From the archives: GCCCD's Rick Walker will challenge corrupt officials

Maura Larkins' note: A few months ago I depublished about 400 posts, and I'm gradually republishing them. I'm working to censor certain allegations against Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz law firm while continuing to make information available about the actions of public officials.

California Attorney Gerneral says Rick Walker should not have been fired as a web analyst simply because he was elected as a non-voting student trustee.]


The problems at Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District (GCCCD) have been growing. Chancellor Omero Suarez (who changed his own contract without permission from the board) and his powerful but unethical friends have been challenged by Rick Walker, a student who was fired by GCCCD because he was a student representative on the board of directors.

Rick Walker press release

Press Conference to Be Held:

Charges of Wrongful Termination, Discrimination, and Retaliation will be brought against Chancellor Omero Suarez, Vice Chancellor Ben Lastimado, Trustee Rick Alexander with additional allegations of public corruption and extortion to be alleged against the three District Officials.

When: September 18, 2007
Where: Governing Board Meeting
Heritage of the Americas Museum
Cuyamaca College

California State Attorney General Issues Legal Opinion:
Grossmont Student Should Not Have Been Terminated

The States Attorney General published opinion 06-406; Is a community college district required to terminate the employment of a student who becomes a member of the district's governing board.

The legal opinion was requested by the Honorable Christine Kehoe, Member of the State Senate on behalf of former Grossmont student and former Grossmont College student trustee Rick Walker who was suddenly terminated December 13, 2005 from his part-time student hourly job as a web analyst which he had been employed at since 2004.

Rick Walker will attend the regular Governing Board meeting on September 18, 2007. Last month Walker requested that board include two items on the Governing Board agenda which would allow him to discuss the ruling by the Attorney General. Trustee Rick Alexander denied his request, Walker made 4 additional requests and has followed Board Policy and state law (Brown Act) which give Walker the right to place
items in front of the Board of Trustees.

The District's flagrant denials are violations of the State Law. Walker will attempt once again to have these items placed on the agenda. If the District denies the request, Walker will hold a press conference at the Heritage of the Americas Museum at Cuyamaca College, to discuss the agenda items that Trustee Rick Alexander is trying to suppress.

Additionally, Walker will bring forward allegations that his termination from his student job was retaliation for Walker's support of Dr. Ted Martinez Jr., and Grossmont College Faculty, he will provide evidence that Chancellor Omero Suarez did in fact use the termination of his employment as a means to extort from Walker his resignation as Grossmont Colleges Student Trustee, the actions by Chancellor Suarez, Vice Chancellor Lastimado and Trustee Rick Alexander is a violation of the State Education Code.

Walker will make an additional plea to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to investigate the corrupt practices of the District, and the numerous violations of state law.





OTHER PROBLEMS OF THE GCCCD BOARD:

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
Protesters want chancellor to resign
By Leonel Sanchez
November 4, 2006

EL CAJON – Faculty leaders stepped up their demand yesterday that Chancellor Omero Suarez resign from the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District because he had his contract changed without board approval.

“Omero must go! Omero must go!” chanted nearly 100 protesters, mostly Grossmont College faculty members, during a rally organized by the faculty's union outside the chancellor's office.

Others held signs that said: “We want you to resign: Suarez, Weeks, Lastimado.”

Board President Deanna Weeks and Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Ben Lastimado are also targets, Weeks because she signed the altered contract and Lastimado because he allegedly asked a district employee to make the change.

Weeks said she signed without knowing of the change. She issued a statement this week saying she was “appalled” by the chancellor's actions and demanded an investigation.

Reached by e-mail yesterday, Lastimado said he had no plans to resign. He did not respond to questions about the contract.

Suarez, who remained in his office during the rally, said in a statement that an independent investigation is under way. He called the rally an “election-related faculty union” event.

A spokeswoman for the district said the investigation will begin once an outside accounting or legal expert is hired to review the way the contract was handled.

