Discipline in schools: are the adults worse than the children at Horton and Castle Park Elementary Schools?

Here are two stories of misbehavior at schools. In the first, students became noisy in the cafeteria and grabbed a bathroom pass from an employee's pocket. In the second, teachers celebrated the last day of school by saturating curtains, walls, upholstered furniture and carpet in the teachers lounge with soda and desserts that were left over from parties in their classrooms.

Too many adults in schools confuse authority with power. They think whoever has power gets to do whatever they want. Quite a few teachers and administrators are as desperately in need of lessons in respect as the worst-behaved students.

Story One

ACLU criticizes S.D. elementary school for forcing students to plank

Maureen Magee

San Diego Union-Tribune
Dec. 5, 2016

Horton Elementary School in southeastern San Diego has come under fire for disciplining students for misbehavior by forcing them to hold a plank position on a hot blacktop surface, which the ACLU said amounts to corporal punishment.

An incident occurred in October when a ruckus erupted in the cafeteria after a student reportedly took a bathroom pass from an employee’s pocket. The school replaced open recess for fourth- and fifth-graders with structured exercising, including the plank or push-up position.

Some of the students’ parents were banned from campus for 14 days under threat of prosecution after they complained to the principal...

San Diego Unified disagrees that corporal punishment was used, rather Horton “modified open recess” for the students for three days “as a result of unruly behavior displayed by students during the lunch period on Oct. 14,” district spokeswoman Shari Winet said in a written statement...

The rowdy lunchtime incident prompted staff to summon the principal, Staci Dent, who arrived at the cafeteria to find some students pounding on their desks or tables...

According to the ACLU and parent complaints filed with the district, students were “forced to get into a push-up or ‘plank’ position, and hold the pose for a significant period of time, potentially as long as several minutes.” Some developed blisters on their hands after they “were forced to hold their hands against the scalding hot blacktop” or face time in juvenile hall, according to the principal’s threats, the ACLU said in its letter to Marten.

...The principal sent “stay away” letters to at least four parents informing them they were banned from campus for 14 days under a provision in the Penal Code. The letters threatened the parents with arrest and prosecution should they “enter onto district property in the future and should they cause disturbance or disruption....Read more here.

Story Two--Food Fight at Castle Park Elementary
by Maura Larkins
Dec. 11, 2016

There was a huge food fight at Castle Park Elementary School when I was a teacher there.

The walls, furniture and carpet of the teachers lounge were saturated with sodas and cake on the last day of classes. It took the custodians over a week to clean it, and another week for it to dry. There were absolutely no consequences for any of the immature, negligent teachers who made the mess. (No students were involved.)

The next year one of the teachers returned to the lounge on the last day of school wearing a raincoat. She was planning to do a repeat performance, but no one else was interested.

The teacher in the raincoat (I'll call her "R" for raincoat) had a habit of becoming enraged when students weren't suspended when she demanded it. She and her "family" (I kid you not; that's what her clique of teachers called themselves) controlled the principal and the district administration.

"R" also caused huge legal bills for the district and was finally transferred out as part of the "Castle Park Five" when the district tried to retake control of the school from the rogue teachers.

Ironically, David Loy, chief counsel for the San Diego ACLU, went out of his way to cover-up everything that happened at Castle Park Elementary. He went out of his way to undermine my First Amendment rights in this law suit. I suspect that some wealthy ACLU donor (someone like Irwin Jacobs) gives large donations to the ACLU and in return asks the San Diego ACLU to foster his pet projects, one of which is to increase the arbitrary power of school administrators. Irwin Jacobs is my top suspect because he has spent huge amounts of money trying to mold schools to fit his vision, which even included packing the SDUSD board with unelected board members.

I think the adults at Horton Elementary would have been more successful at encouraging kids to value self-control if they involved the kids in some highly organized but fun physical activities.

CVESD teacher removed for requesting massages from students, but Pettit isn't the only employee whose job is threatened

Stephenie Pettit

See comments at bottom of this post.

Stephenie Pettit has been placed on administrative leave for requesting massages from students. (See Channel 10 News story below.)

No one, including the police, has found that there was any hint of wrongdoing in Ms. Pettit's classroom--only bad judgment.

(Updated Mar. 14, 2014) But a parent has made me realize that Ms. Pettit's actions could result in serious harm to students in the future because they conditioned children to touch an adult on request. Even worse, kids were given class currency to do the touching. If CVESD used my plan for master teachers, this would not have happened. Our system puts untested teachers in full and solitary control of classrooms right after getting their teaching credentials. There is no close oversight or support to guide them.

Superintendent Francisco Escobedo will need to be careful in this case. A couple of members of his administration have more to hide than a few massages.

Asst. Supt. Sandra Villegas-Zuniga and Human Resources director Peg Myers will want to go easy on Ms. Pettit. They will want to continue the district's policy of avoiding investigations. It's a good policy when the people with the most to hide are not the ones the district is targeting. Ms. Pettit might say more than they want to hear if she were pressed for information.

WHAT KIND OF INVESTIGATIONS DOES CVESD CONDUCT?

Let's compare the two situations: guns and violence in the earlier case versus kids giving massages in the current case. Why was there NO investigation in the first case, while the police were called in in the second case?

The fact is, CVESD doesn't do thorough investigations to keep kids safe. Instead, it tries to protect its reputation. Too often this means covering up truly illegal actions by staff. As soon as as a report of child molestation surfaces in any school, a district administrator runs over to the school and threatens all the teachers that they'd better keep quiet. And they do keep quiet. The public has the right to vote for board members, but clearly does NOT enjoy the right to know what's going on at school districts.

Stephenie Pettit would NOT be the target of any investigation in the earlier case, but she'd be a star witness. She knows the truth about the reports of "fear for their lives" by teachers Jo Ellen Hamilton and Linda Watson when they taught at Castle Park Elementary in 2001. Pettit knows the role that Peg Myers played in the cover-up of crimes by Robin Donlan and other teachers.

And Sandra Villegas-Zuniga and Francisco Escobedo also know, or they should know.


