Well, we are in a New Year and we need to close up our 2008 SAUSD corruption thread before it becomes overwhelmed with comments. Consider this to be our new 2009 SAUSD corruption thread.
Click here to read our 2008 thread. And here are links to all our previous SAUSD corruption threads:
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2008 Comments
- SAUSD-Temporary Thread (Migration 5/16/2008) Comments
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2007 Comments
- SAUSD-Mijares corruption thread, 2006 Comments
The results of last year’s SAUSD School Board elections were disappointing. The incumbents were re-elected. Shame on the teacher’s union for supporting them! And the one new Trustee, Roman Reyna, is not likely to make a difference.
The SAUSD budget is a mess and our Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, appears primed to make it worse. So this is going to be a very tough year. As always, this forum will be here to allow you to vent about what is going on at the SAUSD!
Al Mijares is long gone, but the corruption at the SAUSD continues unabated…
Here is a link for Change.org’s Education section.
I have only briefly scanned it over, but it appears to have some pretty good discussions going on there. fyi
We should move the requirements to 220, this will probably do away with summer school requirements for most students, maybe they can take classes to get ahead for once. teachers will not need to work in the summer, and the district will be able to get subs to teach for $10/hour and give students A’s for attendance. They may be able to get 100 students in a class and make some real profits so they have more money for district office raises. The raise money is there the district office just needs to look at little harder.
From email sent out by SAUSD board member, John Palacio:
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
School districts to receive millions in special education funding
State settlement gives O.C. schools $7 million a year in reimbursement funds.
By ANNIE BURRIS
The Orange County Register
The state of California recently settled a lawsuit regarding special education requirements that will give local school districts millions of dollars.
The suit was filed by San Diego Unified School District, Butte County Office of Education and Joaquin County Office of Education, which alleged that state standards for special education classes were more stringent than federal requirements, officials said.
The settlement, reached last month, will increase the annual state budget allocation for special education classes by $65 million and give a $510 million reimbursement to California school districts.
Orange County school districts will get about $7 million a year in reimbursement funds beginning in 2011 and continuing for six years, according to School Services of California officials.
School districts will also receive about $11 more per student per day to pay for special education programs. The exact ongoing amount each school district will receive has not yet been determined.
Previously, school districts had to pull money from their general funds to pay for these state special education requirements, officials said.
“I think we need to remember it is reimbursement funds – the key word being reimbursement,” said Superintendent Roberta DeLuca from the Huntington Beach City School District. “It will certainly help all districts to diminish the encroachment on … the general fund.”
In order to receive the funds, school board members must vote to waive their right to sue about this particular issue in the future. School boards must vote on the resolution by Feb. 27.
In 1990, the state Legislature voted to establish a special education program called a Behavioral Intervention Program that was not part of federal requirements. The program was put into effect in 1994 but additional funding was not made available.
“We believe the amount of money that we are settling this for is adequate return reimbursement for the service we are being asked to provide,” said Richard Hamilton with California School Boards Association about the annual $65 million.
For more information, visit http://www.csba.org.
Contact the writer: aburris@ocregister.com or 714-445-6696
The state of California recently settled a lawsuit regarding special education requirements that will give local school districts millions of dollars.
School district Avg. daily attendance Total over 6 yrs. Annual amount
Anaheim Elementary 19,134.48 $1,705,086.78 $284,181.13
Anaheim Union High 31,805.61 $2,834,219.96 $472,369.99
Brea-Olinda Unified 5,910.02 $526,645.98 $87,774.33
Buena Park Elementary 5,768.54 $514,038.60 $85,673.10
Capistrano Unified 49,592.22 $4,419,197.10 $736,532.85
Centralia Elementary 4,698.74 $418,707.98 $69,784.66
Cypress Elementary 4,135.33 $368,502.12 $61,417.02
Fountain Valley Elementary 5,939.86 $529,305.04 $88,217.51
Fullerton Elementary 13,220.22 $1,178,062.97 $196,343.83
Fullerton Joint Union High 14,713.88 $1,311,164.05 $218,527.34
Garden Grove Unified 46,990.02 $4,187,313.26 $697,885.54
Huntington Beach City Elementary 6,397.67 $570,100.81 $95,016.80
Huntington Beach Union High 15,398.58 $1,372,178.14 $228,696.36
Laguna Beach Unified 2,761.32 $246,063.14 $41,010.52
La Habra City Elementary 5,685.95 $506,678.95 $84,446.49
Magnolia Elementary 6,221.16 $554,371.88 $92,395.31
Newport-Mesa Unified 20,613.79 $1,836,909.12 $306,151.52
Ocean View Elementary 9,226.36 $822,167.34 $137,027.89
Orange Unified 27,015.26 $2,407,348.55 $401,224.76
Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified 25,457.74 $2,268,556.86 $378,092.81
Santa Ana Unified 52,656.01 $4,692,213.55 $782,035.59
Savanna Elementary 2,325.80 $207,253.65 $34,542.28
Westminster Elementary 9,729.36 $866,990.01 $144,498.34
Saddleback Valley Unified 32,099.41 $2,860,400.68 $476,733.45
Tustin Unified 20,246.55 $1,804,184.11 $300,697.35
Irvine Unified 25,567.74 $2,278,359.04 $379,726.51
Los Alamitos Unified 9,103.98 $811,261.97 $135,210
Are the reimbursement funds only to be used for special ed?