The rally was organized by the United Faculty, the labor union representing faculty at both colleges, four days before the election. Shannon O'Dunn, Mary Kay Rosinski and Greg Barr, three of four candidates supported by Suarez's critics, spoke at the rally.

In addition to Weeks, demonstrators demanded that trustees Bill Garrett and Rick Alexander resign for not supporting a request to hold a special board meeting to address the issue. Weeks, Garrett and Alexander are seeking re-election Tuesday.

Alexander said he's satisfied with the investigation taking place and vowed not to be pressured to do more in a “super-charged political environment.”

“We will handle it after the election,” he said.

Suarez, hired in 1999, came under fire after trustee Tim Caruthers revealed last month that the chancellor had the buyout clause in his contract deleted without board permission...

[NOTE: MARY ANNE WEEGAR INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND HERE.]

From the archives: California Attorney General disagrees with law firm hired by Grossmont-Cuyamaca College

Maura Larkins' note: A few months ago I depublished about 400 posts, and I'm gradually republishing them. I'm working to censor certain allegations against Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz law firm while continuing to make information available about the actions of public officials.

Why did Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College fire non-voting student trustee Rick Walker from his job as a web analyst for the college?  The reason they gave was that he had a conflict of interest if he was employed at the same time that he sat on the board. But he didn’t even vote! All he could do was talk?


Who was it who really had a conflict of interest?

Clearly, the board wanted to silence him.

The California Attorney General issued an opinion that there was no conflict of interest.

Leonel Sanchez of the San Diego Union Tribune wrote on Sept. 11, 2007, "A spokesman for the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office said he was not aware of student trustees at other colleges being told they could not serve on governing boards while working for their districts."

Rick Walker took down his website in or about December of 2007, right after I was sued for defamation by the lawyers for GCCCD.

The "Rethinking"

Nothing much happened when GCCCD trustee Deanna Weeks "rethought" an issue. [Update: Ms. Weeks decided not to run for reelection after several embarrassing episodes when scrutiny of her actions became too uncomfortable.]


October 4, 2007
The "rethinking" allegedly done by GCCCD trustees regarding their firing of non-voting student trustee Rick Walker apparently resulted in no new insights. Certainly, it resulted in no new actions. The board decided to ignore the opinion of the California Attorney General.

Rick Walker succeeded in making GCCC officials at least go through the motions of reevaluating their actions in the light of a California Attorney General legal opinion that contradicts the opinion of Stutz law firm attorney Jack Sleeth.

If GCCCD board members stay true to form, the "reexamination" will result in no action at all.

What they should do, of course, is pay damages to Rick Walker for wrongfully harming him. Especially when they harmed the college by punishing a student trustee for bringing up issues that needed to be addressed for the good of the college.

Leonel Sanchez is doing a great job covering the story for the San Diego Union Tribune.

Here's his September 19, 2007 report:

"The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District will again review the issue of whether a student trustee can serve on the district's governing board while holding a job in the district.

"The last time the district looked at the conflict-of-interest issue, it led to the firing of former Grossmont College student trustee Rick Walker, who was let go from his job as a Web analyst in December 2005.

"Walker, speaking to the board last night, repeated his claim that he was unjustly fired...

"District officials said Walker was fired after district lawyer Jack Sleeth reviewed state education code and concluded that student trustees should not be allowed to be district employees...

"“You will ultimately find out what the law is if somebody will bring some litigation on this,” Sleeth said.

"Walker has threatened to take legal action. State Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, requested the legal opinion from the Attorney General's Office at his request.

"Trustee Bill Garrett said he found the attorney general's opinion “persuasive” and proposed changing the district's policy to reflect that opinion. No action was taken on his proposal..."


Leonel Sanchez: (619) 542-4568; leonel.sanchez@uniontrib.com

Assemblyman Block to Grossmont-Cuyamaca: ‘Brian Jones Has Failed You’

"...[M]ore than 23,000 students were denied admission and put on a waiting list because of a $6.3 million reduction in state funds."

