My Happy Hacker takes orders from lawyers, but also seems to have a sense of humor

I'm awarding good humor points to my hacker, who has become quite playful during the past week. He (or she) is having fun, but doing no harm.

Less than a week ago I discovered that this page in my related website had been hacked.

HERE IS THE HACKED IMAGE OF A GRIEVANCE I SUBMITTED TO CVESD:



I published this blog post, which the hacker must have read. In the post I wrote that California Teachers Association (CTA) director Jim Groth, who had been Chula Vista Educators (CVE) grievance chair at the time, had turned up unexpectedly at the grievance meeting and said that the union did NOT support the grievance. The grievance merely asked that the district RESPOND to an earlier grievance. It appears that CTA was quite desperate to cover up illegal actions of pals of CVE President Gina Boyd.


Former CVE President Gina Boyd at her deposition.
This blogger has awarded to Gina the Alberto Gonzalez
CRS award for her amazing lack of knowledge and
substantial memory loss: "I don't know"--25 times and
"I don't remember (or recall, etc.)--35 times;
total cognition lapses: 60.

Sometime during the past few days, someone went to work on my grievance image again. But this time, my hacker did NOT hide any information. He (or she) just moved black boxes around! It's actually quite entertaining to examine his (or her) handiwork.

He (or she) enlarged the black box to cover EMPTY SPACE on this page:




and moved the black box sideways on this page!



I actually like my hacker now, but I'm still not terribly fond of the lawyers who ordered the hacking.


It should be noted that CTA isn't the only party trying to hide these events. Current CVESD board members Pam Smith and her faithful allyLarry Cunningham were involved in the criminal actions, and they also have paid tax dollars to lawyers to support efforts to shut down my website.

I've been hacked again by friends of Jim Groth and California Teachers Association

More than 10 years later, hackers are still helping to conceal the 2001 actions of CTA director Jim Groth

HACKED CVESD GRIEVANCE: Who doesn't want you to read what's beneath the black box? (See original image below)

Yes, I've been hacked again, but things are getting better. This time the mysterious black box does not quite cover the targeted image on my related website.

More than 10 years later, hackers are still trying to conceal the 2001-2002 actions of former CVE president and current California Teachers Association (CTA) director Jim Groth, who worked on behalf of disgraced asst. superintendent Richard Werlin and board members at Chula Vista Elementary School District. Or was it the reverse? Were Werlin and CVESD working on behalf of Jim Groth? It's hard to unscramble the egg.

Jim "No response needed" Groth

In 2002 Chula Vista Educators' grievance chair Jim Groth unexpectedly came to a meeting at Chula Vista Elementary School District and announced that Chula Vista Educators did NOT support a grievance that merely asked that the district RESPOND to a teacher's grievance.

Why didn't Jim Groth (now a member of the state board of directors of California Teachers Association) insist that the district respond?

Well, that question seems to answer itself. Obviously, CTA and CVESD were covering up something. It appears that Groth's CTA directorship may be linked to his otherwise inexplicable decision to get in his car and drive to the district office to say that it was fine with him if the district ignored my June 9, 2001 grievance.

Here is what the image looked like before it was hacked:



The CTA website says that Jim Groth "is the past chair of the CTA State Council of Education Communications Committee." Perhaps that committee is in charge of hacking teacher websites?



Teflon trustees?

CVESD board members Pam Smith and Larry Cunningham, who spent tax dollars to cover up crimes, are still on the CVESD board, although the careers of several administrators have ended.

It seems that crime pays, as the saying goes, but only for teachers, union officials and board members--apparently not so much for administrators.

But now that I think about it, I realize that school board members are no longer quite so invulnerable. Bertha Lopez, who went along with the criminal actions of Pam Smith and Larry Cunningham at CVESD, is currently charged with criminal actions by the Public Integrity Unit. Maybe I should say that WASP school board members tend to be teflon.

It should be noted that this same case was investigated by school attorney Daniel Shinoff. A large number of documents he collected at Castle Park Elementary School have gone missing, as Mr. Shinoff and his partner Ray Artiano explained in this deposition.

Four out of five CVESD board members got their positions without running for election

Marissa Bejarano, who filled, without facing the electorate, the position that her father (former San Diego police chief and current Chula Vista police chief David Bejarano) obtained through appointment

See also: Pat Judd, David Bejarano, Pamela Smith, Larry Cunningham and Bertha Lopez spent tax dollars to prevent "trustee areas"

The following March 2012 article resonates even more strongly now that Marissa Bejarano (photo above) has replaced her father on the Chula Vista Elementary School District board without having to face the voters of Chula Vista.

Are Too Many Chula Vista Elementary School Board Members Handpicked?
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
March 28, 2012

Jill Galvez, a Chula Vista resident and former city council candidate, believes if you want to be a trustee for the elementary school district "you should have to get out there and knock on doors, shake hands, and make your promises to voters face to face." That's why she is disappointed to learn that yet another trustee is going to be appointed.

On March 19 the Chula Vista Elementary school board announced trustee Russell Coronado's resignation, effective March 30. They voted to fill the position rather than hold a costly special election.

The Union Tribune reported on March 20 that three out of the five members initially got on the board through appointment: "Trustee David Bejarano was chosen out of a pool of 39 candidates in 2007 after Cheryl Cox stepped down following her election as mayor of Chula Vista. Luffborough was selected out of 23 applicants in 2009 after Bertha Lopez resigned to serve on the Sweetwater Union High School Board."


Trustee Larry Cunningham was appointed in 1998.

After the board fills Coronado's position, four out of the five trustees will have been appointed.

It is common knowledge that incumbents, appointed or not, have advantages. They receive name recognition and are more likely to receive campaign donations. Galvez, among others, believes that in order to avoid having a school board that picks its own members, appointees should agree to serve only as interim trustees and not seek re-election.


Board president, Pamela Smith, was not available for comment.

Bertha Lopez and Manuel Paul indicted, and, surprisingly, a white male Republican: Sweetwater's Jim Cartmill

Sweetwater Union High School District board
Back Row (Left to Right): Jim Cartmill, Dr. Ed Brand, superintendent, John McCann
Front Row (Left to Right): Bertha López, Arlie N. Ricasa, Pearl Quiñones

I am shocked. Bonnie Dumanis' Public Integrity Unit has indicted a white male Republican. Jim Cartmill has learned the hard way that he can't count on Bonnie anymore. But the D.A. has spent years going after people in the South Bay that Jim Cartmill wanted to destroy politically, so he should man up and pay the piper.

After Being indicted, former CVESD trustee Bertha Lopez (currently on the Sweetwater Union High School District board) said she has nothing to hide. In fact, she has been covering-up crimes at Chula Elementary School District for over ten years, along with CVESD board members Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham. Teachers were pressured to perjure themselves to conceal the wrongdoing of Bertha and her fellow board members. The board included Pat Judd and current Chula Vista mayor Cheryl Cox.

The Union Tribune has long been a fan of Bertha Lopez.

Regarding Bertha Lopez:

"According to court documents, a contractor paid for Lopez and eight guests to attend an award ceremony hosted by the YWCA in 2009, which she did not disclose on state-mandated forms. She and her husband were also at Morton’s with Amigable and Paul, according to court documents, and she failed to report the meal on state forms."

