Clear View School ends its charter status...not with a bang but a whimper

Charter ends, but another may begin
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/16/1sz16charter174949-charter-ends-another-may-begin/?education&zIndex=82986
By Chris Moran
Sand Diego Union-Tribune
April 16, 2009

Background: In 1994, Clear View Elementary School converted itself into an autonomous charter school in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.

What's changing: A majority of teachers voted to let the charter – its permission to operate – expire in June.


...In June, Clear View will become the first charter school in Chula Vista to give up its exemption from much local bureaucracy and state regulation and revert to a traditional public school...

Seven of the 29 teachers who wanted to continue working for a charter have drawn up plans for another autonomous campus – Leonardo da Vinci Health Sciences Charter School – at a vacant church nearby.

Last month, they petitioned the Chula Vista school board for permission to open this summer. They are scheduled to get their answer Tuesday when the Chula Vista school board next meets.

...Few teachers were still using project-based learning. The school exercised its freedom primarily through how it spent money.

Nor was the school achieving its potential. From 1999 to 2008, Clear View was the least improved of the Chula Vista district's schools. It also posted the lowest reading and math scores for non-English-speaking students of all 44 district schools last year.

This year may not be much better. The vote on whether to stay a charter school caused internal strife that ended friendships and caused some employees to avoid the teachers lounge, Principal Sherroll Stogsdill-Posey said.

[Maura Larkins´note...This is typical of teacher CULTURE in CVESD and elsewhere. Politics supersedes professionalism with distressing frequency. And children suffer the consequences.]

“I do believe it will have had an effect on instruction this year,” she said. “This has become such a huge issue that it can't not seep in.”

...Then the economy tanked, Chula Vista became a foreclosure capital and the number of teaching jobs stagnated. Now the district has to release temporary teachers because of its tight budget.

...Reading specialist Meg Rabine voted to end the charter...For her, resigning from the district could have meant losing $10,000 to $15,000 a year in salary for the rest of her career. Although she supports charters, Rabine came to Clear View because she respected and liked its teachers. If the school stayed charter, most of those teachers would have left Clear View for the secure employment of the district's traditional schools...

Amber Goslee isn't ready to abandon charter schools...In Goslee's class, students record songs on laptop computers. They write scripts and make videos. They design learning stations from which their peers glean information on plate tectonics.

After eight years of teaching, Goslee also has much to lose if her new venture fails. But the way she figures it, she has more to lose if she abandons the charter's ideals.

“I don't want to stay in schooling, in education, if it continues to be so scripted,” Goslee said. “I'd rather have my freedom than my security.”

Goslee is among those who drew up the da Vinci plans for 160 kindergarten through sixth-grade students...

Four out of five CVESD board members think Doug Luffborough is the man for the job

Photo: New CVESD board member Doug Luffborough

FEB. 18, 2009 UPDATE: Well, I guessed wrong on this one. I felt pretty confident that it must have been Larry Cunningham who voted against Doug Luffborough (see post below), but it turns out it was David Bejarano.

I guess I now have to admit the obvious: I don't know why board members made the decisions they made. I like both David Bejarano and Doug Luffborough, and I trust they will work together well. And it was silly of me to think that Larry Cunningham would ever have the courage to vote against the board majority; it's not how he does business.





ORIGINAL POST:

Reading between the lines here, I'm thinking that Larry Cunningham is the one who voted against the new board member. Poor Larry. He's really missing Pat Judd, who lost both his board seat and his job last year, and who seems to be applying for a job in every school district in southern California. "Pat Judd" is by far the most frequent search term that leads visitors to my site. I suppose Larry also misses Bertha Lopez, and the old Pamela Smith, the one who voted like an obedient right-winger.


Nonprofit director appointed to Chula Vista school board
By Pablo Jaime Sáinz
February 6, 2009
La Prensa

The executive director of a non-profit social services agency has been appointed as the new member of the Chula Vista Elementary School District this week.

Douglas Luffborough III will serve the remaining two years of former board member Bertha Lopez’s term. Lopez was elected to the Sweetwater Union High School District board in November...

The district school board voted 3 to 1 to appoint Luffborough at a special meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 3, after a process where community input was taken into account and after receiving 23 applications for the position...

