Francisco Escobedo chosen as Chula Vista Elementary School District superintendent

See all posts re Francisco Escobedo.

CVESD announces choice of Francisco Escobedo to replace Superintendent Lowell Billings.

Billings forgets to acknowledge the important of lawyers in his career; Larry Cunningham makes clear the huge effect lawyers had on Billings

I watched Lowell Billings' testimony in the Danielle Cozaihr case. He made it clear that he wasn't in the habit of observing classrooms at that time. But now the Chula Vista Elementary School District superintendent is retiring, and board member Larry Cunningham says:

“Every week, [Billings] visits four to five different schools and spends several hours there in the classrooms with principals to see what’s going on.”

So why didn't Billings give credit to the large part that lawyers have played in his journey? He only mentions "the children, parents, larger community, teachers and administrators."


Billings to retire as Chula Vista Elementary superintendent
By Janine Zúñiga
San DiegoUNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 1, 2010

Chula Vista Elementary School District Superintendent Lowell Billings has announced he will retire in December from the position he has held for eight years.

Billings, 59, is leaving after 36 years in South County public education with mixed emotions.

“The important part of this journey has been the people: the children, parents, larger community, teachers and administrators,” Billings said. “Although I’m not moving out of the area, there’s the day-to-day contact that will be dearly missed.”...

Chula Vista trustee Larry Cunningham said he was on the school board when it hired Billings away from South Bay Union Elementary School District. He said one of Billings’ greatest assets is the time he spends in the classroom.

“Every week, he visits four to five different schools and spends several hours there in the classrooms with principals to see what’s going on,” Cunningham said. “His heart is really in education and the bottom line is children.”...

Sandra Villegas Zuniga has replaced Tom Cruz as CVESD human resources director

Libia Gil and Lowell Billings need to take the advice given by David Frost to Richard Nixon

I just watched the movie Frost v. Nixon, which suggests that Richard Nixon owed an apology to the American people.

Many Americans were outraged that Nixon was pardoned by President Gerald Ford and was never prosecuted for any crime. But isn't that how our justice system works? Isn't it true that powerful insiders in government, schools, corporations and non-profits can commit illegal acts and it just isn't considered illegal because, as Nixon said, "if the president does it, it's not illegal"?

David Frost told Richard Nixon that the American people needed to hear him say that he did more than make mistakes, that his actions were wrong, perhaps criminal, and that he did abuse power.

I believe that many other people in power ought to admit the same thing. Chula Vista Elementary School District administrators Libia Gil, Lowell Billings and Richard Werlin as well as CTA leaders Beverly Tucker, Tim O'Neill, Gina Boyd, Jim Groth and Peg Myers ought to say, "We put Castle Park Elementary through needless agony, a spiral of self destructive obstruction of justice that harmed hundreds of students, and forced the taxpayers to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover up our mistakes."

Also, these individuals should make amends by helping to change the attitude of teachers toward the law. Our children learn from many of their teachers that the rule of law is something that is to be applied by the strong to the weak, but it is grossly inappropriate for the weak to demand that the law be applied to their superiors.

Who's going to tell you what Lowell Billings is really up to?

The media will tell you that Superintendent Lowell Billings gave pink slips to hundreds of teachers in Chula Vista Elementary School District.

But it is your fellow readers who will tell you the story behind the story, which is why I'm willing to wade through the bizarre gibberish in the comments section of news stories.

Today I came across this gem:
"April Jehnssen Chula Vista, CA"
"Lowell Billings just came back from a safari in Africa! Did you shoot us any jobs to bring back home Lowell?"

http://www.topix.com/city/chula-vista-ca/2008/05/hundreds-protest-looming-school-layoffs

I'm guessing that the commenter didn't use his or her real name, but he/she raises an interesting question. Did Lowell Billings just get back from a safari in Africa? How about it, San Diego media? Why don't you ask him?

In court last December during the Danielle Cozaihr case, Billings pretty much admitted that all he does is walk around and smile. I think this man needs a pay cut.

Alex Cortes takes the stand

In the Coziahr trial on Thursday, November 29, 2007, the Chula Vista Elementary School District proved that the Lowell Billings-Tom Cruz administration is working hard to continue the illegal practices of their immediate predecessors.

