Update 3/5/08: This post now has 2,003 comments! However, it has exceeded the capacities of our server and has been truncated recently at about 1,529 posts. But one of our readers has stepped up to the plate and painstakingly copied all of the comments into three NEW posts:
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2008 Comments
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2007 Comments
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2006 Comments
We have also started a NEW open SAUSD thread, which I hope our readers will post to regarding new SAUSD news and views.
You can also go to our home page and go to the right column. Click on “SAUSD Posts” and you can get links to ALL of our past SAUSD articles.
I must say, I am amazed at the stories that have been posted on this blog in the wake of Al Mijares’ exit from the Santa Ana Unified School District. I am posting this item merely to give SAUSD bloggers a place to post their comments. Post away my friends – we have an opportunity now to finally do away with the corruption left over from the Mijares regime. Change is at hand, but we must remain resolute.
I noted that someone affiliated with the SAUSD administration recently posted a threat on this site – alleging possible legal action against SAUSD employees who post anonymously on this site. That is despicable and a form of terrorism. Do not let fear restrain any of you from revealing the truth.
The final challenge we face in Santa Ana is to replace Mijares with someone competent. We won’t have another opportunity like this anytime soon. This process must be open and focused and whatever else happens we must keep Audrey Noji out of the Superintendent’s position. As a member of the Cerritos College faculty and a member of the teacher’s union at that campus I opposed her when she tried to get a job at our campus. If she goes after the SAUSD superintendent post I will do so again. I know we can do better!
All of my children are in the SAUSD system. For their sake and that of all schoolchildren in the district, I urge those who are rebelling against the last vestiges of Mijares’ broken empire to keep the information flowing and to do whatever it takes to ensure that our next superintendent will be up to the task. Mijares certainly was over his head throughout his doomed tenure.
#922
This is a pretty solid bargain, in my opinion.
I know that it has been mentioned that perhaps SAUSD could join up with other districts in pooling insurance costs and that would perhaps bring the costs down for employees or at least keep the costs in check. I believe that was a union suggestion for the future.
Of course if the district has administrators that get kickbacks for insurance deals or in some other way personally benefit from making deals with insurance companies, then you can expect SAUSD administration to pooh-pooh the idea of co-opting to keep insurance costs down.
But that issue will probably be next year.
And as for the bargaining, this is the first time it has been transparent and has given employees detailed information on which to make a choice well ahead of time. Remember Tom Harrison’s hysterical sales job and all the pay cuts we were supposed to expect to take on the non-existant promise that SAUSD would fix their financial crisis?
Last year’s $750,000 offices upgrade was an insult, to say the least. Especially now that we see what incompetents the district has making multimillion dollar mistakes and “no one” has yet admitted which criminals tried to pull that fast one.
No one knows anything. No one did anything. When is THAT line of accepted excuses going to end?
#922 and # 923
Personally, I can see both your views. Costs have gone crazy in the medical world over the years. Can you believe 2 decades ago the district paid medical AND retirement benefits. That was one of the things that brought me SAUSD.
Since then things have changed a lot. I’ve lost count of the times we have changed insurance carriers or had our contributions restructured. I would say in most cases they were understandable. BUT in those cases we didn’t have the corruption, waste, or mismanagement that we are seeing today in the district.
As # 924 points out, assuming there is no funny stuff going on with the insurance, which is an interesting question in and of itself, this is probably as good as it will get.
Since their is a viable option or two over the PPO option I don’t think anyone is going to walk off the job over it unless true transparency of the options reveals that coverage is significantly less. I noticed hospitialization under the PPO was reduced to 90%. I’d like to know what the Kaiser and HMO plans offer.
Ten percent of a catastropic hospitalization for a long term and cumulative disease would be a disaster for most people. If this is what the PPO has come down to, it isn’t worth it.
With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity
–Keshavan Nair–
Thank you goes to all the brave teachers who had the integrity to go against a system of corruption and educationally imoral acts against our students.
Bravo!
http://o-juice.blogspot.com/2007/04/santa-ana-schools-lose-2-million-by.html#comments
If you look at Santa Ana’s SACS Budget Report (it’s a public document that the district can’t refuse to provide to you…under California’s public access law, they can’t even ask your name when you ask for it) you’ll find that the 2006-07 budget adopted by the school board specifies that in the General Fund alone there will be a cash surplus of $76,500,624.31 when this fiscal year ends on June 30.
You’ll find that in Section F, Fund Balance, Reserves, Line 2, Column F, Ending Balance.
Column E shows that $35,622,467.96 of that $76,500,624.31 Ending Balance is Restricted Funds; that is, it’s tax money that must be used for specific accounts.
