Kathleen Fernandez wins in Chula Vista Elementary; no explanation for secrecy given by CVE President Peg Myers

Photo: CVE President Peg Myers apparently has some reason for her decision not to reveal election results on the Chula Vista Educators website.

Today I finally got CVE election results. This news may not seem like a big deal to you and me, but apparently it's a big deal to CVE President Peg Myers. Myers wouldn't return my phone calls, and for the past 13 days, her secretaries claimed not to have any information about election results.

When the secretary told me once again this morning that she didn't have the election results, I told her what I had learned: Treasurer Nancy Potts had resigned two weeks ago--before the votes were counted in the May 20, 2009 run off election. Kathleen Fernandez won by default. (Each of the other offices had only one person running.)

The CVE secretary then said, "I knew that." (?!)

(Humans are funny, aren't we? In this case, the young woman preferred to let me know that she had been lying rather than allow me to think I knew something she didn't know.)

I don't hold the girl who answers the phone responsible for this deception. The blame rests squarely with Peg Myers.

This is not appropriate protocol; it's a shameful way to conduct business. A public school teachers union should not be secretive; it contributes to public mistrust of CTA, and for good reason. I would like to see CTA become truly democratic, like California Federation of Teachers. CFT has real elections; decisions are made at the ballot box, not it the back room.

I hope Kathleen Fernandez won't be co-opted into Peg Myers' corruption. If they ask her to keep a secret that shouldn't be kept, I hope she'll say no. Of course, she'll get thrown off the board, but there are worse fates--such as being on the board when illegal acts are committed by CVE. Unfortunately, CVE elections seem to be about personalities, not policies.

Just as members of San Diego's MEA didn't seem to care about President/Manager Judie Italiano's wrongdoing, CVE members also seem uninterested in corruption on Landis Street. Perhaps not coincidentally, attorney Ann Smith has worked for both organizations.

Chula Vista teachers seem to like to let CTA director Jim Groth and CVE President Peg Myers do their thinking for them. As the CVE website says, "CVE forms a representative body capable of developing group opinion and speaks with authority for members."