Assemblyman Block: ‘Brian Jones Has Failed You’
Democrat spoke to Grossmont College students and faculty on the GOP role in the state budget crisis.
By Eric Yates
La Mesa Patch
September 28, 2011

Democratic Assemblyman Marty Block rapped his Santee-based Republican colleague Tuesday while speaking at Grossmont College on the state budget crisis.

“Brian Jones—your representative, your assemblyman from this area—has failed you,” Block said. “And we need to elect people—Democrat or Republican—who are willing to tax millionaires, tax oil companies, tax tobacco companies, so that you guys have more money in the schools.”

Block represents the 78th District, which includes Spring Valley, Paradise Hills, Chula Vista, Lemon Grove, Bonita and parts of San Diego. Jones represents the 77th District, including La Mesa and Ramona.

With redistricting, The 78th Assembly District will be renamed the 79th, which includes La Mesa. If Block wins re-election in 2012, he will represent La Mesa.

Block noted the nuances of budget decision-making, but said the crisis boils down to a simple issue.

“By and large, the system needs more revenue,” Block told an audience of about 60 Grossmont students, faculty and staff members. “It’s tragic. We’ve cut billions, even over the last three years since I’ve been in office. We’ve gone from $120 billion to $85 billion.

“There are unemployed at record rates, so there’s less income tax, people losing houses, so there’s less property taxes. Because of this, people are not buying things so there’s less sales tax coming into the state. The only way to fight this is to raise revenues.”

Because of state cuts, Grossmont College of El Cajon had to cut more than 200 courses for this semester, and more than 1,000 courses have been eliminated over the past two years.

Block then lobbed a shot across the Assembly aisle, saying, “When it comes to budget, Republicans in the Assembly and in the Senate have refused to budge. They have refused to tax millionaires, have refused to tax billion-dollar oil companies in order to give you guys more classes by hiring more professors. I think it’s unconscionable.”

Block thinks that one way revenues can increase it to establish a tax on oil severance, which is oil taken out of the ground.

He said a tax would be successful because of three factors: 1) the tax would be taken from oil corporations, some of which profited more than $19 billion last year; 2) any tax that was “passed on to the pump” and absorbed by consumers would be spread out across the world, as California distributes its oil to all parts of the globe; and 3) Since “you can’t pick up an oil well and move it out of the state,” corporations would choose to pay the tax over shutting down their oil wells and losing out on massive profits.

Block answered questions from a panel of three—Sue Gonda, president of the Grossmont College Academic Senate; Russ Lindquist, editor of the Grossmont College Summit, the student newspaper; and Marc Arizmendez, news director for Griffin Radio, the campus radio station.

Arizmendez asked about the issue of violence on college campuses. Block referenced AB 620, a bill that would require four-year colleges and community colleges to establish and publish policies and penalties for harrassment, intimidation and bullying of individuals based on sexual orientation. These would become part of rules of student conduct.

An issue raised by Lundquist was that of so many students being denied admission and having no appeals process.

The Grossmont-Cuyamacca Community College District announced before the start of classes in August that more than 23,000 students were denied admission and put on a waiting list because of a $6.3 million reduction in state funds...

‘Truly Mind-Boggling’ Cuts Loom for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges, Chancellor Says

‘Truly Mind-Boggling’ Cuts Loom for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges, Chancellor Says
Cindy Miles, newcomer to La Mesa and community college district, says nearly 800 class sections will be lost and 5,000 students turned away.
By Ken Stone
La Mesa Patch
March 29, 2011

Cindy Miles says she didn't give a thought to the president's opening at San Diego State. "This is The Show," she said. "This is the real work."

Cindy Miles grew up in Pasadena, TX, then known as "Stink-adena" for its paper mills.
Cindy Miles says she's tried all the downtown La Mesa restaurants and "recommends them all."

