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.
One last piece of the puzzle. Last May the new Valley principal Gomeztrejo responded positively to a request by the Special Ed department to meet with him . At that meeting Gomeztrejo agreed that the Valley Special Ed Department should elect its Department Chairs for the 2007-08 school year. Two veteran Special Ed teachers won hands down. Both teachers had decades of Special Ed experience and both teachers were fully credentialed. in addition, one of the teachers was a graduate of UCLA. Later both teachers were kicked to the curb by Gomeztrejo.
#1126
Well that speaks volumes of the man’s honesty and keeping his word.
And as a reward for that kind of character, Ms. Russo chose him to climb quickly to the top of the administrative food chain. Oh, my mistake. It was really Anderson and Oakes.
Fred once asked for an email explanation of an iep procedure that he wasn’t sure of. The teacher sent a very clear explanation in email to him. His response?:
“I have no idea what you are talking about so I will not respond to you.”
That’s leadership for you! Yup!
Frankly, Gomeztrejo can’t have true leaders in his presence. He has to make sure that he keeps his shaky upperhand no matter what. Bright, capable leaders scare the likes of him and Jones and Espinosa. They spend huge portions of their day trying to oust or weaken site leaders because of their fears of being found out and their own insecurities.
I think Cathy Olasky should hand out a piece of paper to each principal and vice principal during their next meeting and give them an essay topic to write out.
She might be shocked at how many of the protected/promoted are actually functionally illiterate.
Audrey Noji’s singular decision to recruit Russo for Supt. and proclaim a transparent search for a Supt. is the work of a skilled, deceptive, conniving and manipulative individual devoid of educational integrity.
Noji has proven she has little regard for the parents or teachers
of this beleagured district. And the only SAUSD residents Noji’s interested in are the voting ones. Good and decent teachers are fleeing because they can no longer tolerate the corruptive culture of Noji.
Noji continues to surround herself with incompetent personnel because she is a weak and ineffective educator and leader.
Noji cannot be trusted. She delivered an incompetent Supt. Noji’s discriminating practices against our students, with our tax dollars, must cease. Segerstrom is not her provide laboratory for select students.
There’s an educational terrorist in our midst and she’s threatening the public school system in Santa Ana. Her name is Audrey Yamagata Noji.
Assuming stories here are fairly accurate, a principal candidate gets yay votes 2/10 (20%). He wins the position over all other candidates. Lucky him.
Special Ed department votes 100% for a choice for department chair. “Lucky” principal does “district math” and figures out that two people who have not earned fully qualified credentials to be teaching Sped in the first place deserve to be the department chairs. Those two got 0% of the votes.So they get lucky too.
How many “unlucky” principals and vice principals have put in their time and effort to prove their skills, gone to that selection process and now find out that it was a cynical misuse of their time by district deciders who trump any kind of fair selection process?
The stinky truth is that favoritism and politics is practiced over true educational decisions on what would benefit students, staff and district practices the most.
Noji’s inept record as an SAUSD trustee was a factor in her not being appointed president of Santa Ana or Cerritos Colleges. Like State Supt. O’Connell’s office, more and more educators are starting to talk about the corruptive state of affairs plaguing SAUSD.
I was told by a state official that Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has issued a news blackout on the SAUSD Special Education Investigation. According to the state official, O’Connell’s office has been bombarded by information requests from all over the country.
#1131
That is hard to believe that the entire country is interested in SAUSD. However, there are a number of educational groups that are following this story.
Wait until the rest of the stories about bigotry come out. Counts of segregated sites,what happened to the severely disabled kids and their parents at Saddleback, diversion of funds and the short changing of Designated Instructional Services that are not resolved and coming to light as time passes.
I know inquiries east of the Mississippi are NCLB-related. It’s speculated SAUSD will more than likely be tagged as a Year 3- Program Improvement District. Districts that are Year 1, are monitoring SAUSD and looking at how CA will deal with this distinction.
The discriminatory practices cited should be a concern for all members of the community. If there’s a local ACLU chapter I recommend you get them involved. Educators violating the civil rights of students should not be tolerated and district personnel and board members should be held accountable. Good luck.
Valley’s VP Molina is MIA after some big screw up. anyone know what’s happening?
Heard she was in tears and stressing out.
In response to the issues brought up by post #1112, Special Education attorney and author has this to say about it on this teacher’s board:
http://california.teachers.net/chatboard/topic6865/6.26.07.19.36.39.html
This is outrageous! Any teacher that allows themselves to be
pressured into signing sworn statements that are to be
submitted to a government entity and relied upon, IS
COMMITTING A CRIME. Make no mistake about it, if these
statements are being submitted to a government entity for them
to rely on and the teacher knows them not to be true, it is a
crime. GO TO YOUR UNION and make sure you do this as a group.
