Why are organizations like ACORN necessary in order to obtain adequate education for our children?

Teachers are simply not allowed to advocate for their students. Examples of this are the Mary Anne Weegar and Coach James "Ted" Carter cases in San Diego, and many other cases across the country.

Since teachers must be silent, it is necessary that parents and community members organize discussion groups that are independent from the schools. These groups could then advocate for students.

Richard Werlin has surfaced again

I like this story because it involves the school where I went to kindergarten and part of first grade--Washington Elementary in Point Richmond.

My old nemesis Richard Werlin seems to have some sort of weird attraction to schools where I was a student. He not only got a job in Richmond, but he also worked in Chula Vista Elementary School District, where I attended all of first grade except the first month, and most of second grade.

Werlin didn't have a lot of fans in West Contra Costa County Unified School District (WCCCUSD), but he must have pleased Kay Burnside while he was there, or she wouldn't have chosen him as auditor when she moved to a new school district, Compton Unified School District.

From the Los Angeles Wave
March 20, 2008
"...By those she worked with, Burnside’s leadership is credited for turning around Point Richmond’s Washington Elementary School. It was in 1991, when the elementary school neared closure due to its failure to meet minimum academic standards. Burnside stepped in as principal and oversaw all responsibilities — managing finances, test scores and enrollment status. Today, Washington Elementary School is flourishing and boasts a waiting list for potential students..."

If Billings and the board could go back and do things differently at Castle Park Elementary, they would

If Billings and the board (Cheryl Cox, Bertha Lopez, Pam Smith, Patt Judd and Larry Cunningham) could go back and do things differently at Castle Park Elementary, they would. But they refuse to change course even though they realize they have made terrible mistakes. They prefer to spend $100,000s of taxpayer funds to cover up those mistakes. Clearly, they care more about their own power than they care about the education of kids.

Community rallies at Castle Park Elementary

Parents, kids and grandparents of Castle Park Elementary, with the support of Chula Vista ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) rallied to ask for an investigation of the highly unusual and constant dismissals and transfers of teachers and principals from the school since 1995.

They waved signs reading "11 (eleven) principals in 11 (eleven) years" and "New principal: How long will she stay?" Clowns and a unicyclist performed. Vehicles honked their horns. Many drivers called out their support.

See all posts and pictures of this event here: link.

Lowell Billings can not fix Castle Park because the school board requires him to protect perjurers

The "Castle Park Five" teachers won the right to return to Castle Park Elementary because the Chula Vista Elementary School District board could not tell the truth about what some of them had been up to. Nikki Perez, Peg Myers, Stephenie Parker-Pettit and Robin Donlan had helped cover up wrongdoing at Castle Park--but so had Lowell Billings and the members of the school board: Cheryl Cox, Bertha Lopez, Pamela Smith, Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham.

Lowell Billings will almost certainly keep covering up crimes as long as the board tells him to do so. He's clearly not a man who takes principled stands against the powers that be, and this is exactly why the board pays him so much, and keeps him in his position year after year. He's paid to be a front man for the board, not an individual with integrity.

Parents and ACORN stage rally at Castle Park Elementary School

Parents, kids and grandparents of Castle Park Elementary rallied with Juan Carlos Vera of Chula Vista ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to ask for an investigation of the highly unusual and constant dismissals and transfers of teachers and principals from the school since 1995.

They waved signs reading "11 (eleven) principals in 11 (eleven) years" and "New principal: How long will she stay?" Clowns and a unicyclist performed. Vehicles honked their horns. Many drivers called out their support.

See all posts and pictures of this event here: link.

As superintendent Lowell Billings arrived, he spoke to a group of parents. I was impressed that he communicated so well in Spanish. He that they would be big changes soon among the staff. Apparently teacher Nikki Perez, the target of several parent complaints, will be tranferred out of the school next week.

Lowell Billings had transferred Perez in 2004, but she challenged him to tell her the reason for the transfer. He could hardly say, "Because you are part of a group of teachers that has committed crimes, damaged student learning, and prevented anyone other than yourselves from having control over the school." The reason he couldn't say these words was that he himself was involved in the wrongdoing and the coverup. So an arbitrator ruled that Perez should be allowed to return to the school. Lionel Richman, the mediator, is probably quite unhappy with both Lowell Billings and the teachers union for concealing the truth from him.

Tonight Mr. Billings entered the Castle Park Elementary auditorium to join a crowd of over 100 that had come to cheer parents who were to be awarded diplomas for completing "Parents Institute" classes that had been brought to the school by principal Carlos Ulloa.

Parents are unhappy that yet another principal has been pushed out of the school by the group of teachers that calls itself the "Castle Park Family." This group of teachers seems to be fully in control of personnel decisions at Castle Park Elementary. They have attacked Billings in the press quite ferociously, but he still humbly gets rid of anyone whose ouster is demanded by the "Family."

At one point parents burst out with chants of "Let him stay!" ("¡Que se quede!")

Alicia Moreno, who has been associate principal at Vista Square Elementary in CVESD, will take Carlos Ulloa's place. Billings told parents that Ms. Moreno is very strict and will be very good for the school.

Billings didn't say if Moreno would be strict with the teachers who have caused so many problems with the school. A better idea would be to sit the teachers down, talk about the real problems of dishonesty and constant battles for power. If Moreno doesn't deal with those problems, no amount of strictness will help. The dishonesty and power battles, the anger and fear of discovery, will continue.

CVESD Superintendent Lowell Billings spreads joy and confidence at Castle Park Elementary

A group of women listened to CVESD Superintendent Lowell Billings in front of Castle Park Elementary on June 4, 2008.



Billings told the audience inside the auditorium that he supported the demonstrators, but the look on his face said otherwise.

CVESD Superintendent Lowell Billings talks to families of students

See all posts and pictures of this event here: link.

June 4, 2008 rally at Castle Park Elementary

A student is left wondering what is going on with the adults in the school.

Parents asked, "Who will bring order to Castle Park (Elementary)?"


A man on a unicycle asked, "How many more principals?"

Robin Leon, who fought mistreatment by CVESD, wins biliteracy award

Robin Leon, who joined CVESD teacher Frank Luzzaro in challenging the district's decision to dock their pay because they left a staff meeting at the suggestion of their principal at Feaster School in the 1990s, seems to be doing very well.

Leon and Luzzaro were transferred out of Feaster School against their will.

From CVESD website:
downloaded 06/04/08

LITERARY LEADER-Teacher Robin León reads aloud to Montgomery Elementary students. León was among two Montgomery Elementary honorees for 'Leadership in Biliteracy.'

"Robin León has been a bilingual teacher for 32 years. Parent Ana Mendoza has served as chairwoman of the District English Learner Advisory Committee. León and Mendoza each are integral to the success of John J. Montgomery Elementary School. Now, they are also recipients of the 2008 “Leadership in Biliteracy” Award through the San Diego County Office of Education. The two Montgomery Elementary honorees were formally recognized at the recent 10th Annual Biliteracy Symposium.

"León has been in the Chula Vista Elementary School District for 22 years. Each fall, the bilingual kindergarten teacher goes out of her way to help parents understand the importance of their decision to opt for the bilingual program. She gives generously of her time to provide guidance to parents on how to support their child’s learning at home..."

Parents stage rally at Castle Park Elementary School

Parents, kids and grandparents of Castle Park Elementary, with the support of Chula Vista ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) rallied to ask for an investigation of the highly unusual and constant dismissals and transfers of teachers and principals from the school since 1995.

They waved signs reading "11 (eleven) principals in 11 (eleven) years" and "New principal: How long will she stay?" Clowns and a unicyclist performed. Vehicles honked their horns. Many drivers called out their support.