Asst. Supt. Sandra Villegas-Zuniga might want to review her bizarre dealings with Peg Myers.


Peg Myers at her deposition

When Myers was the site representative at Castle Park Elementary School about ten years ago, she kept a tight rein on Stephenie Pettit in order to make sure that illegal actions were kept hidden. Stephenie Pettit was not involved in the original illegal actions, but she did keep her mouth shut after she found out about them. Later, when Myers was President of Chula Vista Educators (CVE), she continued to use her position to cover-up events at Castle Park in 2000-2001.

When she was President of CVE, Myers apparently impressed Villegas-Zuniga as someone who would help the district manipulate teachers. After sitting across from Myers at the bargaining table for a number of years, Villegas-Zuniga convinced Myers to clamber across the table to the other side and accept the job of Director of Human Resources. Obviously, Peg's intimate knowledge of individual teachers, and the workings of the teacher union, have been very helpful to the district in intimidating teachers. [Yes, I know that the district website claims that Myers is in charge of "classified" staff. Don't be fooled. She spends at least some of her time intimidating teachers.]

So here's the problem in the current situation. Stephenie Pettit knows the details of who was involved, and what actions they took, during the years when a large number of violations of civil and criminal laws were committed at Castle Park Elementary School, the district office, and the teachers union. The near-destruction of a school by power-hungry teachers and administrators was just the boost Peg Myers' career needed, and she has catapulted dramatically to higher positions since she was just an ordinary teacher at Castle Park Elementary in 2001.

CASTLE PARK ELEMENTARY

The effects of the decade-long teacher meltdown at Castle Park Elementary--that resulted in the school having 11 principals in 11 years--continue to ripple through the district.

It staggers the imagination to realize how many teachers involved with Castle Park Elementary's descent into a miasma of dysfunction have continued to make news long since the Chula Vista Star-News and San Diego Union-Tribune lost interest in supporting a troublesome group of teachers, parents and administrators that brought the school to its knees during their years of arbitrary power.


Pam Smith and Larry Cunningham

Current Chula Vista Elementary board members Pam Smith and Larry Cunningham oversaw the cover-up of illegal actions by CVESD employees at the school in 2000-2001. (I was a teacher at Castle Park Elementary, with Stephenie Pettit and Peg Myers, at that time.)


Former CVE president Jim Groth wanted a replacement who would continue the teacher versus teacher culture that he had helped create. Peg Myers fit the bill perfectly. See all Jim Groth blog posts.

It should be mentioned that current member of the statewide CTA board of directors Jim Groth played a big role in the concealment of illegal actions. He was then, and still is, a member of the Chula Vista Educators board. I imagine he's already hopped in his car and driven over to the district office to remind the administration that the district and the teachers union need to continue the cover-up.

After the district paid $100,000s of taxpayer dollars in legal fees to lawyers Dan Shinoff and Mark Bresee for their successful efforts to protect teachers and administrators who had committed crimes, the prevailing teachers apparently felt invulnerable. They delighted in their arbitrary power to do whatever they wanted and get away with it. What else could the district expect when it had fired a teacher (me!) simply for demanding an investigation, and for refusing to come back to work until something was done about the relentless harassment of me by teacher thugs.


Former CVE President Gina Boyd. See Gina Boyd's deposition HERE.


Robin Donlan, notorious along with her husband for $7 million Wireless Facilities stock options fraud case. See Robin Donlan's deposition HERE.

The rogue teachers were led by Robin Donlan, a personal friend of both Peg Myers and former CVE president Gina Boyd. Gina Boyd was a member in extremely good standing of the self-styled "Castle Park Family". The self-styled "Castle Park Family" resisted all efforts by a string of principals (averaging one principal per year for 11 years) to get them to settle down and do their jobs. I myself was a target of the ruling teachers. Administrators Libia Gil and Rick Werlin did the bidding of those teachers.

Before my lawsuit was even finished, five teachers were transferred out of the school during the summer of 2004. Stephanie Pettit was one of the "Castle Park Five" group that included the notorious Robin Donlan, Peg Myers, and Nikki Perez.

This district keeps finding that its favored employees have big problems. Perhaps an effective evaluation system for teachers would help? But no, that would interfere with the politics that currently guides employment decisions at the district. And the district wouldn't have hired Peg Myers if it didn't want to keep politics in the forefront of district decisions.

I doubt that the district will try to fire Mrs. Pettit. She knows too much about criminal actions by teachers and administrators. I predict a settlement.

And as far as the parent who says Stephanie should not teach again, I don't see how voluntarily giving a massage to a teacher could seriously harm a child. The situation is no more serious than if Stephanie were rewarding kids to fan her. The problem with the behavior is that the students are being asked to treat the teacher like a queen rather than a professional. The touching was clearly NOT sexual. It's only wrong because kids shouldn't be performing personal services for teachers--like combing hair, cutting hair, shining shoes, etc. Of course, Stephenie used poor judgment, but she's been taught by the district and the teachers union that she and other teachers with political connections are free to indulge any whim without repercussions.

A more important issue is that kids are being damaged by teachers every day in CVESD classrooms. There is psychological damage being done by cruel, rigid teachers who take pleasure in causing pain. Stephanie did not cause pain to the kids who volunteered to give her massages.

It would be interesting to know what else was happening when the kids were giving the teacher a massage. Was she teaching them at the same time? This could very well be the case. But there are so many classrooms where teachers spend huge amounts of time NOT interacting with their students that it would be very dangerous for anyone to criticize Stephanie even if she had not been teaching while receiving a massage. She could easily get plenty of witnesses to talk about the time wasted in classrooms while teachers are doing something other than teaching. I could write a book about it.

Stephanie deserves the due process than she herself helped to deny to me. Lawyer Dan Shinoff of Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz took tax dollars for his successful efforts to keep Stephanie from being deposed in my case. I would be happy to deposed in any case she might file--which is exactly why I think that the district won't try to fire her. Here's my deposition in the current defamation lawsuit against me by Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz. Stutz is quite miffed, it seems, that the Court of Appeal says I have a constitutional right to discuss the lawyers who act on behalf of public schools.