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/center-nicholas-santa-2289100-students-broadcom
Friday, January 23, 2009
Former Broadcom CEO opens second education center
Henry T. Nicholas III, who faces securities fraud and other charges, will again give $500,000 annually for tutoring and mentoring center in Santa Ana.
By FERMIN LEAL
The Orange County Register
Comments 3| Recommend 0
SANTA ANA — A second tutoring and mentoring center aimed at increasing the number of Santa Ana students who go on to four-year colleges opened Thursday at Valley High School.
The Nicholas Academic Center II, funded by embattled Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III, will serve up to 60 students daily with computers and other equipment and will be staffed by part-time teachers and counselors.
“I am completely and thoroughly committed to the success of this academic center,” said Nicholas, who will donate $500,000 annually to run the center. Nicholas also gave about $250,000 to convert and furnish the former faculty lounge near the center of campus at Valley High. “Many of the students who will come here will be the first in their families who go on to college. Through this center, we want to give them the support they need.”
This is the second center Nicholas has opened in Santa Ana over the past year. The Nicholas Academic Center I opened last January inside a former office building on Fourth Street in downtown Santa Ana. Nicholas is also donating $500,000 yearly to operate that center.
Nicholas, 49, has pleaded not guilty in two federal criminal cases alleging he used illegal drugs and committed fraud as chief executive officer of Broadcom Corp., which he headed from 1991 to 2003.
He faces up to 350 years in prison if convicted on 21 counts of securities and accounting fraud alleging he conspired to misreport $2.2 billion in employee stock options as Broadcom’s CEO. He was indicted separately on four counts he distributed and used illegal drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine as CEO of Broadcom and afterward.
Forbes magazine estimated Nicholas was worth $1.8 billion in 2008, although his fortune has diminished as Broadcom’s stock declined. In October 2007, Nicholas pledged to create a $100 million foundation to support education, crime fighting, technological innovation and other pet causes.
Nicholas has said he wants to open several more tutoring and mentoring centers throughout Santa Ana, Los Angeles and in other inner city locations.
Retired Juvenile Court judge Jack Mandel will run both the Santa Ana centers. Mandel has spent more than 10 years mentoring students at Santa Ana High.
Counselors, teachers and parents have credited Mandel with helping dozens of Santa Ana teens land in four-year schools.
“We were getting more than 50 kids a day at the first center since it opened,” Mandel said. “There was a real need to open the second one here at Valley.”
The Valley High center will be open from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays. Vans will transport students home after they leave the center.
Students can check out laptops, receive help with their homework, and get advice about college.
Santa Ana Unified Superintendent Jane Russo said both centers are a welcome resource for students in her district.
“This is a model for folks in the community,” she said. “In a very difficult time, to have people stretch out their hand and support those who need it.”
Register staff writer John Gittelsohn contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-445-6687 or fleal@ocregister.com
The following is from SAUSD board member, John Palacio’s latest email blast. Anyone wanting to be included on John’s email distribution list (completely confidential) please send your request directly to him:
jpalacio@pacbell.net
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Capistrano school district braces for $24.5 million cut
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
The Orange County Register
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – No Capistrano Unified teachers or other district employees would be laid off before the end of this school year under a plan to erase an anticipated $24.5 million midyear budget deficit.
Educators have been talking for months about the possibility of layoffs in response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed midyear education cutbacks. But at a school board meeting Wednesday, Capistrano Unified officials said they felt “confident” that all jobs and basic programs and services could be sustained.
“As I sit here tonight with the numbers I have, I think we can squeak through this year,” said Ron Lebs, deputy superintendent for business and support services. “It doesn’t look at this point that we need to make any radical cuts to the 2008-09 budget.”
To survive a $24.5 million hit to the district’s $407 million budget, Capistrano officials would count on a proposal by Schwarzenegger to use district funds earmarked for specific purposes – including libraries, textbooks and professional development – to help close the general-fund deficit.
If Schwarzenegger’s plan is approved, Capistrano Unified could immediately tap into an estimated $14.9 million of those “categorical” dollars, Lebs said.
Depleting the categorical funds would hinder the district’s ability to provide a quality education at its 56 campuses, officials said, but it would at least allow Capistrano to retain basic programs and services.
Additionally, the state would repay Capistrano an estimated $9 million of the $24.5 million in July – about three months late – under Schwarzenegger’s proposal.
While the governor’s plan must first face scrutiny by the state Legislature, which has yet to act to close the state’s $41.6 billion deficit, school districts are required to plan their budgets based on the information available.
Lebs said that if Capistrano could not tap into its categorical funds and was not reimbursed by the state as promised – a “worst-case scenario” – many school districts across the state would become fiscally insolvent.
“Every school district in the state runs the risk of going belly up,” Lebs said. “I don’t think the state can afford to let that happen.”
Still, Capistrano Unified faces an estimated $32 million deficit in the 2009-10 school year, of which only about $10 million could be made up by using earmarked funds. Everything will be on the table, including the possibility of employee salary reductions and layoffs, officials say.
Trustees last month approved a tentative plan to slash $14.9 millionfrom the district’s 2009-10 budget. The plan relies largely on freezing employee raises and cost-of-living adjustments, a move that would first have to be negotiated with union leaders. The plan also calls for eliminating 20.4 nonclassroom positions and paying certain teachers’ salaries from alternate funding sources.
Trustees said Wednesday that the district needed to think “out of the box” and work on creative solutions to find new sources of income.