As superintendent Lowell Billings arrived, he spoke to a group of parents. I was impressed that he communicated so well in Spanish. He that they would be big changes soon among the staff. Apparently teacher Nikki Perez, the target of several parent complaints, will be tranferred out of the school next week.


Lowell Billings had transferred Perez in 2004, but she challenged him to tell her the reason for the transfer. He could hardly say, "Because you are part of a group of teachers that has committed crimes, damaged student learning, and prevented anyone other than yourselves from having control over the school." The reason he couldn't say these words was that he himself was involved in the wrongdoing and the coverup. So an arbitrator ruled that Perez should be allowed to return to the school. Lionel Richman, the mediator, is probably quite unhappy with both Lowell Billings and the teachers union for concealing the truth from him.

Tonight Mr. Billings entered the Castle Park Elementary auditorium to join a crowd of over 100 that had come to cheer parents who were to be awarded diplomas for completing "Parents Institute" classes that had been brought to the school by principal Carlos Ulloa.

Parents are unhappy that yet another principal has been pushed out of the school by the group of teachers that calls itself the "Castle Park Family." This group of teachers seems to be fully in control of personnel decisions at Castle Park Elementary. They have attacked Billings in the press quite ferociously, but he still humbly gets rid of anyone whose ouster is demanded by the "Family."

At one point parents burst out with chants of "Let him stay!" ("¡Que se quede!")

Billings told the audience that he supported the demonstrators, but the look on his face when he saw them said otherwise.

See all posts and pictures of this event here: link.

Castle Park Elementary's House of Cards needs a foundation in law and truth

A group of teachers and parents is working to fix Castle Park Elementary. Each of us has encountered serious wrongdoing by the group of teachers who call themselves the "Castle Park Family." Although our experiences are different, they tend to overlap, because the culture of hostility fostered by the "Family" has contaminated so many parts of the school, including some of the newer teachers who have apparently joined the group.

We want an open, honest airing of problems at Castle Park. No more secrecy. The problems have been made public by the family itself.

Half a million dollars spent on lawyers didn't fix Castle Park Elementary; how about trying honesty and respect?

Why has Castle Park Elementary had 11 principals in 11 years?

Because past is prologue.

Hiding a seminal event, such as the moral collapse that occurred in 2001, serves only to exacerbate its causes.

He who fails to learn from history is fated to repeat its mistakes.

Teachers and administrators and board members have relied on their lawyer, Daniel Shinoff, to do whatever is necessary to hide the truth about Castle Park, regardless of the cost to the taxpayers. It's time to stop charging the taxpayers for the wrongdoing of public officials and public employees.

The learning curve of those who control Castle Park Elementary has been flat for more than 11 years. When things don't go well, they just get rid of their principal.

But principals aren't the only people they get rid of.

The serious problems at Castle Park Elementary started when the bilingual program was introduced in 1994. Many teachers were furious that the school had a new kindergarten teacher that year-a bilingual teacher named Heather Smith. They got rid of her that very year; she was dismissed by the district. (The district does not make any effort to determine why teachers have been targeted for dismissal; district administrators allow school politics to make those decisions.)

The bilingual program added a teacher a year until it had a final total of four bilingual teachers in September 1997.

Many teachers refused to allow bilingual classes into their teaming arrangements.

Rae Correira, a district administrator who tried to arrange teaming in the 1997-1998 school year was suddenly transferred to a different job in the middle of the year. The teachers ran the school. The principal did exactly what teacher leaders told her to do. And that included dismissing another bilingual teacher--Maura Larkins.

Other excellent teacher forced out of the school for political reasons only include Luci Fowers, Heather Coman, and principal Ollie Matos. Matos was clearly targeted for allowing ELAC parents to have a voice in the school.

Unfortunatley, the teachers committed crimes to achieve their goal, and the district and teachers union also committed crimes at the teachers' request. Then the district spent roughly half a million dollars for Daniel Shinoff's work in covering up the crimes. The teachers became drunk with power. They felt untouchable.

Castle Park teachers seem to think they live in some country where they can silence public discussion of public issues.

It's time to start dealing with reality. I offer to have an open and honest discussion with the Castle Park teachers. It's the only way to solve the problem. Hiding wrongdoing is rarely the best way to bring peace. It's time for the truth dodgers to deal with the problems they have caused.

Castle Park Elementary teachers want to hide their heads in the sand while a Superior Court Case is going on regarding crimes committed at the school.

I've started a new blog in Spanish about these issues.

Oops! I forgot about Lowell Billings' problems at Castle Park Elementary

I withdraw my suggestion that Chula Vista Elementary School District superintendent Lowell Billings take it upon himself to bring order to Castle Park Elementary instead of appointing yet another principal to perform as torero at the school. Obviously, Billings lost his personal standing when he came to the school a few years ago, threw around his big smile and personal charm, and ended up making things worse than ever.

Since Lowell is out at a possibility, I would like to suggest Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Tom Cruz as acting principal of Castle Park Elementary until law and order is restored.

CVESD insistió que la profesora Maura Larkins regresara

Reporte de Maura Larkins de Castle Park Elementary:

Yo fui despedida porque falté a trabajar. Mi razón era que mi escuela era peligrosa para mí por acoso en mi contra.

Yo dije al distrito escolar de Chula Vista en 2001 que era necesario que hicieran una investigación sobre el reporte de las dos maestras en mi escuela que me acusaban de que yo las iba a matar. Claro que el distrito debía de haber investigado algo tan serio. ¿Dos profesoras reportando que temían por su vida?

Pero el distrito nunca investigó.

Ahora, después de siete años, todavía hay problemas enormes en Castle Park Elementary. El problema NO es que alguien va a matar a alguien.

Eso fue mentira.

La realidad del problema es que profesores sin honestidad y sin respeto están arruinando la escuela. Han tenido 11 directores en 11 años (septiembre 1997-septiembre 2008). Los profesores están fuera de control.

Ahora el distrito CVESD debe de hacer la investigación para que Castle Park Elementary pueda funcionar normalmente.

En 2001, sin investigar nada, el distrito me invitó a regresar a trabajar. Obviamente, eso es una prueba de que no creyó a los maestros. Yo regresé y una de las mismas profesoras que mintió la primera vez, hizo otra queja falsa, y me mandaron a mi casa. El acoso continuaba.

Luego el distrito quería que yo regresara otra vez sin ninguna investigación y ninguna garantía para mí. Pero yo tuve miedo de que los maestros hicieran más mentiras contra mí, por eso no regresé.

Luego yo hice una demanda en contra del distrito.

Entonces el distrito me despidió en contra de la ley, Labor Code section 1105.2. También fue en contra de la constitución de nuestro país, que dice que todos tenemos el derecho de pedir ayuda del gobierno cuando alguíen nos hace daño en contra de la ley.

Ahora ya es tiempo de no seguir ocultanco la verdad. Es hora de resolver los problemas, y de que la verdad salga a flote. ¡Nuestros niños de Castle Park Elementary lo agradeceran! Urge una solución.

Por favor, visite mi nuevo blog en español.

Lowell Billings, you should serve as principal of Castle Park Elementary

Lowell Billings, it's clearly impossible for anyone to bring order to Castle Park Elementary when the district, the teachers union, the "Castle Park Family" and even the mayor of Chula Vista have so much invested in keeping the truth hidden.

Come to the school and deal with the situation. Don't go looking for some unfortunate person to sit in the vacant principal's office.

You should serve as principal of Castle Park Elementary until order is restored.

What does the "Castle Park Family" do when someone speaks out about problems?

Photo: Chula Vista Educators President
Peg Myers














The morning after the May 27, 2008 meeting at Castle Park Elementary, one of the parents who spoke out at the meeting took her children in to the school, and came back to find that someone had thrown cereal and milk on her car.