There is strength in numbers
The attorneys that are engaged in pressuring teachers to sign
untrue statements are also committing a crime. They should be
reported IMMEDIATELY to the attorney grievance committee.
This is subborning perjury.
The administrators engaged in pressuring staff too are
subborning perjury.
The teachers signing these perjured statements risk
prosecution and loss of their teaching certificates. You
really need to get together and protect yourselves. “I was
ordered to do it” is not going to be a defense to these
charges. Also, if this conduct is so publicized that I am
hearing it in NY, it is only a matter of time before someone
in CA brings it to the attention of the law enforcement
authorities.
More on the conversation:
http://california.teachers.net/chatboard/topic6865/6.26.07.20.44.59.html
Jan2 says: Calm down, Andrew. The poster did NOT mention that the documents
were untrue, perjurious, or criminal. It’s prudent to get the
opinion of a lawyer before signing your sworn statement, but no
one accused the teachers of lying or said that the depositions
were written incorrectly that I read about.
Why did the union allow new teachers to get in this position? It
is not their turn to get involved in politics and I’m glad they
signed out.
Inciting people to think there is a crime when there are no
facts presented is irresponsible, and boring. Teachers should
definately use their union to settle workplace issues. Adults
should conduct themselves without raging.
Quit making excuses Jan2 says:
http://california.teachers.net/chatboard/topic6865/6.27.07.10.36.46.html
Jan2 sees nothing wrong with the intimidation tactics used and
the teacher’s refusal to sign statements that were not correct.
Great. Do you work for SAUSD or is there ANOTHER rotten
district that you represent?
Why should the union have to be the moral watchdog of the
district? Where are the educationally moral leaders that this
district is paying for to take ethical good care of representing
the district in an honorable way – by doing the right things in
the first place, rather than condoning a coverup. AGAIN
Andrew’s ideas on who to contact are good.
Anyone who has been reading about SAUSD knows about the forced
signings of false rosters. That the district’s got lawyers who
are willing to misrepresent the truth is a big red flag. It
looks like the attorneys are taking advantage of the lack of
oversight at the district level as well as gross mismanagement.
Thank you for weighing in, Andrew. Jan2 – keep your dirty
excuses to yourself. We are talking about great misservices to
students who deserve much better.
Over the years Molina has reduced numerous classified and certificated staff to tears and caused undue stress. There is little sympathy for this woman. She, along with Lynn Kramer, were part of Tony Espinosa’s elite hatchett crew.
Jan2 should have read down a bit farther to posting #1117. Postings 1112, 1117, and 1126 should be read together. Also, It is being rumored that Sylvia Molina, who was responsible for implementing the “Full Inclusion Model” at Valley, has been “retired” by the district. Now connect that to Tony Espinosa’s firing at the beginning of June (he was the principal of Valley from 9/2001 to 12/2006 and the principal who cheer-led the Full Inclusion Model) and Chris Anderson’s move to another district at the beginning of July (Chris was told by the Union she had a big legal problem with Full Inclusion in October 2006) and you should see a pattern of scape goating emerging.
Promises were made to correct the failing Full Inclusion Model at the beginning of the Spring Semester 2007 but powerful forces downtown deep sixed those changes. Here is a name no-one would have thought of: Bob Nelson
NY law has zip to do with CA law but at least we all know this is getting out there. What is so troubling is that the district under such a microscope would dare to pull something this questionable. Do they think they are totally invulnerable and above the law? It is already obvious they do not care about the kids under their care. My goodness what will it take for the state to do something about this?
#1139
Starting to hear that a few attorneys are cozying up to the Valley special ed parents. The district’s penchant for discriminating against special ed students might just bit them in the arse.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1748419.php
394 students in 9 kept from graduating because they could not pass state exit exams. Here is how Newport-Mesa addresses the issue:
Newport-Mesa Unified, Irvine Unified and Garden Grove Unified declined to offer certificates of completion, and didn’t allow students to partake in graduation ceremonies unless they passed the test.
“We offered several interventions to help students pass,” said Peggy Anatol, Newport-Mesa’s director of curriculum and assessment.
The district provided before- and after-school test prep classes, as well as an exit exam “boot camp” in the summer and on weekends. The district had one of the lowest number of students in the county, 12, who met all graduation requirements but failed the exit exam
Current case in Georgia illustrates the seriousness of school district officials who harass, intimidate and retaliate against teachers who speak up on behalf of disabled students per ADA.