3 more indicted in South Bay corruption probe
San Ysidro superintendent is among the new targets of the DA's investigation
Aaron Burgin
UTSD
Dec. 31, 2012

A probe into corruption among South Bay school leaders has widened to include another district, with indictments against three additional officials.

Manuel Paul

A grand jury has indicted San Ysidro School District Superintendent Manuel Paul and Sweetwater Union High School District board members Jim Cartmill and Bertha Lopez, according to a criminal defense attorney who represents all three.

Two other Sweetwater school board members were charged a year ago, along with a former board member and former Superintendent Jesus Gandara.

Attorney James Pokorny, who represents Paul, Lopez and Cartmill, said the grand jury has indicted them on multiple felony and misdemeanor counts including perjury, filing false documents, accepting gifts and bribery. He said they maintain their innocence.

“My take on this is that DA believes that they can target people in the community that have given their energy and lives for betterment of students and that they can topple these people and cripple them from running for office ever again,” he said. “Knowing the people the way that I do, I don’t buy what they are accused of, and I don’t think a jury will either.”

The District Attorney’s office declined to comment on the case.

Pokorny said he received a letter from the District Attorney’s office notifying him that his clients had been indicted, but has not seen the full indictment. He said that Lopez faces 19 felony and misdemeanor counts, Cartmill faces 10 counts and Paul faces six.

Paul admitted in a June deposition in an unrelated lawsuit that he had taken $2,500 in cash from a contractor seeking work from his district. He said the handoff in the parking lot of a steak house was a campaign contribution for a school board member.

It is not clear if the indictment stems from that incident, which has been under review separately by a federal grand jury.

Paul’s name has already appeared in some documents related to the Sweetwater corruption investigation, in which prosecutors are alleging meals, sporting events, plays and other considerations were exchanged for multimillion dollar construction contracts.

Paul and his wife, for instance, are listed in court documents as guests at a $1,700 meal at Morton’s steakhouse in July 2008 hosted by contractor Henry Amigable.

Other guests included three of those facing charges in Sweetwater — Gandara, former board member Greg Sandoval and current trustee Pearl Quiñones. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Amigable pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in May and is cooperating with county prosecutors.

Lopez and Cartmill largely stayed out of the fray as their colleagues were charged a year ago, although Lopez’s home was raided a year ago and she has been questioned in connection with the case.

“The district attorney is doing their job and I don’t have anything to hide,” Lopez said the day of the raid. “That is the bottom line.”

According to court documents, a contractor paid for Lopez and eight guests to attend an award ceremony hosted by the YWCA in 2009, which she did not disclose on state-mandated forms. She and her husband were also at Morton’s with Amigable and Paul, according to court documents, and she failed to report the meal on state forms.


Update Jan. 16, 2013:

I found another white male Republican that Bonnie has indicted. The case is discussed in this article about the bizarre and unsuccessful prosecution of Steve Castaneda:

HIGH STAKES IN CORRUPTION PROBE
DA aims to regain credibility after unsuccessful prosecution while South Bay figures fight stereotypes
By Aaron Burgin & Katherine Poythress
U-T
JAN. 12, 2013

...Since 2007, only one case lodged by the unit against an elected official has resulted in criminal punishment. Former Encinitas Councilman Dan Dalager was fined $1,000 in 2011 after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charge stemming from accepting deeply discounted appliances from a store owner, then voting in the owner’s favor in a dispute with the city. His case was prosecuted after the transaction was exposed by The Watchdog. A lot is riding on the outcome of the latest cases, also sparked by initial reports from The Watchdog about the relationships between contractors and officials in South County...

Castle Park Elementary, scene of multiple fiascoes, finally gets some help

I'm happy that the Castle Park area in Chula Vista has been chosen for $60 million in grants. Castle Park Elementary, where I attended as a child and as a teacher, desperately needs assistance after having been managed poorly by the CVESD board and administration. Before the current principal arrived, the school had 11 principals in 11 years, during which time there was a crime wave among the ruling clique of teachers and a $20,000 embezzlement by the PTA president who was hand-picked by those teachers.

Perhaps Maria Guasp, board member of South Bay Community Services, chose Castle Park Elementary because she feels somewhat guilty for her role in damaging the school when she was an Assistant Superintendent at CVESD, promoting Libia Gil's discredited agenda.

Unfortunately, sticking on band-aids won't fix the basic problem: the underlying culture of the district. Long-term board members Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham have maintained a culture of carelessness, making decisions reflexively and refusing to engage in serious assessment of problems.


Larry Cunningham and Pam Smith covered up illegal actions at Castle Park Elementary

Then the CVESD board and administrators depend on the lawyers at Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz to silence critics. Stutz law firm managed to find a judge, Judith Hayes, who doesn't mind violating the constitution to help CVESD silence me. Even after I won in the California Court of Appeal, CVESD's lawyers and Judge Judith Hayes are still trying to quash legitimate criticism. Here's a recent court transcript.

GRANT AIDS SOUTH BAY STUDENTS
Nonprofit one of 7 nationwide to receive federal Promise Neighborhood funding to revitalize schools, area
Caroline Dipping
Union-Tribune San Diego
Dec. 22, 2012

$60M--Total in grants and matching funds for programs to help South Bay students improve.

Selected from more than 200 applicants nationwide, South Bay Community Services has been awarded a grant of nearly $30 million to improve schools in Chula Vista’s Castle Park neighborhood and revitalize the area.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced in Washington, D.C., on Friday that the nonprofit organization was one of seven winners to receive a 2012 Promise Neighborhood implementation grant.

South Bay Community Services will receive $4.9 million to fund the first year of the five-year $27.8 million grant for cradle-to-career programs that improve schools and inspire students, provide health services for families and fight crime in the neighborhood. The Castle Park area has some of the lowest test scores in Chula Vista and a median household income of $41,000 — 30 percent lower than the countywide median.

Not to be outdone, 28 local government agencies, nonprofit organizations and businesses, including Manpower, United Way and Parker Foundation, have signed on to provide more than $33 million in matching funds, for a total investment of more than $60 million. The grant will also create about 100 jobs the first year alone, according to South Bay Community Services.

“The community really came together and worked so hard to get this grant,” said Kathryn Lembo, president and CEO of South Bay Community Services. “What makes it so special is knowing how much the schools, parents, and kids are going to benefit.

“This will give our young people an incredible opportunity to be healthier and more successful in school and in life.”

The target is the area served by Castle Park Elementary School. Funds will also be used to create improvements at Castle Park Middle School and Castle Park High School designed to inspire all students to stay in school and aspire to a college and career track, Lembo said.

“It’s a great thing because it means they are going to be able to fund a lot of extra academic intervention and academic assistance,” said Manuel Rubio, spokesman for Sweetwater Union High School District. “It’s the holistic approach of educating the student, but assessing what their family’s needs are, too. It has the potential to make a pretty significant impact.”

South Bay Community Services will lead the project. It was chosen in part because of its 41-year history providing bilingual, culturally competent social service, education and community development programs for youth and families.

Last December, the agency received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a plan to revitalize.

Nancy Kerwin, executive director of Chula Vista Elementary School District’s Student, Family and Community Services, said the grant will create an “infusion of services and support, from newborns to high school youth.”

“At Castle Park Elementary, we will see more in-class tutoring for students, an enhanced wellness program for students, and bullying prevention activities,” she said.