Children are not normally allowed to leave the school cafeteria with milk and cereal, where breakfast was being served at the time of the vandalism. At least one adult who is connected to the "Family" was in the cafeteria.

What interest would a child have in someone else's mother who spoke at a meeting? The speaker's own children are too young to come to the attention of kids old enough to pull a stunt like this.

But several staff members and teachers at Castle Park Elementary have demonstrated out-of-control hostility in recent years, attacking fellow teachers and principals with shocking malice. The current leader of the Castle Park Family is Peg Myers, the president of Chula Vista Educators. Two of the last three CVE presidents (Peg Myers and Gina Boyd) have come to the CVE presidency directly from Castle Park Elementary, and the other one, Jim Groth, aided the cover-up of wrongdoing at the school.

Note to Superintendent Lowell Billings: It's time to end this before somebody gets hurt. It's impossible for anyone to bring order to Castle Park Elementary when the "Family" has so much invested in keeping the truth hidden. Come to the school and deal with the truth. Don't go looking for some unfortunate person to sit in the vacant principal's office. You should serve as principal of Castle Park Elementary until order is restored.

What is going on with CVESD board member Patrick Judd?

UPDATE: This question was finally answered HERE.

I'm wondering why so many people are doing searches for Pat Judd, the recent Mountain Empire School District superintendent who retired under mysterious circumstances.

My access logs tell me the most common searches that bring people to my website and blogs, and "Pat Judd" is right up there at the top, along with "CTA lawyers" and "Cheryl Cox" and a few others.

I assume that many of the searches are related to Sue Sherbondy's lawsuit against Judd. (Her allegations may have played a part in his leaving Mountain Empire.)

But that doesn't explain all the searches by Los Angeles Unified School District. Has Judd applied for a job in Los Angeles?

The upside of a Judd move to Los Angeles would be that he would have to resign from the CVESD board. But I'm saddened by the thought that LAUSD might not be able to find someone better. On the other hand, perhaps Judd is exactly what they want. After all, they have a reputation to live up to: a graduation rate for Latino males below 30%. For that, you need someone who likes to make life miserable for those who are different from himself.

CVESD tries to keep Castle Park Elementary parents off-balance

On May 27, 2008 Castle Park Elementary parents spoke of their frustration with CVESD's plans to lay off low seniority teachers while protecting hostile veteran teachers who were causing problems for children.

I listened as two different groups of parents announced concern to district represenative Leonard Hernandez. (Each of five tables in the Castle Park auditorium served approximately ten parents who formed a group; one member of each group announced the group's conclusions.)

I wondered why it was that Dr. Leonard Hernandez kept listening to these worries without telling parents the truth: the layoffs had been ruled out 5 days earlier.

I had read the news in Voice of San Diego:


"Chula Vista Teachers Saved"
by EMILY ALPERT
May 22, 2008
"Chula Vista Elementary School District plans to cancel layoffs of all 274 educators who were slated to be terminated due to state budget cuts...the district faces a $7.5 million cut -- $3.5 million smaller than originally expected, said district spokesman Anthony Millican."

I began to wonder if the pink slips were a way to intimidate teachers and take parents' minds off their other concerns about school performance in Chula Vista.

I raised my hand and told Dr. Hernandez that the parents apparently didn't know that the pink slips were a thing of the past.

Hernandez immediately developed an urge to share the good news with the crowd. The parents applauded vigorously.

I wonder what the district won't do to keep parents from knowing what is really going on at some schools?

On May 30, 2008 another interesting article appeared in Voice of San Diego. Emily Alpert wrote about one teacher who had already accepted a job in the technology sector before his layoff was reversed.

People who can get better jobs are perhaps not the teachers we want to lose. I think we need a two-tiered teacher work force, master teachers and regular teachers. The master teachers should have more responsibility and be better paid, and not be among the first to be laid off.

Quotes from VOSD article:

..."It's a crazy way of doing business," said Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, which cancelled 274 planned layoffs for classroom teachers, but is still planning to slash more than 140 other positions. Its budget gap narrowed somewhat, from $11 million to $7.5 million, based on Schwarzenegger's revision...

Chula Vista Elementary School District spent about $40,000 on substitute teachers during a two-day hearing, said Millican. Like San Diego Unified, its legal costs have not yet been totaled. The school district hired the firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, whose partners and senior associates charge $210 an hour.

Dr. Leonard Hernandez continues CVESD's policy of hiding Castle Park Elementary secrets

On May 27, 2008 Dr. Leonard Hernandez from the CVESD office asked a group of about fifty Castle Park Elementary parents what kind of person they wanted as their twelfth principal in under fifteen years, and then told them that the district would make a decision within about two weeks.

He told parents he didn't want to discuss why yet another principal is leaving Castle Park.

He also didn't want to discuss the group of teachers that holds power at the school. Of the five teachers that the district transferred from the school in 2004, one has returned (Nikki Perez), and others exert great influence from outside the school, particularly from the teachers union office (Chula Vista Educators).

The teachers who control the school call themselves the "Castle Park Family," and they have been able to call the shots at the district office for seven years now.

After the district and its lawyers (Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz) made the serious mistake in 2001 of covering up crimes committed by some of these teachers, the district ended up paying $100,000s of dollars to the lawyers.

Then the district found, to its surprise, that the teachers were not grateful at all. Instead, the teachers were determined to keep calling the shots, making it impossible for the district to transfer trouble-making teachers out of Castle Park Elementary.

I believe that Castle Park Elementary (which I attended in the fifties, and worked at from 1997-2001) will never return to normal function until the district engages in some open and honest discussion, modeled on South Africa's "truth and reconciliation" committees.

The district and Castle Park Elementary teachers should quit hiding the crimes and other wrongdoing, say they're sorry for the harm done, and start some honest discussions about human decency and appropriate professional behavior for teachers. Then instead of worrying about how to keep their secrets hidden (as Dr. Leonard Hernandez demanded at the meeting), they could put all that energy into helping children become healthy, strong, honest, law-abiding, well-educated citizens.

Felicia Starr, former school board candidate, involved once again in Castle Park Elementary principal attack

Felicia Starr (in pink sweatshirt), former CVESD board candidate, Chula Vista ethics committee member, Castle Park Elementary PTA president and site council chairperson who worked closely with Kim Simmons to attack the previous principal Ollie Matos in 2004, showed up at the meeting on May 27, 2008 at which parents discussed the traits they wished to find in their next principal.

Many of the approximately 50 parents at the meeting told district representative Dr. Leonard Hernandez that they want someone just like Carlos Ulloa, the current principal (who will be leaving next month).

But Felicia Starr and the "Castle Park Family" (a group of teachers and union honchos who have chewed up and spit out one principal after another for the past fifteen years, and forced many excellent teachers to leave, as well) made it impossible for Carlos Ulloa to stay.

Cheryl Cox has to keep CVESD's secrets for 18 more years to beat this record

I really thought that Cheryl Cox, Pamela Smith and Bertha Lopez, board members of Chula Vista Elementary School District, would do the right thing in my case. I didn't expect much from Patrick "Pat" Judd and Larry Cunningham. But I was wrong. The three women were as bad as the men. They all paid $100,000s of taxpayer money to Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz to cover up wrongdoing at Castle Park Elementary. They knew that this required intimidating witnesses and pressuring employees to commit perjury.

All I lost was a job--at a sick school. I've watched as my fellow teachers have become more ill over the past seven years. I was not the only one harmed. The teachers who told falsehoods under oath, and the teachers who were silent, were harmed, too. But the kids were hurt even more.

Alton Logan (story below) was damaged by the same kind of people who damaged Castle Park Elementary. People who present false testimony to a court, and tell the public, as Cheryl Cox did, that their life is "an open book." The truth is 180 degrees to the contrary.