However, Column D shows that $40,878,156.35 of the $76,500,624.31 Ending Balance is entirely Unrestricted money; that is, it can be used for any purpose, such as keeping kids music programs, reinstating all the programs that have been cut, competitive salaries/benefits to recruit and retain the top teachers for the children, etc.
State Law AB 1200 specifies that school districts must retain a Reserve for Economic Uncertainties. The law sets a formula for SAUSD’s Reserve: 2% of Expenditures. If you look at SAUSD’s SACS Budget Report, Section B, Expenditures, Line 9, Total Expenditures for the year, Column F, you find that the Total Expenditures amount to $476,835,453.30. Two percent of that is $9,756,709.07.
However, if you return to Section F of the SACS Budget Report, Line 2b, Column F. reveals that SAUSD has set aside $32,805,806.35 in Reserves. It is overfunding the reserve by an enormous $23,049,097.28!
Furthermore, Column D shows that the entire Reserve, including the $23,049,097.28 overfunding is all Unrestricted cash!
That money should be spent on educating the community’s children, but if you try to demand that, you’ll encounter an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation especially formulated with gobbledygook that’s intended to intimidate citizens (and even board members). Trustees who rubber stamp what the entrenched district bureaucrats throw at them especially don’t want the public to know that they don’t understand the budget, so they don’t ask questions and just rubber stamp away. That’s why they ended up in the fake class size reduction mess. If you read the April 20 News Section, P. 16, of the Register, you saw a long report headlined “Bureaucracy stymies lawmakers” which reported on how the bureaucrats in Sacramento lead lawmakers around by the nose; so, this problem isn’t just limited to school boards.
By the way, that $76,500,624.31 year-end SAUSD cash surplus noted above is only the General Fund surplus; if you want to find the what the total surplus will be on June 30, you need to go through the SACS detail report for each fund category. The total is typically well over $100,000,000.
Remember back in 20002-03 and 2003-04 when SAUSD was rending its garments over the huge deficits if claimed to have? Well, if you look back in the audited SACS Budget Reports for those years, you” find that the district ended the years, respectively, with $46,370,00.76 and $22,955,239.80 surpluses in just the General Fund alone.
Most districts play the same game. What they do to start off the year is to underreport their income and overstate their expenditures in the first budget report, thereby creating a phony “deficit” in Section C of the SACS report. But the savvy citizen will look down the line to Section F, Line 2 Ending Balance. If there’s a surplus there (and there usually is), then the “deficit” in Section C is phony and designed for media consumption to panic taxpayers.
When the San Diego Union-Tribune caught the San Diego Unified School District bureaucrats in these financial lies, the district’s budget manager just shrugged and admitted that all districts play this “shell game” (direct quote).
That’s a sad and cynical shell game because its children who are being cheated, along with taxpayers.
SAUSD has double-trouble, too: Using the mechanism of at-large elections, the now-underground anti-public school Education Alliance has elected the majority of SAUSD trustees. The California Supreme Court recently upheld that the 2001 California Voting Rights Act is the law of the land. The Act was passed to enable ethnic voters to get out from under the thumb of “Old Guard” anglo political machines that control school board and city council elections from behind the scenes. It’s surprising that MALDEF or LULAC haven’t yet used the law to end at-large elections for the school board and city council in Santa Ana. It’s the only way that strong and truly representative officials can be elected and break the stranglehold that the Old Guard and their bureaucracies have on the city and the school district.
#927
Assuming your numbers are true, why have both unions agreed to cuts in teaching programs, teachers, staff, and benefits?
If these numbers are available and correct would not the union(s) also be aware of them and bargain with this surplus in mind?
Very puzzled
Year after Year, Esther Jones at Saddleback High School tries to eliminate the popular “foods” program where the students learn valuable cooking, planning and budgeting for meal preparation.
Last year, Lewis Bratcher stopped her. It is sad that some of the best programs are at risk to be eliminated because of stingy, short-sighted administration that does not care about the students and community.
How the tax skim scam works:
That huge cash surplus in the SAUSD budget will largely be skimmed into one of several “investment accounts” managed by the OC Treasuer’s Department from which the Department skims tens of millions in “management fees.” Funneling the tax money skimmed from educating kids into county government earned a certain person a reputation as the “financial savior” of Orange County. So, don’t expect the Register to help you on this because the Register’s favorite county politician might be revealed to be less than perfect.
The Treasurer’s Department then places the money with politically favored brokerages. The brokers reap millions in fees from “churning” the money in “bottom feeder” and house accounts, which increases the brokers’ “take” even more.
A large chunk of what the brokers rake in is doled out as contributions to the campaign organizations of favored local and state politicians, who then look the other way in regards to the skimming from school district budgets.