The other recipients of the 2012 Implementation Grants are the Boston Promise Initiative, East Lubbock Promise Neighborhood, Five Promises for Two Generations in Washington, D.C., Indianola Promise Community in Mississippi, Los Angeles Promise Neighborhood, and Mission Promise Neighborhood in San Francisco.

The Promise Neighborhoods program was created in 2010 to give at-risk children wraparound community services to help them close the achievement gap between them and their more affluent peers. To date, the program has awarded nearly $100 million to more than 50 communities representing more than 700 schools.

CVESD hired a teacher profiled in the Reader as a child pornographer

See all posts regarding CVESD teacher John Kinloch.

See also "California Teachers Association protects child molesting teacher."

CVESD is still getting fallout from Rick Werlin's years as Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.

Officials claim to be angry that they did not know in 2000 about John Raymond Kinloch's involvement in a 1998 child pornography case that was described in the San Diego Reader. Kinloch was recently arrested for child pornography.

But the truth is that current Superintendent Francisco Escobedo is pals with Rick Werlin, the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources responsible for hiring Mr. Kinloch, and Maria Guasp, who helped Mr. Werlin implement his policy of concealing the truth about teachers who committed crimes.

When Mr. Werlin was running Human Resources, Board Members Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham were more than willing to allow Mr. Werlin to ignore the law. Then they managed to quash subpoenas to testify about their actions. They supported a criminal cover-up of the actions of administrators, union leaders and Castle Park teachers.

The district managed to unload Werlin, and when West Contra Costa County asked for information about Werlin, CVESD didn't breathe a word about the $100,000s in legal expenses that Werlin incurred. One wonders how much CVESD officials actually care about children.

CVESD seems to have more than its share of child pornographers. October, a another CVESD teacher was arrested for child porn.

Chula Vista teacher arrested in child porn case
By Pauline Repard and Susan Shroder
UTSD
Dec. 5, 2012

...Chula Vista Elementary School District officials are angry that they did not know about the case when they hired John Raymond Kinloch in 2000, spokesman Anthony Millican said.

Kinloch, 41, was taken into custody Friday following an investigation by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He was booked into jail on counts of possession of child pornography, using a minor in an obscene manner and luring a minor for a sex offense, according to the jail website.

The charges do not involve students in Kinloch’s class or in the district, Millican said.

He said Kinloch has taught at Wolf Canyon Elementary School since 2009 and was currently teaching first grade. Kinloch previously taught at Feaster Charter School.

He is on administrative leave and will not be on campus while the legal proceedings continue, Millican said.

Millican said the San Diego Reader published a story in June 1998 that said Kinloch, then a San Diego State student, was going to England to testify in the criminal trial of Christopher Wrigley, a college student accused in trafficking in child pornography. Wrigley’s files contained information that led investigators to Kinloch, and he was offered immunity by federal officials in the United States and England to testify, the Reader reported. He testified during the trial that he exchanged pornographic images of young boys with Wrigley, according to the Birmingham Post & Mail, a British newspaper.

Debra McLaren, principal at Wolf Elementary, sent a letter to parents Friday informing them of the arrest...

CVESD gets an award from San Diego Health and Human Services, where board member Pam Smith is a director

Oddly, the story below never mentions the very close connection between CVESD board member Pam Smith and the San Diego Health and Human Services agency, which gave an award to CVESD. Pamela B. Smith is AIS & East Region HHSA Deputy Director.

The new owners of the Union Tribune are continuing the newspaper's tradition of concealing serious problems in Chula Vista Elementary School District while providing frequent puff pieces about specific board members and administrators.

In the story below, the UT touts the award that CVESD board member Pam Smith's employer gave to her school district, and also mentions an award given to Smith's cronies at San Diego County Office of Education. But we are left to wonder about the identities of twelve of the sixteen winners of the awards given in the chambers of the Board of Supervisors.

Chula Vista school district honored as "health champion"
Caroline Dipping
April 13, 2012

The Chula Vista Elementary School District was among 16 entities honored recently by the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency at the 11th annual Public Health Champion Awards.

The awards are a component of Live Well, San Diego!, the county’s 10-year plan to improve the health and safety of local residents and communities. They reflect achievements related to the 2012 National Public Health Week theme: A Healthier America Begins Today. Join the Movement!

Chula Vista’s 27,400-student district was recognized for several recent accomplishments. It has begun implementing the Healthy Eating Active program aimed at reducing childhood obesity; it mentors other school districts to develop school wellness policies; and it has partnered with WalkSan Diego to provide Safe Routes to School workshops to students, school staff and parents.

“It is an honor to recognize the extraordinary achievements of these individuals and organizations,” said Nick Macchione, director of the health and human services agency at the April 2 ceremony held in the chambers of the Board of Supervisors. “They have made lifelong commitments to educate our residents to make healthier lifestyle choices and create a safe environment, which help prevent disease, injury and disability.”

Among the Public Health Champion honorees this year were UCSD’s Division of Child Development and Community Health, San Diego Association of Governments, and the San Diego County Office of Education.

CVESD Superintendent Lowell Billings to retire; Billings' pal Joyce Abrams reappointed to Teacher Credentialing Commission

Photo (left to right): Russell Coronado(new), Superintendent Lowell Billings, Larry Cunningham, Pamela Smith, David Bejarano (new), Doug Luffborough (new)



Chula Vista Elementary School District superintendent Lowell Billings will retire in December of this year. Here is his letter announcing his retirement.

It remains to be seen whether there will be any real changes at the district, or if this is merely a matter of personalities. Billings and the long time board members developed a lot of personal loyalty to each other during years when the district was involved in some expensive wrongdoing. But will the new board look for new lawyers and start obeying the law and the contract? That is what reformers hope for, of course, but political office changes people. Officials often start with the best of intentions, but end up protecting their incumbency instead of their principles.

Billings notes that Peter Barron Stark will help in the search for a replacement.

Peter Barron Stark knows CVESD pretty well. He actually was called in to help when teachers at Castle Park Elementary started going out of control in the mid 1990's (before I myself became a teacher at the school).

Mr. Stark failed to bring about any meaningful understanding or system for communication at the school. Within a few years, the district was paying $100,000s in legal bills to defend teachers who decided to destroy the school rather than give up the power their clique had achieved. The clique pretty much wagged the dog. Assistant superintendents Richard Werlin and Lowell Billings agreed to the demands of these teachers even when they demanded that the district violate the contract and the law. Then Billings tried to establish control over the school in 2004, but it was too late. The Castle Park Five got the local media to portray Billings as a power-hungry egomaniac.

Billings will be remembered for his mishandling of the Ana Stover case and the Danielle Cozaihr case, as well as my case, the Maura Larkins case. See web page.

My sympathies to Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham, board members who worked so closely with Mr. Billings for so long.



RELATED STORY

A teacher who sat on the Chula Vista Educators' board of directors as the teachers union helped the district cover up wrongdoing has been appointed to a new term on the California

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2010

Chula Vista Elementary's DASH & STRETCH deal with YMCA, pulled off by Lowell Billings and Pam Smith, reveals the underbelly of CVESD

Get ready to make some noise again Chula Vista! Salt Creek & South Bay 'Y' are holding focus groups tomorrow, June 4, 2009 and June 17, 2009 re: DASH/STRETCH.