Trustee Mike Winsten suggested creating a suggestion box on the district’s Web site to solicit ideas anonymously.
Trustee Anna Bryson suggested trying to find more organizations to rent school theaters and other campus venues when unoccupied by students. She also suggested reining in employee overtime pay.
“I’d rather see people have their jobs than overtime costing an employee their job,” she said.
Midyear cuts
Capistrano Unified has put forth a plan to stay fiscally solvent following anticipated cuts to its $407 million budget in the middle of this school year.
$24.5 million: Anticipated 2008-09 budget shortfall because of state cutbacks
$14.9 million: District’s earmarked “categorical” funds that would be diverted to the general fund
$9 million: Money the state would pay back to Capistrano Unified in July, three months late
$0.6 million: Unidentified cutbacks
Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com
#54 SAUSD Teacher,
It seems like it is probably lost money at this point in time, but I don’t really know. It’s just my guess after reading over Palacio’s email sent out. I would guess that he’s concerned that SAUSD is another large district facing the same unpleasant budget cuts as Capo.
It is wonderful to see the Regs coverage of , “embattled Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III.” Helping out inner-city schools, watta mensch. Sounds like a great solution if it weren’t for the Bush Depression that is destroying these holdings. Will SAUSD get investigated after spending what could be dirty money?
The big bucks he’s giving back are no doubt in gratitude to all the dealers of Santana who kept him so well stocked with his wonderful but illegal pharmacopia. Here’s hoping the next generation of Reagan amnestees keeps up their street rep and supplies the O.C. Mouseketeers with all their needed.
In case anybody cares the following Register story just popped up. The tone from the original story almost two years ago has toned down, but the “school resource officer” was actually the Sgt of the school police.
School resource officer admits having child porn
Kendall Poole of Irvine worked for Santa Ana Unified, stored images at home.
By ANDREW GALVIN
The Orange County Register
Comments 1| Recommend 0
A school resource officer for Santa Ana Unified School District pleaded guilty to possessing more than 9,000 images of child pornography in his home, prosecutors said.
Kendall Scott Poole, 51, of Irvine, was sentenced to 180 days in jail and five years of formal probation, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. He is also required to register as a sex offender.
On March 16, 2007, a family member discovered several pornographic images featuring children in Poole’s Irvine home, prosecutors said. The family member contacted the police, who found more than 9,000 pornographic images of children in a drawer in Poole’s bedroom, on his computer, and stored on other electronic accessories. The images featured both boys and girls, prosecutors said.
A school district spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a call Friday afternoon.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/images-prosecutors-school-2289918-poole-district
National Department of Education seems to have been under constant assault among repeated suggestions that it just be disbanned as just not that important. TPM has an interesting take of the new head of the department, Arne Duncan:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/01/you_can_call_me_arne.php
Another federal employee checks in from the trenches:
————————————————–
I work at the Department of Education headquarters in DC. Today
completed our 2-day introduction to Arne Duncan. Yesterday he had
lunch in our cafeteria (Edibles, ha ha), with his wife and children.
His wife wore jeans and a sweater and Arne looked like an average joe
in khaki dress pants, white shirt and tie. They stood in all of the
lines and talked to anyone who approached them. They probably stayed
90 minutes. It was definitely the highest cafeteria attendance ever.
Yesterday afternoon he visited every floor of our building and
introduced himself to everyone. We all came out into the hall and he
shook everyone’s hand with a “Hi, I’m Arne.”
By the end of the day yesterday, everyone was aglow, since this was
already more attention than we’d received from Spellings or Paige.
Today, however, was the all-staff meeting, and I can say that the
morale in the building increased ten-fold by the end of it.
Our auditorium was beyond packed, with people standing in the aisles.
I myself snagged a seat on the floor next to the stage kindergarten-
style. Arne stood in front of a blue screen that read “Call me Arne!”
in bright yellow letters. He insisted that we call him Arne, rather
than Mr. Secretary or anything like that, saying his name was Arne
before he got this job and it would be 8 years from now.
…
I know this isn’t anything earthshattering, but the change in the
atmosphere at the Department over the last week has been really
astounding. In the past, we all knew that the Secretary had an agenda
that she was going to follow, and that we were only there to affirm
that her way was best. We really feel that Arne wants to know the
truth, whether it fits with his agenda or not.
Wow!
God bless America/Obama.
Sounds like REAL change…administrators who care!
Let’s pray for “trickle-down”.
OK RV you win. I’ll find another place to read about SAUSD and actual problems rather than elongated news reports. Obviously teachers, parents and staff members have no chance here to carry on a dialogue any longer about the inside information where the rubber meets the road. Those comments and fights were what made this blog. CYA
#62 Anon,
I am sorry you find it so “difficult” to scroll down. I don’t understand that logic, really. Just skip articles – I post the links with them, so that should be a hint for you.
I am sorry you miss the Jerry Springer fights – I don’t remember the fights. Things have changed over the years – there is a lot less drama for a variety of reasons. The articles I post here might make a difference for some reader interested in SAUSD and other education-related issues. I’ve posted things from John Palacio’s email blast and he does not always have articles specifically about SAUSD. This weblog has been on point, consistently.
What is it that you have to contribute? Where else did you think you’d be able to go find posts about SAUSD? So far as I have seen, Art Pedroza was the ONLY one with foresight and concern enough to start this years-long thread about the school district his own children are attending. He was wise to do so. It’s all recorded here. That there is a lull, is either good, because it means that the problems are being cleared out. Or it could be a bad thing b/c people are in fear for their jobs again. Which is it?
