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.
Your response which, as written and read, appears filled with sarcasm and its condescending overtones are both noted and welcomed. That we are communicating civilly is half of it.
Many administrators could have come on this blog anonymously and
Many administrators could have come on this blog anonymously and
Dear David Barton,
If this district was functioning properly, who would handle concerns of decent teachers who suspect wrong doing? Teachers shouldn’t have to use the Union to alert district leaders of problems, developing problems, or potential problems. That system should already be in place. It IS in place in districts that have leadership at the top that fulfill their job descriptions. Have you been able to find anyone willing to deal with problems head on without burdening the union with lots of grievances that could be headed off at the first level or by hiding behind lawyers who only drag due process out, further distracting employees who want to concentrate on things like teaching and making a difference in the lives of the students they want to positively impact in their schools?
You have a union to promote and protect employee safeguards and rights. Good districts use the Union to help fashion equitable working conditions. The union should not be a “mommy” who has to address the district with a lot of problems that keep occuring over and over again. It is too time consuming and it is counter productive. If the district valued its employees, it would be doing the right thing already. The union would just be there to bargain for the whole group to make sure that employment is a safe and professional environment. A little tweaking here or there.
In SAUSD there is a constant struggle to provide the very basics of professionalism. Grievances that address shouting and humiliating of employees in front of peers, students and parents should not be happening. But that is exactly what SAUSD is practicing. That, and hiding truly deplorable behavior of incompetent and unethical management. God help this union try and turn things around. It’s gonna be a project.
To the poster on 7/26/2006 1:17 PM I will repeat below what I had posted earlier this month.
I need to say one or two extra things. I make a point to read all the postings about SAUSD/SAEA on this site. On several occasions administrators or their surrogates have aggressively threaten posters. Your point that administrators have not been on this site thrashing teachers is simply not factual as evidenced by the postings on this site. To the point: read all the postings before you start making your groundless allegations. Second, Excellent site principals motivate and lead their staffs and the results are clear to all. The principals and assistant supers that oppress their staffs, make that oppression very public so that the rest of the staff will clearly get who is boss. The results of that oppression are also clear to all. But for apologist like you, let me make it clear: PI 3/4/5 schools, abysmal staff morale, 50%-60%-70% turnover rate, exponential increases in grievances, nepotism, snitch networks, rewriting evaluations to favor your allies/relatives and punish your detractors, law suits, lies and deceit, failure to completely staff your administrative team, high administrative turnover rate, chaos in the counseling center, chaos in the math department, English department, athletic department, etc., etc., etc…. Perhaps this will help you understand my sarcasm.
The SAEA is not the problem nor is it the issue. SAEA has very little freedom of action. The SAEA negotiates a contract (a set of work rules) with the SAUSD. The Union membership votes on the contract and the SAUSD Board votes on the contract. If the majority prevails on both sides, the contract is binding on both parties and both parties are expected to abide by it. The problem and the issue is the constant subversion of the contract by the SAUSD. If SAUSD violates the contract, then according to the language of the contract a long and protracted process is initiated to force the SAUSD to come back into compliance with the contract. There is step one grievance followed by a step two grievance followed by a step three grievance followed by arbitration. The entire process can take up to a year. In the meantime, SAUSD has taken advantage of this process to punish or threaten to punish teachers. SAUSD expects to lose this process and the teacher may win but the problem is the teacher can find him or herself stuck in another school teaching a subject he/she is not qualified to teach being harassed by the principal of that school who is trying to score points with the people responsible for the contract violating transfer to begin with. No matter who the president of SAEA happens to be, everyone is bound together by the contract and the contract as it is presently written favors arbitrary and capricious behavior on the part of SAUSD. We are not equal because the teachers do not have freedom of action.
Great post!
Isn’t the union in negotiations now and will the union hold out until it gets a “set of work rules” more in line with what it believes will be equitable and fair to the teachers?
The election in Nov is critical for a better “set of work rules” coupled with the new management.
Is justice for teachers finally at hand?
Anon 7-26 at 8:14 am wrote:
…”Many teachers and administrators remained focused on why they are employed at SAUSD
One last comment to the surrogate/administrator who posted on 7/26 as anonymous at 8:14 am.