June 4
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Here, you will get to speak.
Salt Creek Elementary School Auditorium
1055 Hunte Parkway
Chula Vista, CA 91914

June 17
11 - 12 and 12 - 1
South Bay YMCA
50 North 4th Ave., 91910


Earlier DASH & STRETCH posts are here.

The Dash & Stretch Story as told by a veteran DASH leader
San Diego Reader
By CVPFEP
Posted June 3, 2009
...Why wasn't Dr. Lowell Billings transparent with the parents and employees of the City of Chula Vista's DASH and STRETCH? That is a question that will remain unanswered as Dr. Lowell Billings will not comment on that...Double-Boarding a conflict of interest? Follow me: www.twitter.com/cvpfep


Care2 make a difference
While legally Dr. Lowell Billings & Pamela B. Smith may serve on two boards, namely CVESD & the YMCA's Board of Management, they were supposed to have abstained their votes on the March 10th, 2009 district board meeting as it was a clear conflict of interests.


Maura Larkins' response:

Here's what Robert Fellmeth, University of San Diego law professor and director of the Center for Public Interest Law, says, "[P]ublic officials should know better than to steer so much money to groups with which they have close relationships."

Shame on Pamela Smith for voting to give control of a school district program to a private charity she's involved in. (On the other hand, it helps explain why the YMCA would give her a "woman of distinction" award. But the web of longtime cronies involved in the DASH & STRETCH power grab extends beyond Lowell Billings and Pam Smith to Cheryl Cox, mayor of Chula Vista. Cox served on the CVESD board until 2006.

The DASH & STRETCH backroom deal is a small part of a much bigger problem.

Lowell Billings (like many other school superintendents) is paid big bucks to do whatever it takes to keep things calm and quiet in the school district.

He's also supposed to educate as many kids as possible while keeping things quiet, but when a choice has to be made between educating kids and keeping the power structure in place, the kids come in second place.

Mr. Billings seems to be good at covering up problems. This is why CVESD pays Lowell Billings one of the highest salaries of any public employee in San Diego County, while at the same time laying off the people who actually educate kids. (How much is Billings paid to do this? In the 2007-2008 fiscal year he was the fourth-highest earning public employee in San Diego County, earning $238,205. I would guess his salary was about $20,000 higher this past year.)

Like other school officials, CVESD board members are so paranoid that they feel threatened by every little complaint. They don't want issues addressed in a public forum; they believe democracy is the road to ruin. Voters must be kept in the dark because voters can't be trusted with the truth. They are the only ones worthy of being on the board, and they must do whatever they have to do to stay there, including ignoring conflict of interest and other laws.

You might not guess that arrogance and fear would be so closely intertwined, but both the arrogance and the paranoia are real.

Chula Vista Elementary School District has a particularly bad case of paranoia. Board members and administrators fear that their system would fall apart if parents, teachers or kids were allowed to express dissatisfaction. It's CVESD's reflex response is to silence complaints and to deny its mistakes. CVESD flounders for years covering up its blunders rather than solving its problems.

The deterioration of DASH & STRETCH at CVESD is an unfortunate event, but it's just a tiny part of the big problem in education: teacher quality. Politics, not competence, determines who teaches children. People love to moan about the problem of not being able to get rid of incompetent teachers, but the truth is that education wouldn't really improve much if each school got rid of its worst teacher and replaced that teacher with a barely-competent teacher. The standards need to be much higher.

Unfortunately, our society doesn't want to pay much for schools. One of Lowell Billings' jobs is to find a cheap way to put a teacher in every classroom (after first taking out plenty for himself and his lawyers, of course).

Adding to the problem, or perhaps, the very core of the problem, is that there is no effective system to evaluate teaching performance. Principals do observations, but they don't really know what's going on in classrooms, as reported in recent research.

Links on ineffective teacher evaluations:
Gotham Schools
Education Week
Voice of San Diego

As long as everything is peaceful and quiet, most administrators believe that everything is fine. And if kids end up as failures years later, very few people in the schools feel guilty. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, but most school officials are apparently fine with that.

Schools teach that if we keep a low profile and don't make the people in power angry, we'll be among the "contributing" members of society. I disagree. I think that looking the other way when wrong is being done damages society. I hope that Elisa Betancourt will keep speaking out. There's plenty more to talk about, Elisa. Don't go away!

Who's behind the power grab by YMCA?

Chula Vista Elementary School District and the City of Chula Vista appear to have a hidden agenda in turning over DASH and STRETCH to the YMCA.




Our Money's No Good

One of our own city council members told me and other parents that it's not about the money. Even if the city had a check for our district right now, they wouldn't take it to save DASH and STRETCH as is.

I can't give names or quote anyone because this chance conversation was off the record.

Think about it. The district's saying the programs will be the same, if not better and they're going to expand? How's that even possible with less money, new hire training (speaking of which, who's going to train them being that DASH and STRETCH staff haven't even been included?), and significantly less pay?

Okay parents, so if our district had nothing but the best intentions for our children, why didn't they give us the chance the Nature Center moms had? They raised $375,000 in three weeks! That was four months ago! Why didn't they approach the very people responsible for the overwhelming success of these two remarkable programs? Why did they approach an organization only known for it's on-site child care and off site programs?

DASH and STRETCH were created because there was a need. Our children's needs were not being met by any of the existing after school programs. Questions: How long has the YMCA's after school site been around? Exactly. In fact, if you look up the minutes from tonights meeting, you will see the underlined statement came from Pamela B. Smith herself.

We are we being told a story that doesn't add up. Yes, the fact that the city did not have the funds wasn't made "official" until just recently, but approaching the YMCA has been the districts only direction. Why did the 'Y' receive more notice than those directly affected by this? Why in the world did they post a message on their home page a day before this March 10th meeting stating that they're so grateful that the Y "saved" DASH and STRETCH if it wasn't even made official? Why did they send a pre-recorded message to parents in attempts to appease us a couple days before the March meeting? If their concern is to inform us, then what took them so long? And yet they say they didn't have to inform us that's why they didn't all those months ago. Then why suddenly decide to do it now?

DASH and STRETCH staff members are being told by some principals that they won't be 'here' next year. Teachers are congratulating DASH and STRETCH staff for having been saved. Fact is, that's not a fact.

Sounding fishy yet?

Teachers and school staff are congratulating DASH and STRETCH staff, only it's not for a job well done for these past ten years, it's for being saved. Only thing is, they haven't been. Most all DASH and STRETCH staff know what's really going on. Children are confused and crying while trusting parents are being fooled. Period.


To read the full version, go to: www.StretchDash.com

Elisa Betancourt
Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Write to: lowell.billings@cvesd.org







An Overdue Thank You...

Thank you DASH and STRETCH staff for being mentors, teachers, and friends to our children in our absence. Thank you for teaching them how to read, feel confident in themselves, make new friends, and learn to play a schoolyard games. Thank you for showing them how to become a better version of themselves, to feel and be happier and healthier individuals. The knowledge and education you brought, the passion, committment, and dedication you have are valued and will forever be remembered by those whose opinion matters most... the children. I apologize for the way our district has treated you during their "seamless transition." You have been the leaders and the reason our children have surpassed all expectations. Our hats off to you. I wish we could have done more.

Elisa Betancourt

Pamela Smith talks a good game about education being a priority, but her actions don't support that

Did Pamela Smith inadvertantly describe herself in this quote?