Though I was not able to depose Stephanie, I was able to take the depositions of Castle Park Family members Gina Boyd, Peg Myers and Robin Donlan. (I recommend clicking on these links for these depositions if only to see the hilarious expressions on the faces of teachers who don't like being asked to tell the truth.)

NEWS COVERAGE

Channel 10 News and San Diego Union-Tribune have covered this story. Let's see if Channel 10 will investigate further the failure of school districts to do meaningful evaluations of teachers. The SDUT has been covering up for CVESD for years. I hope they will start to cover the real stories instead of only the sensationalistic ones.

EVALUATING TEACHERS

Researches say that 10% of teachers are doing a bad job, failing to add value to their students' academic abilities. Many teachers have serious personality problems. But the fact is that CVESD really doesn't know its teachers. I never met a principal who really observed and really talked to staff members to find out what they were up to.

It's time that ALL teachers in CVESD were properly evaluated.

Chula Vista teacher removed from job, accused of soliciting massages from students
Kandiss Crone
10 News
02/13/2014

CHULA VISTA, Calif. - Some parents at a South Bay elementary school told 10News they couldn't believe what their kids said went on inside their third-grade classroom.

"This behavior, to my son, has become so normalized that he did not report it to me," said parent Andy Stumph.

Some parents say Salt Creek Elementary School teacher Stephanie Petitt solicited massages from the students during reading time in exchange for $10 in class money. The parents also say Petitt also encouraged the third graders to give each other massages.

"The most children I've heard at any one time that was massaging the teacher was seven -- one on each leg, one on each arm, one on each shoulder, one playing with the hair," Stumph said.

The parents voiced their concerns at a school board meeting Wednesday night but weren't happy with the outcome, so they contacted 10News.

Chula Vista Elementary School District Superintendent Francisco Escobedo said Chula Vista police were called in to investigate but did not find any criminal wrongdoing.

"This behavior is absolutely not acceptable. We have professional standards at Chula Vista," Escobedo said.

Escobedo said Petitt is no longer teaching at the school, but is still employed with the district.

"She's on administrative leave; these allegations we take very seriously and we have to do due process to investigate," Escobedo said.

Parents say that's not enough, and they worry the teacher's actions could have a lasting impact on their kids.

"If there's a goal to be had ... Mrs. Petit would never be able to teach again," parent Samantha Trickey said.

Three parents pulled their children out of the school, 10News learned.

The district says a long-term substitute will replace the teacher.

Teacher on leave over massage claims
U‑T San Diego
Feb. 14, 2014 - She reported back to work Monday and taught her class after investigations by the Chula Vista Elementary School District and the Chula Vista ...

Administrators prevail over teachers and students who follow them to lunchtime trysts

This case interested me because it is somewhat similar to what happened at Castle Park Elementary, except that it was not students, but teachers, who followed a district administrator to a lunchtime tryst in the California case. Castle Park Elementary had a very disturbed culture among the teachers, who wanted to retaliate after several teachers had been transferred out of the school.

The teachers didn't seem to appreciate that the district was in the middle of a court case in which it paid $100,000s to lawyers to defend these very teachers for illegal actions. The teachers styled themselves as "The Castle Park Family", and they were furious.

They caused a big public brouhaha, but the lunchtime stalking incident did not reach the newspapers. The board and the district administrators should have disciplined the teachers at the beginning instead of paying $100,000s of tax dollars to conceal their illegal actions. They became drunk with power, and could not be controlled by any principal. The school had eleven principals in eleven years. Also, one of their leaders, Peg Myers, became the President of Chula Vista Educators, and retains that position today. During the strife at Castle Park Elementary, Peg Myers worked closely with CTA director Jim Groth.

Court Decisions Favor Schools
BY ANDREA BELL
nassp.org
National Association of Secondary School Principals
Nov. 2000

Principal Prevails

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas found in favor of a school principal on legal issues related to the intended use of dubious photographs that could have potentially compromised the principal’s integrity.

In Riggan v. Midland Indep. Sch. Dist. (86 F. Supp. 2d 647 [W.D. Tex. 2000]), Casey Riggan, a senior at Midland (Tex.) Senior High School, along with several o f hi s f r i ends, followed the school’s principal to the house of a teacher and photographed the principal’s car in front of the house. Not long after, administrators investigating rumors of the principal’s sexual impropriety learned that Riggan had photos that might be linked to their investigation. The principal himself also learned of the photos and contacted Riggan’s father for a conference.

Although the parties disputed exactly what was said at that meeting, the principal alleged that Riggan intended to print the photograph on a T-shirt with the statement “I never had sex with that woman” for graduates to wear during graduation to publicly humiliate him.

Additionally, the principal charged that Riggan’s photos were taken in retaliation for prior disciplinary actions and attempted to punish Riggan by suspending him and temporarily assigning him to the Alternative Education Program and requiring him to write apologies or be banned from graduation. Riggan claimed that the photos were absolutely protected under the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of expression and that, as a result, the school could not regulate the photos or their use. The court held that although the photo-bearing T-shirt would be considered an expressive activity, regulation of the photographs in this case would not violate the First Amendment because Riggan did not have the absolute right to publicly humiliate the principal at graduation. Additionally, the court explained that if the p h o t o h a d b e e n p r i n t e d o n t h e Tshirts for graduation, the resulting disruption would have justified Riggan’s punishment by the school.

Peg Myers speaks for a good cause

Chula Vista Educators President Peg Myers

I'm glad Peg Myers is putting some effort into a good cause.

I couldn't help noticing that it looks like she's standing in front of the Hall of Justice in San Diego in the above picture. That's where her lawyers went to file an opposition to her being deposed in a case involving a cover up of teacher crimes at Castle Park Elementary. CTA was apparently very pleased with her efforts to cover up crimes at the school, but the school district eventually became concerned about what was going on at the school, and Peg was administratively transferred out of the school in 2004. Eventually a pal of Peg's was arrested for embezzling $20,000 from the Castle Park PTA, but for some reason Bonnie Dumanis (far right in photo above) declined to prosecute. Peg became Chula Vista Educators president without running for the office with a little help from Jim Groth. Peg herself finally submitted to a deposition (text of deposition is here).

