Fallbrook Union High School District, Chula Vista Elementary School District and National School District were rated the worst in bond transparency

School Construction Bonds Need More Oversight, Taxpayers Association Says
Debbie L. Sklar
July 28, 2017

Fewer independent oversight committees at school districts in the county are maintaining high transparency standards in their construction bond programs than last year, the San Diego Taxpayers Education Foundation reported Friday...
The Fallbrook Union High School District, Chula Vista Elementary School District and National School District were rated the worst. The National School District was criticized in the report for having no information online about its 2016 bond measure... Read more HERE

Fallbrook Union Elementary SD still wants to keep secrets, even after Appellate Court says pay Elaine Allyn $1.05 million

Court Sides With District Employee Who Balked at Order to Purge Emails

By Ashly McGlone 

Voice of San Diego

July 25, 2017 

A fired school district IT director who objected to orders to wipe out the email archive system was rightfully awarded over $1 million by a jury in 2015, an appellate court decided this month.
Elaine Allyn accused the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District of wrongful termination in 2012, and a jury unanimously awarded her $1.05 million for lost income and $148,000 in damages in 2015...

The district’s legal fees fighting Allyn’s claims have cost more than $800,000 to date....

...[A] statement provided by Fallbrook’s assistant superintendent Bill Billingsley said the school board is deciding next steps with legal counsel.

The statement, provided on behalf of Fallbrook’s superintendent Candace Singh, said in part: “The District is clearly disappointed in the appellate court’s decision and is reviewing its options to challenge it further. Although the jury found in the plaintiff’s favor, the leadership of FUESD steadfastly maintains that Mrs. Allyn was not a whistleblower, and that her own misconduct justified her termination from the District.”...

Read more HERE.

A typical American school? This school doesn't want this parent to talk about what's going on in classrooms

 This sounds just like my school: those in charge don't want to talk; they have spies and a gossip mill to keep everyone in line; power depends on politics, not professionalism; the goal is to present a facade of a smooth-running machine to the public.

I believe there should be a whole lot more open, honest communication at schools.

I like the idea of parents creating their own groups outside the control of the PTA, and inviting teachers and principals to come and talk to them. I do think that more time should be set aside for teachers to communicate with parents and with each other. I think the school should make sample iPads available for parents to peruse, but I think I might feel uncomfortable if another parent were photographing my child's written or digital work.

I also think teachers need to be paid a lot more, and be more accountable.

Is this volunteer parent an enemy spy? A school district treats her like one.
By Jay Mathews
Washington Post
September 4, 2016

March 18 was a typical day for Melissa Dana, a parent and physician who volunteers as a classroom aide in Falls Church City schools. Her local elementary school was having an Ancient Civilizations Festival. She played a 15-minute video for each class and helped students use an app on their iPads to write Chinese calligraphy.

As instructed by the school’s teachers, she checked to see if the children were working just on calligraphy and not other parts of the app. Curious about what her child was learning, she looked at some of the apps. She took screen shots so she could view them later at home. She noted what students were doing with the technology and took some photos of what was on their iPads without identifying any student.

She also asked her child’s teacher about the activity, chatted with another teacher who was a friend and, on her way out, stopped to talk to the librarian.

That’s when it gets weird. All of her movements were reported to Falls Church City Schools Superintendent Toni Jones.

Photo:  Supt. Tori Jones

Jones called Dana in five days later and gave her a letter saying she better watch her step. “Please accept this as a formal notification that making interview or meeting requests and impromptu questioning which causes staff to feel uncomfortable is not appropriate during the course of the school day and/or on school grounds,” said the letter, which ended with “Regards, Toni.”

Despite 14 years of unpaid effort on behalf of the city’s schools, Dana was told by Jones she would no longer be allowed to volunteer if she did not mend her ways.

Dana has been a critic of Jones. Such tension between school leaders and active parents is common but rarely reported. School districts say they welcome outsider involvement. The Falls Church City school board’s mission statement says “our schools must be responsive and accountable to the community.” But parents like Dana often feel a chill if they ask too many questions.