Also, the CVESD board went through this same dance about four years ago, and no one lost his job. It's just a tactic that the CVESD board seems to find entertaining.

488 Pinkslips in Chula Vista Schools
Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Voice of San Diego

Chula Vista elementary schools plan to notify 488 certificated employees that their jobs could be cut, depending how deep state budget cuts go this year. The school district has estimated cuts at $11 million, cutting from an existing $245 million budget.

The list includes 401 classroom teachers, three counselors, one librarian, 10 nurses, nine associate principals and two human resources directors. A popular program called Reading First could be eliminated entirely under the plan, just after teachers presented positive feedback on the initiative to the school board.

Under California law, schools are required to notify all certificated employees whose jobs might be eliminated by March 15, though budget cuts won't be finalized until this summer. Classified employees such as custodians and bus drivers won't be notified until later in the year.

Chula Vista Elementary trustees approved the pinkslips Wednesday night, but they weren't pleased.

State legislators "talk a good game of education being a priority, but their actions don't support that," said trustee Pamela Smith. Though Chula Vista schools are in decent shape financially, she added, "nobody can be in a position to weather what the state's proposing."

http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/02/26/this_just_in/426chulavista022008.txt

It's hard being a persona non grata

Alex Smith doesn't like it when someone turns his colleagues against him by spreading false stories.

Well, Alex, your mom, Chula Vista Elementary School board member Pamela Smith, spent hundreds of thousands of public dollars to protect my fellow teachers who were afraid I would expose their wrongdoing, and so they got rid of me by saying that I was going to come to school and shoot everybody. Yes, just like Columbine. And then she refused to ask for an investigation into the allegations.

What was the truth about the situation at Castle Park Elementary? Well, Pam spent hundreds of thousands of school dollars on lawyers to make sure the truth didn't come out.

Why? Apparently, she just didn't think any wrongdoing by the district should be exposed. It might hurt her chances for reelection. She spent big money to protect teacher Robin Donlan, who apparently had millions of her own from stock options fraud.

This is more serious than what Nolan did to you, don't you think? It involves more serious allegations, more public money, and complete disregard for the safety of students and employees.

Nolan never did anything that bad, did he?

MERCURY NEWS EXCLUSIVE
49ers' Smith rips into Nolan for turning team against him
By Dennis Georgatos and Daniel Brown
Mercury News
12/11/2007

Click HERE for original article.

Quarterback Alex Smith is going to have his right shoulder surgically repaired, but repairing his relationship with 49ers Coach Mike Nolan could be more difficult.

In his strongest act of rebellion to date, Smith on Monday said that Nolan has tried to "undermine" his reputation in the locker room. In an exclusive interview with the Mercury News, Smith said Nolan made it clear to teammates that the quarterback was using injuries as an excuse for poor performance, a charge that has left Smith's locker-room reputation in shambles.

Smith, who had long been hinting that an operation was required, said he was frustrated by Nolan's repeated public comments - "the spin," as Smith called it - that questioned the quarterback's toughness. He even suggested that his health status has been left in limbo for so long by the 49ers because "if I had surgery, it would make them look bad."

The 49ers announced late Monday that Smith will have season-ending surgery.

A month ago, after a 24-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the quarterback volunteered that his separated right shoulder was "killing him." Nolan had repeatedly said Smith's health was fine, setting off a brief dust-up between the coach and quarterback.

Smith said Monday that he had no problem with the public controversy, but said Nolan pushed it too far by making it an issue in the locker room.

"He came out and said some things to the team," Smith said. "It was like he was telling his side of it and I didn't want to get into it. . . . That was my biggest concern when he did that: I felt it was trying to undermine me with my teammates."
Blaming poor performance on injury is a cardinal sin of the athlete's code - especially in the ferocious warrior culture of the NFL. 49ers running back Frank Gore runs weekly on a sprained ankle; offensive lineman Justin Smiley made no mention of a torn labrum last season until after the season; Nolan even refused to answer questions about the death of his father, who died a day before the Seattle game, rather than risk it being interpreted as an excuse for a lopsided loss.

Smith, 23, understands.

"I think if (my teammates) would have heard what I actually said out there that day, it wouldn't have been an issue," he said. "But all of a sudden Nolan spins it as if I was making excuses for an injury. What I really felt like was, 'Yeah, I tried to play on it. And that was my decision and obviously I wasn't playing well enough.'

"But at that point my arm wasn't getting any better. In fact, it was getting worse and I was going to go get a second opinion. (Nolan) can spin it however he wants to, but the first thing Dr. Andrews told me when he saw me was 'This is much worse than I thought.' "

Nolan acknowledged at the time that there was a miscommunication, but since said his relationship with Smith had been patched up. He has, however, grown increasingly dismissive of questions about his quarterback's health status and has made no secret of his disdain for Smith's agent, Tom Condon, who interjected himself into the controversy when he suggested the 49ers botched the handling of Smith's injury.

Last week, Nolan said he remains surprised that Smith pulled himself out of action. He has said repeatedly that the diagnosis of Smith's injury, by both an outside doctor and team medical staff, has not deviated from a Grade III separation. And he has further described Smith's separation as "not very severe" for a Grade III.

Nolan also has continued to heap praise on Trent Dilfer not only for his strong play, but also for his toughness and passion. "I believe that Trent, as far as playing quarterback, puts his heart and soul into everything he does," Nolan said after a recent game. "It's evident every time he goes on the field. I admire that, and I think that he's given us the chance to win the games that he's played in."

Smith has all but become a persona non-grata in the 49ers' locker room after his injury controversy. Winning teammates back might be the hardest part of his rehabilitation.

Last week, Nolan was approached by a reporter and asked whether the tougher battle Smith faced was restoring his teammates' trust and confidence.

"You didn't ask me that question," Nolan said. "And I'm not going to answer it. I can't answer it."

No player was willing to go on the record when asked about the quarterback's leadership status, but no player rushed to his defense, either. "I'm not touching that one," one veteran said.

Another player recently refused to discuss the extent of his injury with a reporter because, he said, "I don't want it to be like Alex's interview where I'm blaming my production on it." Another acknowledged that certain members of the team have derisively referred to Smith as "The Lion," as in the one without courage in "The Wizard of Oz."

One assistant coach said Smith "made a mistake" when he went public about his ailing shoulder and now clearly is paying a price for his honesty. Another player said that Smith had to expect that there would be "consequences" for failing to keep his injury-related struggles in house.

Told of the mounting criticism, Smith sounded only mildly surprised.

"Well, no, I haven't noticed it - especially the guys around me - but like I said, Nolan is spinning it toward his direction," he said.

Smith demonstrated more durability a year ago when he became the first quarterback in 49ers history to take every snap over the course of the season. Only four other NFL quarterbacks did that in 2006, including Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts.

Smith's struggles this season began Sept. 30 against Seattle when he suffered a separation of his throwing shoulder on an opening-drive sack. A month later, during his first game back, he clutched at his ailing shoulder so often that the game-day broadcasters repeatedly said the 49ers "had to get him out of there."

Smith finished that game - as well as the next two - and looked woeful, missing open receivers by several yards on errant throws. After his last game, Seahawks linebacker Julian Peterson said Smith was grimacing after every throw and clearly wasn't right.