In her first visit to Grossmont College, Cindy Miles said she thought the modular building housing the chancellor's office was a maintenance structure.
“Cheers” is Cindy Miles' signature sign-off in email—and her attitude toward life, she says.
If Cindy Miles had her way, the district would add a performing arts building with enough space to hold graduations.

Cuts looming for Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges are “truly mind-boggling,” says the leader of East County’s community college district, a new La Mesan who herself knows financial distress.

Under a “best-case” scenario, the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District would lose 600 course sections as a result of the state budget ax—after chopping 1,000 sections over the past two years, says Cindy Miles, chancellor since March 2009.

“We’re potentially cutting up to 20 percent of our course offerings”—under the best forecast, she said Friday—before Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision Tuesday to call off budget talks with Republicans on a June ballot on extending higher taxes.

The district now is operating under “Plan B” revenue assumptions (see attached letter), said district spokeswoman Anne Krueger on Wednesday. That includes funding under Proposition 98—the 1988 voter-approved amendment to the state Constitution that led to a minimum annual funding level for K-12 schools and community colleges.

Community enrichment classes? Stand-alone courses?

“They’re gone,” Miles said.

Students already will face a steep rise in costs. Last Thursday, Brown signed into law a boost in student fees from $26 a credit unit to $36 a unit, starting this fall.

That money won’t go to colleges, Miles notes, but into the state’s general fund which pays for public schooling.

Like many other educators, Miles, 56, said Friday she would tell Republicans in the state Legislature to allow a Brown-backed bill to go forward that would let Californians decide on extending several state taxes.

“Let the voters decide on how they want to spend our tax dollar—whether they are willing to extend these taxes to make sure the education and future of their state is protected,” she said.

And like many Americans, she has suffered in the economy—taking a big loss to sell her home outside Miami before moving to a rental near The Village, which she shares with her only child—son Gabriel, a recent graduate of Florida International University.

“I was caught up in the real estate crash like everybody else,” Miles said Friday in an interview at her modest Grossmont College office. Her mortgage was “upside down”—meaning the home near Miami she bought in 2005 at the top of the market was worth less in 2009 than what she owed on it.

“I lost a lot of money, just like everyone else in the nation,” said Miles, whose three-year contract through 2012 pays $245,000 a year, not including $1,050 a month for auto and other expenses.

Unlike K-12 school districts, however, Miles says hers isn’t planning pink slips.

In a “Dear Colleagues” letter circulated Thursday, Miles wrote: “Let me again reassure you that we have no plans for layoffs and we are not considering this option as we work with our budget councils and employee groups to solve our problems. Even in a worst-case scenario, we would call on our employees to help develop solutions to share the pain of cost-cutting with our students.”

But fewer students would be admitted to the two-campus district under any budget scenario, she wrote. Under “Plan C,” in fact, more than 1,000 additional classes would be cut—with 8,000 students turned away.

The district would freeze all but the state-mandated positions, purchase nothing but “indispensable items” and work with employee groups to identify “fair share” solutions—which could include voluntary furloughs, ending summer school and closing nonessential facilities.

But one effort that won’t end is a Department of Advancement Services in the chancellor’s office—a fundraising and “grant-development system that never existed” in the 50-year-old district.

“We’re very serious about this,” said Miles, who worked at Miami Dade Community College when it acquired a reputation as the most successful grant-generating community college in the nation.

Grossmont instructor awarded $385,000 by jury

Grossmont instructor awarded $385,000 by jury
San Diego Union-Tribune
March 25, 2009

A San Diego Superior Court jury has awarded $385,000 to a Grossmont College instructor who accused school officials of retaliating against her after she reported sexual discrimination and harassment to a supervisor in 2002.

The jury last week awarded damages to Gwenyth Mapes, a tenured humanities instructor at the El Cajon community college.

In her lawsuit, Mapes said she told her supervisor to tell another teacher, William Hoaglin, to “keep it in his pants” after reporting alleged incidents of sexual misconduct, according to court documents.