San Diego leaders ask for budget reform now
CTA Action
By Len Feldman

Chula Vista Educators President Peg Myers at a Budget Reform Now rally joined by (left to right) Carlsbad Firefighters Association President Rick Fisher, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender, City of San diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, and San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

Prominent San Diego leaders, including Carlsbad Firefighters Association President Rick Fisher, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender, City of San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, and San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, joined Chula Vista Educators President Peg Myers at a Budget Reform Now rally in April.

"We ask all Californians to join us in support of these propositions as a long-term investment toward a brighter future for our children," said Myers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is slated to release an updated state budget around May 25, and what kind of news that proposal holds for vital services — including public education — depends on whether voters approve CTA-backed Propositions 1A-1F on May 19.

CTA's State Council of Education at its March meeting voted to support each of those pending ballot measures.

CTA fiscal experts note that the national recession has continued to wreak havoc on state revenues, with at least one projection from the state Department of Finance suggesting the weakening economy could open a new budget deficit of up to $15 billion for California.

If voters reject the ballot measures — including Proposition 1B, the repayment of $9.3 billion to public education — the governor's budget plan could include another significant round of budget cuts. Cuts necessary to close a new $15 billion or more budget gap would do untold devastation to public schools, which are already reeling from the impact of cuts suffered earlier this year.

25 Chicago middle school students jailed in food fight; lounge food fight by "Castle Park Family" teachers seems to increase status of participants

A comparison of two food fights, a recent brawl by students in Chicago and a 1999 outburst by teachers belonging to the "Castle Park family":

It took two janitors over a week to clean walls and shampoo rugs and upholstered furniture in the teachers lounge at Castle Park Elementary School after a small group teachers went wild after the students left on the last day of school in 1999. (The teachers never reimbursed the taxpayers.) The teachers brought the leftovers from class parties to the lounge, including lots of fruit punch and whipped cream.

These teachers ruled the roost at the school, getting rid of principal after principal that didn't do what the "family" wanted. One principal acceded to so many demands for spending that he plunged the school deep into debt and was fired. Another allowed teachers to engage in so many illegal actions that the district ended up in court for years defending those teachers. Principal Ollie Matos was hired to get the teachers under control, but the teachers union, Chula Vista Educators, prevented him from doing so.

25 Chicago Students Arrested for a Middle-School Food Fight
New York Times
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: November 10, 2009

CHICAGO — The food fight here started the way such bouts do in school lunchrooms most anywhere: an apple was tossed, a cookie turned into a torpedo, and an orange plunked someone in the head. Within minutes, dozens of middle-school students had joined in the ruckus, and spattered adults were ducking for cover.

By the end of the day, 25 of the students, ages 11 to 15, had been rounded up, arrested, taken from school and put in jail. A spokesman for the Chicago police said the charges were reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.

That was last Thursday afternoon. Now parents are questioning what seem to them like the criminalization of age-old adolescent pranks, and the lasting legal and psychological impact of the arrests.

“My children have to appear in court,” Erica Russell, the mother of two eighth-grade girls who spent eight hours in jail, said Tuesday. “They were handcuffed, slammed in a wagon, had their mug shots taken and treated like real criminals.”...

Who blanked this blog yesterday?

Peg Myers is facing an election in May as President of Chula Vista Educators.







I woke up yesterday morning and found all the posts missing from this blog.

Who could have done it?

Someone seems to have gotten really angry about the last article I published before my blog went blank; it concerned the deposition of Chula Vista Educators President Peg Myers.

I have a prime suspect.

By looking at the IP addresses of computers that hit my site, I know that the first person who looked at the Peg Myers story (on Saturday morning, March 1) was also the last person who saw it in the earlier hours of the next morning, at 12:21 a.m. on Sunday, just before the blog went blank.

Interestingly, this person was using the same computer as the anonymous person who posted this comment just a few days ago:

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness for the perseverance of the attorneys in Shinoff's firm...some day this crazy nonsensical web site will come down!

This angry visitor also looked at all four pages of Peg Myers deposition in my San Diego Education Report website--twice. No one else came close to that level of interest.

A witness told me that Peg Myers used the word "crazy" to refer to me. Putting all the information together, I am suspecting Peg Myers, who is facing an election in May if she is to continue as President of Chula Vista Educators. It's perfectly understandable that Myers wouldn't want her deposition to be exposed during a campaign. It should be noted that Peg Myers was one of the celebrated "Castle Park Five."

I know that California Teachers Association protects sitting presidents of CTA locals, and that CTA information has previously disappeared from my website.

This is the information I have about the anonymous visitor:

IP Address
72.220.30.144
Cox Communications
United States
California
Chula Vista
Time of Visit Mar 1 2009 12:21:31 am
Visit Length 10 minutes 6 seconds
Page Views 2
Out Click SAN DIEGO EDUCATION REPORT WEBSITE
Time Zone UTC-8:00

Is this CTA official completely incompetent--or is she committing perjury?

Gina Boyd, former president of Chula Vista Educators, an affiliate of California Teachers Association, gave some bizarre responses to deposition questions by Chula Vista Elementary School District teacher Maura Larkins. Maura Larkins was removed from her position at Castle Park Elementary when Assistant Superintendent Rick Werlin claim that he'd received Saturday night phone calls in which two anonymous teachers claimed that they feared Larkins would kill them. The school district never investigated the matter.

Why did Ms. Boyd hide the truth? The only motivations I can think of are that she wanted to get reelected, and to protect her friend Robin Donlan and other members of the Castle Park Five.


[Page 79 10:17:36 Maura Larkins:]

Were you curious as to what my behavior might have been that caused them to fear for their lives?

[Gina Boyd:]


(long pause...) I guess...I don't know...



[Maura Larkins 10:18:20:]

You weren't drivingly curious as to why teachers were concerned that another teacher might kill them?

[Stutz law firm Atty. Kelly Angell:]

Objection. Asked and answered.