None of these postings critical of SAUSD would be pouring out if you had done the honest thing to begin with. You were warned over and over again over the last 5 years yet you did nothing. The investigations you were asked to do at Board meetings, by e-mail, by letter, by phone call were all shams. Here is an example of the kind of investigations you did: “Principal, did you do so and so. Principal responds with a massive lie, NO! Investigation over.” Had you gotten everyone together, had you promised in writing no retaliation, had you shown the slightest concern for the truth, had you had just the smallest interest in ethics, had you been able to separate the self-serving back slappers and pay check padders from people who really cared about SAUSD, had you been able to recognize your mistakes and been able to admit those mistakes, had you been interested in service instead of power, had we been able to trust you, then none of where we are today would be happening. But guess what, we all know, every teacher paying attention knows, that given the chance, you would retaliate and destroy the careers and lives of every one of your critics. You are retaliating against teachers right now and as long as you smooth talking professional charmers wielding your hidden back stabbing blades stay in power, then no one is safe and SAUSD will continue to circle the drain. Remember, you have the power, the resources, and the time to find the truth. But you chose not to. Instead you circled the wagons, manipulated the facts, and made failing management “administrators of the year.” Hence we stay anonymous and hope somebody will come forward and sweep your corruption and lies and manipulations away.
Finally, I will bet dollars for donuts that you are using your power, staffing, organization, law firms, and resources (it’s not your money), to out your critics from this blog site. I’m sure at this moment you are looking for a sympathetic judge somewhere to order Art Pedroza to open up this site. If none of which I and others have said is true, then you would not need to take any action. But since we are putting light on your dark places, the need to turn that light off must be paramount on your mind. Power and secrecy go hand and hand and power is what your fear losing the most. I fully expect to be outed and I am not afraid because you cannot scare me anymore!
Apparently the Superintendent’s office had the inclination to vigorously act on an OJ post that appeared a few months past. The razor eye attention devoted to discovering the identity of the anonymous blogger was staggering. The school site was turned upside down by the Mijares/Espinosa loyalists as they hurled unfounded accusations at innocent personnel in their pursuit to shake down the blogger. Staff were summoned from Easter break to attend a special downtown meeting. Mijares was in a snit.
Can you point out the post that got all that attention? What a gigantic misuse of public funds!
Blogging anonymist 7/26: 1:17 pm said:
“Could it be they (SAUSD adminstrators) have a more stable moral compass than the anonymous bloggers who are espousing fiction as fact in some cases?”
Apparently the district’s moral compass is faultering since a fringe district lackey offered to coop the newly sausdinjustices blog.
A flock of parajitos are chriping about the district’s desire to uncover the alleged malcontents and thwart the momentum this blog is gaining.
You couldn
Parents, Staff, Downtown, the Union and the BOE all know about the Blog now.
It’s been confirmed.
Let’s see who takes the lead to clean the place up. District wide administrators meeting is on August 11 at Segerstrom. Will any of the worst offenders be absent?
District staff, administrators, union etc. know full well what an informed and educated electorate can do. You only need to turn your eye to CUSD.
Today’s paper reports that the CUSD BOE will look to the outside for an interim supt. and will conduct a nationwide search for Fleming’s replacement. Hopefully this will lead to the much needed healing for our neighors to the south.
Engaging in a debate about SAUSD/BOE’s action to hire an insider, as interim supt., is moot.
The SAUSD electorate should be proactive regarding the search for a new supt. and should start by changing the current board configuation.
Audrey Noji has served 16 years on the board and there have been no measurable improvements. Noji, as demonstrated at the last board meeting, has been Mijares’s strongest supporter. It’s time to retire Noji from SAUSD’s BOE.
Some have called her the Hilary of the West, however it’s starting to emerge that she is fast becoming the Dick Cheney of SAUSD.
Audrey Noji has served 16 years on the board and there have been no measurable improvements. Noji, as demonstrated at the last board meeting, has been Mijares’s strongest supporter. It’s time to retire Noji from SAUSD’s BOE.
Just what does she get out of being on this board for so long? Why would she hide lawsuits and pedophiles and corrupt administrators?
Anonymous said…
I WONDER HOW MUCH MRS MEDRANO MAKES AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SANTA ANA EDUCATION FOUNDATION (SAEF) I HEARD IN EXCESS OF $150,000 PER YEAR
7/30/2006 4:44 PM
I heard it was in excess of $400,000 per year.
That’s not what I heard – I heard she makes in excess of one million a year.