She based her complaint on discussions she had with a male student who had been in Hoaglin's class and told her he gave preferential treatment to attractive blond female students. She said a staff member also told her he had made suggestive comments to her. In addition, Mapes said she overheard students joking how being a blonde in the teacher's class would get someone an A.

The district said Mapes did not produce any evidence, and Hoaglin denied any wrongdoing.

Mapes said district officials gave her negative evaluations, suspended her and excluded her from activities after her initial complaint to her supervisor, Zoe Close, chair of Philosophy, Humanities and Religious Studies.

The district's lawyer said Mapes' supervisors disciplined her because she she had not produced any evidence of wrongdoing and continued to spread rumors about Hoaglin. –L.S.

GCCCD still trying to silence teachers and students

San Diego Union Tribune
November 4, 2008
Academic freedom stolen?

A Cuyamaca College English instructor told police that someone entered his office
last week without his permission and removed an "Obama 08" sticker from his window.

Tim Pagaard brought attention to his sticker in late September when he claimed his academic freedom was threatened after college officials sent out a notice reminding employees not to post signs or stickers supporting or opposing political candidates on campus facilities. The sticker was in public view, near the entrance of the communication arts building.

Pagaard said he was told the district would not take action on the sticker until academic leaders could review the policies that it had invoked.

Pagaard, who teaches literature and rhetoric, said he noticed he sticker missing Thursday evening. There was no sign of a break in, he told police.

Pagaard said a colleague told him a few students had complained about the sticker a day earlier...

Mary Kay Rosinski wins in Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District

ELECTION UPDATE
NOVEMBER 5, 2008

I think I made a mistake regarding Mary Kay Rosinski.

Mary Kay Rosinski has unseated Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District trustee Tim Caruthers. Actually, she unseated the least harmful board member. For the past couple years, Tim Caruthers actually was the "minority trustee," often a lone dissenting vote against bad decisions, and even held a public meeting against crooked chancellor Suarez and his supporters (in Feb. 2007, if I remember correctly). The worst ones - Weeks, Alexander, and Garrett - unfortunately will remain.

Why did Rosinski run against Caruthers and not against Bill Garrett? Probably because she knew that the powers that be would be willing to let him be taken down. Rosinski replaced a voice of the community with the voice of the California Teachers Association. I have a feeling that I made a mistake when I supported Rosinski. Perhaps she is willing to work with the corrupt board as long as they share some power with California Teachers Association. Perhaps the real target is the faculty unions that are independent of CTA.

I doubt that Ms. Rosinski will challenge the corrupt attorneys at Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz as she implied she would. She has helped them before to commit illegal actions against employees, so she may help them again. Even though she doesn't choose to speak out against illegal actions (see below), at least there will be more of a balance of power between the faculty and the board.


GROSSMONT-CUYAMACA COM COLLEGE - SEAT NO. 4
Precincts Reporting: 100.0%
MARY KAY ROSINSKI - 68.37% (79828)
TIMOTHY L. CARUTHERS - 31.63% (36923)



Sadly, the president of what is widely considered to be a deeply corrupt board has retained his seat:

GROSSMONT-CUYAMACA COM COLLEGE - SEAT NO. 3
Precincts Reporting: 100.0%
BILL GARRETT - 81.40% (90872)
MOE BAKEER - 18.60% (20769)


Rosinski herself, ironically, has worked with these very same corrupt lawyers. So she probably won't insist that Stutz law firm be fired as GCCCD's lawyers. But she is likely to be more employee-friendly, and work for a better relationship between employees and the board.

Mary Kay Rosinski's experience:

1. Teacher, National School District, 27 years
2. President, National City Teachers Assoc., 2 terms
3. SD County Service Center Council Officer, 6 years
4. SOUTH COUNTY TEACHERS UNITED (SCTU), 6 years

[#4 above is the position from which Rosinski helped GCCCD's current lawyers, Stutz, Artiano Shinoff and Holtz, cover up illegal actions at Chula Vista Elementary School District during the period of June 2000 to June 2006. Rosinski was the boss of SCTU executive director Tim O'Neill, who directed Chula Vista Educators' illegal actions in this case.)