HR director in concert with a principal and other district officials began false write ups, false allegations and continued on a course to try and get the teacher fired from her position as well as threatening her credentials with false accusations.
Because it was a known practice in that particular district, the district and its superintendent face a substantial loss as well as criminal actions relating to their own job performance.
Retaliation- especially in ADA circumstances is a very high risk activity by the very worst districts plagued by mismanagement and gross breeches of oversight by ethical leaders. Lack of proper risk management practices lead to lawsuits such as this one as teachers are increasingly unwilling to roll over for corrupt district practices against students and those who have disabilities.
Retaliatory practices by known district liars are a huge liability. Why SAUSD allows those known liars and law breakers to continue employment is a mystery.
http://uploadingit.com/files/50537/WilbanksvsForsythSchools/Document1amendedto7.pdf
Defendants FCSD and Norton have a history of ensuring educators, parents, and
administrators who advocate for the rights of disabled children are intimidated,
threatened, harassed, and/or retaliated against, including but not limited to harassing, threatening, intimidating and retaliating against Plaintiff for her advocacy on more than
one occasion as set forth above as well as threatening, harassing, and/or intimidating
Plaintiff
#1142
Today’s Register reports at least 394 seniors in OC failed to earn a diploma because they couldn’t pass the state’s high school exit exam. Of those 394 seniors SAUSD has the distiction of having one-third of those diploma-deprived students.
What’s most startling is the tale of Century HS senior Natalie Fuentes. The article reports she completed high school with a 3.5 GPA, yet failed the math portion of CASHEE five times!
Where was Ms. Fuentes’s counselor?
It’s obvious Fuentes is a good student; where was the intervention she needed to ensure a diploma at the end of her senior year?
My heart sank when I read Fuentes has a letter of acceptance to CSF. I certainly hope her counselor adequately informed her that letters of acceptance are contingent upon final grades and a diploma.
Ms. Funetes story lends one to conclude that district administrators, as well as school site admins, have failed Fueetes and the other 117 SAUSD seniors that were not awarded a diploma.
Let this be a warning to all SAUSD parents — there is something very wrong with those who are in charge at SAUSD.
Did Ms Fuentes pass the math portion of CASHEE on her sixth attempt?
Getting rid of experienced teachers who actually grade accurately has plagued several high schools. It is easier for a principal who lacks leadership skills to rid the site of teachers who have high expectations for students than to have to deal with failure notices and angry parents. Forced low expectations rip off the community.
Why go to after school tutoring when you can get the principal to change a grade or pressure your teacher into passing undeserving students?
I think the grievance process in SAUSD is widely misunderstood. The following link and commentary are from a teacher in Nevada – apparently there are similar problems of intimidation and gross mismanagment at this particular district by administration.
http://www.teachers4change.net/grievance.htm
Grievance Information
by Pachy
2 January 2007
Well, I wrote that I would post something that neither the CCEA nor the CCSD would be happy to have you know about. I did take some time off as I
Why is SAUSD, allowing ex-school police sgt. kent poole to retire.
He should have been fired long ago.
He swore to serve and protect, our children and yours. He violated our children.
What is Russo thinking, or not!
The whole department needs to go!
RE: School Police
I don’t understand why we continue to have such a large district police force in light of budget constraints. There’s a little fifedom running out of Chestnut St. known as the district police. It’s, for the most part, a complete duplication of services. The city police dept. can handle the majority of our needs. What I observed over the years was a gradual shift from using the city police to district police (which necessitated a huge expansion of the dept.). Originally, this was done because the school board began micromanaging law enforcement issues. Issues that should have been prosecuted were taken over the board and managed on a case-by-case basis. Example: many students that should have been expelled from the district for drugs and weapons violations were kept in the district when individual board members became involved. It would be difficult to micromanage legal issues when city police are involved.
Whereas cty police used to respond immediately when school sites called, it’s not at all unusual to wait half an hour before someone from the school police arrives. The end result is a bloated district police force that is unreliable, ineffective and an unnecessary district expense. It was suggested to the BRC that the dept. be substantially scaled back, but obviously that never happened.
The Head of the BRC is Business Services Superintendent Don Trigg. He is also the sole Superintendent in charge of School Police. Do you really think he would cut the Police Chief?
California Law restricts School Police from handling many juvenile issues. Therefore, Santa Ana Police must be called. When an issue like this happens, School Police usually stands around with their heads up their asses getting in the way.
The question is how many criminal prosecutions take place and what is the restitution rate for the victims or the District. That might justify them.
The former Sgt. Poole is getting to take retirement? I should be shocked except that his wife still works for the school police. Actually in just over a year with the school police she married Sgt. Poole, they have a baby, and she was promoted to be the officer with the police dog. I guess they take care of their own.