[Maura Larkins 10:19:]

...Were you curious about it--the results of his investigation?

I don't know whether he ever completed it, frankly.

Q. Did you ask him?

A. No.

10:19:28

Q. Were you concerned about the safety of teachers at Castle Park?

A. I'm concerned about the safety of all my teachers...

10:20:06

Did any teacher ever tell you that he or she feared that I might kill him or her?

No.





[Page 81, line 19]

...Did you believe that I had behaved in a manner that threatened the lives of others?

No.

Did you think these two people had lied?

No...

A brick to Leslie Devaney for demanding openness at Tri-City while she works to cover up events at Tri-City Hospital and CVESD

I'm concerned that attorney Leslie Devaney's demands for openness at Tri-City Healthcare are actually an attempt to STOP OR SABOTAGE THE FORENSIC AUDIT. Which does the public need more: an effective audit of financial shenanigans, or a long fight at a board meeting at which the final outcome was predetermined since the majority had all the votes they needed no matter who showed up? I think that the shortness of the meeting was merely an effort to protect the psyches of the board members, who apparently don't have much of a taste for being yelled at. I think they need to toughen up and summon up some courage. They're way too afraid of Leslie Devaney and Ray Artiano and the bigshots who hired them. The board needs to do some homework, to make sure it really understands the situation, and then stand up and go to bat for what it believes in. Too many board members across the spectrum of public entities simply do what their lawyers tell them to do.

This blog has awarded a big brick to attorney Leslie Devaney for hypocrisy and secrecy. Since 2001 Leslie Devaney's law firm Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz has been paid $100,000s of tax dollars by Chula Vista Elementary School District to cover up crimes and other violations of law.

Yet Devaney has the temerity to denounce the new Tri-City Healthcare board majority for lack of openness. Why is she doing this? Apparently to stop the board's investigation into possible criminal activity by her clients Art Gonzalez and seven of his fellow administrators.

But it gets worse. At the same time that Devaney is denouncing board members for putting administrators on leave during a forensic audit, she and her partners at Stutz law firm are suing this blogger (Maura Larkins) for defamation, and REFUSING TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE CRIMINAL ACTIONS AT CVESD.

How do I know these documents exist? Because I have over half the pages from the 87-page set of Bate-stamped documents--the ones that were cherry-picked by CVESD because they were less incriminating. The documents were collected by Daniel Shinoff at Chula Vista Elementary School District during the fall of 2001, and Bate-stamped with the number “1” (not “01” or “001”) through 87, inclusive.

In order to make it impossible for Stutz law firm to claim that they couldn't identify the documents, I sent them copies of many of the documents from the set. Still, Stutz says it can't find the documents, and blames a paralegal.

Here's where the story gets humorous: Stutz is suing me for saying that "Daniel Shinoff keeps documents locked up in his office."

* * *

And here's a brick to the San Diego Union Tribune for hypocrisy and secrecy on behalf of Stutz law firm, for publishing tirades against CVESD for transferring the "Castle Park Five" while at the same time keeping secret the $100,000s of tax dollars the district had paid to defend many of those same teachers.

Parents and ACORN stage rally at Castle Park Elementary School

Parents, kids and grandparents of Castle Park Elementary, with the support of Chula Vista ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) rallied to ask for an investigation of the highly unusual and constant dismissals and transfers of teachers and principals from the school since 1995.

They waved signs reading "11 (eleven) principals in 11 (eleven) years" and "New principal: How long will she stay?" Clowns and a unicyclist performed. Vehicles honked their horns. Many drivers called out their support.

As superintendent Lowell Billings arrived, he spoke to a group of parents. I was impressed that he communicated so well in Spanish. He that they would be big changes soon among the staff. Apparently teacher Nikki Perez, the target of several parent complaints, will be tranferred out of the school next week.

Lowell Billings had transferred Perez in 2004, but she challenged him to tell her the reason for the transfer. He could hardly say, "Because you are part of a group of teachers that has committed crimes, damaged student learning, and prevented anyone other than yourselves from having control over the school." The reason he couldn't say these words was that he himself was involved in the wrongdoing and the coverup. So an arbitrator ruled that Perez should be allowed to return to the school. Lionel Richman, the mediator, is probably quite unhappy with both Lowell Billings and the teachers union for concealing the truth from him.

Tonight Mr. Billings entered the Castle Park Elementary auditorium to join a crowd of over 100 that had come to cheer parents who were to be awarded diplomas for completing "Parents Institute" classes that had been brought to the school by principal Carlos Ulloa.

Parents are unhappy that yet another principal has been pushed out of the school by the group of teachers that calls itself the "Castle Park Family." This group of teachers seems to be fully in control of personnel decisions at Castle Park Elementary. They have attacked Billings in the press quite ferociously, but he still humbly gets rid of anyone whose ouster is demanded by the "Family."

At one point parents burst out with chants of "Let him stay!" ("¡Que se quede!")

Alicia Moreno, who has been associate principal at Vista Square Elementary in CVESD, will take Carlos Ulloa's place. Billings told parents that Ms. Moreno is very strict and will be very good for the school.

Billings didn't say if Moreno would be strict with the teachers who have caused so many problems with the school. A better idea would be to sit the teachers down, talk about the real problems of dishonesty and constant battles for power. If Moreno doesn't deal with those problems, no amount of strictness will help. The dishonesty and power battles, the anger and fear of discovery, will continue in the teachers lounge of Castle Park Elementary.

Dr. Leonard Hernandez continues CVESD's policy of hiding Castle Park Elementary secrets

On May 27, 2008 Dr. Leonard Hernandez from the CVESD office asked a group of about fifty Castle Park Elementary parents what kind of person they wanted as their twelfth principal in under fifteen years, and then told them that the district would make a decision within about two weeks.

He told parents he didn't want to discuss why yet another principal is leaving Castle Park.

He also didn't want to discuss the group of teachers that holds power at the school. Of the five teachers that the district transferred from the school in 2004, one has returned (Nikki Perez), and others exert great influence from outside the school, particularly from the teachers union office (Chula Vista Educators).