The career bureaucrates in the district finance and superintendents offices who cook the books to make the skim possible then reap kickbacks in the form of insider deals on investments, real estate, cars, “seminars” to exotic locales, and similar “perks.”
As for the school boards, not even a majority of members needs to be in on the skim scam: All that’s needed is a couple of insider trustees to cajole and ridicule those trustees who try to really understand what the budget shell game. No one, not even the most highly principled trustee wants to look at public meetings like an incompetent fool who can’t grasp “simple” accounting.
Even the California Teachers Association is in on the skim scam: At the time that CTA was telling teachers they needed to take a salary cut because SUASD was nearing bankruptcy, CTA knew — as did anyone who looked at the district’s SACS Budget Report — that SAUSD would end that fiscal year with yet another surplus of tens of millions of dollars. But, CTA officials have their own political agenda, and they don’t want to upset the contributions apple cart that “their” politicians in Sacramento get from this statewide scam that school districts are engaged in.
Even this year, CTA was telling teachers at the start of the year that SAUSD was facing hard times and not to expect raises and full salary restoration. It was only when some classroom teachers went and got copies of the district’s SACS Budget Report showing the huge cash surplus for this year that CTA had to suddenly reverse itself. Local union leaders are teachers, not accountants; they rely on CTA to tell them a district’s financial status. That’s why local leaders went along with the salary cut a few years ago and why SAUSD’s local leaders were ready to accept another year of hardship for themselves and their colleagues.
District bureaucrats and their cronies get away with this because the State Department of Education fails to provide any meaningful oversight as to how your tax money is shuffled around. Remember a few years ago when angry voters tried to find out what the Anaheim Union High School District did with $142 million in bond money? When it became clear to them that the money had been misappropriated, they went to the State Attorney General, and the AG’s then-spokesman, Nathan Barankin said, so sorry, but “there is no direct supervisor over the administration of these bonds.” The United States Justice Foundation that monitors school districts (only “monitors”) said that citizens have little legal power to stop district bureaucrats from basically doing whatever they want. Strong, stringent oversight is much needed; but don’t expect politicians to create that because that would end their gravy train of campaign contributions coming from the skimmed money.
If you are brave enough to get your district’s SACS Budget Report and challenge the bureaucrats, they (including Orange County Department of Education Bureaucrats)will unload on you a barrage of financial gobbledygook laced with school accounting jargon designed to make you look and feel foolish. The best way to stand your ground is to know what the jargon really means. Here’s a vocabulary primer:
ADA: Average Daily Attendance. District begin the shell game by consistently understating their ADA because that makes it look like enrollment is declining. The formula for coming up with the ADA figure is deliberately complicated so that the average citizen or reporter ends up confused and believing whatever they are told by the “experts.”
Adopted Budget: Districts adopt a budget in June for the upcoming fiscal year that starts on July 1. This is a public relations budget in which income is greatly understated and expenditures greatly overstated to make headlines that the district is operating at a “deficit.” Skip the PR dysinformation, get your own copy of the SACS Budget Report and go right to the Bottom Line in the General Fund report; the Bottom Line is found in Section F, Fund Balance, Reservesm Line 2, Column F. If there’s a positive balance there, then there’s no deficit, no matter what’s written earlier in Section C. Also check Line 2b, Column F, in Section F: In no case, according to state law AB 1200 should the “Reserve” desgnated for economic incertainties exceed 3% of what’s listed in Section B, Expenditures, Line 9, Total Expentitures, Column F. For SAUSD, the AB 1200 specification is 2% of Total Expenditures.
Interim Budgets: After the PR budget to kick off the year, scare the public, and intimidate teachers from seeking salary increases, the district issues a series of “interim budgets.” Keep track of them. Typically, as the year goes on you’ll see the “deficit” shrink and the surplus grow.
COLA: Cost of Living Adjustment. Each year, the state automatically increases all districts’ budgets by a certain percentage to cover inflation. The COLA typically exceeds the actual inflation rate. This year (2006-07), SAUSD automatically got a COLA increase of 5.92%. That amounted to $14 million, which more than offset both inflation and the claimed enrollment decline. The same will be true for the coming year with a COLA coming in to SAUSD at $18 million for 2007-08 to cover inflation and any enrollment decline, according to the state budget office.
Required Reserve: This is an annual reserve specified by state law AB 1200. Based on a district’s ADA, the maximum reserve ranges from 3% down to 0.5%. SAUSD’s ADA dictates a reserve of 2% of Expenditures. Anything over that is pure padding, but padding that’s vehemently defended by the bureaucrats with more reasons that you can shake a stick at. Too bad there aren’t more informed citizens to shake sticks at the deceptions.