When you think about budget cuts and the police force it helps to remember they do the fingerprinting and that is a cash cow. When you think about budget cuts it helps to remember that the school police impound cars for money. That is a cash cow.
When you think of Trigg’s statement about chldren equal money plus the loss of 2 million dollars for fraud do you really believe they will reduce the school police? They are probably hiring more cops to make more money.
Put it all together and think about it.
Reject Kops hired for the district could possibly be given over to the city police department at this point. How is the district affording all the overhead of a police department?
And the district police get misused by the likes of Saddleback’s boss who has called bomb squads, made false reports of staff threatening her life, sending school police out to fetch and carry missions, destroying official forms to alert the school district police department of serious incidents etc…
If schools had to deal with “real” police this kind of hysterical activity would have been exposed and halted a long time ago.
There is some nutty staff out there flying under the radar for some reason.
http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/departments/pio/release.asp?id=154
Assistant Principals Appointed at Santa Ana Unified School District
Santa Ana, CA – June 29, 2007
The Santa Ana Unified School District announces two new assistant principal appointments recently approved by the Board of Education. Eleanor Moore was named assistant principal of the newly constructed Godinez High School, which opens this fall to freshman and sophomore students. Loren Lighthall was appointed assistant principal at Century High School.
Moore began her educational career as a high school math teacher in 1999. She joins SAUSD from Newport-Mesa Unified School District where she most recently served as high school activities director.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Texas and her master’s in Educational Leadership from California State University, Fullerton.
Lighthall taught math and science at the intermediate and high school levels before serving as a literacy coach and teacher on special assignment at Paramount Unified School District.
His credentials include a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree in Public Policy from Brigham Young University. He also holds a master’s degree in Education Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Both appointees will fill their respective position on August 6, 2007.
Ken Poole, like Scooter Libby, has been rewarded for his wrong-doing because he’s become a liability to the district. Poole knows too much and the district is not taking any chances on Poole talking to the press. Russo has be explicit about her disdain for the press. Russo, like her predecesor, is spending her time controlling too many scandals.
Russo and School Board have several decisions to make:
1. Juan Lopez; remember Vera Munoz, she did not hire the most qualified administrators. She hired her friends whom were released from other district, some are gone, but several are still here. Immoral, Unethical, Incompetent and unworthy of other districts, but Vera brings them here! Lopez now is doing just what she did. He is not hiring the most qualified; he is hiring his friends from other district. Just look at who has been hired since Lopez
There is a new wave of litigation aimed at board of education members who sneak around public laws and put the interests of their school district secondary to their own personal interests. Greed, corruption and gross mismanagment that enrich a few and rob communities should be dealt with severely.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-capo7jul07,1,7268914.story?track=rss
Civil charges planned against Capistrano Unified officials
The looming complaint alleges district officials violated the state’s open-meetings law.
By Seema Mehta, Tony Barboza and Yvonne Villarreal, Times Staff Writers
July 7, 2007
Orange County prosecutors plan to file a civil case against Capistrano Unified School District officials alleging that trustees illegally conducted public business in secret, including approving millions of dollars in construction cost overruns at the new district headquarters, according to grand jury transcripts unsealed Friday.
The looming complaint alleging that district officials violated the state’s open-meetings law is the latest controversy in the beleaguered south Orange County school district, which in May saw its superintendent and another top official indicted. Susan Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office, confirmed that the civil case would be filed, but declined comment on details.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Hess told the grand jurors in May about the planned civil filing. His comments were included in more than 1,300 pages of county grand jury transcripts that include the testimony of 14 district employees and trustees. Along with district documents seized by prosecutors, the testimony led to the indictments of former Supt. James A. Fleming and former Assistant Supt. Susan McGill over the creation of an enemies list of district critics.
Fleming was charged with misappropriating public funds, using district money to influence an election and conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public. McGill was charged with conspiracy and perjury. They are to be arraigned Friday.
Although most of the district’s 56 schools are well-regarded academically, its trustees and administrators have been mired in a string of controversies for more than three years. Critics of the 50,000-student district have loudly protested the location of a new high school, attendance boundary changes and construction of a $35-million administration complex while hundreds of classes were being held in aging portables.
The critics tried to recall all seven district trustees in 2005 but didn’t get enough signatures to quality for the ballot. They succeeded in placing three new trustees on the school board in November. Earlier this week, they announced the launch of a recall against the four remaining old-guard trustees.