The teachers who control the school call themselves the "Castle Park Family," and they have been able to call the shots at the district office for seven years now.

After the district and its lawyers (Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz) made the serious mistake in 2001 of covering up crimes committed by some of these teachers, the district ended up paying $100,000s of dollars to the lawyers.

Then the district found, to its surprise, that the teachers were not grateful at all. Instead, the teachers were determined to keep calling the shots, making it impossible for the district to transfer trouble-making teachers out of Castle Park Elementary.

I believe that Castle Park Elementary (which I attended in the fifties, and worked at from 1997-2001) will never return to normal function until the district engages in some open and honest discussion, modeled on South Africa's "truth and reconciliation" committees.

The district and Castle Park Elementary teachers should quit hiding the crimes and other wrongdoing, say they're sorry for the harm done, and start some honest discussions about human decency and appropriate professional behavior for teachers. Then instead of worrying about how to keep their secrets hidden (as Dr. Leonard Hernandez demanded at the meeting), they could put all that energy into helping children become healthy, strong, honest, law-abiding, well-educated citizens.

Felicia Starr, former school board candidate, involved once again in Castle Park Elementary principal attack

Felicia Starr (in pink sweatshirt), former CVESD board candidate, Chula Vista ethics committee member, Castle Park Elementary PTA president and site council chairperson who worked closely with Kim Simmons to attack previous principal Ollie Matos in 2004, showed up at the meeting on May 27, 2008 at which parents discussed the traits they wished to find in their next principal.

Many of the approximately 50 parents at the meeting told district representative Dr. Leonard Hernandez that they want someone just like Carlos Ulloa, the current principal (who will be leaving next month).

But Felicia Starr and the "Castle Park Family" (a group of teachers and union honchos who have chewed up and spit out one principal after another for the past fifteen years, and forced many excellent teachers to leave, as well) made it impossible for Carlos Ulloa to stay.

Jim Groth's October report to San Diego teachers

Jim Groth of the California Teachers Association Board of Directors (and Chula Vista Elementary School District) likes to explain how things work at CTA--leaving out some important facts. Here are some snippets from his October 2007 report entitled, appropriately enough, "Power and Resources."

1) Jim says:

"Legal Services is 3.6% of CTA dues. Legal Services provides CTA members and Chapters with comprehensive legal protection."

What Jim doesn't say:

"The 'comprehensive legal protection' only applies to teachers who are in favor with Beverly Tucker, the CTA chief counsel. These include child molesters like Albert Truitt, and probationary teachers who flunk exams, but not victims of crimes committed by me and my friends, such as the crimes committed at Castle Park Elementary School in CVESD. People like me and Robin Donlan and Peggie Myers are the ones who get the comprehensive protection, not competent, innocent teachers."

2) Jim says:

"Governance is 4.3% of CTA dues. Governance includes all direct membership involvement in the control, operation and direction of CTA."

What Jim doesn't say:

"The salaries of us folks who run the union are none of your business. But someone who will reliably parrot what Beverly Tucker and Carolyn Doggett dictate, and never disturb our board meetings with complaints about illegal actions and actions that harm children, can conceivably become president and live in luxury in Burlingame with a very comfortable income."

3) Jim says:

"The CTA budget is broad and far-reaching. It provides the financial resources so that we can exercise our power..."

What Jim doesn't say:

In this case, I've got to give Jim credit. He said it all.

For CVE President Peggie Myers, it's all about what's best for #1

Anyone who has listened to Chula Vista teacher Peggie Myers rant regularly about uncooperative students must have been shocked to learn that Ms. Myers didn't think her daughter should have to attend class when a standardized test was being given.

Logical consistency is apparently not something Ms. Myers strives for.

Myers' behavior, particularly the behavior that earned her a place among the "Castle Park Five," indicates that she thinks her students should obey her, but she shouldn't have to take direction from any principal.

In May 2005, the San Diego Union Tribune reported:

"Parent Peggie Myers said her daughter, also a junior, was afraid she'd be unable to get the letters of recommendation she needed for her application to Columbia University's summer school program, which she was in the process of applying for last week. "The pressure these kids are under is ridiculous. It's out of control," Myers said. "Something has to give, and it can't be the emotional health of our children." "So no, I didn't want her taking the standardized tests," Myers said. "It's not going to get her into a better college."" (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040505/news_6m5tests.html)

Ms. Myers was outraged when the CVESD superintendent called her in and told her she was being transferred in August 2004 in order to improve the educational program. She claimed it was a violation of the contract that she not be given a more specific reason.

But it didn't bother her one bit that another teacher was transferred without any meeting with the superintendent, and absolutely no reason given. In fact, the transfer was done to aid the cover-up of illegal actions by members of the Castle Park Five. In that matter, Myers was represented by Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz.

Sadly, Myers has climbed her way to the top of Chula Vista Educators, thanks to assistance from Jim Groth. (She is president; he preceded her in that position.) The two of them have repeatedly shown themselves willing to discard the contract and the law in order to achieve power for themselves.

What teachers do instead of helping obviously-troubled students

Michael Grassie, a teacher shot by 14-year-old Asa Coon at the SuccessTech Adademy in Cleveland, says, "that some teachers at SuccessTech wanted to send the boy to another school so "some other teachers, some other students would have to deal with him."

There's a plan. Do nothing, and keep hoping he'll go away.

I have often heard teachers expressing similar demands that someone else deal with their problems, but I never saw the sentiment so frequently and blatantly stated as I did when I was at Castle Park Elementary School in Chula Vista.

Why do so many people want someone else to do their job?

It seems that many people fall into teaching these days because it's a steady paycheck. And many of these accidental teachers don't seem to understand how to teach kids.

It also seems to me that fewer and fewer teachers are hungry for a challenge. What happened to a sense of responsibility toward others? Or even a sense of joy at accomplishing something?

Teaching jobs should be harder to get--and better paid--to make sure that teachers are highly capable, instead of barely qualitied.

Information was obtained from a Newsweek October 22, 2007 article by Joan Raymond.