Court of Appeal says GCCCD defrauded David Agosto

Looking for Kristin Rossum "American Beauty" case? Click HERE.

Click here for lawsuit against Keenan & Associates et al. Also, see San Francisco School District v. Keenan & Associates.


The California Court of Appeal has ruled against Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College and in favor of David Agosto, who appealed the dismissal of his case by Judge Joan Lewis in San Diego Superior court.

Never one to accept a loss, Jack Sleeth says David Agosoto "owes us money."

Ironically, when the case went back to Superior Court after the above decision, Agosto was awarded back pay but denied reinstatement. If the District had filed appropriate papers the District would not have had to pony-up Agosto's back pay. It turns out that if there is no order for reinstatement, there should be no order for back pay.

The Court of Appeal said (in a separate decision from the one above):

"Nevertheless, because District did not file a cross-appeal challenging the trial court's writ of mandate directing District to pay Agosto back pay (for the period of July through November 2006), District cannot now challenge the trial court's error in awarding him back pay..."

Agosto made mistakes, too. Agosto's petition for writ of mandate was denied because he should have filed a complaint for damages instead.


APPEALS COURT JUDGE: GROSSMONT-CUYAMACA RESORTS TO 'FRAUD' IN JUSTIFYING FIRING OF SICK WORKER
By Chris Reed
San Diego Union-Tribune (blog)
July 30, 2008

I've badmouthed the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District for years for its power plays, contempt for ethical standards and atttempts to whitewash scandal. Now I have fresh evidence that district constituents should be ashamed of the people they've elected as leaders. In comes in the form of a sharply worded decision issued yesterday in which an appeals court reversed a Superior Court judge's decision to throw out a lawsuit in which a fired top official at Grossmont-Cuyamaca charges he was denied due process and essentially forced out with a legal dirty trick. The ruling remands the lawsuit back to the lower court and orders its reconsideration. David Jay Agosto was hired in 1995 as executive dean of community services at Cuyamaca College and went on to serve in a variety of big jobs. But in February 2006, while Agosto was on medical leave to cope with kidney disease, he was fired by the Grossmont-Cuyamaca board of directors in a closed-session meeting.

Agosto challenged this ruling, saying his original 1995 contract made him the beneficiary of job protections which required the board to give him notice of at least six months before the expiration of his contract. Here's where the dirty trick comes in: The argument that the GCCCD's lawyers used to persuade Superior Court Judge Joan M. Lewis to throw out Agosto's lawsuit was that the original 1995 contract had never taken legal effect because it was -- for reasons unknown -- never signed by the district's chancellor. It was kept on file, just never signed.

The district argued that contract was invalid under the "statute of frauds" -- a legal provision which requires hard, documented evidence of contracts that last more than a year to ensure that they are not fraudulently redefined at some later date by the employer or employee.

[Maura Larkins note: This is exactly what Chancellor Omero Suarez did: he ordered his contract changed without approval from the board.]

What a joke. The district operated for more than a decade as if the contract were in effect, then, when convenient, declared it null and void. The appeals court figured out this stunk to the high heavens even if Judge Lewis couldn't. Here's a sign of its disgust:The statute of frauds exists to prevent the commission of fraud, not to facilitate fraud.You follow? Judge James A. McIntyre is saying the fraud that's going on here is on the district's part! Wow. He's absolutely right.Now get ready for the members of the district board to blame its lawyers. It's what they do. Lots of rotten stuff happens on their watch, sure. But, you see, it's never their fault.Read the appellate decision here. The passage I cited is on page 5..

Mary Kay Rosinski notes GCCCD's Daniel Shinoff problems

The San Diego Union Tribune has a policy of forbidding its reporters to tell the full truth about abuses at local educational institutions, but once in a while reporters are able to slip in a little piece of the truth.

