Poway Superintendent Collins charged with 5 felonies

Ex-Poway Superintendent Is Facing Five Felony Charges

By Ashly McGlone

Voice of San Diego

August 7, 2017

 

John Collins is facing five felony charges for allegedly misusing public money, vacation, sick and leave time while superintendent of the Poway Unified School District, according to a complaint filed by the San Diego County district attorney’s office on Friday...

Collins enjoyed a close relationship with the teacher’s union during his tenure as superintendent, which was credited for helping to avoid a strike and layoffs during difficult economic times.

The district was thrust into the national spotlight in 2012 when news emerged about a costly $1 billion capital appreciation bond deal struck on Collins’ watch in 2011, and Collins faced criticism locally during his last year on the job for, among other things, edits made to a consultant report and so-called “me-too” clauses in Collins’ contract that allowed him to benefit from teacher and manager pay negotiations...



[Comments by me and Chris Brewster--and Charles Sellars:]

Chris Brewster

So Poway school board member Charles Sellers says the board offered to work out an "amicable solution" for his departure from the district and the repayment of the funds that he misappropriated. What responsible public entity endeavors to work out an amicable solution with someone who has misappropriated over $300k? This suggests to me a serious lack of judgment on the part of the school board, which is probably already evident in that they kept this individual employed for so long.

Maura Larkins

@Chris Brewster Litigation is very costly and time-consuming. All civil cases should be settled. When they're not settled, it means one or both parties is being unreasonable (unless there is a genuine uncertainty about the law applicable to the case). Clearly, in this case, Collins is being unreasonable, and he wants to do as much harm as he can to the school district.

Chris Brewster

Ms. Larkins: I agree that litigation can costly and time-consuming. I do not agree that all civil cases should be settled. Some, for example, are initiated to intimidate or for other inappropriate reasons. A good example is the civil case against Taylor Swift, which was recently tossed by a federal judge, but only after she contested it in court. Had she settled, she would have implied some degree of personal responsibility, which the judge found lacking. Settling to avoid court costs is a tactic that avoids costs, but can add insult to injury.
The suggestion of my post however is that the members of the school board who presided over the district during this individual's tenure were seriously negligent in allowing someone who has now been charged with felonies to engage in the alleged activities. Trying to mediate with someone you believe has stolen public funds is a fool's errand and even if successful, allows the person to retain some of the purloined public funds. One might suggest that something is better than nothing, but there is principle involved. For example, do you negotiate with someone who has robbed your bank and settle for half of the funds they stole?

Maura Larkins

@Chris Brewster
I would like to amend my comment to say,
"All civil cases should be settled or dropped (unless there is genuine uncertainty about the applicable law)."

Of course, dropping a case is a sort of settlement. In fact, frivolous lawsuits are sometimes settled in favor of the defendant when the plaintiff comes to his senses. Taylor Swift's case could have been settled in her favor, with the plaintiff apologizing to her and perhaps paying her legal fees.

The idea of settling for half the funds stolen might make sense if the money has already been spent and the defendant has no other resources. You can't get blood from a stone, but you can waste a lot of time and energy trying. But remember that it is also possible to settle for ALL the money and then some. Surely you'd approve of that????

I do not believe in the principle of draining a school district of money and people-hours and peace just out of revenge. The first duty of a school district is to the public, not the desire for revenge.

Maura Larkins

@Chris Brewster Also, it is ridiculous for you to pretend that Sellars has responsibility for keeping Collins employed so long. Sellars opposed Collins from the start. Sellars was elected in November 2014. In April 2015, VOSD reported on Sellars:
"John [Collins] and Candy [Smiley, president of Poway teachers] cut up the pie,” said school board member Charlie Sellers, who was elected in November. “The previous board simply rubber-stamped their action and this board is actually questioning their actions and they don’t like it.”
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/how-poway-unified-went-from-big-happy-family-to-family-feud/

Chris Brewster

Ms. Larkins: Could you kindly point out where in my remarks I suggested that Mr. Sellars has responsibility for keeping Mr. Collins employed for so long? I'm unable to find any such implication. As for your other point, I agree that the first duty of a school district is to the public, not the desire for revenge. The school board clearly made some terrible decisions here. The question is, once they determined this gentleman fleeced them, would the best option not be to turn the case over to the DA and ask that as part of the prosecution, the defendant be required to pay the school district back? Achieving an out of court settlement for half (of what they think he stole for example) is not, in my view, in the best interest of the school district or justice. It is Mr. Sellars who is quoted as believing the some mediated settlement would have been desirable. It is with that sentiment that I disagree for the reasons noted.