3 years 10 months in federal prison for teacher Vencent Donlan

A federal judge yesterday sentenced San Diego teacher Vencent Donlan to 46 months in prison for stealing more than $6 million in stock options from Wireless Facilities, and failing, along with his wife, to pay taxes on it.

Donlan's wife, Robin Colls Donlan, was in court, "rocking back and forth in her seat in the gallery." Robin has been an important figure in Chula Vista Elementary School District, first for initiating a series of crimes that cost the district $100,000s of dollars to defend, and then as one of the Castle Park Five, a group of teachers who, with the help of former Castle Park Elementary PTA presidents Kimberlee Simmons and Felicia Starr, wrested control of the school away from the principal. Kimberlee Simmons was arrested for embezzling $20,000 from the Castle Park PTA, Felicia Starr was appointed to the Chula Vista Ethics Board, and Castle Park Five teacher Peggie Myers recently became president of Chula Vista Educators.

It seems that crime pays at CVESD, but then, how can we expect teachers and their associates to be honest when school board members are not?

Kinda makes you want to throw up your hands in resignation, doesn't it?

The "Castle Park Five" and Speaking English in Cali-for-nia

Arnold wants Californians to focus on English, but I like to know what other people are saying and thinking--even if they aren't saying it in English. Sometimes I'll do a Google search and the only article that talks about the precise issue that interests me is in German or Japanese. In that case, I use Google's handy "Translate this page" button.

But the results aren't always that great. As an example, I offer an article that came out in San Diego's La Prensa newspaper in October of 2004. It concerns the teacher culture that developed at Castle Park Elementary School over a period of many years. In 2004, the Chula Vista Elementary School District, which had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend the criminal actions of Castle Park Elementary teachers, finally got fed up. Five teachers were transferred out of the school. La Prensa told the story of two of those transferred teachers, Peggie Myers and Stephenie Parker-Pettit.

Here is the Google translation of the article. I found the translation fascinating to read, but the Spanish version made a lot more sense.

October 8, 2004
The teachers of Castle Park count their history
By Luis Alonso Perez


The first day of classes in Castle Park Elementary did not begin like in previous years.

This year the children outside ran into with a group of parents and teachers pronouncing itself with posters of their school, against the unexpected change of establishment of a group of teachers that had been several years working for that primary one.

Some children carried in their clothes transfers with the word “Respect”. When he arrived Tom Cruz - Attending of the district inspector he bothered themselves and he asked the demonstrators who did not involve the children, who that problem did not have to do with the children.

But for Peggy Myers - One of the teachers reasignadas to another primary this has to do the children directly, its nine years of masterful effort as in Castle Park have been by the children and the community.

Now, Peggy Myers has to his position a hall fifth primary in Allen Elementary School, but she continues thinking that its change was totally injustificado and still it is furious by the form in which this situation was carried out, specially the form in which found out its transference.

In August last Myers was vacacionando in London, taking advantage of the opportunity to see his husband by five days - as she is assigned by the army to a base in Saudi Arabia when she received a call of his son Greg, informing to him that she had been notified by Tom Cruz who wished to speak with her as soon as she was of return.

In the following days Greg received calls of other teachers commenting to him that Cruz and Lowell had spoken with Billings - Inspector of the district and had been transferred to other primary ones. When finding out, Myers was disturbed totally since she never waited for it. The news obvious ruined its vacations.

Pero Peggy Myers was not the only teacher surprised by the news. Stephenie Petti, teacher of third bilingual degree received a call of Tom Cruz the 16 of August, in which it informed on a meeting the 18 to him into August to discuss on problems that arose the year last in CP and to analyze his subjet for the incoming scholastic year.

His first impression was that it was a hunting of witches to undo of the teachers who caused to problems in Castle Park. For the day of the appointment, Petti she was so estresada that it began to present/display symptoms of complications in his pregnancy. It could not sleep and it underwent panic attacks.

The day of the appointment received the surprise of which the following scholastic year was not going to give to classes in Castle the Parks, who had assigned it to Salt Creek Elementary and she was not going to have a bilingual group.

The news impressed it to the point in which it began to have childbirth contractions then, which caused that in one week it had to go to the hospital because of physical and emotional problems.

When the teachers asked the reason for the transference the answer was simple: The changes were made “By the benefit of the educative program and the students”.

When listening this Peggy Myers asked how was going to benefit to the program or the students, to transfer to a member of the only equipment in Castle Park who had developed a curriculum different from the traditional program?

Lowell Billings did not answer.

When he asked How to transfer a teacher who taught to other teachers in USD on how to give classes to bilingual groups was going to benefit?

Again Billings did not answer.

Stephenie Petti will not be able to begin to give classes in this scholastic year, since is disabled person by her pregnancy. It will return to his workings like teacher when January or February is born its baby in.

Myers and the rest of the teachers thinks that the true reason for its exit of Castle Park was because they were not scared to show his inconformidad with the way in which the director of the primary Ollie Matos directed the school.

“I am arranged to defend what I believe that he is the correct thing and to criticize what I believe that is bad, - Petti- comments concern the students and the educative programs to me of Castle Park. I have a deep interest in its well-being, the academic progress and its personal lives. The families (of the community) are my families, their children are my children”.

“I am not scared to him to the administrative ones, - Petti- added we have had many directors who arrive at Castle Park and try to change the programs that we have developed. Later they go away, and the teachers stay themselves as people in charge to badly repair the damages caused by a director. They come and they go away, but the teachers continue”.

“I widely am described to make my work, perhaps the director felt intimidated by me and my colleagues”, added Petti.

“For a pair of years - Peggy Myers- comments we had a very good leader like director, who looked for the strengths of each teacher and he fomented them, so the results of our tests were highest than it has had Castle Park. From the entrance of Ollie Matos, which has been a very weak leader, the behavior of the students is at its worse moment and the moral of the staff is in its lower point”.

“The problem is not the five teachers in Castle Park - the problem added Meyers- is that if Lowell Billing allows the transference of teachers simply because the directors cannot work with them, then all the teachers of this district run the irrigation of being transferred to express itself in favor of the well-being of the children and the community”.