In a statement, the school district said Jones warned Dana in part because “we are careful to protect student privacy and data.” It also bothered staff that Dana had asked to meet with staff members “on more than 20 occasions” during the school year and “wrote over 2,100 emails to 145 separate FCCPS email accounts,” according to the statement.
The best teachers I know like dealing with parents. A teacher who worked last year at an elementary school told me a majority of her colleagues “were thrilled that Melissa was asking questions.” Jamie Scharff, an International Baccalaureate teacher at George Mason High School, said he has “never met a parent as sincerely dedicated to helping the schools” as Dana.

Jones’s letter accused Dana of “attempting to log on inappropriately to at least one technology device, and taking random pictures not associated with tasks assigned to you in your role as a parent volunteer.” Dana said the charge of logging on inappropriately was “absolutely false” and “I was taking very specific pictures of the activity to which I was assigned.”
What bothers me most is the school district presenting her large number of emails as a sign of misbehavior. Dana told me she was concerned by teacher complaints of mismanagement and made hundreds of contacts with parents and teachers, plus school board members. What’s wrong with that? She said 234 people emailed her their support for a satisfaction survey she was advocating.

In May, several people, including Dana and her husband, formed a group called The Falls Church Way, seeking more input on school policy for parents, teachers and community members. The group wants the board to include staff, parents and community members in its evaluation of Jones this month. Jones has agreed to meet with the group every month.
School officials often consider such groups a nuisance. But asking questions can lead to meaningful change. Smart administrators know that and listen carefully to parents before threatening to ban them from volunteering.

Jay Mathews is an education columnist and blogger for the Washington Post, his employer for 40 years.

A typical American school? This school doesn't want this parent to talk about what's going on in classrooms

Is this volunteer parent an enemy spy? A school district treats her like one.

By Jay Mathews  

Washington Post

September 4, 2016

 

March 18 was a typical day for Melissa Dana, a parent and physician who volunteers as a classroom aide in Falls Church City schools. Her local elementary school was having an Ancient Civilizations Festival. She played a 15-minute video for each class and helped students use an app on their iPads to write Chinese calligraphy.
As instructed by the school’s teachers, she checked to see if the children were working just on calligraphy and not other parts of the app. Curious about what her child was learning, she looked at some of the apps. She took screen shots so she could view them later at home. She noted what students were doing with the technology and took some photos of what was on their iPads without identifying any student.
She also asked her child’s teacher about the activity, chatted with another teacher who was a friend and, on her way out, stopped to talk to the librarian.

 

That’s when it gets weird. All of her movements were reported to Falls Church City Schools Superintendent Toni Jones. Jones called Dana in five days later and gave her a letter saying she better watch her step. “Please accept this as a formal notification that making interview or meeting requests and impromptu questioning which causes staff to feel uncomfortable is not appropriate during the course of the school day and/or on school grounds,” said the letter, which ended with “Regards, Toni.”

Despite 14 years of unpaid effort on behalf of the city’s schools, Dana was told by Jones she would no longer be allowed to volunteer if she did not mend her ways.

Dana has been a critic of Jones. Such tension between school leaders and active parents is common but rarely reported. School districts say they welcome outsider involvement. The Falls Church City school board’s mission statement says “our schools must be responsive and accountable to the community.” But parents like Dana often feel a chill if they ask too many questions.

In a statement, the school district said Jones warned Dana in part because “we are careful to protect student privacy and data.” It also bothered staff that Dana had asked to meet with staff members “on more than 20 occasions” during the school year and “wrote over 2,100 emails to 145 separate FCCPS email accounts,” according to the statement.
The best teachers I know like dealing with parents. A teacher who worked last year at an elementary school told me a majority of her colleagues “were thrilled that Melissa was asking questions.” Jamie Scharff, an International Baccalaureate teacher at George Mason High School, said he has “never met a parent as sincerely dedicated to helping the schools” as Dana.

Jones’s letter accused Dana of “attempting to log on inappropriately to at least one technology device, and taking random pictures not associated with tasks assigned to you in your role as a parent volunteer.” Dana said the charge of logging on inappropriately was “absolutely false” and “I was taking very specific pictures of the activity to which I was assigned.”
What bothers me most is the school district presenting her large number of emails as a sign of misbehavior. Dana told me she was concerned by teacher complaints of mismanagement and made hundreds of contacts with parents and teachers, plus school board members. What’s wrong with that? She said 234 people emailed her their support for a satisfaction survey she was advocating.