 

Maura Larkins

@Chris Brewster
If you tell me that you didn't intend to blame Sellars for keeping Collins employed, I believe you.

But let me explain how a logical reader would read your statements (although your final clause might not have accurately reflected what you wanted to say).

To start with, you mentioned Sellars by name, saying, "...Charles Sellers says the board offered to work out an "amicable solution" for his departure from the district and the repayment of the funds that he misappropriated."

You thus pointed out Charles Sellars as the one board member who took public responsibility for the effort to settle with Collins. We can assume that a majority of the board supported this effort, but we don't know who the other individuals were.

You then made clear that this effort by Charles Sellars and these other unknown individuals  demonstrated a lack of judgment: "What responsible public entity endeavors to work out an amicable solution with someone who has misappropriated over $300k? This suggests to me a serious lack of judgment..."

You then added another accusation against Sellars and the unknown individuals, "This suggests to me a serious lack of judgment, which is probably already evident in that they kept this individual employed for so long."

"They" obviously refers to Sellars and the unknown individuals.

I believe you if you didn't mean to implicate Sellars in keeping Collins employed so long. If you didn't mean to implicate him, I'd be interested to know that.

Maura Larkins

@Chris Brewster
Regarding your point that settlement is bad because the DA might want to get a judgment for ALL damages, I agree with your sentiment that the money should be paid back in full if Collins has the ability to pay.

But the man seems to be broke. In other words, he is judgment-proof.

You can't get blood from a stone. If he had turned over what he still had at the time of the settlement offer in return for the district waiving the rest of his debt, the students would be ahead.

I doubt Collins will ever pay a cent to Poway Unified.

Chris Brewster

Ms. Larkins: I know nothing about Mr. Sellars other than what I have read here (i.e. his quote). I think the action he supported was unwise and inappropriate. I think that if a public entity becomes aware that a person in their employ has acted unlawfully, they should turn the information over to the proper authorities. Full stop. I think this is a continuation of bad decisions by the board, Whether Mr. Sellars was involved in some or all of them is not something I am in a position to dissect. 

Maura Larkins

@Chris Brewster
Chris, you have every right to believe that the settlement offer was "unwise and inappropriate."
But you are wrong to deny that the new board with Mr. Sellars and Kimberly Beatty did an investigation and turned their results over to the proper authorities.
That's exactly what they did.
They also are suing Collins to get the money back. Are you saying that they shouldn't be suing Collins to get the money back?
We are talking about two separate things here: the criminal case and the civil suit.

And I must disagree with your insistence that "the board" continued the same kind of decision-making after Mr. Sellars and Kimberly Beatty were elected. There was a significant change. For some reason, perhaps a political reason, you don't want to give Sellars and Beatty credit for any change.

Charles Sellers

@Maura Larkins @Chris Brewster Ms. Larkins, thank you for your support it is much appreciated.  Mr. Brewster, what I meant by "amicable" was "mutually agreed".  While I cannot divulge the content of these negotiations, rest assured that our goal as a Board was always to minimize any damage caused to the District.  Sometimes that involves not throwing good money after bad.  While we strongly believe that Dr. Collins owes PUSD all these monies, if not more, there is no guarantee that a court will agree with us.  Even if it does, there is no guarantee that we will ever collect in full from Dr. Collins.  We simply attempted a settlement that would have yielded the most dollars in the least time.  However, Dr. Collins was simply not amenable to negotiation, much less compromise.  Perhaps if he had shown remorse for his actions, paid back what he could, resigned instead of having to be fired, settled instead of forcing us to sue him, he might not be facing jail and the loss of his pension, even though you (and many others) feel that is what he deserves.  I can't speak for the authorities.  We simply followed the law and turned over our findings.  The decisions to  criminally prosecute and strip him of his credentials were made by others.  I'm just saying that had he agreed to do what was best for Poway Unified, he may also have been doing what was best for himself.  While he had numerous opportunities to do just that, he always chose not to and only he can say why. Perhaps he will, in court. - - Charles Sellers, PUSD Trustee.