For example, we learn today that Mary Kay Rosinski, a candidate for Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District, is "concerned the district spends too much money on legal fees, including defending the firing of a science teacher at Grossmont College. A Superior Court judge recently reversed the firing."

I agree with Rosinski about this. Attorney Daniel Shinoff encourages abusive administrators to engage in illegal actions all over San Diego County, but GCCCD seems to be a particular hot spot of illegal and abusive activity.

What Rosinski doesn't mention is that her own union, California Teachers Association, has worked closely with Daniel Shinoff to cover up illegal actions. In Chula Vista Elementary School District, a local union president committed illegal acts in her effort to get re-elected. She was helped by her close associate, the human resources director Richard Werlin. An innocent teacher was maliciously harrassed because teachers and administrators feared she would expose the truth, and California Teachers Association lawyers helped to retaliate illegally against the teacher.

The San Diego Union states, "[Rosinski] said she's concerned about students questioning the integrity of the district. 'My motivation is to make the board a better group of trustees,' she said."

Rosinski does not seem to be concerned about students questioning the integrity of teachers and the teachers union. If she is only worried about the opposition's integrity, then isn't it really just politics, not ethics, that she is practicing?

Still, in GCCCD, it's the administration, not the faculty, that has violated the most laws, so Rosinski would probably be the best choice to balance the board and benefit students.


Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District – Seat 1
SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
October 18, 2006


MARY KAY ROSINSKI
Teacher

Age: 50

Elective offices held: None.

Community involvement: Awarded three proposals to have AmeriCorps Teams provide academic support to students. Involved in the California Teachers Association, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the American Association of University Women.

College or post-high-school training: SDSU, master's degree in communicative disorders, August 1982; bachelor's degree with highest honors in speech pathology and audiology.

Statement of candidacy: Ill-advised expenditures have robbed our students of learning opportunities. As an educator, I am committed to making a real change on behalf of our students in this district.

What qualifications, attributes or perspectives would you bring to this elected position that your opponent(s) would not?

Have worked diligently as an advocate for teachers, staff and students. I believe in fair, equal respect for all. Student success must always be the ultimate goal for all decisions.

What are the three most important issues in this race? What would you do to address each one?

Millions of dollars in taxpayers' money have been wasted on outside consultants and reckless lawsuits. Two new vice chancellor positions were created during a hiring freeze. The district needs a financial strategy that funnels more money to the classroom.

Last semester only 37 percent of sections were taught by full-time faculty at Cuyamaca College and only 45 percent at Grossmont College. This is way below the state average. Need to improve the full-time, part-time ratio.

The district lacks true-shared governance. All constituents must have a voice, and the work and budget of the board must be transparent.

Mary Kay Rosinski for Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District board

ELECTION UPDATE
NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Mary Kay Rosinski has unseated Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District trustee Tim Caruthers. This is a victory for the faculty, but I wonder if Ms. Rosinski will challenge the corrupt attorneys who have caused so much trouble in GCCCD. Even if she doesn't have the courage to speak out against wrongdoing, at least there will be more of a balance of power between the faculty and the board.


GROSSMONT-CUYAMACA COM COLLEGE - SEAT NO. 4
Precincts Reporting: 100.0%
MARY KAY ROSINSKI - 68.37% (79828)
TIMOTHY L. CARUTHERS - 31.63% (36923)



Sadly, the president of what is widely considered to be a deeply corrupt board has retained his seat:

GROSSMONT-CUYAMACA COM COLLEGE - SEAT NO. 3
Precincts Reporting: 100.0%
BILL GARRETT - 81.40% (90872)
MOE BAKEER - 18.60% (20769)




My ballot recommendation:
Mary Kay Rosinski
Candidate for Board Member; Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District; Seat 4
November 4, 2008 Election

I'm voting for Mary Kay Rosinski because the people in office are nauseatingly corrupt, and she will provide some checks and balances. Then I'll do my best to push her away from the "politics-is-more-important-students" attitude that seems to afflict just about everybody who attains a position of power in the educational system.