RV,
Obviously you don’t remember the fights because you have not read the entire thread from the beginning. This thread, I thought, took on education, corruption, and input from teachers, staff, parents and interested citizens From SAUSD; not the state, DC or anywhere else. That was for the front page.
The reports from Palacio are about the only thing you have kept in line with what I thought this thread was about.
The “Lull” as you call it was created when the site crashed and moved then crashed again. The present lull is because this thread is no longer the title “SAUSD Corruption”. It has become a general information page on education anywhere that I can read in the LA Times or Register.
The district wins and you did your job well. Reports of corruption are hardly ever posted here and when they are you throw in something elongated to throw off any form of dialogue among the few employees that read this thread anymore.
I shouldn’t have to scroll down to get by 4 of your posts. Instead a general education information thread should exist. This isn’t Jerry Springer’s site either. People with honest beefs about the district HAD a place to air them so others could comment. You and district watchdogs have done a fine job of interrupting the flow more than once and the result is the “Lull”. Actually it is abandonment.
Ihear the free lunch progam is running out of money, imagine how much money could be saved if we didn’t give free lunches and shut the school kitchens down and save on manpower. Students would have to decide about their cell phones, ipods,$200 tennis shows and designer clothes or bringing lunch. My kids have always carried their lunch because it was cheaper. Then my friends tell me they gey free beakfast and lunch and they make more money than me.
OK, anon, I’ll weigh in here for a moment. No news is comin’ outta this place ’cause there isn’t any news. Don’t know about the other high schools. Students come in in the morning, we teach the classes, and they go home. There’s the usual stupid stuff, like calling a faculty meeting two days before start of finals … annoying, but not news. Good teachers will blow off the faculty meeting and work with motivated students after school reviewing for final exams. The whole of SAUSD seems like its holding its collective breath waiting to see what the state does with the budget.
Can we just get back to the issues? School lunches really don’t amount to a hill of beans in the big picture. The state funds them and if they didn’t, the schools wouldn’t provide them. We have much bigger issues in Santa Ana. Most of those issues involve state and federal mandates that have driven every decision that has been made. We are spending most of our time teaching kids how to take multiple choice tests and the rest of the time giving them those tests. This isn’t education and it needs to be changed.
#64
Anon,
Give a list of the posts you want removed. I am trying to understand what your complaints are about. Which ones do you think are off topic?
I fully agree with SAHS Teacher. The budget cuts have been scary and sobering. GROSS MISMANAGEMENT under Mijares is no longer in the mix. The worst idiot administrators have been pushed out or at least muzzled. There really is no room for the most ridiculous practices that were allowed to fester in the past. The anything-goes, this-is-MY-campus-and-I-get-to-be-queen days are gone from SAUSD.
Things are worrisome(cuts) and things are more orderly(admin. change) right now. That’s why it’s quiet.
btw: Art is working on getting ready to post up the salary grid that John Palacio sent out in email.
RV,
This is #64 (not # 65)
I would never request you remove any comment unless it was my own and I’ve asked Art to do that a time or two. Both teachers that comment here on a regular basis are correct and in part make my point.
SAHS teacher reminds me that he/she knows what is going on at one school, but not the others. The structure of the district is such that everyone is compartmentalized either by design or by necessity of the district to keep all of the teachers from comparing notes. The only information processed district wide is what the district office feeds the district employees or story they plant in the Register. SAHS teach also makes the point that everyone is holding their collective breath due to the budget. Put another way; everyone is afraid to say anything.
Anon teach reminds me that he/she believes teaching isn’t really going on. It’s a mechanical process of multiple choice tests. Going way back to my school days, I recall a majority of tests were of this type except for a Friday “pop-quiz” that usually required students to fill in an answer on a topical question. I’m missing something unless what Anon teach is implying is that the district no longer requires book reports, essay exams or even “fill in the blank” pop quizzes. As a non-teacher, I would want to know that as I’m sure parents in the district would.
I don’t agree with Anon teach about anon # 65’s comment on paid lunches. I believe # 65 was trying to point out a problem with one of those state/federal mandated programs. I also believe it would be fair to say that if that program is being miss-managed, what about all the rest? It is part of the bigger picture teach, but the bigger picture here is how this district manages programs.
RV, I don’t know if what you say is true because no one has made a comment here to that effect. If you believe the district has pushed out some questionable administrators then you probably believe David Copperfield made a building disappear too. Just because a magician gets better at his craft doesn’t mean he is still not pulling the wool over your eyes.
The last I read about corruption in the district here (hence the title above) was just a few months ago. It was Gustavo’s story on use of building funds and all that went with that including a raise and promotion to the person behind it. Meanwhile the district was firing or combining classified personnel. I don’t call that transparency. I call that “In your face we will still do what we want” management.
Maybe the teachers and the classified have shut up out of fear. But if little guys like # 65 or me can’t express an opinion without getting it jammed back down our throat here either,then what’s the point? We all can’t be on the teaching staff and there are other issues outside of the classroom.
I don’t believe for a minute the principal at Valley suddenly got religion and quit pushing around his staff and teachers. Nor do I believe Saddleback has been magically cured either, especially since both campus’s had staff members arrested for child molesting and the district managed to keep it all quiet. How the molesting story at community day got out must have been an oversight by somebody. I don’t call that improved management. I call that improved magicians.