“The parents of family of the community need to know that they have the right to show his inconformidad before the decisions of the directors if they think that they do not benefit his children, - Petti- commented need to know that their voices have value, that their opinions tell and that it has the power to change the things in the primary ones and the scholastic district. The teachers, and the employees of the district we worked for the families of the community. The parents must of knowing and believing this”.

Note: The correct spelling is Peggie Myers.

CVESD teacher Robin Donlan is under investigation by the FBI, SEC, US Justice Department

CVESD teacher Robin Donlan is under investigation by the FBI, SEC, US Justice Department and the IRS.

The San Diego Union Tribune can't confirm this, but the San Diego Education Report is able to confirm it. The access logs for this site show that all of these government entities have been doing internet searches for Robin Donlan. The SD Union Tribune wrote on May 4, 2007: "The Internal Revenue Service, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney General's Office and the San Diego District Attorney's Office all would neither confirm nor deny any criminal investigation."

Maybe the next time Robin Donlan commits crimes against a fellow teacher, the district will do an investigation, instead of catering to her every whim. CVESD fired two excellent teachers to please Robin Donlan and her "Castle Park Family." The fact that this "family" was committing crimes didn't seem to phase the board at all. Kim Simmons, a prominent member of the "Family," was arrested last year for embezzling up to $20,000 from the Castle Park Elementary PTA.

The CVESD board member (Cheryl Cox, Patrick Judd, Pam Smith, Larry Cunningham and Bertha Lopez) spent $100,000's of public money to cover up Donlan's crimes. The board also pressured teachers and administrators to commit perjury.

The board was aided in this endeavor by Donlan's close friend Gina Boyd, former Chula Vista Educator's president, and Jim Groth, current CVE president, as well as CTA president Barbara Kerr and CTA head counsel Beverly Tucker.

On May 4, 2007, Robin Donlan was served along with her husband Vencent Donlan (Vence) with a $7.7 million lawsuit for fraudulently issuing stock options for local San Diego company Wireless Facilities, where Vence Donlan once was employed. Vence Donlan was in charge of entering Wireless Facilities' stock options data into company software. Robin and Vence sold the options at an enormous profit, and went on a real estate spending spree.

"The accusation that an options administrator defrauded a company of stock is unusual and suggests another avenue of wrongdoing that has, as yet, gone undetected," wrote Kathryn Balint and Keith Darce of the San Diego Union Tribune.

The Union Tribune was a huge supporter of Robin Donlan when she was transferred out of Castle Park Elementary. Along with La Prensa and the Chula Vista Star-News, the Union Trib published glowing stories about Ms. Donlan, and ugly accusations against Lowell Billings and Ollie Matos, the administrators who transferred her. All these newspapers knew about Robin Donlan's crimes at Castle Park Elementary, but refused to print a single word about them.

Castle Park Elementary and school shootings

Most school shootings in America are committed by young people, while adults commit most of such crimes in other countries--and there are fewer shootings in other countries.

My explanation is that very few human beings are capable of going to a school and shooting people. In the U.S., quite a few of these unusual individuals are able to get guns when they are young, and they proceed to commit their once-in-a-lifetime crimes. In other countries, these disturbed individuals can't get the guns until they are older, at which time some of them have calmed down and established peaceful lives.

This topic should be discussed openly at Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista. A disturbed goup of teachers has been struggling for years with an urban legend started by Robin Donlan and her friends, and exacerbated by Cheryl Cox and her lawyers, that someone is going to come to Castle Park Elementary and shoot everybody.

These cynical educators and education lawyers have compromised the mental health of several teachers at Castle Park, resulting in deep paranoia imposed upon earlier mental problems.

Those responsible should try to undo the harm they have done. One principal and one district administrator tried to fix the school, but they went about it in the wrong way. They didn't shine a light on the truth to benefit the hysterical teachers, they just tried to transfer out those who had kept themselves in power by whipping up the staff into a years-long frenzy of anger and fear. (It's a common strategy: to make people afraid by ranting about evil "others" in order to exert control over and loyalty from frightened people, while at the same time carefully covering up the truth.)

In CVESD, the lawyers and teachers union, Chula Vista Educators, have stood in the way of any help for these troubled teachers. Who suffers most when a teacher is crazy? His/her students do--both academically and psychologically.

An Open Letter to CTA chief counsel Beverly Tucker

In the wake of the recent problems at Castle Park Elementary School, many union leaders and their lawyers have reverted to an us-versus-them thinking in which they see themselves as righteous victims and ignore or minimize the injustices they have done, and continue to do, to other people.

In fact, being transferred to another school is not the horrific fate that CTA and the “Castle Park Five” have insisted. However, both students and teachers have suffered great wrongs at the hands of the California Teachers Association. These students and teachers have legitimate grievances, legitimate fears, and legitimate distrust of CTA’s willingness to compromise for the sake of peace.

CTA has made no attempt to build trust. The only alternative to continued dysfunction at Castle Park Elementary is a comprehensive settlement based on simple principles:

--All teachers and students have equal rights to protection of the law; these benefits should not be limited to the leaders of CTA and their allies.

-- If CTA is unwilling or unable to negotiate a policy of respect for the law and the wellbeing of students and teachers, the community must take the lead in promoting one.

-- CTA bears a special responsibility for the current impasse,
by virtue of its massive effort to help union leaders and their allies escape responsibility for their violations of law.

The Comer Program Caused Big Problems

To: James P. Comer, Yale University

Why did no one in your organization come to Castle Park Elementary School in Chula Vista when you were informed in 2000 of problems with your program? Taxpayers paid tens of thousands of dollars to implement the decision-making structure you recommended.

The ramifications of the decisions made when your program was in force have been devastating. The Comer Process was tossed out, but the dysfunction it engendered continues.

I understand that you are too busy writing papers to take an interest in schools that are damaged by your program. I appears that you think of Comer schools as little eaglets who must be pushed from the nest and forced to fly on their own.

The "Castle Park Five" problems, and $100,000s of thousands of legal fees would quite possibly never have occurred if it hadn't been for your program.