It seems they want to usurp the primary claim to fame of the Libia Gil-Richard Werlin administration: brazen violations of the law. And the Parham & Rajcic law firm remains stalwartly supportive of this type of behavior.

This shouldn't be a surprise, since the board is basically the same: Judd, Smith, Lopez, Cunningham, and a replacement for Cheryl Cox (David Bejarano) who fits the CVESD board member mold perfectly.

As I predicted, there is virtually no paper trial in the Coziahr case, except documents that are missing. In my case, Gina Boyd claimed she either lost or threw away important records. Richard Werlin never explained why he produced no notes. But in the Coziahr case, the explanation for missing documents is very clear: principal Alex Cortes says he threw his notes away.

Danielle Coziahr was buried under a monstrous pyramid of incompetence, dishonesty and illegality. To some extent, I feel that Alex Cortes was also buried under that pyramid. Listening to the testimony, I became convinced that Cortes must have been instructed by Lowell Billings and Tom Cruz to find at least one of his eight probationary teachers to offer up for non-reelection. I suspect that Cortes received many pats on the back for offering up two teachers for non-reelection.

The manner in which Cortes avoided Mrs. Coziahr from the first day of school seemed to me an indication that he picked her on the first day, when she had her son with her. After that he didn't want to see her as a human being, so he never treated her like a human being. He didn't pay any attention to her teaching. It was of no importance to him that she was a leader in language arts according to the other teachers. He accused her of being inadequate in language arts, and stuck to his decision come hell or high water. He also moved kids with problems into her class, and moved high-functioning students out.

Of course the class was harmed by this. This was a class that should have been given to the most experienced teacher, not the least experienced. But kids aren't very high on the CVESD list of priorities, apparently.

When Mrs. Coziahr got pregnant halfway through the year, her fate was sealed. The district doesn't approve of maternity leave. Of course, they would prefer that the parents of the students get maternity leave, since improved maternal health and mother-child bonding will help the kids develop better. But logical consistency is not a trait of decision-makers at CVESD.

Shame on Lowell Billings, Tom Cruz, and Chula Vista Educators presidents Gina Boyd, Jim Groth and Peggie Myers. These individuals have re-created the worst abuses of the Libia Gil-Richard Werlin years, acting as lap dogs for corrupt board members Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez, Patrick Judd, Larry Cunningham, and Cheryl Cox/ David Bejarano.

The law exists for a good reason. Things would be a lot better if these powerful individuals had more respect for the law and less attachment to their own arbitrary power.

Alex Cortes takes the stand

This post has been moved to December 1, 2007 in this blog.

Why isn't Alex Cortes at school today? He has legal issues.

Alex Cortes and Tom Cruz of Chula Vista Elementary School District aren't helping kids today.

They have legal issues.

They've had legal issues ever since they fired a teacher for being pregnant. We all know what pregnancy results in: childcare issues.

And childcare issues are not acceptable at Silverwing Elementary School.

CORRECTION:
AS OF NOVEMBER 29, 2007 I HAVE CHANGED MY THINKING REGARDING ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT TOM CRUZ AND SILVERWING PRINCIPAL ALEX CORTES.

I NOW BELIEVE THAT HOSTILITY TOWARD WOMEN WHO HAVE "CHILDCARE ISSUES" WAS VERY MUCH THE ATTITUDE OF TOM CRUZ AND LOWELL BILLINGS, BEFORE ALEX CORTES EVER CAME TO CVESD. MAYBE CORTES' HOSTILITY TO FEMALE TEACHERS WITH YOUNG CHILDREN WAS THE PRECISE REASON HE WAS HIRED!

HERE IS MY ORIGINAL POST:

And childcare issues are not acceptable at Silverwing Elementary School.

At least, that's what Alex Cortes thinks, and who is Tom Cruz to argue with him? He's the assistant superintendent for human resources, you say? Well, he apparently got the job by not doing much arguing. Mr. Cruz would have done the kids at Silverwing Elementary School a big favor if he had nixed Cortes' bad idea in the first place. But Cruz seems to be quite buddy-buddy with lawyer Pamela Dempsey. During court breaks, they whisper and laugh. Maybe Cruz wanted to give Dempsey some work.