“A flock of parajitos are chriping about the district’s desire to uncover the alleged malcontents and thwart the momentum this blog is gaining. “
Here is the blog discussion that got all the attention last spring break:
http://o-juice.blogspot.com/2006/04/whats-good-about-no-child-left-behind.html
Laguna Hills attorney Stanton “Terry” Mathews has successfully taken up the legal side of teachers and staff against rotten employment practices by the SAUSD. Anyone know of any other names? We are currently shopping for an attorney to help with some long standing and deplorable practices at Saddleback High School.
Jones added that the school needed 95 percent of its seniors to graduate to meet federal requirements. In fact, the school needs a graduation rate of 82.8 percent and will graduate nearly 84 percent of its 500 seniors on Wednesday, school officials said.
Jones did not return calls for comment.
School board President Audrey Yamagata-Noji said she needed to find out more about Jones, the incident, and her leadership of the school before determining whether discipline was necessary.
Find out anything else this past year, Mrs. Noji?
Link to the memo fraud that occured last year – http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?archive_id=0&page_id=1152788710&page_url=%2f%2fasia.fullcoverage.yahoo.com%2fs%2fap%2ffailing_students&page_last_updated=6%2f16%2f2005+12%3a54%3a43+AM
Good Idea lets change the School Boards configuration.
Let
Luis,
Are you ok?
Way to go Luis Navarro!
“After a time of decay comes the turning point. The powerful light that has been banished returns. There is movement, but it is not brought about by force. . . . The movement is natural, arising spontaneously. For this reason, the transformation of the old becomes easy. The old is discarded and the new is introduced. Both measures accord with the time; therefore no harm results.”
I Ching
To Anon at 1:16 pm
You are mistaken regarding the grievancees against Bishop. Those that may be on file are years old, as there hasn’t been a single grievance against Bishop in over two years.
But you keep living in the past, okay.
to anonymous posting at 8/01/2006 2:07 PM
The grievances against Bishop were horrendous and like Espinosa, Bishop has not been removed. The point, of course is to learn from the past so we can better understand the present and anticipate the future. I guess you would rather live in an Orwellian world where the past is rewritten to favor the leadership and ultimately their crimes are forgotten. It seems you are the one stuck in 1984!
Jeff Bishop is one of the worst administrators in the District. Mr. Navarro seems to like him because Jeff pretends to support him. You should really hear what he thinks about you and Dwayne!
After following this thread for several days, I am compelled to comment on Jeff Bishop.
Jeff Bishop’s onsite support is minimal. The majority of teachers bristle at the thought of facing another school year with Bishop as their site principal.
Yes, numerous grievances have recently been filed against Bishop and the recent SAEA principal servey lists Bishop as the worst secondary principal! Hard to believe but he beat out Jones and Espinosa.
Hopefully the new administration will shine favorably on Willard and assign us a new principal, soon.
Sounds like you have an ax to grind and debating the issue is not relevant.
Just because you write it doesn’t make it fact… You are grasping at the wind…writing what you hope will find support for your cause.
You have one opinion and are entitled to it – I have my opinion and am entitled to it.
Anonymous said…
To Luis Navarro
The documentation is on file at the SAEA office on Broadway and takes the form of grievances brought by teachers. The SAEA cannot allow you or anyone to walk in off the street to see those grievances because it is a personnel issue. If Jeff Bishop ok’s it and lets you see his copies of the grievances then you will to see the nature and scope of the problems at Willard. And if you are really diligent, you should then go and talk to each teacher who filed each grievance and get their side of the story. If you are capable of putting your pro Bishop bias aside and make an objective evaluation of the problems at Willard based upon the available documentation and your hard work then perhaps you might finally understand what is going on. There is an old Chinese saying that goes like this: “No investigation, no right to speak.” Do the work and quit blowing smoke.
8/01/2006 1:16 PM
Unlike you I don
To Luis Navarro
Getting personal eh!
Here is my hypothesis: You said in an earlier posting that you are looking forward to sending your kids to Willard to get the best education that Jeff Bishop can provide. Excellent! If I still had school age kids going to school in the SAUSD under the present regime and under the same corrupt administrators I would do what you are doing. I would also be kissing a bunch of principal butt to make sure the principal instructed his counseling staff to place my kids in the best classes with the best schedule with the best teachers. I know what you are doing and as a good parent you are doing precisely what I would do If I were you schooling my kids in this corrupt Mijares infused district.