If I had been in the shoes of these two lawyers who kept the secret of Alton Logan's innocence, I believe I would have come forward with the truth, and risked being disbarred. But then, I'm not a lawyer. I think 90% of lawyers have lost their sense of right and wrong, which is why our justice system so frequently helps the guilty and punishes the innocent.

26-Year Secret Kept Innocent Man In Prison
May 25, 2008
60 Minutes (CBS)
Lawyers Keep 26-Year Secret

...This is a story about an innocent man who languished in prison for 26 years while two attorneys who knew he was innocent stayed silent...

Alton Logan was convicted of killing a security guard at a McDonald's in Chicago in 1982. Police arrested him after a tip and got three eyewitnesses to identify him. Logan, his mother and brother all testified he was at home asleep when the murder occurred. But a jury found him guilty of first degree murder...

Alton Logan's story cuts to the core of America's justice system.

Simon met Alton Logan in prison, where he's spent almost half of his life.

Asked if he still counts the months and days, Logan told Simon, "There’s no need to count the months and the days. Just count the years."

Logan said that during the first five or six years he was "consumed" by anger. "Then I come to the realization that 'Why be angry over something you can't control?'"

Logan, who maintains he didn't commit the murder, thought they were "crazy" when he was arrested for the crime.

Attorneys Dale Coventry and Jamie Kunz knew Logan had good reason to think that, because they knew he was innocent. And they knew that because their client, Andrew Wilson, who they were defending for killing two policemen, confessed to them that he had also killed the security guard at McDonald's - the crime Logan was charged with.

"We got information that Wilson was the guy and not Alton Logan. So we went over to the jail immediately almost and said, 'Is that true? Was that you?' And he said, 'Yep it was me,'" Kunz recalled.

"He just about hugged himself and smiled. I mean he was kind of gleeful about it...

"How did you interpret that response?" Simon asked.

"That it was true and that he was tickled pink," Kunz said.

"He was pleased that the wrong guy had been charged...

"Well, ...we have to maintain client confidentiality, just as a priest would or a doctor would...

Asked if they contemplated doing something about it, Coventry told Simon, "We wrote out an affidavit. We made an affidavit that we had gotten information through privileged sources, that Alton Logan was not in fact guilty of killing the officer, that in fact somebody else did it..."

"But the minute he was not sentenced to death, the minute he was sentenced to life in prison, you decided to do nothing?" Simon asked.

"Yes," Kunz said. "I can't explain it. I don't know why that made the difference but I know it did."

"There is no difference between life in prison and a death penalty. None whatsoever. Both are a sentence of death," Logan told Simon...

(CBS) "What did you do to see if there might be some loophole to get everyone out of this fix?" Simon asked the attorneys.

"I researched the ethics of attorney-client privilege as much as I could. I contacted people who are involved in making those determinations. I know Jamie did the same thing," Coventry said.

"I could not figure out a way, and still cannot figure out a way, how we could have done anything to help Alton Logan that would not have put Andrew Wilson in jeopardy of another capital case," Kunz added.

"Couldn’t you have leaked it to somebody? To a reporter, to an administrator, to the governor, to somebody?" Simon asked.

"The only thing we could have leaked is that Andrew Wilson confessed to us. And how could we leak that to anybody without putting him in jeopardy?" Kunz replied. "It may cause us to lose some sleep. But, but I lose more sleep if I put Andrew Wilson’s neck in the in the noose."

"He was guilty and Logan was not. So, yes his head should be in the noose. And Logan should go free. It's perfectly obvious to somebody who isn’t a lawyer," Simon pointed out. "Andrew Wilson was guilty, was he not?"

"Yes. And that's up to the system to decide. It's not up to me as his lawyer to decide that he was guilty and so he should be punished and Logan should go free," Kunz said.

"Do you think you might have been disbarred for doing that, for violating attorney-client privilege?" Simon asked.

"I don't think I considered that as much as I considered my responsibility to my client. I was very concerned to protect him," Coventry explained.

"But here is a case where two men, you two were caught up in this bind. And chose to let a man rot away in jail," Simon remarked.

"In terms of my conscience, my conscience is that I did the right thing. Do I feel bad about Logan? Absolutely I feel bad about Logan," Coventry admitted.

The attorneys say they were so tormented over Logan's imprisonment that they convinced Wilson to let them reveal that Wilson was the real killer after Wilson's death. Late last year, Wilson died. The two attorneys finally took their affidavit out of the lockbox, and they called Logan's lawyer, pubic defender Harold Winston.

Winston had already been trying to get Logan a new trial. He'd found two eyewitnesses who swore Logan was not the killer. Now, with Kunz and Coventry's affidavit, he thinks Logan will finally go free.

[Blogger's note: From what I've seen and read over the years, prosecutors hate to admit they've prosecuted an innocent person. More often than not, they prefer to let the innocent rot in jail.]

"...Everything that was dear to me is gone," Logan, who missed his mother's funeral, told Simon.

His brothers Eugene and Tony told 60 Minutes they've shared Alton's pain, and they always knew that he was no killer. "My brother ain’t got the nature to do nothin' like that in his soul. He ain’t gonna take nobody else's life. We weren't raised like that," Tony said.

"Your brother is 54 now. Can he start again at the age of 54?" Simon asked...

But Alton Logan is still behind bars. "They are quick to convict but they are slow to correct they mistakes," he said...




Cheryl Cox's prosecutor pal Bonnie Dumanis is one of the prosecutors Alton Logan was talking about when he said they are slow to correct mistakes:

Marine Wife Murder Case Still Active
05-30-2008
Cox Communications

(San Diego, CA) -- A judge ruled he still has the authority to completely dismiss the case of Cynthia Sommer who was found guilty of killing her husband and spent a few years in jail, but later had the charges dismissed "without Prejudice". Judge John Einhorn says he may dismiss the case "with prejudice" which means the case could not be re filed, "without" means the prosecution could re file murder charges against Sommers who was alleged to have poisoned her husband in 2002.

Chula Vista Teachers Saved

Chula Vista teachers have been saved from Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget cuts. But who will save them from their union, Chula Vista Educators?

Voice of San Diego
EMILY ALPERT
Thursday, May 22 2008

Chula Vista Elementary School District plans to cancel layoffs of all 274 educators who were slated to be terminated due to state budget cuts. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revised budget proposal, the district faces a $7.5 million cut -- $3.5 million smaller than originally expected, said district spokesman Anthony Millican...
There are no current plans to reverse layoffs for other employees, he said...

Ethics Complaint Forbidden Against CVE President

Why is the root of Chula Vista Educators' constant problems? Possibly the main cause of strife is the result of CTA lawyers helping CVE leaders to stifle complaints.

CTA lawyers help the presidents and executive directors of local affiliates to silence complaints--in Long Beach and Chula Vista, and in other school districts in California.

When the CTA-chosen executive director of the Teachers Association of Long Beach, Scott McVarish, misused funds in 2007, CTA wouldn't let the TALB board of directors fire him. Instead, CTA paid for a lawyer to defend him when he slandered one of the directors.

Finally CTA realized too much money was being lost, but instead of turning over power to the directors, it took over the union itself and gave control to ex-CTA president Barbara Kerr.

The directors have filed suit to get their union back.

This all familiar to those of us who know about the actions of Barbara Kerr and CTA head counsel Beverly Tucker in Chula Vista Elementary School District.

Tim O'Neill the executive director chosen by CTA for South County Teachers United (CTA), informed Chula Vista Educators member Maura Larkins in December 2002 that she was forbidden from making a complaint to her union affiliate Board of Directors or Representative Council about unethical behavior on the part of the president. Why was she forbidden? Because president Gina Boyd herself refused to allow a complaint to be made about her.

You can't expect much in the way of ethics from an organization like this.