HERE IS WHAT I THINK NOW:

I think Alex Cortes was doing exactly what Tom Cruz, Lowell Billings and the board wanted him to do. Of course, I also believe that Alex Cortes is pretty heartless. He dehumanized Danielle Coziahr the minute he saw the baby in her arms. He was a good soldier for people who don't give a hoot about the law or the wellbeing of employees of CVESD--unless, of course, they have a political motivation to do so.

Thank you to those who informed me that it's Alex Cortes, not Alex Cortez. I've corrected my earlier mistakes.

Alex Cortes tells his side of the story

I'll go to court on Thursday, November 29, 1007 to listen to Alex Cortes' testimony. I'll report Thursday evening.

Will this case be a showdown between secrecy and openness in education?

CTA lawyers are determined that a compendium of bizarre falsehoods will be the final record in the Chula Vista Elementary School District v. Maura Larkins case.

Maura Larkins believes that so many laws have been broken in this case, and that it is so symptomatic of the failure of our education system, that the truth must be known. I have posted two new documents about the case: the Court of Appeal pleading offers specific quotes from Elizabeth Schulman's disgraceful performance at her deposition. It serves as partial proof of the allegations in the original complaint against Schulman.

I'll soon post depositions and transcripts and documents from the Office of Administrative Hearings proceeding that resulted in a decision that is illegal on its face, since it dismisses Maura Larkins because she filed grievances and a lawsuit.

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

Pamela Smith has trouble making up her mind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Was Lowell Billings Quoted Correctly?

Superintendent Lowell Billings of Chula Vista Elementary School District in San Diego County seems to think that there is a basic conflict between being a union leader and raising the bar of teaching performance.

It is true, of course, that unions work to protect incompetent teachers.

But so do administrators.

I'm afraid that most teachers and admininstrators in schools care more about how they are perceived than how they actually perform.

But that's true in most professions, isn't it? Isn't it also true in most professions that currying favor with the powerful will get you farther than striving for excellence? Look who we have for president of our country. This is not a man who strives. He's not really concerned about learning as much as he can, or asking how he could do better. And his recent pardon of Scooter Libby proves beyond a doubt that loyalty matters more to him than honesty and obedience to the law. Yet he has risen as high as a human being can rise.

Can we expect more from our teachers than we expect from our president?

Here's the quote from the June 5, 2007 CVESD board meeting minutes:
Dr. Billings bid farewell to outgoing CVE Vice President Robyn Higginson. He mentioned that she is a formidable advocate for all teachers and strong union leader, yet (!) someone who raised the bar with our articulation/collaboration curriculum and instruction.

Lowell Billings explains why he's paid so much

"I think a big part of it has to do with accountability,” said Chula Vista Superintendent Lowell Billings, when asked by Channel 10 News why the taxpayers give him $205,000 per year to run Chula Vista Elementary School District.

This makes me wonder all the more about Mr. Billings' approval of this document.

I'd understand the big salary better if he'd said, "I'm good at keeping the school board's secrets" or "I know better than to show up for a deposition regarding crimes committed by CVESD."

Being accountable means NOT keeping secrets, Mr. Billings. Being accountable requires transparency.

When Billings was Assistant Superintendent for Business Services at Chula Vista Elementary School District, he ignored a teacher's report that she had been tricked by a man who had been chosen by the district to go into classrooms and talk to teachers about investing. The man was Anthony Pavia.

Fortunately, the teacher was able to get her money out of the account that had been sold to her as a different type of investment.

But it turned out to be a double swindle. It wasn't until much later that the teacher discovered that money was being taken out of her paycheck every month for an account which she had specifically disapproved. Pavia presented the teacher with a form that had two companies names written on it. The teacher had never expressed any interest in the first company. She did want to invest in the second company.

Pavia told the teacher that he didn't have any extra forms, so she would have to cross out and intital the name of the company she didn't want. Then he said the company she did want would also have to be crossed out and initialed and its name had to be rewritten on the first line, above the crossed-out words.

Then came the real fraud.

Without the teacher's knowledge, Pavia (or his assistant) wrote in the name of the company the teacher did not want. Lowell Billings approved this bizarre document, and money started flowing out of the teacher's paycheck every month. She didn't notice it for a long time, because she was not in the habit of carefully examining her pay stubs.