In May, several people, including Dana and her husband, formed a group called The Falls Church Way, seeking more input on school policy for parents, teachers and community members. The group wants the board to include staff, parents and community members in its evaluation of Jones this month. Jones has agreed to meet with the group every month.
School officials often consider such groups a nuisance. But asking questions can lead to meaningful change. Smart administrators know that and listen carefully to parents before threatening to ban them from volunteering.

8

Jay Mathews is an education columnist and blogger for the Washington Post, his employer for 40 years.

Neil Hamburger

4:03 PM PST

"The best teachers I know like dealing with parents."

You must not know many teachers. The best teachers resist dealing with parents because parents want their snowflake to be given less work, or easier work, or to have their C bumped up to an A for no good reason. The sheer amount of nonsense parents ask for is outrageous. Bad teachers just succumb to it because they don't care.

Gator1151

3:55 PM PST

I see the school district superintendent came from Oklahoma. You could ask those parents if they were sad or glad to see her go. But who tattled on the volunteer to start this mess? Looks to me like those elementary school teachers need adult supervision themselves.

Sean Derry

3:52 PM PST

Teachers are in the business of managing the education of children, not managing adults. I don't think the average person in the public realizes how little time teachers have to belabor the minutiae of school policy with parents. Your child's teacher is usually dealing with 20-25 children and their parents. That is one person serving as the contact point for 60-75 people, plus the demands of paperwork, planning and dealing with whatever management throws at them.

Volunteers should volunteer. No teacher trying to assist 20 plus little children needs an adult volunteer who needs monitoring and attention. Would you walk into an ER and follow the staff around taking pictures and asking questions after a major car crash? By the way, a child's identity and image is private and schools are legally obliged to be discreet. Do you want a volunteer in your child's classroom to be wandering around and snapping pictures for unknown reasons? Think about it.

Most schools have steering committees that involve parents. This volunteer should join or start such a committee and stick to actually volunteering in the classroom.

taverngeek

3:47 PM PST

The risk for school administration is that involved parents and volunteers can decide to run for the school board and become the administrator's boss. It is far better for administration to answer questions than risking inspiring a questioning person to run for the local school board. 

Kary Bear

3:37 PM PST

Sounds like typical office politics to me. 'Office politics' means 'bullying and pressure to fit in' really just worded in a more adult way for grown ups who don't want to admit they act just like kids. But it's normal, sadly, and what goes on in any work place or any place where many people work together, unfortunately. It's just a part of life, and when someone feels on edge because they worry you might threaten their security, their job, or even their unaccounted for corruption, they will retaliate most of the time. That's when you need to cross all your t's and dot all your i's and sorry, but, snapping photos in a classroom setting without permission is wrong. So of course they're going to use it against someone when they're just looking for something to use against you. They can't know for sure what she took a picture of, and taking pictures of other children's phones and such, IS inappropriate.

MatthewWP

3:37 PM PST

What's Jones hiding?

MontereyTwilly

3:20 PM PST [Edited]

She sounds like a great employee to me. This is so common in schools and in business, an employee does great work and their superiors get threatened. Jones should be investigated.

pcwag

3:17 PM PST

Guilty of impersonating a real teacher, which today borders a crime.

Superintendent John Collins sanitizes devastating report about Poway Unified School District

 Poway isn't the only school district where secrecy protects incompetence and bad behavior. All school districts need a heavy dose of sunshine.

Morning Report: Report Sanitized for Poway’s Protection
By Randy Dotinga 
VOSD
Aug 31, 2015

Turns out a tough analysis of dysfunctional management at Poway Unified School District that we got after a public records battle was a lot tougher before we got it.

Superintendent John Collins decided to take a red pen to a $40,000 consultant’s report about district tech problems.

VOSD’s Ashly McGlone uncovered the superintendent’s significant edits, but only after we threatened the district with litigation. As she reports, “words like ‘arrogance’ were replaced with ‘overconfidence.’ ‘Dysfunction’ became ‘issues.’ ‘Extreme and even chaotic’ decision-making became just ‘problematic’ and ‘reckless and wasteful decision-making’ became ‘uncontrolled and inefficient,’ while other descriptors like ‘short-sighted’ and longer passages were scrubbed entirely, district records show.”

The superintendent’s told us this about the report: “The result has helped us to celebrate the outstanding work we do and formulate new goals and organizational structures to continuously improve upon our successes.”

