle Park’s junior varsity and varsity teams for several years before moving into administration as attendance coordinator and assistant principal.
“I never intended to get into administration, but I found I loved it and I was good at it,” Winters said. “I connected with the kids and staff.”
Winters is married to his high school sweetheart, Leila Kashani, who is the assistant principal at Hilltop High School in the Sweetwater Union High School District. They have two children, one in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
Dan Winters to be first principal of Camarena Elementary
By Caroline Dipping
UTSD
JAN. 21, 2013
CHULA VISTA — Veteran South County educator Dan Winters has been named the inaugural principal of Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School, which is slated to open its doors in July. Winters is currently principal of Salt Creek Elementary.
Winters, 50, has been a principal in the Chula Vista Elementary School District since he was hired at Halecrest Elementary in 2004. Before that, he spent 17 years at Castle Park High School as a teacher, basketball coach and administrator.
The Eastlake resident said making the move from the high school to elementary school level was a culture shock “all in a good way,” and he never looked back.
“I loved high school and loved that age, but found I really had an opportunity in elementary school to build kids from day one educationally,” Winters said. “It’s been a great blessing.”
Winters is already crafting his vision for the success of Camarena Elementary, which was named last spring to commemorate the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnapped and killed in 1985 while on assignment in Mexico. Located in the Otay Ranch Village 11 area, the 11.85-acre campus will accommodate up to 800 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about schools,” he said. “I would say if there is one thing I’d like to accomplish, I think of it as being when a kid wakes upon a Saturday morning, I hope the first thought is ‘Darn! It’s not a school day.’
“That is the picture I want to paint. Learning is exciting. My goal is to increase and multiply that in every classroom every day.”
Dual immersion studies and technology will play a big part in the school’s curriculum, Winters said. A passionate reader of fiction and nonfiction, he said literacy will still be the cornerstone of learning.
Winters graduated from Castle Park High in 1980. (“Once a Trojan, always a Trojan,” he said. “I bleed red and black.”) A graduate of San Diego State University, he earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from National University and his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of La Verne.
He joined Castle Park High’s faculty in 1986, where he taught English and ESL for seven years. An avid basketball player, he then coached Castle Park’s junior varsity and varsity teams for several years before moving into administration as attendance coordinator and assistant principal.
“I never intended to get into administration, but I found I loved it and I was good at it,” Winters said. “I connected with the kids and staff.”
Winters is married to his high school sweetheart, Leila Kashani, who is the assistant principal at Hilltop High School in the Sweetwater Union High School District. They have two children, one in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Hepatitis A case reported at Castle Park Head Start program
Hepatitis A case reported in Chula Vista
Person at Castle Park Head Start program diagnosed
10 News
01/24/2013
CHULA VISTA, Calif. - A person at the Castle Park Head Start program in Chula Vista was diagnosed with Hepatitis A, and the county of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency reported Thursday that parents and staff are being notified of potential exposure.
Staff and children who ate breakfast at the facility at 1375 Third Ave. between Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 are at risk for contracting Hepatitis A. The illness is usually spread when someone ingests microscopic amounts of fecal matter from contact with food, drinks or objects contaminated by someone who is infected, according to the HHSA.
"The risk to the public is low, but anyone who was at the Head Start who was notified about the exposure should be aware of the signs and symptoms of Hepatitis A," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer.
"Anyone who has been immunized with Hepatitis A vaccine or previously had the disease is considered protected from the virus, but we encourage anyone who has not had the vaccine and who may have been exposed to contact their health care provider to discuss options for prevention," she said.
Wooten said the early signs and symptoms of Hepatitis A appear two to seven weeks after exposure and commonly include mild fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dark urine, light color stools, pain in the upper right abdomen, and yellowness to the eyes or skin -- a condition called jaundice.
The illness varies in severity, with mild cases lasting two weeks or less and more severe cases lasting four to six weeks or longer, according to the HHSA. Some people, especially children, may not develop jaundice or any symptom at all, but mildly ill people can still be highly infectious and should consult a physician.
The HHSA said Hepatitis A vaccine is routine for infants when they reach their first birthday, and is the preferred preventive treatment for healthy persons up to 40 years old, and may be considered in older patients because it provides long-term protection.
Individuals can obtain Hepatitis A immunizations through their primary care physicians. Children without health insurance can obtain the vaccine at County Public Health Centers.
Person at Castle Park Head Start program diagnosed
10 News
01/24/2013
CHULA VISTA, Calif. - A person at the Castle Park Head Start program in Chula Vista was diagnosed with Hepatitis A, and the county of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency reported Thursday that parents and staff are being notified of potential exposure.
Staff and children who ate breakfast at the facility at 1375 Third Ave. between Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 are at risk for contracting Hepatitis A. The illness is usually spread when someone ingests microscopic amounts of fecal matter from contact with food, drinks or objects contaminated by someone who is infected, according to the HHSA.