The transcripts laid out the creation of the two lists that are at the heart of the indictments. The first, a list of people receiving e-mails from recall proponents, was created by Fleming and his secretary Kate McIntyre, according to the testimony. McIntyre offered varying accounts of what prompted the list’s creation, first repeating Fleming’s defense that it was the result of an investigation into whether someone had hacked into the district’s databases of parent and student information. But under further questioning, she said Fleming had hoped to use the list to appeal to recall backers.
“We were just trying to figure out where these people that wanted to recall the trustees were, what their issues might have been,” she said.
The second list, created at Fleming’s direction by McGill and her secretary Bobbie Thacker, included personal information about the recall backers who gathered signatures on petitions, according to testimony.
McGill and former district spokesman David Smollar visited the county registrar of voters and were illegally allowed to look at the recall petitions. McGill testified that she never created a list, but Thacker said that McGill gave her a list of those who gathered signatures and had her consult confidential pupil data to look up addresses, the names and schools of their children and other information.
Thacker testified that she didn’t understand why district critics and prosecutors were making such a big deal about the lists. “Not discounting anything that you all are doing, but
Power struggle going on at district HQ as some administrators favor ejecting special education students from the campus as a “solution” to the special education scandal Valley High.
Bad move. There is already illegal segregation practiced at the fundamental schools. Flaunting the laws while under State investigation is not a bright idea.
SAUSD is run by a lot of people who don’t live in or near the community and don’t care about the residents and students. This unfair tiered system of treating students who have disabilities as not-important-students is a serial insult played out year after year.
Residents of Santa Ana know how to include everyone and know how to accept differences and work with those differences.
Outsiders don’t give a **** about fairness or even about giving value to the SA community. The system in place is being run by a bunch of takers. It has to change.
District admin already abolished special ed students at Segerstrom HS. Do they plan on funnelling Valley HS’s specialed students to Godinez? That would certainly help with their anemic enrollment.
Russo and Noji must go! Noji is the mastermind behind segregated schools in Santa Ana and Russo is merely moving Noji’s agenda along.
High sdchool boundaries need to addressed, particularly in light of the court’s recent ruling.
http://california.teachers.net/chatboard/topic6843/7.01.07.18.09.51.html
More discussion about pressuring teachers into committing illegal acts:
Teachers can have a lot more say in these decisions than
> they think, if they stand up for the child.
> Andrew Cuddy
> http://www.andrewcuddybooks.com
> Mr. Cuddy,
> Teachers who take a stand for students in this district can be severely
> punished by harassment and intimidation daily. A favorite tactic is
> to “write up” teachers for any small infraction detected as well as
> actually lie in writing by making up false accusations. There are
> plenty of employees who have suffered stress injuries because of the
> ruthless tactics of site administrators backed up by district reps. It
> is suprising that SAUSD has any special education teachers left. At the
> worst sites, they have a series of mostly substitutes.
> When a district lacks commitment to special education students it shows.
> There is even hostile indifference present, if that makes sense.
I understand the intimidation tactics employed by administrations, as they
are frequently used against the parents that I typically represent
(malicious criminal complaints, child protection service complaints,
etc.) Teachers have a distinct advantage, as they can invoke union
protection and representation. If a teacher is pressured into committing
a crime (false reports, false sworn statements, etc.) by an
administration, this will not be a defense to the crime if it is later
pursued by the parent or the District Attorney. Also, if the teacher
participates in the criminal acts alongside the administration, they can
cause themselved to be liable in a civil action.
If the administration is committing crimes, encouraging or pressuring
others to commit crimes, to protect one’s self and others affected by it,
it should be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency. I
encourage the teachers impacted by this conduct of the administration to
network together and bring a complaint against those administrators behind
these criminal acts. If a child ends up dead or seriously injured, I’d
want to be on the “right” side of that issue. I realize how difficult it
is, when facing those kind of job pressures, but who wants a job where you
have to go to work each day and do the wrong thing for a child. I don’t
think a single teacher went into the profession with that as their life’s
ambition.
Andrew Cuddy
http://www.andrewcuddybooks.com
A former SAUSD administrator is squawking about irregularites in the front office at Willard. She’s saying a non-SAUSD employee is the reason for concern.
Meanwhile, HQ is concerned the district may slide into Year 3/Program Improvement.
1159 – Is the non-SAUSD employee at Willard the infamous Bernadette Medrano? If it is, this will go nowhere. She and Bishop are very tight with Noji. I’m wondering who the former administrator is – Lynn Marine?
Anonymous Says:
7/07/2007 4:32 PM
This blog is very effective. So effective, in fact, that SAUSD has blocked all access to this blog through their firewall. We are not given access to it on our own time – such as before the instructional day begins, nutrition/recess, lunch, and after the instructional day ends. I wonder what they are so afraid of?