How many such documents, with both first and second lines scribbled out, did Lowell Billings approve? How many complaints did he get from teachers? Why did he refuse to talk to teachers who complained? Did Billings have an account with Anthony Pavia that gave Billings financial advantages in return for looking the other way as Pavia swindled teachers?

When she reported the second swindle, Lowell Billings again refused to talk to the teacher. Billings even refused, until after repeated requests, to give her a copy of the document that had allowed the monthly withdrawals from her paycheck.

An Open Letter to David Bejarano, Former Police Chief of San Diego and US Marshall

The following is from Marie Killelea's CVESD Report:
___________________________________

When Patrick Judd interviewed you for the open Chula Vista Elementary School District board position on January 23, 2007, he asked you, “If a board member feels strongly about a matter, BUT HIS/HER POSITION IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE BOARD, how should this trustee conduct him/herself?”

The correct answer was words to the effect of, “I will keep my mouth shut.”

You must have passed with flying colors. Pat Judd and the rest of the board expect you to keep silent when the board commits crimes and other violations of law. In recent years, every single board member has been willing to authorize, aid and abet
CVESD's illegal actions.

But is this an appropriate mode of behavior for a former Police Chief of San Diego and former US Marshall?

No, it’s not. It’s a crime for ANYBODY to authorize, aid and abet any crime. But for a former high-level law enforcement officer, it’s egregious.

Many people with higher political ambitions have joined the CVESD board, including your predecessor, Cheryl Cox. I’m guessing that you are similarly motivated.

May I suggest that you lead the corrupt CVESD board away from its current policy of maintaining a wall of silence and lies, where politics rules at every level, causing bad employees to be given positions of power and good employees to be pushed out, no matter how many laws are violated?

CVESD has behaved like our current US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose office tried to turn the US Federal Courts into a Bush political machine. It was a partisan, un-American campaign to bring the federal judiciary under political control. Karl Rove claims to have “lost” thousands of emails regarding this matter. Did he get lessons from CVESD? CVESD appears to have “lost” documents, too. In addition, CVESD forced teachers to commit perjury to cover-up the alteration of documents, and even pressured
law enforcement officers to commit perjury. I would like to see CVESD to come clean and root out the deep corruption created by Pat Judd’s current board majority (with the aid of the teachers union, Chula Vista Educators and CTA) and repair the damage done to children and schools by the current board majority.

For too long, CVESD has placed the rule of law and the wellbeing of children on the back burner. It’s time for a housecleaning and change in focus at CVESD.

By the way, Mr. Bejarano, Patrick Judd didn’t mention illegal actions in his question, so you wouldn’t be breaking your promise to keep silent. Anyone would assume that “a matter” meant “a matter of opinion,” not a violation of the law.

Cheryl Cox plays softball with her friends, and hardball with everyone else

Cheryl Cox has moved from school board to mayor in Chula Vista. She used to suborn perjury to protect her political career. The actual signed documents of one of the perjuries that she caused are at the bottom of this page. Then Cheryl moved up in the world, becoming even more powerful.

Now she can cause even more trouble. A young man who took a couple hours off work to photograph her with her disgraced friend David Malcolm could end up in jail for years. Bonnie Dumanis claims that the young man lied about whether he filled out his leave slip before or after his two-hour leave to go to the twilight yacht party where Cheryl was raising money. Dumanis claims that she wants to restore trust in government, and for that reason she has charged Jason Moore with multiple perjury felonies.

But Bonnie refused to prosecute obstruction of justice committed on behalf of Cheryl Cox's and Chula Vista Elementary School District. Bonnie, this looks like you are trying to curry favor with politicians, not restore trust in government. As long as you look the other way when Cheryl Cox and CVESD spend hundreds of thousands of public dollars covering-up crimes, you won't restore trust in government. You just make it appear that your services are available in exchange for political favors.

Bonnie Dumanis was also friendly with former SDCOE Superintendent Rudy Castruita, who provided the unethical lawyers to Cheryl Cox and CVESD. Rudy put a big photo of Bonnie on the San Diego Office of Education web site--which is funded by tax dollars. Cheryl's law firm, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz was also involved in the recent gift of public money to Laurie Madigan, the wife of developer Mike Madigan.