More information about Rosinski, including her views about how much the district is paying to its lawyers (Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz) can be found HERE.

Rosinski herself, ironically, has worked with these very same corrupt lawyers. So she probably won't insist that Stutz law firm be fired as GCCCD's lawyers. But she is likely to be more employee-friendly, and work for a better relationship between employees and the board.

Mary Kay Rosinski's experience:

1. Teacher, National School District, 27 years
2. President, National City Teachers Assoc., 2 terms
3. SD County Service Center Council Officer, 6 years
4. SOUTH COUNTY TEACHERS UNITED (SCTU), 6 years

[#4 above is the position from which Rosinski helped GCCCD's current lawyers, Stutz, Artiano Shinoff and Holtz, cover up illegal actions at Chula Vista Elementary School District during the period of June 2000 to June 2006. Rosinski was the boss of SCTU executive director Tim O'Neill, who directed Chula Vista Educators' illegal actions in this case.)

Bonnie Dumanis: Democrats and Republicans want you to take on GCCCD

Click HERE to see the original post.

July 09, 2007
Needed: an aggressive DA to take a look at Grossmont-Cuyamaca

For years, the senior management and electeds running the Capistrano Unified School district bullied critics, browbeat the press, played fast and loose with rules. It would occasionally admit error and vow to improve, then go back to its same old ways when the cameras were gone and the media stopped paying attention.

Finally, there are repercussions:

Former Capistrano Unified School District superintendent James Fleming was indicted on charges of misappropriating public funds in creating "enemies lists" of political foes, making him the highest-ranking school official ever indicted in Orange County, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said. ...

Rackauckas said there may be more to come from the grand jury, which has heard testimony from 14 CUSD employees on allegations ranging from conflicts of interest to violations of open meetings laws to the use of taxpayer funds for political activities.

If only Rackauckas were free to investigate the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, who knows what he might find. Last October, it was revealed that district Chancellor Omero Suarez had surreptitiously altered his contract to make it more likely he'd get a big buyout if he were fired. District board majority members Deanna Weeks, Rick Alexander and Bill Garrett first tried to insist that the revelation of Suarez's wrongdoing was the real sin, with Weeks likening it to a "political dirty trick."

After a U-T editorial dissected all the hanky-panky going on in the district 10 days before election day, Weeks put out this statement:

I am appalled by the actions taken by Chancellor Suarez concerning his contract. I want a full and immediate investigation. The investigation needs to be by an independent entity with no involvement or participation by the chancellor. He can direct Vice Chancellor Austin to see that it gets done. This governing board has made tough personnel decisions in the past and will continue to do so. I want the results of the investigation placed on the November governing board agenda, closed session, as required by law, and the board will take appropriate action at that time.

The board majority got re-elected, and has since resumed its practice of treating Suarez like an educational giant and indispensable leader. Alexander, insultingly, goes around offering such observations as, "This whole thing got blown out of proportion because it was election time."

Got the sequence of events? Suarez does something that would get him fired in any private sector job; his bosses call exposure of this scam a "dirty trick"; his bosses realize they can't get away with such a bizarre claim in an election season so they pretend to be upset; his bosses get re-elected and promptly lose their ire; now his bosses pretend the contract alteration scam was trivial, "blown out of proportion because it was election time." Unbelievable.

This stinks. A lot stinks in GCCCD. I have no proof that anything criminal went on, but the idea that board majority members Weeks, Alexander and Garrett could execute such zigzags without coordinating them outside of board meetings -- which would constitute a violation of open-meeting laws -- seems farfetched. Tony Rackauckas, come on down.

Alternately, Bonnie Dumanis, deploy an investigator or two. What's gone on in GCCCD begs a closer look.

Posted by Chris Reed at July 9, 2007
http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/archives/012558.html