But remember, not every parent is in a position to prostitute themselves in order to get the best education for their children. And that Mr. Navarro is the point. Every child should get the best education possible without having to do the kinds of things you are doing to make that possible for your kids.
Questions to Dr. A. Noji
It is true that there is an SAUSD Board of Education Policy which states that an administrator cannot supervise his/her relatives? Is it also true that SAUSD has a policy forbidding an administrator from evaluating his/her relatives? If such a policy exists, then why has Tony Espinosa been supervising and evaluating his two brothers at Valley High School for the last 6 years?
Dr. Noji, you have been asked the above question on numerous occasions in the past and you have never responded. Can you tell us why you refuse to respond to the above questions?
Dr. Noji, do you believe it is appropriate for SAUSD employees to violate Board policy with impunity?
Dr. Noji, do you think employees of SAUSD who violate Board policies should be allowed to escape disciplinary actions?
Dr. Noji, do you believe allowing the violation of Board policies by SAUSD employees is an example of good SAUSD management practices?
Dr. Noji, why do you allow certain employees to violate Board policies with impunity while you zealously pursue other employees for violating Board policies?
Why are you Shankled to the past? You need to Spring forward. It is clear your opinion is your opinion and you want others to buy into that opinion. But opinion and fact are two different things.
As long as you are shankled to the past you will not spring forward.
Mr. Navarro,
You are not in the educational field other then being a classified employee. Can you name three things needed for a school to be sucessful? In needs good leadership, high test scores and teachers who will challenge our students. Mr. Bishop does not have any of the traits needed to keep our school on top. Look at the stats for Willard. Where are we? We are failing and falling further behind. Maybe if you had an education you would see this also! Get off your cart and wake up!
Jeff Bishop is creating nightmares for NCLB compliance by reassigning teachers into positions that they are not qualified for. In SAUSD, he stands out for doing this and this is very easy to verify.
“Look at the stats for Willard. Where are we? We are failing and falling further behind.”
Anon you can’t be further from the truth, as you can see from the California Department of Education their reports denote the following:
Or could it be that the CDE is conspiring against you, too!
Stats for Willard
API:
03: 544
04: 594
05: 621
STAR Scoring Basic and Above:
English Language Arts
03:
5th: 43%
6th: 39%
7th: 40%
8th: 37%
04:
5th: 47%
6th: 39%
7th: 49%
8th: 51%
05:
5th: 56%
6th: 44%
7th: 53%
8th: 57%
Mathematics:
03:
5th: 25%
6th: 35%
7th: 39%
04:
5th: 42%
6th: 34%
7th: 47%
05:
5th: 50%
6th: 41%
7th: 37%
Please stop being “shankled” in the past. Move on! Get a life! Go on vacation! Hug your cat! Mow your lawn!
Fellow bloggers, the above statistics may be verified via Dataquest, the CDE’s official source for statistics.
Anon: wouldn’t a better use of your time be preparing for the next school year (which starts at the end of the month) at your new campus and letting go of the past. But far be it from me to suggest what you should or shouldn’t do.
Harboring such ill will may hinder your success at your new school or at the very least cause you uclers. I care about your health and want you to be successful!
Spring forward my good man, spring forward!! Don’t be “shankled” to the past – set it free!
to the two poster above
go to the this website and you will discover the real numbers on Willard.
http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/APR/2005APR_Sch_Summary.asp?SchCode=6061758&DistCode=66670&AllCds=30666706061758
There you will find that Willard is in PI 3 and is a failing school. According to NCLB it is the schools AYP numbers that count. All other numbers you have been quoting are irrelevant nonsense. May I suggest that you get better informed before you start spouting off.
SAUSD has 64.6% of its Title 1 schools in various stages PI status.
I have an idea: why not get your administrative credential and show all the administrators how to do their job correctly?
I will continue to pray for you every night hoping you will “unshankle” yourself from your burdens and “spring” forward.
Anon: Better yet, get a “real” job and stop living off your spouse.
Or, if you are so victimized by SAUSD, and you sound like an excellent teacher, well liked among your peers – why not seek an alternative district.
Or you may want to try an alternative career? I hear the Register hires college grads with degrees for entry level positions.
to the guy(s) who sing the one note opera “shankled to the past-shankled to the past- shankled to the past” (I think you mean shackled), isn’t it convenient and in the best interest of the Bishop-Bratcher-Espinosa-Jones clique if we all just forget the past?