Apparently, Cheryl and Bonnie both like to intimidate people. Cheryl once called me up, and started by saying, "Maura....This is Dr. Cox."

I knew I was supposed to feel intimidated because she gave herself a title and called me by my first name, but actually I had to struggle to stifle a laugh. Cheryl's doctorate is in education, and I know what it takes to get a doctorate in education. It isn't much. Have you ever heard of anybody flunking out of a graduate school education program? Only if he or she didn't show up. They seldom have to compete against geniuses. In fact, candidates for advanced degrees in education have the lowest GRE scores of all advanced degree candidates. Could that fact be related to the fact that we have a failing school system?

Cheryl approved multiple felonies, the perjury of a law officer among them, in order to hide a few misdemeanors committed by Chula Vista Elementary School District. When I called Cheryl up to talk about them, she refused to discuss it. I did fax documents to her, so she was well informed of what was going on, even if she tried to pretend she was "out of the loop." She just didn't think her crimes mattered. She thinks she is above the law. So does Bonnie Dumanis.

David Bejarano has taken Cheryl's place at CVESD. His wife is the secretary for Assistant Superintendent Susan Fahle, who ignored my public records requests for over a year. Finally, Dennis Doyle responded to my requests. I strongly suspect that Esperanza (Espie) Bejarano knows a lot about what happened at Castle Park Elementary and CVESD. But of course, her husband was handpicked to help the board keep their secrets, wasn't he?

Would voters be SHOCKED to find out that Cheryl Cox spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover up crimes and protect her political career? Perhaps, since she campaigned on a platform of CHARACTER and FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. She apparently fooled a lot of people into thinking she was better that Steve Padilla. Actually, Cheryl Cox is a lot worse. She finds it easy to talk the talk of clean government. She just finds it impossible to walk the walk. After all, what's a girl to do when she wants to be mayor? Tell the truth?

It took a year for Chula Vista ESD to acknowledge a public records request. THEN IT SAID, "WE WON'T RELEASE ANYTHING!"

Chula Vista Elementary School District wrote me a letter recently in response to a public records request I've been repeating for over a year. Here is my response to Pamela Dempsey.

Pamela A. Dempsey
Parham & Rajcic

Dear Ms. Dempsey:

I was pleased to get a letter regarding my public records request to Chula Vista Elementary School District. I’m wondering why CVESD decided to respond to my request at this time. I’ve been making similar requests for over a year.

But better late than never!

I look forward to receiving the information I have requested when CVESD personnel get back from vacation.

Thank you for your refreshing courtesy! I can’t help wondering if the reason that I’m finally getting a response to one my public records requests is that Mark Bresee has left the firm of Parham & Rajcic. I hope Mr. Bresee will behave more ethically when he is working directly for a public entity, rather than as a lawyer under contract with a public entity. But then, I’m an eternal optimist.

Again, thank you for your exceptional courtesy, Ms. Dempsey! It is as deeply appreciated as it is unexpected.

UPDATE:
Pamela Dempsey wrote another letter after the letter described above.

SHE DESCRIBED HER REASONS FOR NOT RELEASING A SINGLE DOCUMENT!

CVESD relies on secrecy to protect itself from exposure of its wrongdoing.

Is it really Jim Groth, not Lowell Billings, who is responsible for the firing of Tim Suanico?

The people who attacked Lowell Billings when he defended the principal of Castle Park Elementary are most likely the people who forced Mr. Billings to fire Principal Tim Suanico.

The teachers' union, Chula Vista Educators, is as powerful as, or perhaps more powerful than, the superintendent, when it comes to personnel actions regarding teachers and principals.

Jim Groth, President of Chula Vista Educators, and his predecessor, Gina Boyd, have worked hand-in-glove with the district in many personnel actions.

But when the district doesn't do what CVE wants, CVE demands arbitration.

In the Castle Park Five case, in which five teachers were transferred out of Castle Park Elementary, CVE presented a shamefully false story to the arbitrator when it demanded that the teachers be returned to Castle Park Elementary.