I agree, the long articles about other districts etc., are annoying. RV’s intentions are understood, but most people here read the newspaper, watch the news, and have internet.
Anon,
If you can’t give me an example of which posts don’t belong, then what?
If you want to see if teachers are having problems, then you might want to consider going to their next SAEA union meeting this coming Tuesday. 4:00 pm on Broadway.
Most teachers just want to do their jobs without all the drama and interference from their superiors. The over-the-top crazies have been fired or at least subdued. Most teachers are serious professionals, and they don’t nitpick what they cannot change overnight.
Gustavo had a series of stories about an instructional assistant who was arrested for lewd conduct with a severely disabled student. I’m not sure what the end result was or if the case is still in process. I’ve not seen any follow up. However, I do know for sure that the teacher who was removed from the Saddleback site after she reported that same (now arrested) employee has contacted the police with extensive documentation as a result of links from this site. I also know that the principal who hid that molesting employee was fired in August 2007. She was contacting potential “clients”-unwitting staff her former site- for her new scam of “money management” which was also posted about here. The union said to go to Juan Lopez. Most teachers tell the union head, Gladys to go to hell for the rotten job she’s managed to do for too many years. Those are just some of the issues of the last several months. I am sure they don’t apply to everyone who reads here, but they do apply as on-topic to this particular thread.
I don’t know if the SAUSD school bond rating is of value to YOU or anyone else, but it pertains to SAUSD and it was in the news and it was a link that someone passed on. Not everything will pertain to everyone.
This is a blog- a web LOG – a type of web diary that has been used to chronicle a whole host of news, events, questions etc… relating to SAUSD and education in general. Why YOU personally feel attacked or offended by what I’ve posted or what others have posted is still a mystery to me.
Anything that is OFF topic can easily be removed.
And one other small housekeeping detail that you guys might want to consider (I just noticed that there are two different “anon” s posting on the current subject: If you’ve been reading and posting here for a while and feel comfortable, you might want to consider choosing a “differnt” anon moniker to differentiate yourself from other “anon” posters. Just a suggestion. Rv
anonfive,
annoying? You have NO idea how annoying I can be!
😉
Capturing all the news here in links and full text has been helpful for a number of people who wanted to read about past issues. It is all right here. There is absolutely no other blog that I am aware of that has gone to the trouble of posting consistently about SAUSD -the good, the bad, the ugly and even the boring.
1)Long postings slow down the site. Links to the mainstream media blather are far more sensible.
2)School lunches are admittedly administered imperfectly. Many kids at the middle and high school lvl throw em away. However, a trip to an elem school campus would reveal lots of hungry lil kids who do depend on the lunches for real nutrition. Only a libertAryan wingnut or OC red diaper repug would starve the kids. And finally… 3)The problems at SAUSD are no doubt due to mismangement by both the Union and the Admin. The union has filed no Williams grievances over the years of classrooms taught by long-term subs, the disgusting sanitary conditions at most schools and the lack of textbooks. The whittling away of sports and after-school activities has seen the corollary rise in thuggery and gangsterism. This is to be expected when the Pres of the Union is also a School board member- in Long Beach, I believe. I guess being sensitive to the realities of both sides of an issue can affect one’s performance, but I’d rather have a Union president that fights for his constituents. 4) The teachers are to blame for their passive and cowardly acceptance of the status quo. At my school site, most of the teachers are red-diaper Repugs, loony blowhard libertAryans who are too weak or cowardly to get a job outside of Big Gummerment, or completely whacked out American Taliban store-front church attending fundamentalist Xtians. They deserve the crap they are living through.
Related OrangeJuice threads:
Should President Obama rescind the No Child Left Behind Act? By Larry Gilbert, January 22, 2009.
Former SAUSD cop pleads guilty to possessing child porn, and he lives in Irvine! By Art Pedroza, January 25, 2009
Compare what teachers in Orange County make. By Art Pedroza, January 25, 2009
——————————–
Rintrah Says:
“1)Long postings slow down the site…..”
Not true, Rintrah. Rv
RV..I too think long postings do not need to be here. But In all fairness to you..you have every right..It’s a free country..I just skim over them cause I get the newspaper everyday. no harm no foul..
I, too, am a district employee who tries to just get my job done by serving my (our) students the best I can. But, I am also fed up by what’s going on around at the district level. Mismanagement, poor communication, corruption are going on at different levels, but rarely are taken care of.
One reason is that our district is too big. If the district were to be divided into two, one an elementary school district and another district for intermediate and high schools. As it is, there is very little communication and collaboration between the elementaries and intermediates, as well as between the intermediates and high schools. Has this topic ever been brought up before?
If I am wrong, and there are forums for this kind of communication going on in the district, this information isn’t trickling down to my ears. This leads me to the second reason why our district is being run so inefficiently. Poor leadership. The principal at my school is an expert at shutting down communication. When staff members have complained about this principal at the district level, no one there has done anything to help us out. This type of inaction is typical in our district. It’s as though someone is protecting these awful leaders. No wonder staff members who bring up problems out in the open, no longer do so out of fear of being hassled.
A side effect of this poor leadership is that our parents are being used as puppets, rather than advocates for their children’s education. If our parents knew what was really happening and taught how to use their powers as parents and voters, this district wouldn’t have as many problems.
This posting has been a response to the complaint that this blog is no longer focusing on corruption in the district. The corruption is still there. Look at our scores. Look at our graduation rates. Look at the discipline issues, drug and gang problems, and killings in this city to see that we are failing our students.