How come you guys didn’t forget the past when you all quickly switched sides when Nativo got recalled and ganged up and did such a vicious hatchet job on the fired Nativo supporters?
I also remember how everyone applauded Dr. Al Mijares for being so brave by coming out the Sunday before the Nativo recall election with a long letter condemning Nativo and urging his recall. For days following the recall, the Register was filled with letters and editorials celebrating the recall and championing Dr. Al’s courage (you too Mr. Pedroza).
Then on the Friday following the recall, the regularly scheduled program on KOCE titled “Real Orange” broadcast a show where a panel of two Democrats and two Republicans said right out that both sides were providing Dr. Al with tracking polls. These tracking polls showed Nativo was going to get wiped out in a landslide. Well, so much for Dr. Al’s bravery. All Dr. Al did was take advantage of a sure bet. In political circles that is known as “opportunism” and Dr. Al certainly cashed in on the opportunity to concentrate more power in his hands. The collapse of SAUSD is what followed and the rest is history (you know, the horrible past you accuse us of being “shankled” to).
So why remember the past? As that other poster said, ” I guess you would rather live in an Orwellian world where the past is rewritten to favor the leadership and ultimately their crimes are forgotten.” Amen brother or sister!
I don’t cut and run. I DO stand and fight!
The corrupt Mijares-Noji SAUSD would never hire me as an administrator. I care too much about kids and teachers.
http://www.octhen.com/2006/01/santa-ana-valley-high-school.htm
Here is a site for alumni of SAUSD’s Valley High.
SANTA ANA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Bylaws of the Board
BB 9310
Policy Manual
The Superintendent or designee shall maintain a district policy manual for the purpose of communicating to all interested parties the policies, regulations and bylaws within which district schools will operate. The Board encourages members of the public to acquaint themselves with the district’s policy manual. (cf. 9311 – Board Policies) (cf. 9312 – Board Bylaws)
(cf. 9313 -AdministrativeRegulations)
The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that the community and all
district employees have access to the policy manual. A public copy of the manual shall be maintained in the district central office and at each school site. These copies shall be maintained either electronically or by paper copy. (cf. 1340 – Access to District Records)
The Superintendent or designee shall establish procedures for distributing to all authorized policy manual holders copies of new or revised policies, bylaws and regulations as they are adopted. Each location receiving a policy manual shall be responsible for maintaining it to ensure that it is up-to-date and complete. Annually, before the Board’s organizational meeting, the Superintendent or designee shall review the paper and/or electronic copies of
the district’s policy manual to ensure that they are up-to-date and complete.
Legal Reference:
EDUCATION CODE
35010 Control of district;
Prescription and enforcement of rules
Adopted: 10-00 Santa Ana, CA
BB 9311
Before adoption, policies shall be given two readings by the Board.
BB 9313
Bylaws of the Board: Administrative Regulations
Bylaws of the Board BR 9310
Policy Manual
Distributing Revisions to Manual Holders
The Superintendent or designee shall take care of the district policy manuals and keep them current. All authorized holders of the manual shall be notified whenever the Board adopts, revises or deletes policies or bylaws. The Superintendent or designee shall prepare copies of the new or revised policies, regulations and bylaws and distribute them to all manual holders together with an explanatory form.
The Superintendent or designee will keep a master file of all current policies, regulations and bylaws distributed. Each location shall be responsible for checking and maintaining policy manuals to ensure that they are up-to-date and complete.
Approved: 10-00 Santa Ana, CA
Legislaci
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cp/uc/documents/ucpcomplaintform.doc
Here is a copy of the Williams Uniform Complaint Procedure Form. Go to the link above for a printable version.
Of interest because so many special education and ELD classes have substitutes.
. Teacher Vacancy or Misassignment
? Teacher vacancy – A semester begins and a teacher vacancy exists. (A teacher vacancy is a position to which a single designated certificated employee has not been assigned at the beginning of the year for an entire year or, if the position is for a one-semester course, a position to which a single designated certificated employee has not been assigned at the beginning of a semester for an entire semester.)
? Teacher misassignment – A teacher who lacks credentials or training to teach English learners is assigned to teach a class with more than 20 percent English learner pupils in the class.
? Teacher misassignment – A teacher is assigned to teach a class for which the teacher lacks subject matter competency.
Anyone have a link to (possible?) Board Policy Manual for SAUSD?