A tech staffer went to a meeting with Collins and said the chief wanted to avoid “calling anybody out for the problems that were discovered.”

Update on West Valley Elementary in Cupertino: was the principal the only problem?

Parents at West Valley Elementary in Silicon Valley are rightly upset by the disruption caused by the involuntary transfer of all twenty-five teachers from their children's school--and I agree that this is a bad situation for the students.

But the causes of the current dismal situation might be more complex than parents think. I doubt that the most recent principal was the sole cause of the conflict. I suspect that an unhealthy culture developed at the school over a number of years. Most schools are highly political institutions with constant maneuvering by certain teachers and administrators to establish power. There are usually a few people struggling to behave professionally, but those people are not likely to be highly influential for the simple reason that humans tend to follow those who have the most political power.

Parents need to establish a new culture of healthy, open communication among all adults at the school--and the PTA might not be the ideal vehicle for this. A new organization of parents concerned about poor communication at the school would seem to be a reasonable response to the crisis.

While parents do not have the right to be informed about personnel matters, they DO have the right to establish a culture of open discussion and mutual respect among all stakeholders.

It's amazing how much trouble can result from small problems that are not handled professionally by teachers and administrators. Teacher cliques sometimes react with remarkable outrage to small changes in daily schedules, curriculum, training programs and committee assignments. And the most powerful teachers often launch into destructive fury when they are given unpopular class assignments or when the principal fails to suspend a student when the teacher demands it.

But administrators are often even more politically motivated than teachers. "WVE town" provided this reaction to my original post about this story:

 ...The teachers were asked to attend a consultant's "Human Systems Dynamics" training class, which the Superintendent falsely portrayed as "multiple interventions". Superintendent Gudalewicz discussed it with the School Board in a single closed session without a vote, and then she told parents that teachers would apply and interview for to return to their positions, but internal district leaks revealed that all the teachers would be transferred. Within a week, they started using the description "reconstitution", Superintendent Gudalewicz, and the School Board led by Phyllis Vogel, refused to meet with parents in open meetings all through the summer. One thing to note is that the consultant Royce Holladay of Human Systems Dynamics that was paid $15,000 to "facilitate" the failed teacher session is now hired to facilitate the "re-imaging" of the school which was said would take 3 to 5 years. From the internal emails obtained, it is a story of administration arrogance and retribution, facilitated with some consultant greed.

"WVE town" also wrote this very interesting piece for the Cupertino Patch, summarizing the secretive and dishonest behavior of district officials. Sadly, this secrecy and dishonesty sounds typical of most school districts. If anyone is going to start an honest, open discussion it will have to be parents.

Del Mar teacher forced out: was she a brilliant teacher who got in someone's way--or was she performing poorly?

A teacher in Del Mar Union High School District has resigned for unknown reasons.  The troublesome issue here is that we can make a pretty safe bet that neither this teacher, nor any of the other teachers at her school, has been effectively observed and evaluated. In most districts, teacher evaluations are a joke.  Many principals don't bother to do observations of classrooms.  Schools in California and across the country are desperately in need of an effective teacher evaluation system.

 Did Del Mar get rid of a brilliant teacher who got in someone's way, or an ineffective, misbehaving teacher? 

The author of the article below shows no concern about the well-known inadequacy of teacher evaluations--and the shameful politics that controls many, if not most, school district personnel decisions. 

Obviously, both sides in this case have chosen to keep the facts secret, apparently because both sides have something to hide.

Education Matters: Del Mar settles with former employee, and other money matters

By Marsha Sutton 

Del Mar Times

 July 7, 2015

 

The Del Mar Union School District and permanent certificated employee, known as #199-415, have agreed to settle their differences.

This is according to an “Employment Separation, Settlement Agreement and Release of All Claims” document which was approved by the DMUSD Board of Trustees on May 11 at a special closed session board meeting.

The employee, identified only as a female teacher, went on paid administrative leave at an unspecified date before May 11. The district has paid her full regular salary and benefits, less taxes and other regular withholdings, through June 30, 2015.

The district also agreed to pay the teacher, who is no longer employed by the district, the amount of $57,994.46 which is equivalent to “her compensation and fringe benefits otherwise afforded were her employment to continue through January 2016.”...