Fed up,
Good post. There are lots of people out there who read this SAUSD thread and have things to say about how the district is running or not. This is by far, the most visited post at OJ.
There has been some discussion about making ward-specific board of education elections. That makes sense, because there would be at least some accountability for representation in each of the wards.
You said, “When staff members have complained about this principal at the district level, no one there has done anything to help us out. This type of inaction is typical in our district. It’s as though someone is protecting these awful leaders.”
There is speculation that the Superintendent’s cabinet level administration keep the bad news from the Superintendent. However, nothing is stopping Ms. Russo from creating a safe place for staff to report problems directly to her, so at least she would have a heads up on the extent of the problems.
She’s making over a quarter of a million dollars each year. Would it be too much to expect her to have the courage to conduct business in a transparent way? A 360 degree review by employees would be a start.
Gee RV,
Way back on Post 68 you said ” The worst idiot administrators have been pushed out or at least muzzled. There really is no room for the most ridiculous practices that were allowed to fester in the past. The anything-goes, this-is-MY-campus-and-I-get-to-be-queen days are gone from SAUSD.”
Now you are saying there are problems at the top cabinet administration. Fed up just blew a hole right through your “This is my campus-queen days are gone” comment too.
I don’t want to hassle with someone skilled in Saul Alinksy debating but I wish you would make up your mind.
And to FED UP..nice job and thanks for confirming what I suspected.
Anon64,
I pointed out that the really BAD administrators that made major news headlines for fraud or having a district-wide reputation for abusing their powers of authority are gone or muzzled. It there are still problems, then it’s not yet known here.
Fed up didn’t have any complaints of ILLEGAL or other outrageous behavior by the site administrator. It seemed more of underskilled, poor communicator issue that had been brought to higher-ups at the district. Who, I don’t know -it wasn’t mentioned.
You can have systemic disorganization and incompetence that SHOULD be addressed by administration, but I still don’t see complete morons left that the board of education has no option but to fire because of outrageous, persistent abuse of authority.
You seem to have answers. What is it that you are concerned most with?
RV-“It (sic) there are still problems, then it’s not yet known here.” Where exactly is here? The collective intelligence of this site? The union? Just where is here? Perhaps it is where, “outrageous, persistent abuse of authority,” persists. A cursory examination might come up with the fiefdom of Willard, as well as Risk Mgmt. and numerous other downtown entities. The union is failing it’s membership-endorsing the bond measure was the last straw for me. Using the union office as a phone bank for the district measure demonstrates that our leadership is more in sympathy w/ management than the teachers.
Get rid of free lunches #65 is just an example of how messed up the system is. Lets keep free lunches, get rid of teachers, if you feed them they will come, there will not be any teachers just long term subs.
The district needs to look at everything as a whole and make changes, my kids can not tell me who there assistant principle is. They never come out from behind locked doors during school hours acouple years ago they got rid of them now they have them back to sit in meetings. Lets move district office to sit at schools, could save a lot of money and sell building. I am tired of going to school to talk to them and have to sit and wait 2 hours for 5 minutes, meet after students go home.
Rintrah,
I was going to ask that very question but talked myself out of it. I wondered where “here” was too. I’m also glad you mentioned Willard and Risk. With all this systemic disorganization being put under control I thought both might have been cured.
AnonXXX
Nice to see a parent comment again. I hope more join in to relate the problems at the schools their kids go to.
RV,
Obviously if I had the answers I would not have to ask the questions. Since you seem to believe that systemic disorganization has been lessened, I would say you must have the answers that I admit I don’t.
Fed up did provide me with one answer and that is problems, non-responsive top level administrators, and principals using intimidation tactics still exist. His/her statement that issues went far enough to take to the district without resolution should be indication enough, even to you, that the district does not learn by its previous mistakes. It just learns to hide them better.
Since all the facts are not present in Fed Ups comments, I think that neither one of us knows if the circumstances at the school rise up to the point of illegal or not. That is what the district is supposed to determine and correct before it rises to the level of legality or public news.
One attorney specializing in the area of a hostile work environment wrote;
” A hostile workplace is the result of suppression of people’s natural ability to express themselves. It is the opposite of a workplace that promotes creativity and vitality. Hostile workplaces are deadly to productivity. They are unhealthy – and potentially deadly – to the people who work in them.”
This discourse started over a point about a lull on this thread fueled in part by your insistence to post news articles. In other comments you have stated the lull is due to fear of budget cuts and job loss, to the “really bad” people have been muzzled or fired.
When someone actually does come up with a comment about problems at a school, you decide that systemic disorganization still exists but has been minimized and that is why this thread has been quiet.
Personally the why of it no longer matters to me because you are the one who seems to have all the answers. If you are not a district administrator you should be. I don’t suppose you noticed that with actual dialogue, almost 20 comments long without a news article, some other people joined in the discussion. Hmmm
SAEA and SAUSD Joint Statement
http://www.sateach.org/
As members of the California Education Coalition, SAUSD and SAEA, along with countless others interested in preserving California’s public education system, find ourselves dealing with a constant flow of bad news. The Nation’s economic problems have only compounded the State’s already massive debts, and it is only a matter of time before Santa Ana feels the impact.
As leaders of SAUSD and SAEA, we want you to know that we are working together in every way possible to deal with this very real, and continuing, crisis.