During his interview and presentation to the board, Luffborough said that he was the best candidate for the job because he has a very special reason to become a board member: His daughter, who is a student at a school in the district.

“She is the first reason why I decided to apply for this seat,” he said. “I want her and all the children in the district to have the best education possible.”

That commitment and passion for his own children’s education is what impressed board member Russell Coronado and led him to vote for Luffborough for the position.

“As a parent myself, I saw that Douglas had the passion needed for this job,” Coronado said. “It’s not only about having the professional experience and the right credentials, it’s about having the love for our kids.”

Days earlier, Coronado said he sent out a massive e-mail to members of the community asking them for their input regarding the school board appointment. He said that having children in the district was one of the factors community members sought in the candidate.

“Since a special election is not being considered, community input at this stage is vital,” read Coronado’s e-mail. “ I believe that it is imperative that we gather as much information prior to the selection of this very important position....I would also encourage you to attend the February 3rd meeting. Along with your input and with collaboration, I believe that we will be able to make a decision that is open, honest and right for our school district and community.”

Board President Pamela Smith said that it was a difficult decision appointing just one person from the seven final candidates.

The other finalists were Pamela Bauer-Fischer, a lawyer; Hector Espinoza, a school administrator; Beatrice Fernandez, a resource teacher and parent coordinator; Carol Green, an instructional assistant; Mary Anne Stro, an educational consultant; and David Wallace, a business owner...

Luffborough said that he had a rough time growing up.

He said he was homeless during his senior year in high school, that his father was absent from his early life, and that his family struggled financially...

Danielle Cozaihr v. CVESD case ends by stipulation

It appears that Danielle Cozaihr has completed her long, hard battle for justice from Chula Vista Elementary School District. In December 2007 Cozaihr won a million dollar verdict against CVESD. Soon after, Daniel Shinoff took over the case. CVESD appealed. The case was then passed to Shinoff's partner Jack Sleeth. No opening brief was ever filed on behalf of CVESD. It appears that CVESD must have decided to either pay the verdict or to settle for some other amount.

04/08/2008 Notice of appeal lodged April 2, 2008 by CVESD
12/05/2008 Dismissal order filed. Upon written stipulation filed by the parties to the appeal, the appeal is DISMISSED.

Patrick Judd accused of sexual harrassment

Update: My source turned out to be absolutely correct regarding Patrick Judd's sexual harassment of an employee at Mountain Empire Unified School District. The employee was a principal who was fired after she complained about Judd's behavior. She was awarded $150,000 in San Diego Superior Court.

Several months ago I became aware of a rumor that former Mountain Empire School District superintendent Patrick Judd had been accused of sexual harrassment, but I didn't print it because it was simply a rumor. Judd went on some kind of leave early in 2008, then never went back to work, and retired in June.

One Mountain Empire board member, apparently someone trying to cover for Judd, said that he was on sick leave.

JUDD REFUSES TO BE ACCOUNTABLE TO VOTERS ABOUT SEVERAL VERY SERIOUS ISSUES

Judd said it wasn't sick leave, but he wouldn't say what it was. Yet Judd had the nerve to run for re-election as trustee of Chula Vista Elementary School District, apparently on a platform of silence. This much is clear: Judd does not believe in openness or honesty.

And neither does Lowell Billings, superintendent of CVESD.

Lowell Billings (photo at left) is Judd's employee in CVESD. But the reverse relationship holds true at The Accelerated School (TAS) in Los Angeles, where Billings is on the board. Apparently Billings felt sympathy for Judd, or political obligation to Judd, and hired Judd as a consultant at the Accelerated (Charter) School.

Recently I read a letter written to the San Diego Union Tribune. It said in part:

"...Every educator in Mt Empire and the entire east county seems to be aware that the former Superintendent (P. J.) did not go out on sick leave because of an illness, but rather because of the same type of claim that Mr. Sandoval, Mr. Lopez and Mr. Poveda would be familiar with, he was not sick rather he was in hot water. You should ask some questions in Mt. Empire and perhaps request a copy of the claim..."

I am inclined to differentiate between true sexual harrassment, the abuse or exploitation of a human being, and the less serious problem of enthusiastic admiration of an attractive individual, which is sometimes inappropriately labeled.