In the agreement, the district “contends that causes exist to discipline #199-415” but agreed to “cease its investigation(s) related to allegations of any misconduct” and not recommend dismissal, suspension or any other type of disciplinary action against the employee.

Employee #199-415 “denies the district’s allegations” and “does not admit that she committed acts or omissions constituting misconduct.”

The agreement states that she voluntarily chose to resign her permanent certificated employment and to waive her tenure rights and the right to future employment with the district...

Both parties release the other from all claims, grievances and actions, “whether actual or potential, known or unknown” – and agreed that nothing in the agreement “shall be construed for any purpose as an admission of fault, error, wrongdoing or liability.”...

Del Mar’s trustees met several times in closed session prior to May 11 to discuss this matter, which was referenced in board meeting agendas as “Public Employee Evaluation/Dismissal/Discipline/Release.”

Both parties agreed to keep the settlement confidential and not disclose or publish the terms of the agreement “to any third party except as may be required by court order, lawful subpoena or law (i.e., Brown Act, California Public Records Act or Freedom of Information Act).”...

Who it is doesn’t really matter. What matters is that taxpayers know that significant general fund money has been spent on this settlement. And since the public is not privy to details, we can only hope the district’s elected officials are making wise decisions and are being good stewards of public funds.

Jury: Fallbrook Schools Must Pay Ex-Employee $1M for Retaliation

After more than a year of delays, I'm pleased that Elaine Allyn finally got her day in court--and prevailed in her claim of illegal retaliation by Fallbrook Union Elementary School District.  

I'm wondering if Allyn will appeal some or all of the 11 claims that Judge Stern decided in favor of the school district.  Judge Jacqueline Stern seemed to be a bit over-anxious to protect the schools district, as indicated by the fact that she declared a mistrial in this case in October 2013 rather than placing an alternate juror on the jury--and then delayed the new trial for more than a year.

See earlier post on this case HERE.
See the complaint filed by Plaintiff HERE.

Jury: Fallbrook Schools Must Pay Ex-Employee $1M for Retaliation
Ashly McGlone
Voice of San Diego
Feb. 26, 2015

A jury Thursday afternoon ordered the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District to pay its former IT director Elaine Allyn over $1 million for retaliating against her for objecting to the deletion of district emails.

The jury returned the unanimous verdict after deliberating for four hours following a 15-day trial, said Allyn’s attorney, Michael Curran.

It was the second jury to hear wrongful termination claims made by Allyn, who was fired in May 2012 after a dispute over the deletion of district emails.

“I can’t express the emotion I am feeling,” Allyn said of the verdict. “This is not only for me but, for all the people at the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, former and present employees that are going through the awful treatment that this administration is giving them. I really hope that it opens the eyes of the School Board to re-evaluate the current administration and their management philosophy.”

The district claimed the 18-year employee was fired for snooping and hacking colleagues’ emails and reduced the amount of time district servers retain emails on her own “to conceal her wrongful and deceitful acts.”

Allyn said she had previously reported sexual harassment by a superior and that she was ordered to dismantle the district’s email archive system, permanently erasing all deleted emails and reducing email retention from three years to one week, despite voicing objections and legal concerns.

A first trial that began in October 2013 ended in a mistrial after the district asked to extend it beyond the 10 days scheduled.

This time, the jury found Fallbrook retaliated “against Ms. Allyn for raising objections to reducing the retention time of the District’s email system,” and awarded nearly $1.05 million for lost income and $148,000 in damages, more than the amounts sought, court records show.

Read the rest of the story HERE. 

VERDICT IS IN: Jury unanimously finds Fallbrook Union Elementary School District wrongfully terminated Elaine Allyn; district ordered to pay over $1.19 million

February 27, 2015 

by admin FALLBROOK – The following are two statements provided to the Village News on Thursday, Feb. 26,  following a unanimous verdict in favor of plaintiff Elaine Allyn in the Allyn vs. Fallbrook Union Elementary School District lawsuit claiming wrongful termination.

The first statement is from Allyn’s legal counsel, Curran & Curran Law.

The second statement is from Fallbrook Union Elementary School District legal counsel, Gil Abed of Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, APC, who defended the district.