Told that comment the next day, Nolan quipped, "That might mean something to me if Julian was a doctor."

Mike Nolan and Pamela Smith need to go

Tim Kawakami thinks 49ers head coach Mike Nolan should be fired for fighting with Alex Smith. So do I. I think older people who are being paid to make sure younger people become all they can be should do their job. Twenty-three is very young. Mike should have acted like an adult. I'm sure Alex's mom agrees. But wait, didn't Alex's mom behave worse than Nolan? Yes, indeed. I think Alex's mom, Pamela Smith, board member at CVESD, should resign also, and pay back to the children of Chula Vista her share of the money paid to lawyers to cover-up her own
false allegations about what happened at Castle Park Elementary.

Click HERE for the original article.


Alex Smith vs. Mike Nolan goes nuclear: Will there be any survivors?
By Tim Kawakami
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 7:22 am in 49ers, NFL.

You’ve probably seen or heard about it already, and if you haven’t, and you’re a 49ers fan or care a tiny bit about the NFL or Alex Smith or Mike Nolan, you have got to read Smith’s jaw-dropping quotes slicing at Nolan in the Georgatos/Brown piece today.

The set-up: The 49ers last night announced what we all already knew–Smith will undergo shoulder surgery and is out for the season.

But here’s what Smith told Georgatos yesterday, before the announcement:

-Smith said he feels that Nolan has undermined him to his teammates and that Nolan has been spinning his own side of the story about Smith’s struggles to comeback from the shoulder separation.

That’s more than explosive… it’s basically setting up an either-him-or-me showdown.

I can’t see how Smith ever plays for Nolan after that. I couldn’t really see it a few days ago, but this makes it official. Done. That relationship is done.

There’s really no other option. Either Nolan or Smith… or maybe neither. Do the Yorks know this? Hello?

If the 49ers had active owners or a GM (aw heck, let’s not be naive–Nolan’s the GM and he’s the acting owner, too, as long as the Yorks are afraid to talk)… somebody would fix this.

Nobody has bothered to fix this. Nobody knows how. And Nolan Face of Franchise has agitated to make it worse, which makes him the most to blame.


Nolan has made it clear in his asides and blustering that, dating to about Sept. 30, he doesn’t like Smith any more.

Smith is now going on the record–and I give him total credit for not hiding behind double-talk, at the very least (more credit than I give Nolan)–to say that he really doesn’t like Nolan.

They used to be joined at the hip. Maybe it wasn’t the best tandem, but they were together. Now they’re separated more severely than Smith’s shoulder ever could be.

I’m going to write a column on this and have many more thoughts, but right off the bat, I’m wondering…

* Did Nolan call an NFL “code red” to blackball Smith in the 49er locker room? That’s what Smith is implying, and that’s the feeling I’ve picked up in the locker room the last few weeks.

It sure sounds like Nolan might’ve purposely tried to cut off Smith from his teammates by implicitly or explicitly saying that Smith is too soft to play through pain. Which is bad, no matter what player is in the focus.

Here’s what Smith said: “That was my biggest concern when he did that: I felt it was trying to undermine me with my teammates.”

Wow. And more from the Georgatos interview:

“I think if (my teammates) would have heard what I actually said out there that day, it wouldn’t have been an issue,” Smith said of the day a few weeks ago when he suggested that Nolan had botched the handling of Smith’s comeback.

“But all of a sudden Nolan spins it as I was making excuses for an injury. What I really felt like was, ‘Yeah, I tried to play on it. And that was my decision and obviously I wasn’t playing well enough.”

* If Nolan did that, and I believe he did, that’s not just petty, it’s self-defeating–who else is going to QB this team, Mike?

I mean, we know he loves Trent Dilfer, because Nolan loves inside LBs and, yes, Dilfer throws the football like an inside LB.

Wonderful. And all it did was set back the 49ers about three years.

* If Nolan gets his way and dumps Smith, whether it’s because of performance or personality, do you trust Nolan to pick the next QB?

Remember, he’s the one who picked Smith because Smith was so malleable… and now Nolan has grown to dislike the fact that Smith isn’t tough–well, Mike, how did you not notice that before? Or did you just have no clue what you were doing picking Smith in 2005 and investing $24M?

And Nolan picked Dilfer to be the back-up for the last two years. And Nolan didn’t like Aaron Rodgers because he wouldn’t do the silly drills that Smith all too willingly did for Nolan.

And Nolan didn’t trade for Charlie Frye when he was available. Or any number of other guys, because, a few months ago, he didn’t want anybody to compete with Smith, because Nolan has no clue about the QB position.

* Given his druthers for QBs in 2008, will Nolan go with Dilfer, Dilfer II and Dilfer Jr.?

Yes, Nolan doesn’t understand QBs, shouldn’t be allowed to choose them, and probably should get fired over this.

Not because Smith is a great QB prospect ruined by Nolan. Not because Smith is a towering leader of men.

No and no.

Nolan is at fault because he’s the one who selected Smith over better talents, he’s the one who propped him up and went great lengths to coddle him, and he’s the one who unfathomably decided that Smith’s Grade III shoulder separation was no big deal.

Nolan was also the one who refused to acknowledge that Smith’s play was being affected and Nolan, apparently, is the one who failed to be the bigger man–as a coach must be–in a standoff with his best-paid player.

Unbelievable. Ridiculous. Petty.

* Smith hasn’t covered himself with laurels during this whole thing, but he’s still young. He will be getting paid by the 49ers if they play him or not. He tried his best. His coaching staff failed him, however.

Now Smith is looking out for himself and his own reputation and trying to wound Nolan. I can’t blame Smith for that.

* As I’ve typed for weeks now, if anything was going to get the Yorks stirring and off of their scaredy-frozen-in-place-scaredyness… it’s Nolan messing up the QB.

That’s a huge investment they’ve got in Smith. Nolan is the one who made it for them.

Now Nolan has blown up Smith as much as you can blow up a young QB–with Smith’s help, I concede–and maybe that’s what gets the Yorks thinking… hmm, maybe Nolan isn’t a god among NFL coaches.

* The dumbest, dumbest thing I must keep repeating is the thought that Nolan only needs a strong GM to turn the ship right back to imminent greatness.

Folks, Nolan is proving again that coaching is what he does worst. A coach is supposed to handle his QB, especially if his best QB is fragile.

Nolan has no idea. You can blame Smith for this, and I’d guess that’s where 80% of 49ers fans will fall–he isn’t too tough, he isn’t much of a leader, he hasn’t been much of a QB.

But this is Nolan’s fault, in the big picture. The coach is supposed to stop things like this from happening.

And it should get him fired.

Show some class, Pamela Smith and Bertha Lopez!

I'm sure that neither of the women currently on the Chula Vista Elementary School District board allows herself to be treated as less capable on the job based on the fact that she is female. Yet that's exactly how Pamela Smith and Bertha Lopez treated young teacher Danielle Coziahr because she had a baby. A jury found it to be illegal.

Show some class, ladies.

Apologize and settle the case, instead of appealing it.

Quit being rubber stamps for Pat Judd and Larry Cunningham.

You, too, David Bejarano. Is this what you signed up for when you joined the school board? To waste money on lawyers instead of teachers? Apologize, don't appeal.


FOR THE DETAILS OF the Coziahr v. CVESD lawsuit, click the link "A school district lawsuit (Coziahr v. CVESD) at right.