An open letter to CTA head counsel Beverly Tucker's sidekick at the CTA Santa Fe Springs legal office

Hi Mike:
I just noticed that someone hacked my CTA webpage that had the quote of you saying that you and the rest of the public don't care if my due process rights were violated.

You shouldn't be any more ashamed of your attitude than Beverly Tucker or Carolyn Doggett or the officers of CTA should be ashamed of their attitudes. I hope they aren't making you feel bad about it. They should be nothing but grateful to you for doing what they paid you to do.

Ironically, your hostility was actually a measure of your humanity.

You couldn't have done the job that you were assigned to do if you hadn't dehumanized me. You had to believe that I didn't deserve the protection of the law or my union. You had to believe this, or it would have been impossible for you to help your clients get away with their multiple crimes against me. So hold your head up high when you are in the presence of CTA bigwigs--or 90% of lawyers. You might, however, want to bow your head in the presence of children.

Maura Larkins

P.S. You shouldn't be any more ashamed than Chula Vista Educators (CVE) officers Gina Boyd, Tim O'Neill, Jim Groth, or Peggie (Peg) Myers.

Greg Cox fails to address question of how the Steve Castaneda case was initiated--and why the investigation of Cheryl Cox wasn't.

Bob Castaneda, the brother of Chula Vista Councilman Steve Castaneda, raised important questions about the two prosecutions carried out by the San Diego District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit.

Bonnie Dumanis appointed Peter O'Toole to bring in two political opponents of Chula Vista mayor Cheryl Cox for questioning. Both of them were charged with lying during these odd investigations. How did these investigations get initiated? Why were two men prosecuted for felony perjury even though the investigations uncovered no crimes?

Why has a complaint about Cheryl Cox and her agents at Chula Vista Elementary School District been ignored by this "Public Integrity Unit"?

Supervisor Greg Cox has written a letter that does absolutely nothing to answer the questions that have been raised. Of course Cox protests that he has done nothing wrong. But how will he restore the credibility of the District Attorney's office? He makes no effort to do so.

My website has a comparison of the letters by Bob Castaneda and Greg Cox.

The question remains: was the PIU tipster a friend of Cheryl and Greg Cox?

The answer seems sort of obvious, doesn't it?

Chula Vista Educators is no longer missing in action

Chula Vista Educators has long been oddly silent on the Internet. But that has changed. CVE has unveiled a new website at chulavistaeducators.com.

Apparently, secrecy is a thing of the past for CVE president Peg Myers and her loyal supporters Jim Groth, longtime accomplice Joyce Abrams, the perennially faithful Monica Sorenson, and the rest.

They have published the results of the last election, revealing exactly how many people voted, and who got the votes. NO, JUST KIDDING ABOUT THIS LAST BIT.

But seriously, I will continue to post news on this blog and on this website.

Otay Elementary is off the watchlist!

Principal reveals steps to success
By David Berlin
May 1, 2008
San Diego Union Tribune

This year, Otay Elementary was one of three schools in Chula Vista to come off the "program improvement" list, a watch list for schools that fail to meet federal testing requirements two years in a row.

Otay Elementary School Principal Francisco Velasco is all about the numbers...

To Velasco, the numbers represent his students and the charts show exactly how the school in southwest Chula Vista is making the grade...

Otay Elementary also received a California Association for Bilingual Education award for excellence...
Seventy percent of students at Otay speak another language at home and are learning English at school.

“It's a huge challenge because we start testing in second grade and those kids will take the test in English,” Velasco said.

“So you have to provide some sort of transition program that fast-tracks English. Studies have shown that it takes five, six, seven years to be able to acquire that language and to be able to really function at a good level. But we don't have that much time.”

...Every hour of every school day at Otay Elementary is spent teaching basic English and other skills like reading and math. That means no music class, no art class and no gym class, which instead are offered as after-school clubs.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080501-9999-1sz1otay.html

Patrick O'Toole needs to prosecute serious perjury offenses

Tanya Mannes of the San Diego Union Tribune wrote on June 20, 2007:

"Patrick O'Toole, a Public Integrity Unit prosecutor, spent months investigating Jason Moore, who had been an aide to former [Chula Vista] Mayor Steve Padilla... He concluded that Moore ultimately took the two hours off. But he believed Moore lied about the timing of when he turned in a request for personal leave... Yesterday, Moore, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of contempt of court, a misdemeanor."

“People can't come into the grand jury, swear to tell the truth, and then lie,” O'Toole said.

Well, yes. And they can't obstruct justice, suborn perjury, falsify court documents, or violate the Labor Code. But that is exactly what current Chula Vista mayor Cheryl Cox has done.

Which makes it all the stranger that Bonnie Dumanis has refused to investigate Richard Werlin and other Chula Vista Elementary School District figures who have sworn to tell the truth, and then lied--about more important issues than two hours off work.

Ironically, Moore was accused of taking two hours off work to spy on Cheryl Cox and David Malcolm at a Cox fundraiser. The irony is particularly heavy in this case because Cheryl Cox herself pressured a whole slew of public employees at Chula Vista Elementary School District to commit perjury. Much of the perjury was done to cover up falsification of documents, which Cheryl Cox, Patrick Judd, Larry Cunningham, Pamela Smith and Bertha Lopez made necessary when they voted to cover up crimes by dismissing a teacher. The dismissal was itself a violation of Labor Code section 1102.5

The Chula Vista Elementary School District board chose lawyers, Parham & Rajcic, and Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, who could be depended upon to use illegal tactics to cover up the board's wrondoing. Obstruction of justice is all in a day's work for these law firms.

The fact that Cheryl Cox has more power now than when she was a CVESD board member makes it all the more important that she be answerable for her crimes.

Steve Castaneda found not guilty, is reelected

ELECTION UPDATE
NOVEMBER 5, 2008

STEVE CASTANEDA

Steve Castaneda has been reelected as Chula Vista City Councilman, but Patrick O'Toole has disappeared from the Public Integrity Unit.

CITY OF CHULA VISTA CITY COUNCIL - SEAT NO. 4
Precincts Reporting: 100.0%
SCOTT VINSON - 46.88% (24876)
STEVE CASTANEDA - 53.12% (28183)




ORIGINAL POST:

After the jury came back with a "not guilty" verdict yesterday in the case of Chula Vista city councilman Steve Castaneda, who was accused of hiding his "intent" to buy a condo while testifying during a grand jury investigation that found no wrongdoing, prosecutor Patrick O'Toole said, "It was a case from our end that we thought had to be brought -- that the obligation to tell the truth under oath is one that we're going to fight for."

I've been waiting for a long time to hear someone in Bonnie Dumanis' office say "the obligation to tell the truth under oath is one that we're going to fight for."

I'm pleased to hear that O'Toole is finally going to do something about Chula Vista Elementary School District trustees and administrators who obstructed justice and committed or suborned perjury. The District Attorney received my complaint in 2005.

Here is the story from Fox News:

Councilman Found Not Guilty of Perjury in Condo Charges
Last Update: 4/23/2008

A Chula Vista city councilman accused of lying to the county grand jury regarding his personal interest in an apartment complex that was being converted into condominiums was acquitted Wednesday of six of 10 perjury counts.

Prosecutors will decide later whether to retry Steve Castaneda on the remaining four counts on which jurors deadlocked.

"I'm very happy that I'm vindicated. I'm very happy about the fact that I can now go on with my life," Castaneda told reporters outside the courtroom.

Defense attorney Marc Carlos said jurors gave it their best shot -- deliberating for five days after a two-week trial -- before coming to a decision.

"They've had hundreds of exhibits and thousands of pages of grand jury testimony, and that's as good as they can do and there's nothing there," Carlos told reporters. "I think (District Attorney) Bonnie Dumanis should do the right thing and step up and dismiss the remaining counts. They've spent a lot of money on this case and it's gone nowhere."