——
“1.2 million verdict in employment retaliation case against Fallbrook Union Elementary School District”

“In a resounding victory against the alleged misconduct by her former bosses, FUESD superintendent Candace Singh, Ray Proctor and Dennis Bixler, Elaine Allyn, the former 18-year information technology director for the district, prevailed in her claims for retaliatory mistreatment and wrongful termination with a unanimous jury award of $1,194,000 for lost past, present and future income and emotional distress (general damages).

“Ms. Allyn originally alleged claims for wrongful termination in violation of public policy, retaliation under the Labor Code and for the failure to conduct a proper alleged discrimination investigation relating to Mr. Bixler investigating his own boss, Mr. Proctor. Her claims were refined by her counsel and, based upon technical legal/procedural grounds, a single claim went to the jury; whistle-blower retaliation in violation of Labor Code section 1102.5.

“Ms. Allyn testified she had questioned the spending of Ms. Singh, alleging she had spent in excess of $43,000 of public funds on a larger office and redecorating and over $14,000 in public funds on new tech items for herself, when she first became Superintendent in August 2011. She further alleged that Ms. Singh and Mr. Proctor had spread these expenditures around various district budgets to avoid the scrutiny of the board. Ms. Singh had asked Ms. Allyn to purchase a larger computer screen for her from the IT budget so as not to “flag the board.”

“Ms. Allyn had also testified in the early summer of 2011 that Mr. Proctor had warned his fellow administrators to “clean their houses” as he was aware of public investigations into misconduct in other districts concerning improper financial relationships with contractors and other financial misconduct and was concerned Fallbrook could be investigated and he could be embarrassed or disciplined for his own alleged financial misconduct.

“Mr. Proctor and Ms. Singh then directed Ms. Allyn to delete the district’s archive server which contained three years of district historical emails. When Ms. Allyn initially refused and asked her bosses to provide a legal opinion because she believed what they were asking violated law and district policy, they threatened her with insubordination charges and ordered her to delete the email archive sever telling her they would take care of the legal issue.

“Once that was done, in a further attempt to cover themselves and point the finger at Ms. Allyn in case of investigation of the District, they falsely and pretextually accused her of “hacking” and reading their emails and conducted a $43,000 pretextual investigation with the district lawyer Dan Shinoff’s trusted investigator, who found no computer or forensic evidence of misconduct by Ms. Allyn.

“Despite the findings of the investigator, Ms. Singh, Mr. Proctor and Mr. Bixler still falsely charged Ms. Allyn with reading emails, deleting emails, and failing to assist the district with the voluntary Erate funding program. In a formal Notice of Charges document, Mr. Bixler, who testified the documents was “wordsmithed” with Mr. Shinoff, presented these pretextual and false charges to the board, resulting in Ms. Allyn’s wrongful and retaliatory termination.

“Earlier in this litigation, district spokesperson, Dennis Bixler, had previously falsely indicated to the press Ms. Allyn had been terminated for dishonesty, fraud and violation of district policies. After an initial trial, which Ms. Allyn and her counsel believe the district intentionally caused to be mistried, the district board again falsely reported to the press Ms. Allyn was terminated for dishonesty, fraud and violation of district policy.

“The dedicated jury in this second trial listened attentively to all the evidence and believed Ms. Allyn and her former district employees, all of whom were absolutely honest and sincere and none of whom were impeached, not a single time in the trial. The district witnesses were impeached repeatedly with inconsistent deposition and former testimony from the first trial. The district witnesses were shown to be inconsistent with each other on key issues in the case with Mr. Bixler giving five different versions of Ms. Allyn reporting to him and Mr. Shinoff and his investigator that she had been directed by Ms. Singh and Mr. Proctor to delete the districts archive email server.

“The district witnesses even attempted to add new preposterous claims and allegations against Ms. Allyn raised for the first time in the litigation at this trial, like Ms. Allyn had years back sexually harassed her boss Mr. Proctor and Ms. Allyn violated procedures and had a bad reputation. The jurors properly disregarded these new claims as unsubstantiated mud-slinging.”