“Special Reserve”: Legally, there’s no such thing in school districts. The real name for “Special Reserver” is “Slush Fund.” It’s just another way of stashing cash that will later be skimmed into those county “investment accounts” that feed politicians and brokers.
Restricted Funds: Also called “Categorical Funds.” In fact, the bureaucrats like to use both terms in debates to keep citizens (and uninformed trustees) off-balance. These funds can only be spent for specific purposes, such as Special Education children.
Unrestricted Funds: These are funds that the district can spend for any educational purpose. One of the first moves in the shell game that the bureaucrats play on taxpayers is to move Unrestricted funds into Restricted accounts and claim the money now can’t be spent for meeting general needs; however, Unretricted funds are permanently Unrestricted, regardless of what accounts they are stashed in, and the Unrestricted funds can be moved out of the restricted accounts as soon as the public has been fooled. This part of the shell game goes on constantly.
Teacher: You’d think this would be obvious. But when the public hears the bureaucrats talking about “teachers,” the public thinks of people actually in the classroom teaching the community’s ch
ildren. But that’s not how the shell game is played. Districts count anyone who has a teaching credential as a “teacher,” including all the people in the district office, including the superindentent and all the assistant supers. That way the district can make its ratio of teachers to students look great.
Trustee: The reason a school board member is a trustee is because school districts are not any form of local government: School districts are legally part of the state government and board members can only act in trust for the state to fulfill state law and requirements. Trustees who fail to do this can be removed for Breach of Fiduciary Duty to the state. Most trustees frequently breach this duty; most aren’t even aware that “their” district is part of the state government. The Department of Education, in addition to failing to provide financial oversight, also fails to enforce trustees’ fiduciary obligations.
Zero-Based Budget: School districts are supposed to operate on zero-based budgets; that is, at the end of each fiscal year on June 30, there’s not supposed to be any money left over because on July 1 the state automatically refills the district’s accounts from the state budget. The money given to the district by the state to educate the community’s children is all supposed to have been spent to do just that. Any amount “left over” is legally a breach of the trustees’ Fiduciary Duty to provide children with the best possible education. But, who cares? After all, their only kids and they don’t vote and their parents are too busy to figure out what’s going on with the money.
TRANS: If the state budget is delayed, districts are provided with a financial mechanism for carrying on business until the state budget fills the district’s account. This mechanism is “Tax Revenue Anticipatory Notes.” TRANS for short. So, school districts are never really without money, even if the state budget is delayed.
Until average citizens inform themselves about their district’s budget, take on the bureaucrats, and force the politicians to end this campaing contribution gravy train that’s running at the expense of children, children will continue to be cheated, our nation’s future will continue to be endangered, and taxpayers themselves will continue to have their taxes skimmed away by the shell game scam.
In contrast to the district’s FAKE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE YEAR where crooks are made to look like heroes, here is a photo of REAL HEROES- THE TEACHERS AT REMINGTON AND WASHINGTON schools who had the courage to stop organized crime by their employer.
http://www.sateach.org/
Congratulations to the real heroes in the classrooms!
Boo to the fakers who steal and lie in the district offices
#909
Supt.Russo’s official statement regarding the auditor’s preliminary findings on CSR reminds me of the following quote.
“Advertising is the art of making whole lies out of half truths.” Of course this quote reminds me of my papa’s words of wisdom ..”a lie has speed, but truth has endurance.
And these quotes remind me of this lingering question, as it pertains to Supt. Russo, Noji, Richardson, Juan Lopez, Don Trigg, Christine Anderson, Lewis Bratcher and Dr. Stainer …
how may times do you get to lie before you are a liar?
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1676062.php
Copy/Paste the link for the full story & comments section:
Los Alamitos Unified selects superintendent
Gregory Franklin, 45, is an assistant superintendent for Glendale Unified School district. He will replace Carol Hart, who retires in June.
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
The Orange County Register
LOS ALAMITOS
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
High School Inc. Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, May 2, 2006 at 6:00 pm at the District Office.
Agenda: http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/departments/rop/
Some items on the agenda, including plans to meet with new Deputy Superintendent:
According to one account, we learn that 27 out of 34 elementary schools had principals who were willing and determined to have their teachers sign false attendance records.
How sad for those teachers to have such weak and corrupt leaders who would sell the students for their own political gains.
I think the days of blindly supporting weak principals are at the end. Teachers, do not compromise your morals for the greedy few that want to increase the bottom line by playing foul with our students. Call the union at the first sign of immoral transgressions. This district needs to shed the weak and the corrupt in favor of real teaching and positive community change.