Prosecutor Patrick O'Toole said: "It was a difficult case. Everybody knew that going in. It was a case from our end that we thought had to be brought -- that the obligation to tell the truth under oath is one that we're going to fight for."

[Blogger's note: This is apparently Mr. O'Toole's way of saying, "If we want to go after someone for political reasons, a perjury charge is a perfect way to do it. You can always say someone is lying, no matter what the facts are. Hardly anyone gets charged with perjury even when they do it in a case where a crime has been committed, but, hey, the law is there so why shouldn't I have some fun with it?"]

10,000 years of Chula Vista History by one of our favorite educators

Click HERE for original story about one of our Chula Vista educators.

Peter Watry, Hero in Education

On July 31, 2004, Bill Brochtrup presented Peter Watry, a retired economics professor, with the California Lottery's “Heroes in Education” award on “The Big Spin®” show.

A year ago, Watry created a presentation, entitled “10,000 Years of Chula Vista History,” for local students. Several times each week, he delivers this presentation to third and fourth graders throughout the Chula Vista School District.

At these presentations, Watry teaches the students about the diversity in the people who have called Chula Vista home over the years, and describes, in great detail, what life must have been like for each of them. Watry captivates the students with the assortment of visual aids that bring history lessons to life. He shows the students artwork and pictures, and allows them to handle historic artifacts like Indian arrowheads, hats and flags. At the end of each visit, he reminds the students that Chula Vista is constantly evolving and that they should appreciate the history being made around them every day.

On hand to honor Watry was Bill Brochtrup who has starred in such television shows as Dharma & Greg, Murder She Wrote and Picket Fences. Brochtrup is best known for playing the extremely efficient public administrative assistant, John Irvin, on the popular television series NYPD Blue.

The California Lottery’s “Heroes in Education” award has been presented monthly on “The Big Spin®” show, since 1999. The Lottery partners with celebrities to present these awards which recognize special individuals who volunteer time and resources to their schools and communities.

The Current Chula Vista Educators Board of Directors

SEE JULY 2008 UPDATE

PEG MYERS
Peggie Myers
cvepresident@yahoo.com
President 07-09
State Council 06-09
Full-Release CVE Office 427-1063

Monica Sorrenson
Vice President 07-09
Liberty Elementary School 397-5225

Nancy Potts npotts@cox.net
Treasurer 07-09
Valley Vista Elementary 479-7171 Ext. 5339

Barbara Dunwoodie
Secretary 07-09
State Council 05-08
monagin@cox.net
Hilltop Elementary 422-8323 Ext.3333

JAMES GROTH
James Groth
jgroth@cta.org
State Council 07-10
CTA Board

Allan Insko
PAR Chair 06-09
Sunnyside 479-0571 Ext. 5051

Joyce Abrams
Area Director A 07-08
nautilus@san.rr.com
Chula Vista Hills 482-7066 Ext. 2341
Click HERE to see Ms. Abrams PERB complaint.

Norma Pacheco-Davis
[new member--NOT involved in wrongdoing 2001-2005]
Area Director B 07-08
pachecodavis@yahoo.com
Los Altos 690-5880 Ext. 3848

Penny Martinez
[new member--NOT involved in wrongdoing 2001-2005]
Area Director D 07-08
Valle Lindo 421-5151 Ext. 5254

Andra Johnston
Area Director E 07-08
Salt Creek 397-5494

Executive Director Mary Ellen Berumen
[New executive director--not involved in decisions of former executive director Tim O'Neill]
mberumen@cta.org
427-1063 Ext 205

OPEN
Area Director C 07-08

OPEN
Bargaining Chair 07-09

The teachers of CVESD aren't told the truth about their union, Chula Vista Educators

See all posts about Peg Myers.

You wouldn't know it from the stories in the San Diego Union Tribune over the years, but Chula Vista Elementary School District works closely behind the scenes with the leaders of its teachers union, Chula Vista Educators.

Peggie Myers, CVE president, and her close friend Robin Donlan, have even used the same law firm as CVESD. Not just that, but CVESD paid the law firm on their behalf. The district recently went back to this law firm when it discovered that illegal tactics were necessary to get what it wanted in the Danielle Cozaihr case and other cases.

It should be noted that Chula Vista Educators did not help Danielle Cozaihr, who was awarded $1 million in a recent San Diego Superior Court case. Peggie Myers, Jim Groth and the rest of the CVE board have generally worked to help the district when it is violating the law against teachers.

You might have thought that former CVE president Jim Groth was out of the picture now that he's on the Board of Directors of the California Teachers Association. But, no. He's still on the CVE board of directors.

It should be noted that two teachers on the board of directors had NOTHING to do with the wrongdoing from 2000-2005. I'm hoping that Norma Pacheco-Davis and Penny Martinez will help usher in a new era of honesty and openness for Chula Vista Educators. Perhaps they can bring back Robyn Higginson, who wasn't supportive of CVE's violations of the Labor Code.

It was obvious all along that Lowell Billings didn't believe in site-based management

Chula Vista Elementary School District's Superintendent Lowell Billings apparently watched closely and learned from his predecessor Libia Gil, who promoted a system she called "site-based management." Billings continues to promote the system.

But the system as implemented at CVESD always involved top-down decisionmaking, never democracy at the school site.

It also involved laziness and neglect. So things would often get out of hand at various schools, and then the district office would swoop in and fire people, or, if they were political allies, bring them back to the district office for their own protection.

But now Lowell has a new problem. The school that is trying to make its own decisions is a charter school. They don't seem to think that principal Erik Latoni should make all the decisions.

Once again, Lowell wants to swoop in and take control. He is threatening to to terminate the charter of Feaster Elementary School because the people who run the school actually work at the school. Instead of "site-based decisionmaking," this is now being called "a conflict of interest" by Mr. Billings.

It's not ideas that matter at CVESD, it's words. And the meaning of the words changes whenever the people in charge feel it's necessary.

It's probably worthwhile to note that CVESD recently rehired Daniel Shinoff of Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz. Apparently the board was impressed with Shinoff's work at MiraCosta College. I notice a striking similarity in the arguments used to attack Feaster Elementary and the arguments used to justify the actions of the majority-bloc of trustees at MiraCosta.

Cheryl Cox, Frank Luzzaro and me

Frank Luzzaro and I have known Chula Vista mayor Cheryl Cox for many years. We all started working for CVESD at about the same time in the seventies.

Then Cheryl became a CVESD board member, and we found out how closely tied she was to developers.

Frank recently filed an ethics complaint against a developer's friend on a city committee.

My only wish is that Frank had taken more of an interest in ethics at CVESD. I guess he didn't want to step on Cheryl Cox's toes when she was playing footsie with his pal Jim Groth, past president of Chula Vista Educators and current CTA director.

Here's the story about the recent complaint:

Ethics complaint filed against Realtor on board

UNION-TRIBUNE
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071217-9999-1m17b2briefs.html
December 17, 2007

CHULA VISTA: Chula Vista residents Frank and Susan Luzzaro have filed a complaint with the city's Ethics Commission against Richard D'Ascoli, a member of the city's Redevelopment Advisory Committee.

The complaint, filed Dec. 3, alleges that D'Ascoli, the director of governmental affairs for the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors, has used his column in the Realtors' newsletter to criticize Chula Vista “NIMBYs.” The Luzzaros say D'Ascoli isn't objective regarding residents' concerns.

Chula Vista established the Redevelopment Advisory Committee in July 2006 to hold public hearings on urban infill projects.

D'Ascoli said he was confused by the complaint because he thought he was selected to the committee to represent the Realtors' organization, which has more than 1,000 Chula Vista residents as members.

He said that he has requested clarification on his role from the city attorney.

– T.M.