A HISTORY OF CONTEMPT FOR WOMEN

Patrick Judd has a history of abuse of and contempt for women. One example is the Danielle Cozaihr case. Last December CVESD was ordered to pay $1 million for Lowell Billings' and Patrick Judd's actions against a young teacher who made the mistake of having a baby at a program improvement school.

Another example of Judd's misplaced loyalties is the Fred Kamper case.

In Danielle Cozaihr case, CVESD has switched lawyers two times in 6 months

Why is the CVESD board (David Bejarano, Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez, Pat Judd and Larry Cunningham) staggering around like a group of drunks searching for the next whiskey bar?

Instead of a bar, however, the board keeps searching for the perfect lawyer who will help them get away with wrongdoing.

In six months, they've fired two different law firms in the Danielle Cozaihr case. They are now back to the firm that caused them so many problems in the Maura Larkins case: Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz.

The board and Superintendent Lowell Billings seem to suffering from an inability to deal with reality. When they don't get what they want, they fire someone. Billings has placed 11 principals in 11 years at Castle Park Elementary.

Here's a suggestion for the board: obey the law. Then you will save $100,000s in litigation costs, and you won't have to corrupt entire schools the way you corrupted Castle Park Elementary with your demands that teachers and administrators commit perjury.

Chula Vista teacher wins $1 million for gender discrimination

For news about the Danielle Coziahr v. CVESD lawsuit, click HERE.

CVESD has two bullying programs: the one they talk about, and the one they don't

Chula Vista Elementary School District boasts about its program that solves students conflicts by talking them through.

CVESD has a different program for adults. It involves strict silence. The target of the bully isn't told about secret attacks. She never hears the allegations. No one ever asks for her side of the story. And she is usually one of the best and brightest teachers in the district. At the same time, incompetent and dishonest teachers remain in their positions.

Top district administrators and the school board don't ask what the truth of the matter is. They simply dismiss the victim of the attack from employment. And then their lawyers spend tax dollars to defend the indefensible, instead of paying those tax dollars to the people who should get them: employees and students.

Today is the final day of arguments in San Diego Superior Court in the Danielle Cozaihr case, a case that fits the mold perfectly. Superintendent Lowell Billings testified yesterday, making clear that he makes no personnel decisions himself, and then turning around and saying that he is responsible for the decisions. He sounded like an uninvolved figurehead who thinks he's among the highest paid public employees in the county simply because he goes around being seen (apparently without seeing anything, or at least not remembering what he sees.)

Five years ago, it seemed that Superintendent Libia Gil and Asst. Superintendent Richard Werlin were the problem. They were pushed out, and replaced with new faces.

Now it's clear that Lowell Billings and Tom Cruz, their replacements, are equally incompetent and mean-spirited.

How can this be? CVESD has a board of trustees consisting of five clones of George W. Bush: they all try to stay as ignorant as possible, and they think they are so morally superior that no matter what they do, God will approve.

This may be something that the "Christian" board members haven't thought of, or haven't cared about: they have been given very specific instuctions: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." This is an admonition that Pamela Smith, Cheryl Cox/David Bejarano, Bertha Lopez, Pat Judd, and Larry Cunningham disobey everytime they pay their lawyers to perpetrate a fraud on the court.

Who are the lawyers who have helped CVESD perpetrate frauds on the court?

They are:
Pamela Dempsey, Esquire
(Cozaihr case, and hiding public records);
Mark Bresee, also of Parham & Rajcic;
and Daniel Shinoff,
Jeffery Morris,
and Kelly Angell Minnehan
of Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz.

Danielle Coziahr v. Chula Vista Elementary School District

For more reporting on the Coziahr case, please go to:

Coziahr v. CVESD ($1 million judgment)

Jim Groth and Peggie Myers play yet another trick on Chula Vista teachers

Peggie Myers is the new president of Chula Vista Educators. Readers may remember Ms. Myers for her role in the Castle Park Elementary fiasco.

Teachers re-elected longtime president Jim Groth, but he had other plans. He moved on the the Board of Directors of California Teachers Association, where he can continue to work closely with lead attorney Beverly Tucker, who helped him and Ms. Myers cover up illegal activities at CVESD.

So Peggie Myers, who had been elected vice-president, became president.

Teachers will be asked to vote for a new vice-president. How about Robin Donlan, to keep the old gang together?

See all posts about Peg Myers.