It seems like every day new schemes to cut funding to our schools get bandied about in the newspapers. Rumors abound. And the worsening economy has put many of you in considerable psychological and financial distress. Consequently, we wanted to write a joint letter to address the issues at hand.
Rumors. No one knows what is happening yet. The Governor will propose massive mid-year cuts in January, but we do not know what programs will be effected or what across the board cuts may be required by the State legislature.
The District and the Association are exploring ways to help teachers adjust to what looks like a dire situation. These ways include the possibility of a Retirement Incentive Plan and possibly helping teachers retrain for hard to fill positions.
We are keenly aware of the stress you are under, and we looking for ways to provide stress-reduction services through United Behavioral Health and CTA.
The State’s Budget Deficit is so severe that we all are struggling to find ways to illustrate what it would look like. However, we want you to know that no decisions have been made yet about Summer School, Class Size Reduction, Art and Music Programs, Furlough Days, RIF’s or any other highly disruptive changes. No decisions can be made until after the Governor and the Legislature acts.
It is clear, however, that the failure of the Legislature to act in a timely way only compounds the problem.
We have agreed to meet together regularly during the crisis, and while we may not always agree on the next steps, we have pledged to be honest with each other regarding the real numbers at work, and pledge to do our best to insure that the education of our students and the health and well-being of you and yours remain our primary concern.
Jane Russo David Barton
Superintendent, SAUSD President, SAEA
#76 posts ..
“A side effect of this poor leadership is that our parents are being used as puppets, rather than advocates for their children’s education. If our parents knew what was really happening and taught how to use their powers as parents and voters, this district wouldn’t have as many problems.”
Amen.
One way district admins have been successful in using parents as puppets is their nurturing of many parent organizations. SAUSD needs ONE parent organization. The conquer and divide mentality must cease.
Ward specific elections of trustees would be a good start.
Anon # 84
Ya know I had to think on that awhile, but I believe you are right. Ward specific elections would be a good start. The conquer and divide method has been the backbone of the district for as long as I’ve worked here.
Prepare for a news article in the near future.
#85
Term limits might be worth considering. Some board members are closing in on serving two decades. If the President of the USA is limited to 8 years, I think SA voters should seriously consider limiting a trustee’s tenure.
Can anyone tell me if the following SAUSD money saving tactic is illegal or against any policy?
-Classified employee gets salary cut of one month and is now an “eleven month employee”. District then hires a part time employee at a lower rate of pay to compensate for the cut AND avoids paying eleventh month employee overtime rate of pay.-
Oh Boy,
Any employee hired as a part time sub and retained for full time employment for a specific time is required to be hired as a full time employee.
Actually the district should not be hiring anyone to replace a job reduction position and the union should not allow it. I’d file a grievance. Not that you will get any result from CSEA but it will be documented in case you want to hire a lawyer to sue both the district and the union. If it is your job being replaced the district will owe you the back pay you lost.
Thank you Anonplus. I’m assuming the part time sub must work forty hours a week to be considered for full time. But what if two subs are hired and neither one works forty hours per week?
Anonzzz,
I believe it is more about the job position than how it is filled. The district would obviously hire part time subs over a “long term sub” because the long term sub would have to be hired after a certain amount of time. As you explain it and I understand the rules the district is filling a full time position with part time people so they don’t have to hire anyone permanently.
I would recommend you contact one of the union people on the exact rules on that. It used to be that if a full time position existed it had to be filled permanently eventually and could not be filled with part timers indefinately. With the cut backs I don’t know what the union has agreed to do since they have caved in before. Duane Lundquist should be able to answer your questions.
The Register has another story on the lowering of graduation credits today. I hate to agree with the board but this makes sense. The most disadvantaged students in the county should not be faced with the toughest graduation requirements in the county. I don’t know what they were smoking back in 2001 when they upped the requirements but maybe the board is starting to get it now. The story is here:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/students-district-school-2291881-graduation-high
Yes, the reduced requirements makes sense and they are just reversing a major screw up in doing this. I’m glad people are starting to get it.
Rumor has it there is talk of eliminating 3rd year science AND Earth Science. All-freshman Biology.
Combine that with integrating Health into Biology… I’m sure Santa Ana science is going to surely prosper now.
Here’s a short summary of things coming from SAUSD, discussed in the last teachers’ association meeting.
1-SAUSD must make a 20 mill$ mid-year budget cut – this year; 48 mill$ over next 18 months
2-expect 535 RIF (reduction in force = layoff) notices to go out next month
3-no COLA, no salary raises for the next 3 yrs
4-on the chopping block (i.e. very possible) – Retiree health benefits. Currently paid ’til 70 yrs old; very possible that those retiring after this year will get nada – a BIG consideration in deciding whether or not to retire NOW.
5-district may try to freeze “step & column”. Barton explained this effects everyone, and forever. “Step & column freeze” means whether you’re at step 1, step 8, step 18, or 28 — after a year of work, you STILL are a step 1,6,16, or 26, like you took a leave of absence, you never regain the lost step. The only guy it won’t effect is at step 26, he’s already at the bottom of the matrix.
6-Arbitration on the high school class size grievance (including prep periods as a classes of 0 students for average class size) is this Friday at the SAEA office. Newly promoted Juan Lopez will be there working hard to cram more students into classrooms(“40 now, 40 now, 40 now …do I hear 43, 43, 43 …43! … can I get a 45…”)
I screwed comment 5 a bit just above. S&C freeze: step 6, you stay at 6, step 8, you stay at 8, etc. even though you work a year.