#930
That was quite a bold post. Everyone’s still talking about it.
http://www.sateach.org/
Website has additional details:
By a vote of the membership (88% voting yes), the Tentative Agreement between the Santa Ana Unified School District and the Santa Ana Educators’ Association was approved on April 30, 2007. The agreement now goes to the Santa Ana Board of Education for a vote.
Former teacher suing Westport district
By Lisa Chamoff
Staff Writer
May 2, 2007
WESTPORT – A former teacher is suing the school district, claiming
she was turned down for a vacant position because of her defense of
students with disabilities and for speaking out about teachers being
harassed by administrators.
The suit, filed at U.S. District Court in New Haven in March, was
delivered to Westport officials on Monday.
Karen Pierce, a Sandy Hook resident who worked as an elementary and
middle school teacher in Westport from1989 to 2005, when she
resigned, is seeking lost wages and benefits and damages caused by
the district’s violation of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
according to the lawsuit.
Pierce also is asking for a letter that she says was “used against
her” in a meeting with Schools Superintendent Elliot Landon after she
resigned.
Landon did not return a call yesterday seeking comment.
Pierce, who taught fourth and fifth grade at Coleytown Elementary
School, expressed concern during the 2004-2005 school year that
special education students whose parents were represented by
attorneys in Planning and Placement Teams received better services
than other students, according to the lawsuit.
Pierce also told her union representative and Coleytown Elementary’s
principal and assistant principal that teachers in the district
were “repeatedly being subject to workplace harassment by their
administrators,” according to the lawsuit.
Pierce also reported problems with software that teachers had to use
to prepare students for the Connecticut Mastery Test; Pierce was told
no other teachers had a problem with the software, according to the
lawsuit.
After applying and interviewing for a sixth-grade science teacher
position at Coleytown in May 2005, Pierce did not get the job but was
not told why. The Westport Education Association, the teachers union,
filed a grievance.
Pierce’s attorney, Gary Phelan of Stamford, said the case is about
more than her denial of the teaching position – that Pierce was
retaliated against for raising important issues. She now teaches
elsewhere in Fairfield County, he said.
“We think it’s a serious matter when someone raises serious issues
about treatment of special education students and as a result are
penalized for it,” Phelan said. “I think that overall, what she’s
hoping the case is the catalyst for, is a change in the . . .
workplace culture, that teachers, in general, and veteran teachers,
in particular, are not treated in a callous manner.
Billions of dollars available to many California Schools and School Districts. Santa Ana is NOT on the list. To access the names of the schools, copy and paste the following link.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr07/yr07rel62.asp
STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O
It is being announced this week that several of the intermediate schools in SAUSD will be participating in a special program reducing class size down to 25.
#940
You’re dead wrong. SAUSD was awarded $77 million over a six year span.
Too bad the same incompetent adminstrators will be guarding the cookie jar.
Meanwhile, Juan Lopez is brooding about not being appointed deputy superintendent.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O
Posted to district website, May 3, 2007:
http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/super/russo_j.asp
Jane A. Russo – Superintendent
Jane Russo serves as Superintendent for the Santa Ana Unified School District. She is the first woman to be appointed Superintendent in the history of the Santa Ana Unified School District, which was founded in the year 1888. She is the lead administrator of the fifth largest school district in California, with 55,000 students, 63 schools, and more than 4,500 employees. Following Board of Education policies, Ms. Russo supervises all curricular, financial, maintenance, construction and personnel functions in the district, serving a population representing 92% Latino students with more than 60% English Learners. She is responsible for implementing curricular policies to continue steady progress towards State and Federal mandated achievement levels on standardized testing. In addition, she works closely with local government and business organizations to address the needs of the community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce and the Federal Empowerment Corporation.
As a former teacher in both Arizona and California, Ms. Russo has acquired extensive experience since 1973 in the educational arena including at the classroom level as reading specialist, assistant principal, principal, curriculum and instruction leader, area administrator, assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent. In 1999, she was named the Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators, Region 17. Having lived in the City of Santa Ana for 19 years and worked in the District for 22, she understands the community at large and is passionate and dedicated about the students, staff, and parents she serves.
# 944
I suppose the announcement you posted just happened to omit that in Mrs. Russo short tenure as superintendent:
1. A phantom class attendance scheme has cost the district a minimum of $2 million dollars.
2. An 8 month vice principal with a questionable background has leapfrogged over dozens of other qualified administrators to become the principal of Valley High.
3. The Chief of School Police was a party to 2 of possibly 3 sexual harassment lawsuits costing the district thousands of dollars.
4. The Sergeant of school police was arrested for child porn related issues.
5. A second officer in school police has recently resigned under unspecified issues related to an internal investigation.