A plea to Alex Smith: talk to your mom!

See all posts regarding Danielle Cozaihr v. CVESD
Gender discrimination against non-reelected teacher

The following was posted on CVESD report:

A plea to San Francisco 49ers player Alex Smith

Dear Alex:
You are a hero for starting a foundation to help foster kids when they turn eighteen.

I know you could be a hero to kids and adults in Chula Vista Elementary School District where your mom is on the school board.

She's been under the influence of extreme right-wingers Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham for many years. I don't know why Pamela Smith calls herself a Democrat, because she always votes with Pat and Larry, no matter what.

She should be ashamed of herself for voting to non-reelect teacher Danielle Coziahr. A first-year principal got it into his head that he had a right to fire a teacher for having a young child and then having the nerve to get pregnant--and everyone in the top echelons of the district went along with it--including your mom. Doesn't your mom know that you can't legally agree to something like this? Well, of course she does.

Tonight the rest of the board will vote to appeal the decision made by the jury last Friday.

Please ask your mom to do the right thing, to apologize to Danielle, and to settle the lawsuit instead of appealing it.

Posted by Marie Killelea

Jury to CVESD: Pay Danielle Coziahr $1,012,000

A San Diego jury has a message for CVESD board members Pamela Smith, Cheryl Cox, and Bertha Lopez: your decision to discriminate against Danielle Coziahr in 2006 based on her gender caused $1,012,000 in costs and damages.

These three women apparently didn't lose any sleep over dismissing a teacher who was considered a leader by teachers with much more experience. I listened to testimony with the jury, and the evidence was clear: Coziahr was fired was one reason only, and that was that she was a woman who had a young child and another on the way.

The three women on the Chula Vista Elementary School District board demonstrated again and again that they aren't one bit softer than the hard-nosed duo of Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham. Pam, Bertha and Cheryl seemed to go along with anything the boys wanted, even if it was illegal, or even criminal.

And the illegality didn't stop when former San Diego police chief David Bejarano took Cheryl Cox's place in January of this year.

The CVESD board needs a complete overhaul. And a reconstituted board would be wise to get rid of Parham & Rajcic law firm, and instead ask lawyers like Danielle Coziahr's attorneys Laura Joan Farris and C. Daniel Carroll for legal advice.

A school board where no one ever votes her conscience

DEC. 4, 2007 UPDATE: MY STATEMENT (SEE BELOW) THAT PAMELA SMITH, CHERYL COX AND BERTHA LOPEZ ALL VOTED TO FIRE AN EXCELLENT TEACHER (WHO OFFENDED HER PRINCIPAL BY GETTING PREGNANT) WAS CONFIRMED IN COURT TODAY.

THE SCHOOL BOARD VOTE WAS UNANIMOUS, AS I HAD SURMISED.

MORE SHAMEFULLY, CVESD BOARD MEMBERS MORE RECENTLY VOTED TO CONTINUE THEIR ILLEGAL ACTIONS, AND TO SPEND TAXPAYER MONEY ON INDEFENSIBLE LITIGATION, RATHER THAN SETTLE.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, PAMELA, CHERYL/DAVID AND BERTHA?

HOW COULD YOU TREAT ANOTHER WOMAN THIS WAY?

(I ALREADY KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH PATRICK JUDD AND LARRY CUNNINGHAM, SO I WON'T ASK.)

Pamela Smith, Cheryl Cox, and Bertha Lopez all voted to fire Danielle Coziahr from Chula Vista Elementary School District. How do I know? Actually, I don't know anything except this: these three CVESD board members always vote exactly as Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham vote. Decisions of the CVESD board have been consistently unanimous for many years.

Cheryl Cox later became mayor of Chula Vista. She was clearly misrepresenting the facts when she claimed to believe that the City of Chula Vista should settle with Laurie Madigan, the wife of a developer, who was being investigated for a conflict of interest, in order to save the cost of litigation. Cheryl Cox is perfectly happy to reach into the taxpayers' pockets to pay for litigation, and to keep doing it until the cows come home. But she likes to keep taxpayer money moving toward the hands of developers and their ilk. She just doesn't like to settle with ordinary people, like teachers.

Shame on Pamela Smith, who runs the San Diego County Department of Aging. Smith has proven over the years that she doesn't have any sincere concern for civil rights and other laws.

Like Cox, she is not an appropriate person to be working for government. People in government need to have respect for the law. The same can be said of Bertha Lopez, a teacher. With people like these in charge, it's no wonder our public entities seem to be doing less and less for the public as time goes by.

David Bejarano is new to the board, but I am confident that he rubber-stamped the Coziahr decision every time it came up in a closed board meeting. If I'm wrong about any of this, I'll wear sackcloth and ashes to a board meeting.

Alex Smith is giving much-needed help to foster kids

San Francisco 49ers football player Alex Smith has started a foundation to assist foster kids when they turn 18 and lose their homes. I am impressed with Alex's efforts to give help where it's needed most.

I trust Alex will stick to a path of integrity in his life.

Alex's mother, Chula Vista Elementary School District board member Pam Smith, can give him practical guidance, but let's hope Alex will avoid his mother's moral side trips into obstruction of justice regarding crimes committed in schools.

Pam Smith was one of the five board members who decided to cover up crimes at Castle Park Elementary and CVESD, causing $100,000s of taxpayers dollars to be spent for the purpose of obstructing justice, and an elementary school to fall apart, with plunging test scores, a PTA embezzlement, and the best and brightest teachers and principal driven away.

Chula Vista Police Department 2005-06 hoax on behalf of Cheryl Cox and the Santa Barbara Sheriff

Chula Vista is not the place to go if you are looking for equal protection of the law. It makes a big difference to the CVPD if you're a Republican or Democrat. Republicans like Cheryl Cox get help from the CVPD in covering up crimes and other wrongdoing.

On the other hand, a Democratic employee of the City of Chula Vista who took two hours off work to spy on a Cheryl Cox fundraiser has been charged by Bonnie Dumanis with perjury for not admitting he was doing political work on the job.

There's a lot of political work being done on the job in Chula Vista, but you don't hear much about the work done by Republicans in the police department.

The Chula Vista Police Department is a friend of Cheryl Cox, who was a Chula Vista Elementary school board member before she was elected mayor. The CVPD failed for over a year to investigate a financial crime at Castle Park Elementary School reported in 2005. Why? The CVPD has a knee-jerk policy of covering up wrongdoing by Cheryl Cox and the other board members of Chula Vista Elementary School District, who include Pamela Smith, Patrick Judd, Larry Cunningham and Bertha Lopez.

In 2006 I pursued a public records request for months before the CVPD admitted that it had a record of a police visit to Castle Park Elementary on April 21, 2001. When they decided I wasn't likely to go away, I finally received a copy of the Castle Park Elementary School "call" report.*

But the Chula Vista Police Department was doing a lot more than illegally hiding public records in its efforts to support Cheryl Cox's campaign for mayor of Chula Vista in 2006.

Between 2000 and 2006 a long string of crimes had been committed at Castle Park Elementary which resulted from criminal actions by a Santa Barbara Sheriff's deputy and his sister, a teacher in Chula Vista. Cheryl Cox and CVESD committed bigger and bigger crimes to prevent the exposure of earlier, smaller crimes and violations of law committed at Castle Park Elementary in 2000 and 2001.