Chris Brewster

Mr. Sellars: Thanks for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated. My view is that if a public entity, such as yours, has reason to believe that crimes have been committed, that information should be turned over to the proper prosecutorial authorities and they should handle the case. If that was done expeditiously, it is not apparent to me from the stories I have read. 

 

 

Charles Sellers

@Chris Brewster When we fired Dr. Collins for cause in July of 2016, we immediately turned over the results of our forensic audit to both the District Attorney and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, as required by law.  I can only assume that appeals with the CTC and negotiations with the DA are what took up the past year.  As they say, the wheels of justice turn slowly.

Chris Brewster

Mr. Sellars: Thank you for enlightening me and anyone else reading this thread. If the board expeditiously turned over the audit to the authorities noted, I clearly think that was the right thing to do.

Why Poway Unified Fired Its Superintendent

Superintendent John Collins and the Poway Unified Board got along very well with Poway Federations of Teachers and its president Candace Smiley, even when the district notoriously took on $1 billion dollars of debt in CAB bonds.

Why Poway Unified Fired Its Superintendent
 By Ashly McGlone

VOSD

July 11, 2016

The Poway Unified School District board believes former Superintendent John Collins, who was fired Sunday, took hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized pay, according to dismissal charges obtained by Voice of San Diego and an audit report released by the district Monday.

According to the documents, Collins was also censured for filing litigation without the school board’s approval, and for interfering with the district’s investigation into his financial dealings.

The board could ask a court to force Collins to pay back as much as $345,000 – the amount forensic auditors flagged as unauthorized pay...

See more

Voice of San Diego failed to see the problem with too much collegiality between the teachers union and Poway Unified

Was the first warning that something was wrong in Poway a May 2012 article by VOSD's Andrew Donohue?

In May 2012 Voice of San Diego presented an idyllic image of the Poway Federation of Teachers in a story about PFT President Candy Smiley.  Editor Andrew Donohue gushed about "the unique lesson Poway has to teach."

Three months later Voice of San Diego did an excellent job explaining Poway Unified's CAB scandal (the capital appreciation bond deal exposed by Joel Thurtell) but VOSD never connected the bond deal to excessive collaboration between Candy Smiley and the district.

I gave information to Voice of San Diego showing that both teacher union officials and school officials have been shirking their duties as they have formed over-friendly relationships with each other. Individuals on both sides have advanced their own personal agendas at the expense of the students and teachers they are paid to serve.  In November 2012 I warned about the dangers of too much collegiality between teacher unions and school districts.

Now, three years later, Voice of San Diego has finally decided that there's a problem:

 How Poway Unified Went from Big Happy Family to Family Feud
Ashly McGlone

April 20, 2015

For years, Poway Unified School District has existed as a kind of educational Never-Neverland: a place where school officials and the teachers union sailed through negotiations, brokering amicable deals that – for the most part – left both sides content even in tough times.

But that all seems to be unraveling.

It turns out that Poway’s successes occurred while the district and teacher’s union were breaking labor laws that require public notice of their contract talks. Now other labor unions are mad, and new school board members – elected to provide more oversight in the wake of a bond-deal blowup – are seeking change.

At the center of the dispute is Superintendent John Collins and the president of the Poway Federation of Teachers, Candy Smiley.

“John and Candy cut up the pie,” said school board member Charlie Sellers, who was elected in November. “The previous board simply rubber-stamped their action and this board is actually questioning their actions and they don’t like it.”...

VOSD has certainly changed its tune.  It is no longer talking about the "unique lesson that Poway has to teach." The relationship that Andrew Donohue wanted other districts to emulate now seems rather ominous: "Over the last two decades, though, the union and district have forged an uncommonly collaborative bond that started with trust on the budget and has now gone far beyond."

Yes, they were collaborative all the way to a huge scandal about CAB school bonds.

I don't believe that the Poway school board would have been able to pull of the CAB stunt without the blessing of the teachers union.

When there's too much "collegiality" among the people who run schools, different points of view don't get aired. Decisions are made behind closed doors. All the public ever sees is the smiling faces of the people who get along so very well together.