6. Numerous teachers and classified staff members have taken worker’s compensation leave for various stress related matters including harassment by supervisors.
7. Mrs Russo put out a memo that the teachers union is taking legal action on based upon intimidation.
It would appear to me that Mrs. Russo doesn’t need a lot more publicity by now. Her management skills are very clear. None!
I have yet to see any indication that Jane Russo is aware of just what is broken in SAUSD. How can students learn best when many schools are run by criminalistic thinking that pits school site administrators against the morals of teachers who are forced into acts of fraud? These kinds of bully tactics are well-known to all staff. What will Jane Russo do to ensure safe school sites where all participants are safe and treated with the highest levels of respect and dignity? Jane Russo’s letter to try and intimidate teachers and union leaders into silence is a good example of what she should not be doing. She shows a complete lack of awareness of what school site safety is all about. Teachers and students should never be coerced into silence. Thug mentality should not be tolerated any longer at SAUSD.
From the California Safe Schools site: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/se/documents/bullyfull1.pdf
Adult may also be bullies. In schools some teachers, office staff, bus drivers, school security personnel, and even parent volunteers use tactics ranging from sarcasm to severe bullying as a means of disciplining students or maintaining power in the school setting. Like the student bully, the adult perpetrator often disregards the hurtfulness of his/her actions or blames the target for overreacting or not being able to
New Deputy Superintendent information posted today:
http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/super/deputy.asp
Cathie Olsky, Ed.D.
Deputy Superintendent
Phone: (714) 558-5523
Fax: (714) 558-5694
Eileen Maddox, Senior Executive Secretary
Phone: (714) 558-5523
Antonette Roberto, Senior Executive Secretary
Phone: (714) 558-5513
# 944 and 945
“3. The Chief of School Police was a party to 2 of possibly 3 sexual harassment lawsuits costing the district thousands of dollars.
How many more will it take?
He has proven a true leader; one more follows his teachings!
4. The Sergeant of school police was arrested for child porn related issues.”
5. A second officer in school police has recently resigned under unspecified issues related to an internal investigation.
Was this the person in charge of the “ARC”
what happened?
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/santaana/article_1689576.php
Santa Ana, Newport-Mesa agree to new teacher contracts
Both districts end several months of contentious negotiations with the new deals.
By FERMIN LEAL
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Two Orange County school districts have announced they have reached agreements with their teacher unions for new contracts.
Newport-Mesa Unified will give its 1,036 teachers a 19 percent pay increase spread over the next three years, while Santa Ana Unified’s 2,470 teachers will receive a 5 percent increase for the current year.
Newport-Mesa Unified’s contract, which also provides a 3 percent increase to teachers benefit packages, will run through June 2010.
Santa Ana Unified’s contract, retroactive to February, only applies for the current year. The district and the union will soon begin negotiations for a contract beyond this year.
In Newport-Mesa, union and district officials said the new deal would make the district’s teachers the third highest paid in the county among unified school districts within the next 28 months.
The deal, which still has to be approved by the School Board, would end more than six months of contentious negotiations.
In March, about 150 Newport-Mesa Unified teachers picketed before a school board meeting carrying signs that read “No teacher Left Behind” and “Lowest paid teachers in Orange County.”
Newport-Mesa Unified’s teachers will vote May 21 to ratify the agreement. The School Board is expected vote on the contract May 22.
Santa Ana Unified and its teachers union have also undergone tenuous negotiations in the past several months with the teacher benefits package being the biggest point of disagreement.
Under terms of the new deal, many Santa Ana teachers will now have to contribute more toward their benefits package. For example, teachers with a PPO family plan who paid $45 monthly will now pay $163. Teachers with some HMO plans will pay slightly higher rates.
Santa Ana trustees approved the teachers’ contract Tuesday.
Contact the writer: 714-445-6687 or fleal@ocregister.com
Disturbing news from Willard. Next year’s school schedule will consist of 2 periods of math and 2 periods of language arts sprinkled with one semester of social studies and phys ed.
All electives have been shelved.
This program, designed to teach to test, should really ignite and sustain intellectual curiosity.
The right principal is vital to the successs of a school.
Passing bond measures in Santa Ana might be a death knell for housing prices.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/subprime/article_1688347.php
Think corporate bankruptcies are the worst Orange County has to fear from the collapse of the subprime lending industry?
Think again.
While just 21 percent of the county’s home purchase loans in 2005 were subprime
#950, you should get the facts straight before you post this information. The actual schedule being proposed is:
5 period day which includes
2 periods of Language Arts
1 period of Math
1 period of PE
1 period consisting of a wheel which is 12 weeks Science, 12 weeks Social Studies, 12 weeks Elective
And the hits keep coming.