“At trial, Mr. Proctor also testified for the first time in the litigation that he did not need to delete email as he had printed everyone of his emails for the past 21 years which district counsel said were all “public record.” There was no evidence to support this new allegation and no other witness supported these claims and, in fact, the district charges against Ms. Allyn alleged the district administrator emails were highly confidential and related to confidential district business.
“The jury properly considered all the evidence and found Ms. Allyn had been retaliated against and wrongfully terminated.  Jurors indicated the district’s mistreatment angered and insulted their intelligence and awarded Ms. Allen the maximum damages they believed they could based on the evidence and jury instructions. They even awarded Ms. Allyn a greater sum of emotional distress damages that had been asked by her counsel in closing argument...


Below is the media statement provided by Gil Abed of Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, APC, who defended Fallbrook Union Elementary School District (FUESD). The statement is attributed to FUESD superintendent, Candace Singh.

” Re: Jury decision/Allyn v. FUESD”

“This lawsuit was filed with 12 claims against the district, 11 of which the district either prevailed or were dismissed. The district intends to seek all remedies available including costs and attorneys’ fees with respect to all of the 11 claims.

“The Fallbrook Union Elementary School District is disappointed with the outcome of the trial with respect to the one claim that the jury was asked to decide.

“While the jury’s decision is not the outcome expected, the district respects the jury’s time and commitment to the judicial process. At the same time, the district will continue to pursue the legal remedies that reach beyond today’s decision.”
—————
The Village News will publish its customary news coverage of the jury decision in the March 5 issue.

As VOSD revisits 1992 tragedy, San Diego Unified won't tell how many football concussions occur

Coach at Center of Notorious ’90s Concussion Case Oversees Concussion Safety for SD Schools
Mario Koran
VOSD
February 10, 2015

As Escondido High’s football coach, Bruce Ward played an already injured athlete who suffered a second, catastrophic injury. Now, he oversees San Diego Unified’s sports safety protocols, including those for concussions.

On Oct. 2, 1992, Escondido High was desperate for a win.

In three games the team hadn’t notched a victory. And in the week leading up to the game against San Marcos High, a group of players, frustrated with coaches, walked away from the team.

Vu Dang, then a 17-year-old, 160-pound Escondido senior, stepped up to fill the gaps. In addition to starting at wide receiver, his coach, Bruce Ward, made the decision to put him back to return punts and kickoffs. He wasn’t big or blazingly fast, but had a quick first-step.

Now 40, Dang remembers catching a punt and heading up field – and then, the impact. He was hit by a wall of defenders. That’s when the lights went out.

The rest he’s pieced together from what teammates later told him: He immediately tore off his helmet, his eyes rolled back in his head, he lost consciousness and stopped breathing. His mother rushed onto the field and collapsed when she saw her son.

“We lost Vu Dang twice on the field and once more in the ambulance. We performed CPR on the field and again in the ambulance. He was gone, and we were able to bring him back,” San Marcos’ athletic trainer later said.

Dang was taken by ambulance to Palomar Medical Center. There, doctors found bleeding on the right side of his brain. While treating Dang’s immediate trauma, they also discovered an older, subdural hematoma – a blood clot between the brain and skull – which they said could have been about a week old.

In fact, Dang had gotten a concussion in a game the week before. 

In that game against Temecula Valley, he caught a quick pass and a defender hit Dang underneath his facemask. The impact was so hard he was lifted off his feet.

“I knew I was rocked. When I got up off the ground my body was tingling,” Dang said about the first concussion.

Escondido’s athletic trainer knew about his first concussion. So did Ward, the team’s head coach. But his parents didn’t because nobody ever told them, legal documents allege.

Doctors called it a “second-impact syndrome” a second, catastrophic concussion that occurs before symptoms from the first have subsided.

Put simply, Dang should have never played against San Marcos. Why he did was set to be hashed out by legal teams, and is documented by court records. But before the case went to trial, the parties settled out of court.

Dang eventually recovered. He suffered long-term brain damage and struggled with memory loss after the injury. He struggled in areas where he’d once excelled, like high-level math. He left college after his grades fell too low to maintain an academic scholarship, and he drifted between low-paying jobs for several years. He now owns a yoga studio with his wife in Escondido.

As for the coach, Ward left Escondido and in 2000 was hired by San Diego Unified. Today, Ward is the district’s director of physical education, health and interscholastic athletics.

Ward is paid just under $128,000 a year to oversee the daily operations of the district’s athletic programs. He’s the point person for making sure all coaches in the district are properly trained and following safety protocols – including those for concussions.