"The risk to the public is low, but anyone who was at the Head Start who was notified about the exposure should be aware of the signs and symptoms of Hepatitis A," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer.
"Anyone who has been immunized with Hepatitis A vaccine or previously had the disease is considered protected from the virus, but we encourage anyone who has not had the vaccine and who may have been exposed to contact their health care provider to discuss options for prevention," she said.
Wooten said the early signs and symptoms of Hepatitis A appear two to seven weeks after exposure and commonly include mild fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dark urine, light color stools, pain in the upper right abdomen, and yellowness to the eyes or skin -- a condition called jaundice.
The illness varies in severity, with mild cases lasting two weeks or less and more severe cases lasting four to six weeks or longer, according to the HHSA. Some people, especially children, may not develop jaundice or any symptom at all, but mildly ill people can still be highly infectious and should consult a physician.
The HHSA said Hepatitis A vaccine is routine for infants when they reach their first birthday, and is the preferred preventive treatment for healthy persons up to 40 years old, and may be considered in older patients because it provides long-term protection.
Individuals can obtain Hepatitis A immunizations through their primary care physicians. Children without health insurance can obtain the vaccine at County Public Health Centers.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Race For South Bay School Board Seat Gets Ugly
I remember that a few years ago a CVESD board candidate running against Bertha Lopez said that some young men forced him to leave a street corner where he stood with one of his campaign signs. It sounds like Pearl Quinones friends use similar tactics.
Race For South Bay School Board Seat Gets Ugly
By Diana Guevara
Oct 31, 2012
A race for a seat on a South Bay school board is getting ugly as one candidate accuses another for terrorizing her family.
When Jesseca Saenz-Gonzalez decided to run for Sweetwater Union High School District's Seat Two, she knew it was not going to be easy. But she says things have gotten out of control.
Gonzalez claims a 12th-grade boy has been stalking her, taking photos of her young children and has damaged her campaign car with rocks.
She also alleges one of the rocks went through the window and struck her husband in the face.
“I know that we open ourselves up when we're running for a campaign," Saenz said. “But when it comes to children, that's where I draw the line."
Gonzalez has filed four police reports with the Chula Vista Police Department with incidents dating back to September.
“As far as throwing something in the vehicle, if the person’s intent is to cause harm, it could be a felony," said Captain Gary Wedge with the Chula Vista Police Department. "If a person is throwing water balloons in car, it could be a misdemeanor."
Wedge says they are still looking into whether there is any connection to Gonzalez's campaign.
For more voter information and news related to next week's election, check out our Vote San Diego section.
Gonzalez believes her opponent Pearl Quiñones is behind the boy's antics.
“She doesn't have a platform,” said Quiñones, the current Board President for the Sweetwater Union High School District to NBC 7. “So she's just trying to run on something that she's going to discredit me."
Quiñones says the boy, whose name we are not disclosing since he is a minor, is a friend of the family.
“He's working for my campaign, not against hers, “said Quiñones
Gonzalez told NBC 7 she has since hired private security guards to escort her and her family.
Gonzalez and Quiñones are two of four candidates who will face off for Sweetwater Union High School District's Seat 2 on November 6.
Race For South Bay School Board Seat Gets Ugly
By Diana Guevara
Oct 31, 2012
A race for a seat on a South Bay school board is getting ugly as one candidate accuses another for terrorizing her family.
When Jesseca Saenz-Gonzalez decided to run for Sweetwater Union High School District's Seat Two, she knew it was not going to be easy. But she says things have gotten out of control.
Gonzalez claims a 12th-grade boy has been stalking her, taking photos of her young children and has damaged her campaign car with rocks.
She also alleges one of the rocks went through the window and struck her husband in the face.
“I know that we open ourselves up when we're running for a campaign," Saenz said. “But when it comes to children, that's where I draw the line."
Gonzalez has filed four police reports with the Chula Vista Police Department with incidents dating back to September.
“As far as throwing something in the vehicle, if the person’s intent is to cause harm, it could be a felony," said Captain Gary Wedge with the Chula Vista Police Department. "If a person is throwing water balloons in car, it could be a misdemeanor."
Wedge says they are still looking into whether there is any connection to Gonzalez's campaign.
For more voter information and news related to next week's election, check out our Vote San Diego section.
Gonzalez believes her opponent Pearl Quiñones is behind the boy's antics.
“She doesn't have a platform,” said Quiñones, the current Board President for the Sweetwater Union High School District to NBC 7. “So she's just trying to run on something that she's going to discredit me."
Quiñones says the boy, whose name we are not disclosing since he is a minor, is a friend of the family.
“He's working for my campaign, not against hers, “said Quiñones
Gonzalez told NBC 7 she has since hired private security guards to escort her and her family.
Gonzalez and Quiñones are two of four candidates who will face off for Sweetwater Union High School District's Seat 2 on November 6.
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