It’s been reported that $17 million must be cut from the 08-09 budget.
What the dickens is going on?
BC It’s been reported that $17 million must be cut from the 08-09 budget.
What the dickens is going on?
Where was that reported? It wouldnt be that big of a suprise to hear that SAUSD tradition of massive budget imbalances would continue, but I had not seen any source of your information listed.
Thanks for any information.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Special ed students must pass exit exam
Decision allows students to take test in a modified or assisted format.
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO The state board of education Thursday unanimously approved Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s recommendation to require students with disabilities to pass the California High School Exit Exam to receive a diploma.
Their decision will make several changes to the process students in special education must go through if they pass the test using modifications, such as having the test read aloud or using a calculator.
But members of the public
Art- or anybody,
What has come from the information posted by # 127 or # 130? As someone said before, that was a bold post and some of us are very curious what response has been or even if that info can be verified? If true, what has SAEA had to say or the district for that matter? Hungry for more details.
That request is for posts # 927 and #930 about the skimming scams.
Well, one big fathead (fat, referring to overinflated sense of self worth and pay) is gone. Say good bye to decades of do nothing and corruption. Say good bye to Helen Stainer.
See job description – http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/departments/elementary/
Of course the position is flown only for legal reasons. My guess that Chris Anderson is your new Assistant Superintendent. Read the job description and you will come away knowing that it was written just for her.
Locke High seeks to leave L.A. Unified
Its teachers have signed petitions urging control be given to Green Dot charter schools. The loss would be a blow to the district and union.
By Joel Rubin
Times Staff Writer
May 10, 2007
Challenging the balance of power in the city’s public school system, a leading charter school organization is poised to wrest control of a failing high school from the elected Los Angeles Board of Education.
Green Dot Public Schools, which has clashed frequently with the board in its aggressive push to expand, has quietly overseen the collection of signatures of support from a majority of the tenured teachers at Locke High School
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/tustin/article_1692470.php
7 districts offer high school diploma alternatives
Some seniors who fail the state exit exam, but meet all other requirements will receive diploma-like documents…….
Manny Gonzales, a Santa Ana High student from the class of 2006, was one student who earned a certificate of completion.
“It would have been a shame if I didn’t to walk with my class last year,” he said. “That’s something students remember the rest of their lives.”
But not Santa Ana. Santa Ana will hand out certificates of completion. But only to a select few based on favoritism and other arbitrary factors.
copy/paste link for full story and comments that follow.
The stories about Locke High going charter, Capo unified, and Newport Mesa are all very interesting.
Sadly this is probably not the forum where they will do the most good. It takes strong support from the parents, school administrations, and the teachers to make these things happen.
At SAUSD the parents are just now waking up. The teachers also are just now waking up, but how many are willing to sacrifice the potential loss of their jobs?
Of most serious doubt seems to be the various school administrations. The tales on this blog report many stories of principals and VP’s who are in the district administrations pocket. Stories of Saddleback High, and Valley immediatedly stand out. In fact the latest promotion to principal at Valley is a Saddleback VP with 8 months in the district. Someone with a background that should be considered no less than interesting.
How many other principals are working out there who truly are independent from the Chestnut street influence? If I had 8 months with the district and was promoted to Principal, I think my loyalty isn’t going to be for the betterment of the school. My loyalties are going to the people who gave me the job and the bigger money.
These type of placements have been going on for years to lay the groundwork for just this sort of revelation of a mess such as the phantom school rosters.These principals are not going to upset the applecart, not to mention thier jobs and salary.
For Russo to recently be quoted as having to further cut teacher’s salaries as a result of this boondogle of phantom class money is just as blatant as her memo last month. These people believe they are untouchable. We screwed up..YOU TEACHERS will pay for it!
How much longer will it take before a state take over becomes the obvious solution?
Here is an easy to fix problem that has gone on for many, many years. Students who have severe disabilities (SH students, as this district likes to call them) complete their educational experience in their High Schools and instead of getting a diploma at graduation, they get
Every time we hear it is a
Administrators of the year awards thread
http://o-juice.blogspot.com/2007/05/administrator-of-year-dinner-time-to.html
#963
Some board members are intentionally kept in the dark. Others are fully aware of what’s happening.
It isn’t too surprising should Christine Anderson be promoted. Russo, more than ever, needs to insulate herself from the heavy hand of the state. Testing is done and most are bracing for the district to enter PI/Year 3.
Stainer’s departure isn’t a surprise. Bratcher’s would be welcomed.
Another special education teacher is picked off at Kennedy!
Placing unqualified and inappropriately trained staff with disabled students is a long standing practice that should be halted.
Can a district employee be personally liable for his or her wrongdoing?