SAHS Teacher,
Thanks for the information. I think I understood what you meant about step and column. In other words your yearly pay-step increases are frozen. If a teacher already is at the top step it won’t effect them. You used the word “forever”. I assume you mean that in the future should step and column be reinstated salary increases will resume but will not be retroactive for the year(s)the freeze is in place. Did I understand that right?
On the retirement health care. What age can a teacher retire under your system? I know the classified information but not the teachers.
SAHS teacher:
Thanks for the info, your comments are always helpful. I have couple of questions, though:
1. Are they RIFing 535 because that is the magic number to make the $48m they need to reduce? Is this number the worst case scenario, in case the state doesn’t pass a budget or passes the one with $2b in cuts to ed, or is this the needed reduction regardless of what happens with the state budget?
2. Also, do you know if the RIFs will be across the board, or be protecting any subjects, like they did with math, science, and special ed last year? I would think that if they do cut the science requirement to 2 years then science would be eligible for RIFs, too, while they are having an extra period of remedial math and english at the HS level for those not at grade level. And, I suppose 20-1 for elementary and 9th are on the chopping block, as well…
3.Is there any indication as to how long the step and column freeze may last?
Thanks as always!
Re. inquiries above: I dunno, but Asso.Supt. Juan Lopez will be addressing the faculty at Santa Ana High School Monday morning, and though I think he’s a scoundrel, I’ve always found him to be a straight-talking scoundrel. I’ll put somethin’ up after Monday’s meeting.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/santa-school-girl-2294162-attorney-team?orderby=TimeStampDescending&showRecommendedOnly=0&oncommentsPage=1#slComments
Thursday, January 29, 2009
High school volunteer charged with having sex with student
Santa Ana man met female student when he volunteered to assist with school’s fresman/sophomore baseball team and band.
By LARRY WELBORN
The Orange County Register
Comments 35| Recommend 3
SANTA ANA – A volunteer with a high school baseball team and band has been charged with having an unlawful sexual relationship with a female student when she was 14 and 15 years old.
Giovanno Jimenez, 24, Santa Ana, faces a maximum term of five years in prison if convicted of three felonies, including committing lewd acts on a child.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on Friday.
Jimenez allegedly engaged in sex acts with the teenage girl on multiple occasions between July 17, 2008, and Aug. 20, 2008 at the victim’s house when her parents were not home.
He met girl at Valley High School in Santa Ana while he was volunteering with the frosh/soph baseball team and school band, according to a statement from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Anyone with additional information on the case is asked to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Tim Craig at (714) 347-8558.
Contact the writer: lwelborn@ocregister.com or (714) 834-3784
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/students-district-school-2291881-graduation-high
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Santa Ana district moves ahead with plan to lower graduation bar
School board could vote Feb. 10 on proposal to reduce to 240 from 220 credits required to earn high school diploma.
By FERMIN LEAL
The Orange County Register
Comments 29| Recommend 2
SANTA ANA — The Santa Ana Unified School Board continues to move forward with a proposed plan to lower high school graduation requirements for all students.
Trustees again debated the plan Monday that would reduce from 240 to 220 the number of credits students have to complete in order to graduate from the county’s largest school district. The plan would reverse a 2001 policy change that raised the graduation requirements in Santa Ana Unified to the highest level of all school districts in Orange County.
Trustees could give a final vote Feb. 10, officials said.
The plan gives students in Santa Ana Unified greater opportunity for success and places the district on par with other districts in the county, district officials said. All other local districts currently require between 215 and 230 credits for graduation.
Santa Ana Unified had the lowest graduation rate in the county in 2008. District officials said that under the proposed plan, the district’s 2008 graduation rate would have risen from about 83 percent to about 87 percent or higher.
“Our goal is to keep students competitive for the 21st century by allowing them flexibility in their daily schedule,” said Superintendent Jane Russo. “This proposal will allow honor students to take Advanced Placement and enrichment coursework while also enabling other students to have the opportunity to take the additional coursework needed to meet graduation requirements.”
Currently, students have little leeway if they fail a class, want to take higher coursework, or need extra help passing the state’s High School Exit Exam, district officials said. Also, about 56 percent of all high school students are English learners, and many of these students are required to take additional English classes, making them more likely to fall behind or drop out under, officials said.
District officials said that when the school board voted in 2001 to increase to 240 the amount of credits required for graduation, the district had started a pilot program that increased the typical high school day from six to seven periods. The district has since abandoned the program, partly because of a lack of state funding, and returned to a six-period day for high schools.
Officials are proposing turning a required world geography into an elective, reducing a science requirement to two years from three years, embedding a health HIV/AIDS course in the science curriculum and making other changes as ways to lower by 20 credits the graduation requirements.
Santa Ana Unified was the first district in the county to require high school graduates complete “a-g coursework,” classes mandated by the California State University and University of California systems for incoming freshman. The proposed plan would still mandate that graduates complete the “a-g coursework,” officials said.
A handful of parents, teachers and high school counselors attended the meeting Monday to support the plan to change the graduation requirements. There were no public speakers who opposed the proposal.
“The main goal is to ensure all students graduate. This will meet our goal,” said Jennifer Ruvalcaba, a counselor and Century High. “The beauty of this plan is also that more students will be able to take honor courses and other higher level classes.”
Contact the writer: 714-445-6687 or fleal@ocregister.com