P.S.  I'm waiting for Voice of San Diego to formally announce a big change in its no-anonymous-comments policy.  The policy was suspended in February, when VOSD decided to disconnect links to all commenter profiles.  The explanation given for this decision was that some commenter profiles had been accidentally disconnected due to the launch of the new website.  It's a wonder that VOSD has not been able to reconnect the links over the past two months.  

Was the first warning that something was wrong in Poway a May 2012 article by VOSD's Andrew Donohue?

See Update April 2015

Photo by Sam Hodgson

Why exactly was Poway Federation of Teachers President Candy Smiley (left) so happy in this picture?

A few months after this picture was taken, it was revealed that all three Poway Unified board members endorsed by Smiley's organization had voted to sell bonds that would force a future generation to pay a billion dollars in interest for a $126 million loan.

Voice of San Diego editor Andrew Donohue wrote an interesting article last May about "the unique lesson Poway has to teach."

Donohue noted, "Over the last two decades, though, the union and district have forged an uncommonly collaborative bond that started with trust on the budget and has now gone far beyond."

Yes, they were collaborative all the way to a huge scandal about CAB school bonds.

I don't believe that the board would have been able to pull of the CAB stunt without the blessing of the teachers union.

When there's too much "collegiality" among the people who run schools, different points of view don't get aired. Decisions are made behind closed doors. All the public ever sees is the smiling faces of the people who get along so very well together.

School boards work hard to present an image of peace and joy, but that's often the signal that the rest of us should start worrying.

I did more research and found a strong link between the Republican Party and the five Poway school board members who created the CAB bond deal.

Linda Vanderveen, Andy Patapow and Marc Davis openly claim Republican credentials. I couldn't find a party affiliation for Penny Ranftle or Todd Gutschow, but they both received the endorsement of Republican Poway Mayor Don Higginson. It seems that ALL the board members either were Republicans or managed to make themselves acceptable to Republicans.

Interestingly, Marc Davis got the approval of the Poway Federation of Teachers as well as the Republican Party. Penny Ranftle and Todd Gutschow also were endorsed by Poway Federation of Teachers.

Clearly, the bond deal was designed to please Republican constituents who insisted on no new taxes. Todd Gutschow made clear that this demand by constituents was what pushed the board into designing the unusual bond deal.

On November 6, 2012 voters threw out Vanderveen, and likely would have thrown out Patapow if there had been another challenger. Patapow squeaked ahead of Vanderveen by 2032 votes out of about 50,000. Voters replaced Vanderveen with a Democrat, Kimberley Beatty.


Where the Teachers Union and District Love Each Other
May 9, 2012 | Updated: Aug 3, 2012
By ANDREW DONOHUE
Voice of San Diego

When Candy Smiley talks about the school district, the pronoun she uses subtly belies the unique lesson Poway has to teach.

"We," she says over and over again.

"We didn't spend the $6 million from the feds. We can't control the state budget," she says. "When we got the money, we could've hired teachers. We decided collectively not to, that we would save it so that we could ensure that teacher salaries would return."

Smiley leads the union for teachers at Poway Unified School District. Further south, things aren't so friendly. The San Diego Unified School District has repeatedly made end-of-days financial warnings, only to find a way to put off painful cuts at the last second. Meanwhile, union leaders have engaged in a full-throated campaign to discredit the district's numbers and the people that produce them. Nobody trusts the numbers; nobody trusts each other.

Things used to be like this in Poway, too.

Over the last two decades, though, the union and district have forged an uncommonly collaborative bond that started with trust on the budget and has now gone far beyond. Upheaval in the leadership of the San Diego teachers union has led to a pledge of greater unity with the district. Meanwhile, the district has continued to plead with the union to at least sit down and start negotiating a solution to a fiscal crisis that looks likely to put hundreds of teachers out of a job.

If both the district and its teachers are serious about repairing their relationship, then Poway is as good a place as any for them to study.

I originally interviewed Smiley and Poway Superintendent John Collins for a story we did on the revolution happening in teacher evaluation, but Poway's tale didn't fit directly into the story.

Still, I learned a lot from our conversation and many of you have asked for more reporting highlighting solutions being used by other communities.

So here are four takeaways from my research:

• How They Came to Trust Each Other

The way Collins and Smiley describe it, Poway once struggled with many of the same problems other local school districts have today. The district and its unions argued over money. The budgets weren't transparent. Nobody trusted each other.