See "Castle Park Elementary," "Teacher Reports," and "Law Enforcement" at MAURALARKINS.COM (link available on this blog's link list).

In 2005-2006, the most newsworthy crime being covered up by the CVPD and the media to protect Cheryl Cox and the CVESD school board was the embezzlement of about $20,000 from the Castle Park Elementary PTA.

Apparently fearing that this crime would eventually become public knowlege, perhaps because it was being reported by this blog and the San Diego Education Report website, the Chula Vista Police Department seems to have developed a plan in November 2006 to create the appearance that it was no longer covering up the embezzlement. Of course, by November 7, 2006, the election was over. The cover-up was successful. Larry Cunningham crowed that voters had seen throught the lies of his opponents. The truth is that the voters saw almost nothing because Larry and Cheryl had spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to cover up crimes and other violations of law at CVESD.

The police asked former Castle Park PTA president Kim Simmons to come in the CVPD office, where she was interviewed and arrested. Was Simmons arrested after a careful investigation? No, the CVPD does not carefully investigate incidents that might embarrass Cheryl Cox and the school board. CVPD arrested Kim Simmons simply to create the impression that they weren't covering up Castle Park crimes, and passed on their humble efforts to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

What did Bonnie Dumanis do? Prosecute the crime? Not likely. Just as she had refused to prosecute CVESD Assistant Superintedent Richard Werlin for obstruction of justice, she also refused to prosecute Kim Simmons.

Why? Maybe because Kim Simmons knew too much about crimes at Castle Park Elementary.

Did I mention that Kim Simmons was a close friend of transferred teacher Robin Donlan, a member of a powerful teacher clique at Castle Park Elementary that received a great deal of support form local papers when she and several other teachers were transferred out of the school?

Robin Donlan and her friends created a bizarre brouhaha, in which they and the media attacked the principal of Castle Park Elementary without ever mentioning the crimes of which Donlan had been accused. The truth was that the principal was attacked for daring to challenge the authority of the "family" that had created a crime wave at the school.

In October 2004, Kim Simmons entered a Castle Park Elementary classroom, and asked to use the school phone during class time so she could call up Robin Donlan and ask for instructions on how to proceed with her attacks on the principal of the school. The teacher gave permission, and took the opportunity to explain to her students that she was "mad at the principal." (There has been a dearth of professionalism at Castle Park Elementary since this "Castle Park Family" teacher group took over.)

Kim Simmons, along with Gina Boyd, the president of the teacher union, and school site council President Felicia Starr were working with transferred teacher Robin Donlan to get rid of the first principal who had had the nerve to stand up to the arbitrary power of the group of teachers who ruled the school.

What was Cheryl Cox's role in all this? She and all the other board members authorized the payment of hundreds of thousands of public dollars to Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz law firm to represent Robin Donlan and cover up the crimes initiated by her and Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin and several other CVESD officers and employees in 2000 and 2001. After fostering perjury and other crimes, and using huge sums of public money to keep bad teachers in power, Cheryl Cox ran for mayor on a platform of "charater" and "fiscal responsibility."

The San Diego Union Tribune has maintained to this day a complete black-out regarding crimes committed by Robin Donlan, Richard Werlin, Cheryl Cox and others at CVESD. On November 17, 2006 the SDUT published a small article about the arrest of former PTA Kim Simmons. The story immediately went into "partially hidden" status in the Union-Tribunes archives. (If someone does a signonsandiego search for "castle park PTA Simmons," he'll get a message back saying "No articles found.) The article can only be found by leaving "simmons" out of the search. If you already know about Kimberlee Simmons, the San Diego Union Tribune doesn't want you to know more.

Of course, there has been no follow-up to the SDUT story. But there should be--because the story created the false impression that the police were actually intending to do something about crime at Castle Park Elementary. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The police waited until Cox was elected, and then they did their hoax arrest, but Kim Simmons was never charged with anything.

When wil the SD Union Tribune publish the full story, revealing Kim Simmons' close association to Robin Donlan and the "Castle Park Five"? When will the San Diego Union Tribune apologize for so maliciously attacking the honorable and decent principal of Castle Park Elementary on behalf of Robin Donlan, Kim Simmons, and the rest of their clique, after the group was found to be responsible for yet another crime after the SDUT had written so much on its behalf? How about it, Don Sevrens?

The SDUT November 2006 story about Simmons arrest was published to create the impression that Bonnie Dumanis and the Chula Vista Police Department are not covering up crimes involving Cheryl Cox and Castle Park Elementary School. It appears that Simmons wasn't really the fall guy; she was actually the pretend fall guy.

Bonnie Dumanis, why don't you investigate the use of public resources for political purposes at CVPD? Why don't you investigate crimes at Chula Vista Elementary School District, including perjury by Cheryl Cox and Robin Donlan? Or do you only use the public resources under your control to investigate Democrats?


*The police "call' report that was hidden for months by the CVPD revealed Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin's attempt to silence a teacher who had suggested that the media might investigate what was happening at the school in 2001. The teacher clearly knew nothing about the media in San Diego. The San Diego Union Tribune, the Chula Vista Star-News and La Prensa still have not reported those crimes, although all three newspapers have long known about them. These three publications exposed their lack of journalistic ethics when they published a deluge of letters, articles and editorials defending the teacher, Robin Colls/Donlan who initiated the crime wave! All three papers were incensed when Robin Colls was transferred from Castle Park Elementary. Richard Werlin, who called the police when the teacher mentioned the media, didn't correctly estimate the power of his Chula Vista Elementary School Board bosses, including Cheryl Cox, to silence the media. Werlin did go on to achieve a certain amount of notoriety for his use of the police to silence teachers. He had second-grade teacher Jenny Mo arrested in front of her students at his new school district in Richmond, California this year when the teacher went to the media with a story about bullying at her school. Of course, Werlin didn't step up and take the credit/blame for the arrest. He let the principal sit in the hot seat. He took indefinite sick leave from his position.

Why did Pamela Smith and union leaders suddenly become friends in 2006?

Pamela Smith has trouble making up her mind.

From 2001 to 2004, Smith put $100,000s of CVESD's taxpayer dollars into keeping teachers Robin Donlan, Peggie Myers, Nikki Perez and their friends in control of Castle Park Elementary. Smith voted to cover up teacher and administrator crimes, and to keep up the pressure on teachers and administrators to lie under oath.

Then in August 2004, Myers, Donlan and Perez were transferred out of the school. Pamela Smith and the rest of the board seem to have approved of that, since they all voted to keep Superintendent Lowell Billings in his position ever since.

Pamela Smith spent more tax money to defend the district FROM Robin Donlan and her friends, after having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend Robin Donlan and her friends. Is this making any sense?

Here's another puzzle. For years and years, Pamela Smith voted in lock step with anti-union board members Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham.

Then everything changed in 2006. Pamela Smith (and the rest of the board) were suddenly best friends with the teachers union. Chula Vista Educators suddenly supported Pamela Smith in 2006 after many years of opposing her.

Why? Because the board and the union had something in common: they both wanted to cover up wrongdoing they had committed together since 2001. Both the incumbants and the union feared that an outsider might win, someone who would have no sympathy for the $100,000s of taxdollars the board had spent covering up crimes by administrators and union leaders illegal acts by administrators and union leaders.