Two codes at Chula Vista's Castle Park Elementary: one for students, another for teachers

Students at Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista, California are expected to obey the following code:

Castle Park Code Of Chivalry

A Castle Park Knight Will:
Behave in a peaceful and caring manner.
Demonstrate honesty in all Situations.
Respect the rights and property of others.
Take responsibility for his or her actions.

For teachers, the expectations are different. Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez and the rest of the school board, as well as the teacher "leaders" at Chula Vista Educators/CTA, have cost taxpayers $100,000s in legal fees in their efforts to foster the following code of ethics:

A Castle Park teacher will:

1. Work to get rid of at least one student and one adult each year, preferably Spanish-speaking.
2. Follow instructions of district lawyers to hide the truth.
3. Climb over others to elevate his/her position in the school and the teachers union.
4. Defend himself/herself indignantly if caught violating the law, and insist that it's someone else's fault.

Answer to previous post: Yes, CVESD's action is illegal, as Capistrano Unified administrators found out

See also San Diego County Department of Education.
See also Lora Duzyk.

Click here to see the original post.

Capistrano Unified - Former Superintendent & Assistant Indicted!
May 24th, 2007
by Kelly at Rancho Santa Margarita Lifestyles
This morning District Attorney Tony Rackauckas issued a statement outlining the investigation of Former Superintendent James Fleming and Former Assistant Superintendent Susan McGill and the indictments handed down as a result of those investigations. The charges were actually brought ten days ago, but were unsealed today.Fleming is charged with:

Misappropriation of public funds
Use of school funds to defeat the recall effort
Conspiracy

McGill is charged with:

Conspiracy
Perjury
Here’s something to think about. If convicted Fleming ’s maximum sentence would be four years. McGill’s however would be five. Where’s the justice in that? Why is it that the major player in a crime always seems to get less time than a minor player trying to cover their tracts? Fair or not, those are the rules. So a word to the wise: tell the truth!

Rancho Santa Margarita residents who reside within the Capistrano Unified School District boundaries have been anxiously awaiting the outcome of the investigation which began early in 2006. The school district has been riddled with problems in the past few years, not the least of which was a heated recall effort waged against Fleming for (surprise!) alleged mismanagement of school district funds.

Parents residing in the Capo District were also understandably critical of the District’s decision to purchase and move into a pricey new district office (how “OC” of them) while hundreds of children are being wedged into dilapidated portables and using run-down, filthy bathrooms. Admittedly the former district offices were in need to some improvements. But really, wasn’t there a more equitable solution?

The whole thing just makes my blood boil. There’s always going to be controversy and political sparring where it comes to various strategies for running a school district. It’s an Everyone Knows Best kind of thing. So it goes without saying that there will always be those who question those in power. It’s healthy that way.

When it comes to the actual election of school board officials though, how much do we really know about their qualifications, morals and ethics? I may get slammed for this, but here goes: The act of voting for school district officials is more or less a crap-shoot for the average voter. Most of us make the most educated choice that we can, cross our fingers and push the button.

We really have no idea whether the person we’re voting for is truly up to the task, nor do the majority of us even have an adequate understanding of what the task actually entails. We simply don’t have time to know everything about every candidate that we vote for. Instead we rely on opinions of others that we respect. So what can we really expect? Who can we really blame when something goes wrong and incredibly poor decisions are made?

What I do know is that when I vote for a candidate I expect that person to be honest and ethical. The charges levied against both Fleming and McGill, suggest that there is sufficient reason to question whether these parties have failed in that regard. Along with all the rest of you, I will be waiting to see how this plays out. In the meantime, my fingers remain crossed that the current Supervisor and Board get it right.

Capo Schools attended by Rancho Santa Margarita students are:

Tesoro High School
Las Flores Middle School
Las Flores Elementary School
Tijeras Creek Elementary School
Arroyo Vista Elementary School

http://www.rsmlifestyles.com/capistrano-unified-former-superintent-assistant-indicted/

Pat Judd, David Bejarano, Pamela Smith, Larry Cunningham and Bertha Lopez spend tax dollars to prevent "trustee areas"

(Click here to see 2008 elections update.)

Is this legal? Are school board members allowed to use public resources to affect elections?

Here is a quote from the minutes of a recent CVESD board meeting:

CHULA VISTA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT
MINUTES
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Regular Meeting
November 13, 2007
7 P.M.


"...President López recessed to public session at 8:47 p.m and reported the following: The Board directed Legal Counsel to take all steps necessary to avoid litigation while educating the County Committee of the negative repercussion of the political actions related to the Petition for Trustee Areas..."


http://www.cvesd.k12.ca.us/cvesd/schoolboard/boarddocs/pdf/minutes11132007.pdf

Education is just like baseball: cheaters prosper

An article in the Los Angeles Times seems to be a perfect response to my previous post about dishonesty in the education establishment.

Gerry Braun didn't think cheating school officials would be brought to justice. I've noted that for years.

But it's not just schools that reward cheating adults. Baseball does it, too.

LOS ANGELES TIMES
By Ross Newhan
December 16, 2007

Forget about 'Cheaters never prosper'

Owners still seem willing to pay big salaries to those involved with performance-enhancing drugs...

Of the active players among the 86 cited by Mitchell for involvement with performance-enhancing substances -- and it's impossible to believe that the clubs didn't know or couldn't ask and ascertain who was on that list before it was released -- several already have been gifted with more millions from benevolent owners, subscribing to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Consider:

* Andy Pettitte, who now confirms the Mitchell Report finding that he received human growth hormone from former trainer Brian McNamee, has already been re-signed by the New York Yankees for $16 million in 2008.

* Eric Gagne, shadowed by drug speculation throughout his rise, fall and revitalization, and cited in the report for HGH orders with the Dodgers, received a 2008 contract for $10 million from the Milwaukee Brewers only a few days ago, a matter of timing that General Manager Doug Melvin now calls a "black eye" for the organization.

* Paul Lo Duca, a virtual Dodgers conduit to former steroids and HGH distributor Kirk Radomski, according to the report, was recently signed to a 2008 contract for $5 million by the Washington Nationals.

* Jose Guillen, cited by the report for ordering steroids and HGH, was signed to a three-year, $36-million contract by the Kansas City Royals, who were aware he would be named in the report and suspended by Major League Baseball at the start of the 2008 season. Guillen has filed a grievance appealing his 15-day suspension.

Grade tampering at Preuss School is minor dishonesty compared to SDCOE

Academic honesty policies are a joke compared to deep corruption at top of education system.

San Diego Union Tribune Columnist Gerry Braun wrote on December 16, 2007, "It's only appropriate, then, to award a big "F/U" to whoever is responsible for the unconscionable failure of ethics at the Preuss charter school...Frankly, I'm not optimistic that justice will be served...Victoria Munoz Richart transformed her bumbling tenure as president of MiraCosta College into a pot of gold, a $1.6 million severance package."

San Diego County Office of Education-Joint Powers Authority deserves an F/U for its dishonesty policy. The SDCOE-JPA is administered by Superintendent Randolph Ward and his assistant superintendent Lora Duzyk. They have seen fit to keep Diane Crosier as director of the JPA, even though they have long known that Crosier keeps unethical lawyers on her approved lists of lawyers. Crosier helps her insurance broker Keenan and Associates make money by short-circuiting the justice system to help school districts get away with wrongdoing.

Compared to this, the big brouhaha of changed grades at UCSD's Preuss School seems like child's play to me.

The real scandal in schools is not the grades that are given, but the fact that so few students get a good education. With insurance companies, bogus repackaged education program businesses, and conservative religious leaders on the right, teachers unions on the left, and politicians on the right and left jockeying for personal power, the entire system is at a complete standstill.

Former "Principal of the Year" Doris Alvarez is apparently the unethical administrator in the Preuss grade scandal, but I don't think she's any less ethical than many other popular principals.