But about a decade and a half ago, things changed. A new superintendent came aboard. The union president wanted to throw out the emotions and just get down to the data. So, the district and the union sat down and went through the budget line by line. They no longer argued about what the problems were, but rather simply how to solve the problems.

From Smiley:

Once you start talking about the data, you start building a trusting relationship.

Everybody grew to understand the budget in a very honest, transparent way. It wasn't "he said, she said." That is the way we have been doing our business ever since. Today, the two groups still sit down together in a room five times a year to do this. The budget is color-coded to show everyone what's gone up and down. For every question the union has, the administration has an answer and documentation to back it up.

In San Diego Unified, the district has offered to bring the union in and go line by line through the budget. So far, the union hasn't taken them up on the offer.

The union argues that the district has a history of miscommunication when it comes to its budget. And it has a point. District officials admit that for years, their budget was in disarray, and that incorrect information was often given out.

But the same officials say that confusion is a thing of the past. District Deputy Superintendent of Business Operations Phil Stover says confidently that he knows where every penny in the district is being spent. All the union has to do is ask, he says, and he can lay it all out.

In Poway, that’s already happening.

Smiley again:

We can ask any question we want and I have complete confidence that I will get a straight answer and there will be back-up documentation.

Pretty soon, you just start building a trust. And when they are honest with me we are honest with them.

I feel very responsible for this relationship that was built before I arrived.

Says Collins:

Over the years what that's resulted is a relationship with the union that's based in trust and open and honest communication. Everything's on the table. All our records are available.

We've already agreed on what the facts are and then we focus on solving the problem.

Instead of arguing we don't want to do this, it was, what are we going to do to keep the district from going bankrupt.

Collins and Smiley even issue joint communications to employees and management. • What That Means Practically for District Finances

In Poway, teachers have taken a 4.3 percent salary rollback and the district has offered early retirement to avoid layoffs. Not out of the ordinary. Other places, like San Diego Unified, have also made similar moves.

However, the rollbacks expire this year and the two sides say the district can handle the increased costs. They decided not to spend one-time money from the federal government immediately after receiving it, instead putting it in a reserve. And they're already talking about renegotiating if everything doesn’t pan out.

"They agreed if things get worse we'll be back at the table," Collins said.

• One Reason Behind the Relationship

Poway teachers are a rare breed in San Diego County.

They're part of the American Federation of Teachers, one of two big umbrella teachers unions in the country. Most teachers across the region, and those in San Diego, belong to the National Education Association.

As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written about, AFT leader Randi Weingarten has been pushing for unions to be actively participating in school reforms.

"I know the AFT has been very progressive," Collins said.

• What That Means for Everything Else

Now, back to the reason I interviewed Smiley and Collins to begin with.

There's a revolution happening right now in how data is used to evaluate teachers and push accountability. It's very controversial, and San Diego Unified isn't having any of it.

Big districts across the country, though, have been.

So I wanted to know if Poway's considering the use of sophisticated data to measure teacher performance.

Their answer: The two sides are in the early stages of meeting and talking about this very thing.

The Poway Federation of Teachers has surveyed its members. They recently had an all-day meeting about assessments with teacher union representatives from every school, every principal, the superintendent, his cabinet and four of the five school board members.

Smiley says evaluation needs to go beyond just test scores. There needs to be multiple measures.

"I'm confident that we will be building our own evaluation tool and we'll decide if we use test scores," she said. "We hope we'll be designing this — rather than having someone else design it for us."

Collins, not surprisingly, agreed.

"We're going to try to get some models in before we get told how to do it. We're hoping we can show the state a better model," he said.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert in Poway education. This piece is based off of two interviews and a tip I'd received. If you think it's off base or there's something I'm missing, comment on this story or email me. I'm the editor of VOSD and you can reach me at andrew.donohue@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0526.


[Maura Larkins comment: In fact, over a period of years I repeatedly told Andrew Donohue that VOSD was ignoring corruption in our county schools. His response was to refuse to publish important stories. Scott Lewis backed him up. I suspect that Buzz Woolley and Irwin Jacobs' deep pockets are responsible for VOSD's kid-gloved handling of school issues.