Also, isn’t this unnecessary censorship?
More conversation at the local teacher’s chat board in regards to teachers being made to sign against their better judgement and the treatment of special education students in SAUSD:
http://california.teachers.net/chatboard/posts.html
Steve: In recent years my school district has had some
> success in getting these costs under better control by hiring a
> specialist law firm having the expertise to challenge some of
> these most expensive and most egregious SPED cases in court, and
> by making teachers more aware just how ruinous special education
> costs can be to their district and how their own words and
> actions, well meant and intentioned though they may be, can end up
> costing their district untold thousands of dollars in expensive
> services and supports to special needs students who may gain
> little if any benefit from them.
Resonse from(Give Kids an Education): The statistics for out of control/unfair special education demands
in litigation by students and their parents are very low. Specialty
lawyers who market their services to school districts using fear
tactics to rack up fees are part of the problem. Sanctioned lawyers
for districts have been known to drag out cases of 1-6k settlements
into the six figure mark. Out of control legal costs are NOT
transparent in a school district and many of the legal costs are put
into the “special education” services category…. which further
reduces monies available to students.
Which district do you work for?
GOOD districts are able to give special education services, despite
the “shortfalls” of the funding schemes. Crap districts take on
attitude that special education services best not be provided,
because the students will “gain little if any benefit from them.”
This is a cynical approach. Educationally bankrupt and ethically
immoral to teachers and service providers who have been hired to
provide those dedicated services.
Steve:
> As we all know, public education and special education is, in
> California at least, a zero sum game. This means virtually every
> dollar a California public school district spends providing
> special education services and supports to the ten per cent or so
> of its student population who are classified ‘special needs’ is a
> dollar that cannot be spent on the other 90 per cent of its
> students who are non disabled.
Response (GKE):
Your statistics are off. 18-30% of school populations are in the
special needs categories in california. To abuse and neglect nearly
a third of the students by justifying some shortfalls in funding is
an outrage. How about suggesting dumping bloated administrative
positions in the district offices?
Steve:
> In the district I work for (similar to many public school
> districts in California) special needs students cost, on average,
> about twice as much to serve as general education students,
> resulting in a huge cost drain to my district running into the
> many millions of dollars, and which sacrifices the needs of the
> many so called ‘regular ed’ students for the oftimes highly
> questionable interests of a few SPED students.
Response (GKE): The most corrupt and inefficient districts shortchange their “normal
populations” just as they do with their special needs populations.
It is all about the bottom line for them. Justifying doing a poor
job affects all students.
Steve:
> The reason special ed ‘advocates’ such as yourself have a large
> and burgeoning business in California is because the Federal IDEA
> law is seriously flawed, inasmuch as it mandates special ed
> services be provided by public schools while not compensating
> schools adequately for the costs of these services. As a result of
> this unbalanced and very out of whack IDEA law, certain wealthy
> and very ‘self entitled’ special education families (i.e., parents
> of certain special needs children) have become accustomed to
> taking huge and unfair advantage of both the taxpayers and other
> children in the public schools by causing public schools to have
> to pay for and provide expensive (and often largely unneccessary)
> services and supports to their SPED children that they themselves
> are not willing to provide.
Response (GKE):
These “wealthy” families are the exception. Anyone who has actually
worked as a special educator knows that it is extremely rare for
litigation to result from a non-issue or from some family that is
unreasonable. The Mismanaged districts set themselves up for
failure by having an antagonistic attitude towards the students and
their families. Often bureacratic mismanagement and non-response
cause breaches of trust and resentments that cause hearings. Good
school districts find out what the problems are and fix them. BAD
school districts have expensive lawyers who lie to the Boards of Ed
and encourage the schools to be antagonistic towards special needs
students and their families because that is how the most money in
fees can be generated. Sweeping problems under the rug is a tactic
used by decision makers and consultants because of incompetence and
greed. Take your pick of which one is applicable.
Steve:
> My district, which had somehow ended up becoming a ‘magnet’ for
> special education families moving here from sometimes from as far
> away as Europe and Asia(!) has raised awareness of this issue in
> recent years. Our district’s SPED administration and their legal
> counsel have taught teachers like me that special ed advocates,
> including people such as yourself, are basically just parasites on
> the public good. With our newfound awareness, teachers in my
> district have learned never to talk to an advocate and never to
> say anything at an IEP meeting that has not been fully vetted and
> discussed earlier with the district’s SPED administration.
>
> Steve
REsponse (GKE):
Steve doesn’t sound like a special education teacher. He’s got too
much of an administrative bend on things. Teachers who know what
they are doing don’t consider advocates parasites. If an advocate
is involved, it is because the district does not have a handle on
how best to serve the needs of students.