Yes. In one California case, a district administrator was held personally liable for failing to investigate the appropriateness of a junior high school placement for a student with a specific learning disability before unilaterally transferring him there. This means that a parent can sue and recover damages from a district employee who causes direct harm to a student.
Goleta Union Elem. Sch. Dist. v. Ordway, 248 F. Supp. 2d 936 (C.D. Cal. 2002).
http://www.edattorneys.com/special/important/personal_liability.html
http://www.leap.org/docs/2007_LDPHE_Brochure.pdf
Audrey Yamagata-Noji presently serves as the
Vice President, Student Services, at Mt. San
Antonio College, in Walnut, CA. She is also a
founding member and Past President of Asian
Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE).
Audrey is an elected member of the Board of
Education for the Santa Ana Unified School
District. She received her B.A. in Psychology
and M.S. in Counseling from California State
University Long Beach, and her Ph.D. in
Education from Claremont Graduate University.
Audrey is also a dedicated LEAP trainer and has
participated in LEAP
#960
Last school year the BOE was all over CASHEE. Regular updates were presented at most school board meetings. Under Supt. Russo there have been NO updates on CASHEE. Bratcher has been dodging this topic and at the last meeting the excuse he offered was the March results were not in. Board President Richardson swallowed his excuse like it was a Godiva truffle.
NEWSFLASH .. the class of ’07 has been taking the CASHEE test since their sophmore year. There are reports, and Richardson should be a better *steward* of accountability as it pertains to graduation. This district slipped into PI/Year 2 because it failed to meet its graduation target.
At the end of the day I’d like to know how many students passed CASHEE and walked away with a certified diploma and how many walked with a certificate. I’d also like to know how many students were in the Class of ’07 in their freshman year and how many graduated; did the district meet its graduation target for this year; and how will board member Hernandez hold the Supt. and her cabinet accountable if the district falls short on all counts?
969 –
Maybe she’s waiting for Bratcher to doctor up the results? Who knows!
Bratcher has hired, retained and promoted loyal principals and vice principals under his watch. It makes things simple for him. They don’t bring him any problems and his job is an easy one. But there really are problems…. big ones and the loyalty crew just ignores the problems or eliminates the staff who brought the problem to their attention.
The approach is very clanish and shores up incompetence. This has been a well-established practice for years under Bratcher.
The loyalty crew keeps choosing weak employees -those with limited experience, substitutes, teachers in the wrong subject matter, teachers without tenure, disorganized department heads and other moral busting tactics, so the kids really have no chance to pass these tests by the time they are seniors.
BoE members have absolutely no idea how deep the turn over is at any given site, and Juan Lopez is not about to tell them. Most likely he has no idea or perhaps perferes to cover up those kinds of statistics. Whatever the method, it results in an absence of accountability and transparency. It is sad to look around SAUSD’s organizational leadership structure and not be able to come up with names who actually care about the students and who are willing to make decisions to improve the schools in the district.
Greg Rankin, new Principal of Godinez, came to Saddleback and had interviews with a dozen teachers. Saddleback’s principal didn’t care. In fact she says she wants teachers to leave her campus. Turnover is nothing new there. Its like a bad habit that won’t go away.
Keeping a weak staff helps prop up weak administrators. Students need and deserve experienced, action oriented personnel and teachers who are strong in subject matter and dicipline to really make a school site to become effective.
Letting weak administrators set up and maintain campuses of employees that they are “comfortable” with is not in the best interests of the community.
Like attracts like. Weak can only tolerate weak and inexperienced.
The practice of “Loyalty over competence” has done a grave disservice to students.
Mr. Rankin’s search for teachers is somewhat amsuing since Godinez has about 500 freshman and sophomores registered for the 07-08 year. Funnier yet, is the construction of a $100 million high school for 500 students. And the public wonders why the Supt. and her admins willfully engaged in creating phantom classes to garner more revenue. The public should be asking Supt Russo what’s with only 500 students at Godinez? And why should we shoulder another construction bond?
As far as Saddleback HS – Dr. Noji and Richardson were consumed with pre-party planning for an evening of merriment celebrating the school’s musical show. Rome is burning and Noji and Richardson are toe-tapping to Gershwin. Nice work if you can get it.
#950
More disturbing news from Willard.
The new & improved schedule set for the fall will displace 18 Willard teachers. Unfortunately, word on the street says the principal will return. Most teachers are questioning the Supt.’s restructuring of class schedule, since the most important change should be the removal of the site administrator.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1695210.php
Santa Ana middle school evacuated for fire
About 1,500 students sent outside for hour after smoke from air-conditioning fire came in classrooms.
By DENISSE SALAZAR
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SANTA ANA