The District’s Man on Concussions

Despite the increased awareness, many California school districts, including San Diego Unified, can’t say how many football-related concussions they’ve seen in recent years. District spokesperson Ursula Kroemer said the district has a system that allows its nursing team to record injuries, but that it doesn’t have a means to document the circumstances around an injury.

But Kroemer couldn’t even say how widely that system was used, or whether schools are required to report injuries through it. So while there have been 135 concussions since September 2013, the district can’t say how many of those were related to athletics.

Ward is the “overall-point person” for making sure coaches are certified and teams are following safety protocols, according to the district. Yet, 20 years ago, a lawsuit blamed his leadership for traumatic brain injuries suffered by one of his players...

But in 2007, he spoke to the Union-Tribune about Dang’s injury. In that story, Ward acknowledged that he had concerns about Dang’s first concussion when he decided to play him in the second game against San Marcos.

“We were playing San Marcos in a game we felt was going to be a battle of field position. Vu was a good receiver with good hands. But we took him off the offense and put him on the field to return punts. He was instructed to catch the ball. Fair catch everything to save the offense some yards. We didn’t want him to run. But he was young, caught the ball, decided to run, and he was injured,” he told the paper.

But Dang said that wasn’t true. In fact, because the team was unexpectedly short-handed, Ward had actually increased his workload for the San Marcos game.

Ward shifted blame onto Dang, saying he had ignored coaches’ instructions. The decision to play him, however, was a serious risk no matter what instructions Dang received.

The Trial That Never Happened

The Union Tribune reported that Dang had seen a doctor before the San Marcos game and had been cleared to play. But court records obtained by VOSD put that claim in serious dispute.

In fact, it was the basis of the lawsuit Dang’s family eventually filed against three defendants: Bruce Ward and the Escondido Union High School District, Riddell, a helmet manufacturer, and North County & Escondido Physical Therapy, Inc., the company contracted by the school to provide athletic trainer services.

The trial was sure to be an ugly, finger-pointing circle. The attorneys representing North County & Escondido Physical Therapy said the athletic trainer warned Ward that Dang was injured and recommended he not play. The school denied that conversation ever took place.

Court records show the arguments each side was prepared to make.

The athletic trainer blamed Ward for creating a “Texas football,” “win-at-all costs” culture. Journal entries the trainer’s attorneys submitted as evidence include descriptions of Ward calling kids “lazy” and yelling at them not to visit the athletic trainer if they wanted to make the team...

Is there a code of silence that protects bad teachers? Teacher Suspended After Defending Co-Workers Accused Of Sex With Students

Teacher Suspended After Defending Co-Workers Accused Of Sex With Students

The Huffington Post

By Simon McCormack

01/23/2015

 

An art teacher is in trouble after he reportedly published a Facebook status defending teachers accused of having sex with students, claiming that the victims should have kept their "mouths shut."

[Maura Larkins' comment: I was told to keep my mouth shut about harassment by teachers at Castle Park Elementary.  It was amazing to me that teachers who thought of themselves as honest and law-abiding wanted to cover-up bad behavior.]

Sean Patrick, who teaches at South Hills High School in West Covina, California, has been placed on paid leave following the incident, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Patrick's alleged comments came after two teachers at the school, Melody Lippert, 38, and Michelle Ghirelli, 30 were arrested Saturday and accused of having sex with students during a non-school-sanctioned beach party.

The ages of the victims were not reported.

The curse-laden Facebook post from Patrick's account captured by the New York Daily News said:

I just got one thing to say. As many of you know especially those of you whom were once former students and now adults and are my friends on facebook and posting about it two female teachers (colleagues of mine) got arrested for going on summer vacations with and sleeping with some of the male students... Hey... all I gotta say is EVERYONE KNEW MISS [redacted] who was the high school algebra teacher (who also flunked me twice for not "showing my work") w/as fucking the popular senior boys at my highschool when I was there. So what?!.. All I want to know is what the fuck is in the heads of the dudes who banged these ladies and then squealed? ... Shit man! You should have just kept your stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it. I have no idea what the fuck is going on anymore.
Everyone has lost their fucking minds.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/23/teacher-suspended-defending-teachers-sex-students_n_6532348.html

Poor Grades for Encinitas, Julian Schools on Transparency

Poor Grades for Encinitas, Julian Schools on Transparency