Maybe the “state” will finally do something?
Dear ________:
Thank you for contacting the California Department of Education (CDE) regarding special education.
Your inquiry has been forwarded to Procedural Safeguards and Referral Services (PSRS) Unit within the CDE Special Education Division. They will be in contact with you regarding your Special Education concerns.
PSRS provides technical assistance information and resources for parents, school districts, advocates, agencies and others regarding special education students between ages 3 and 21. You may contact PSRS at (800) 926-0648, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
You may also find information about California educational services and programs on the Special Education Web site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se.
Again, thank you for contacting the CDE.
Sincerely,
JACK O
#1163
Let’s face it. the only way things are going to get straightened out will be when the community and the teachers have absolutely had enough of the abuses.
It is time to organize.
Protection and Advocacy might help:
http://www.pai-ca.org/
toll free 800-776-5746 / TTY 800-719-5798
Office of Civil Rights:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ocr/
Office for Civil Rights
810 7th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20531
Phone: (202)307-0690
Fax: (202)616-9865
TDD/TTY: (202) 307-2027
1161
Here is your answer why SAUSD blocked access to the O.J.
post # 1069
Rick Lopez, SRO Says:
6/18/2007 1:34 PM
All SRO’s work school hours, which means that embattled Rick Lopez did not get off until at least 3:30. His post time is 2 hours before his end of shift.
Can you say Anger Management classes, Rick!
I wonder if he was disciplined for posting and for acting as an agent of the district, How many board policies did he brake?
FIRE HIS ASS!
Or give him a one way ticket to L.A county where he will get the reception he diserves, plus a bag of chips..
#1154 writes .. Jim Miyashiro and School police; from attending the BRC meetings, I realized that Miyashiro recruited Bernadette Medrano to convince the committee that the district would be spending more money if they outsourced the department.”
Why is Bernadette Medrano, exec. director/Santa Ana Ed Foundation, doing Miyrashiro’s bidding?
1166,
Not only was Medrano in this, it was also Teresa Mimms. Miyashiro was on his way out the door, so he needed some to save his ASS.
You ask why? Only he, Medrano and Mimms know!
SAUSD was better off when SAPD was in the school. School police will never be a “DEPARTMENT” until Miyashiro is gone. Look at his choice to bring in Rick Lopez and his deputy chief from Maywood.
Jane Russo needs to hire a retired SAPD Sergeant or above to lead the department, until then, it will be nothing but a joke. A joke just like Chief Rick Lopez trying to be a Motor Officer and dumping the bike at Godinez during a so-called training exercise. Now he is on Workers’ Comp. If that’s not a joke I don’t know what one is.
Wait a minute, I do, It’s called Miyashiro and School Police!
Election 2008
cc, Jane and Board
Chief Miyashiro,
Would you hire someone who just finished the police academy, chooses to go to the local park and discharge his duty weapon, gets fired before he even starts?
If your answer is no,
why would you hire Rick Lopez. It turns out he got fired strait out of the academy for discharging his duty weapon at a local park.
perfect place to be at, SAUSD, Reject central.
Is Rick Lopez related to Juan Lopez?
A little pajarito told me that the current classified union people are in bed with the district. Why is this relevant to this blog?
We all know the level of corruption in the district, specifically in the Human Resource dept. Several good hard working classified people are being laid-off because the classified union is turning a blind eye and allowing the district to lay-off employees without following the California Educational Code.
From what the pajarito tells me, the classified union has not done much of any representation, specially to those who are about to be laid-off. Could it be that the district, Amelia Amaya or Juan Lopez promised them promotions for turning a blind eye to the lay-offs.
Could it be that Ralph Sandoval, President and Hector Vizcaino, Vice President for the classified union already got promotions, pending the start of the new school year. Could it be that the corruption runs deeper that the district itself, but also the unions that are suppose to be representing the workers. From what I have heard, it sure sounds this way!
It took some leg work, but I manage d to get the contact #’s for these two. If you are a classified employee about to get laid-off, call Ralph Sandoval at (714) 765-9437 or Hector Vizcaino at (714) 474-6651 and tell them to stop sleeping with the district and start representing you, after all, your hard earned money is paying for these union issued phones!
Re: #1101’s description of Willard’s Bishop as being “sharp” and “efficient”…haven’t you heard that you shouldn’t judge a principal by his cover? Bishop always looks sharp in his long sleeved shirts and ties, but what is he hiding (besides the tattooes)? Why did he “force” his group of Corporate Academy students to be his “mini-me’s” to also dress up in suits and ties when they were on field trips to the beach, the farm, etc?