One of the straightest paths to popularity in school administration is to be a people pleaser, especially to people higher up than you. Personal politics is one of the driving forces in education.

The cure? A lot more openness and honesty. Especially when required by a court of law, SDCOE-JPA lawyers need to start revealing the truth about what's happening in schools. Instead, they hide behind the stone wall set up by SDCOE, insurance companies, and school districts. Sadly, this stone wall is respected by the California state courts, whose judges, particularly in the court of appeal, think schools should not have to answer to the law.

This arbitrary power is the enemy of a meritocracy, and is one of the reasons that schools are not meritocracies, but rather political arenas where far too many teachers, administrators, and board members spend their time jockeying for money and personal power instead of honestly dealing with problems.

San Diego County's school system needs to get rid of Diane Crosier and her stable of lawyers and school superintendents who ignore the law.

Chula Vista teacher wins $1 million for gender discrimination

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

Ann Folting is now a third grade teacher at Castle Park Elementary

All the efforts of the "Castle Park Family" to prevent principal Ollie Matos from instituting a more efficient use of an experienced teacher caused a lot of turmoil and cost a lot of money, but the computer teacher is now teaching third grade.

What did the Castle Park teachers accomplish?

They let Superintendent Lowell Billings know that he had seriously underestimated the danger of covering up their crimes in the Maura Larkins case. The district had empowered them tremendously, and rewarded them for dishonesty.

When they turned on the district and Lowell Billings himself, it seems to have come as a great shock to Lowell. He became more hands-off than ever, while going around talking about his "hands-on" approach to his job.

Is the teacher culture at Castle Park Elementary still one of secrecy? Obviously. But the teachers who are there now have learned that they might be able to push Lowell Billings around, but Carlos Ulloa seems to be another story.

Missing canoeist who collected his own life insurance in England: Is the huband who planned it more guilty than the wife who did it?

Evil people couldn't prevail in this world if they didn't have followers. I think leaders and those who obey them are equally guilty.

U.K. Police Arrest Fraud Suspect's Wife

By ROB HARRIS
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 9, 2007; 5:34 PM

MANCHESTER, England -- Police arrested a British woman on suspicion of fraud Sunday after she claimed her husband died five years earlier in a canoeing accident and cashed in his life insurance. The husband reappeared last weekend.

British police arrested Anne Darwin, 55, once her flight from Atlanta touched down at Manchester airport. They said they hoped she could shed new light on her husband's whereabouts since he was declared officially dead from a capsized canoe in the North Sea in 2002.

Anne Darwin, left, the wife of John Darwin, the canoeist who turned up after being presumed dead leaves the police station at Manchester Airport, Manchester, England, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007, after being arrested on her return to the country from Panama. British police awaiting Anne Darwin's arrival on an overnight flight from Atlanta, Georgia, arrested her shortly after her plane touched down Sunday morning at Manchester's airport, according to Cleveland Police, who are investigating the case.

She was undergoing a medical examination Sunday after being transferred to Cleveland, a region about 250 miles north of London where she would likely be questioned Monday in the investigation.

John Darwin, 57, turned up in London last weekend. He walked into a police station and claimed to have amnesia. He was charged Saturday with fraud and acquiring a passport in a false name, and will appear in court Monday.

Detectives have said they hope to learn how Darwin allegedly hid himself for five years and maintained contact with his wife after his staged death, and how they apparently came to be photographed together in Panama. His wife had been living there in recent months, but left the Central American country on Wednesday.

Two British newspapers, the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, claimed to have interviewed the woman repeatedly since her husband's appearance. The newspapers quoted her as saying the couple had tens of thousands of dollars of debts.

The papers quoted her as saying her husband told her the only one way out of debt was to fake his death and that she had pleaded with him not to do it.

According to the newspapers' account, Darwin's wife said she had not expected her husband to go through with the plan _ and genuinely thought he was dead when he disappeared. But a year later, her husband came knocking at her door.

The newspapers said she told them her husband pressured her to keep his reappearance a secret so he could have himself declared dead. That would allow her to collect about $50,000 in life insurance and lift the burden of her mortgage.

They quoted her as saying that after authorities officially declared him dead, her husband moved in with her and hid in a small room reached through a concealed hole in their bedroom, and that he hid in the house for three years.


According to the newspapers, she said the two moved to Panama this year and that her husband was tired of living in hiding and decided to return to Britain, claiming to have forgotten what had happened to him.

The Daily Mirror published a photograph of the couple, apparently taken with a real estate agent in Panama and published on the company's Web site.

Police said they are in contact with the couple's two sons, who insist they had no idea their father was still alive and want nothing more to do with their parents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/09/AR2007120900891.html

CVESD's newest board members quietly goes along with wrongdoing

CVESD board member David Bejarano

You might think a former police chief would raise a ruckus over spending tax dollars to perpetrate frauds on the court.

Or you might not.

At any rate, former San Diego police chief David Bejarano seems happy to be led by the nose by the CVESD board, which includes two nominal Democrats, Pamela Smith and Bertha Lopez, but for years has voted 5-0 to support a strict right-wing agenda.

Lowell Billings admits he doesn't do his job

In July 2007, CVESD Superintendent Lowell Billings explained why he is paid so much money:

"I think a big part of it has to do with accountability,” said Chula Vista Superintendent Lowell Billings, when asked by Channel 10 News why the taxpayers give him $205,000 per year to run Chula Vista Elementary School District.

But on the witness stand in the Danielle Cozaihr case yesterday, Billings admitted that he does nothing to make sure that adminstrators in CVESD are following the law, and that he really doesn't know what is going on at district schools.

Clearly, this man should not be working for a public entity. Billings has spent millions of tax dollars for lawyers to help cover up wrongdoing at CVESD. Billings, and his Assistant Superintendent Tom Cruz, and his law-breaking principal Alex Cortes should all have been fired long before this. The problem is that the school board is just as contemptuous of the law as these administrators are. Pamela Smith, Cheryl Cox/David Bejarano, Larry Cunningham, Patrick Judd and Bertha Lopez had been covering up crimes before these administrators moved into their current positions.

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.

Why is CVE trying to hide the identities of its president and VP?

I knew that Chula Vista Educators had just last week finished counting the votes after its second election in one year to choose a vice president.

I called them up this morning. A cheery woman's voice greeted me, "CVE!"

"I was wondering, who is the new vice-president of CVE?"

Without missing a beat, the woman said, "Peg Myers."

"I thought she was the president," I said.

Also without missing a beat, the woman said, "Yes, she is."

Clearly, this woman had a well-prepared script.

"Then who is the vice-president?" I asked.

"Monica Sorenson."

I thanked her, and began to wonder why CVE is trying to pretend that Jim Groth is still president (he was reelected president in 2007, a few months ago), and that Peggie Myers is still his vice president (she was elected vice president a few months ago). Jim Groth resigned after a couple of months to take a seat on the California Teachers Association board of directors.

I must assume that Peggie Myers told the receptionist to try to hide the truth. Peggie Myers is a forceful advocate for hiding the truth. When she was CVE representative for Castle Park Elementary, she made it clear that teachers had to report to her any contact they had with me. She worked hard to make sure that the truth was kept under wraps about crimes committed at the school. But she didn't succeed despite tremendous effort.

Now Myers seems to think that by continuing to cover up facts that can not be covered up, she will avoid having to deal with the fallout from her past actions. She and Jim Groth and Monica Sorenson would be wiser to quit pretending, and simply apologize and repair the harm they've done.

Monica Sorenson, by the way, was a lawyer (though currently inactive), so perhaps she's had a lot of practice at hiding information. It would appear that this is what the teachers of Chula Vista want.

And we wonder why young people grow up today without moral compasses.