If #1101’s author is describing Bishop’s work, just attend one staff meeting and you will see why so many are leaving Willard and why the school is doing so poorly. It takes him 20 minutes to make a 3-minute message. He gets everyone confused and upset about what he tried to say, spends two more days asking everyone “What did I say? What did I say?” But by then it’s too late, he can’t erase his words. His idea of getting things done is to get someone else to do the work. (I’m not talking about delegating). He overwhelms staff members with work, gives very little instruction, no feedback and positively no support. Lots of bullying and lots of yelling when he thinks the job wasn’t done the right way. (sorry we don’t have ESP) Why does he allow Bernedette Medrano to destroy the work that the counselors and community worker were doing with the parent groups? Why do district leaders love him? Don’t judge him by his cover, but by the results of his work. Rumor has it that Bishop and Medrano are “una y mugre” with Noji.
1171 – Heard that Bernadette Medrano was involved in Noji’s last campaign for school board. May explain why she’s given free reign at Willard.
Hi,
Iam one of these parents you are talking about from the parent senter.
1. Mrs. Medrano is doing what your communiti worker never did, talke and communicate with us. your communiti worker was never around, when we needed her she was gone most of the time. if it was not for Mrs. Medrano the parent center would have turned into a big joke. your community worker would spend most of her time spreading gossip instead of talking to parents. when she wes there she would only talk about her own issues.
i am glad Mrs. Medrano is their for us!
2. you are the reson why willard is what it is, you are spending more time in the internet than preparing your lesson plans, do you know what they are?
My son will be 8 grade next year i hope he is in your class, i would like to meet you and hold you accountabe for your job, teacher!
without mr. bishop willard would have gone to the toliet long ago, I like and respect teachers but not the ones that dont do their job and blame everyone else for their incompetense.
3. teacehr that left left beacsue they don’t want change. willard is going to be in the 5 year, do you think that mr. Bishop should do what, nothing.
parent, mother
volunteer.
Thread discussing certificates of completion
http://o-juice.blogspot.com/2007/07/sausd-hypocrsy-regarding-high-school.html#comments
No. 1171
Explain how a non-certificated or non-classified person can assume the duties and responsibilities of a community worker?
BTW .. if the community worker is not doing his/her job aren’t there appropriate avenues to address this matter?
Something isn’t right with the cozy picture you paint.
SAUSD’s leadership history, especially at Willard, leads employees to distrust administrators. #1173’s response to #1171 is an example. The numerous and inconsistent spelling mistakes seem to be deliberate, plus the natural rhythym and usage of the English language makes me feel the author is not a parent/volunteer from Willard’s parent center. I may be wrong about the author, but there are other inconsistencies that need to be clarified.
1) If there were personnel issues with the Comm. Worker, Principal Bishop should have worked with her to improve her work. She and Bishop have been friends for many years. In spite of these problems, good things were happening with the parent center; the counselors met regularly with the parents and more and more parents were participating in Willard’s activities. Soon Bernedette took over the parent center, meetings with the counselors stopped, traditional events (breakfasts, lunches, PTA, Book Fair help) involving the teachers and parents also stopped. Bernedette now runs the parent center, staff members are discouraged from participating, the Comm. Worker is now Public Enemy #1 and will not be returning. Bishop’s lack of leadership skills has created major distrust regarding parent involvement at Willard.
2) Why does #1173 criticize #1171 for reading OJ? It’s OK for a “parent/volunteer” to read it but not a staff member? Why is it assumed #1171 is a teacher? 1171 could be the nurse, a counselor, instr. assistant, maybe even one of the ass’t principals. And with what authority is 1173 ordering 1171 to write lesson plans? In the middle of July at 3 in the morning?!
3) Whoever you are #1173, you have no right to criticize the teachers who left Willard! Each teacher who left gave so much to the school and to the students. Many of them were forced to leave because of the District’s reorganization due to changing enrollment. Others left, not because of their fear of changes, but they were tired of the changes being made at Willard that were making it a harder place to work at. Bishop openly blames teachers but doesn’t offer effective support. His remarks at a recent staff mtg. were equivalent to placing his hands on teacher’s backs and pushing them out of the school.
Willard is not an easy place to work at. It’s not a place where parents are getting the help they need. Most importantly, the students are not getting the education they deserve. This isn’t an opinion. Look at the numbers of 8th graders who didn’t get promoted or the ones that did, even though they had numerous Fs. Look at test scores, attendance records, discipline problems, and high school drop out rates. Bishop and Medrano aren’t looking at these. They’re too busy with their Corporate Academy and looking “sharp and efficient.”