Why didn't the district counter with the truth? Because the district had worked with CVE to protect Castle Park teachers who violated the law. CVE dishonestly concealed at the arbitration hearing any mention of the large amount of money the district had spent on legal representation for some of those teachers in the Superior Court case which resulted from crimes committed at Castle Park Elementary.

If CVESD had told the truth at the hearing, it probably would have won.

It's time for the truth to come out about past backroom deals between CVE and CVESD regarding personnel actions, and for both CVE and CVESD to begin a new era of respect for the truth and the law.

The similarities between the Tim Suanico case and the Maura Larkins case are remarkable. Teachers, not administrators, initiated both personnel actions. Bullying and cronyism are rampant in Chula Vista Elementary School District, as they are in many other workplaces. Competent employees are frequently attacked by colleagues who fear exposure of their bullying, cronyism or incompetence.

Chula Vista Educators is so powerful that it even pushes around its US Representative, Bob Filner.

For more information, see California Teachers Association and Chula Vista Educators.

Update: The San Diego Union Tribune is widely known for its biased reporting and censorship of the news, but the South County edition appears to be the most deeply-censored edition of the SDUT. The reporting on events at Castle Park Elementary is a case in point. The SDUT knows about the Superior Court Case involving Robin Donlan and other teachers, but has kept that information out of its many stories about Robin Donlan and Castle Park Elementary.

CVESD is in Violation of the California Public Records Act

Patrick Judd, the CVESD board's longest serving member

On May 5, 2006, I received a 300-page response from Chula Vista Elementary School District's lawyers to my request (sent over a year earlier) for budget information concerning payments for lawyers and liability insurance.

The documents I received indicate that CVESD spends about $10 million a year on "other."

"Other"?

CVESD is obviously in violation of the California Public Records Act. I should have received BUDGET documents.

Instead, I was sent AUDIT documents, which contain no details at all about expenditures--just a handful of huge numbers, such as the total paid for salaries.

Now I'm really curious. San Diego Unified School District posts every payment to every lawyer on the Internet.

What is CVESD hiding?

And who is hiding it? Was it top administrators Lowell Billings, Susan Fahle and Dennis Doyle who decided on this policy?

Or--more likely--was it board members Pamela Smith, Patrick Judd, Cheryl Cox, Bertha Lopez, and Larry Cunningham?

Or--most likely of all--was it CVESD's lawyers at Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz?

Clearly, all these individuals are responsible for the policy. I suspect that the policy was first suggested by the law firm which is handling this issue:

Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz

These policies put Stutz lawyers in bad company. The federal government began in June 2004 to keep secret the reports of inspectors who visited the Sago mine, where disaster struck in 2006. Where there are secrets, there is very likely wrongdoing. And where there is wrongdoing, innocent people are likely to be hurt.

CVESD Culture Is To Blame for Illegal Acts

I found a story in the Seattle Times today which indicates that Chula Vista Elementary School District's culture of secrecy and dishonesty is not unique.

The article says:

"Management and culture" were shaped during the 1990's
using the "aggressive tactics of a political campaign."

It sounds like CVESD, but this story was actually written about another corrupt organization that (like CVESD) was revealed to have manufactured false information in order to keep power and money flowing to top management. The corporation? Fannie Mae, the biggest home-mortgage lender in the US.

The news will just keep getting worse until Americans start throwing corrupt leaders out of their positions.

Of course, although former superintendent Libia Gil created the current management-without-accountability culture at CVESD in the 1990's, she doesn't deserve all the blame. She was just doing what school board members Pat Judd and Pam Smith wanted. CVESD's descent into illegality has gone much too far. It's long past time to get rid of Pat Judd, Pamela Smith, and the third member of the controlling majority on the board, Larry Cunningham.

Unbelieveably, Cheryl Cox, who has helped cover up illegal actions (including crimes) at CVESD, has the nerve to bring up the issue of "how decisions are made" in her current campaign for mayor. Why don't you end the secrecy in your own office, Cheryl, before you complain about others? Your board is one of the most secretive public entities of which I am aware.

What is worse, you have intentionally looked the other way as San Diego County Office of Education lawyers violated the law on your behalf (see A Phone Call to Cheryl Cox).

I notice that your lawyer Daniel Shinoff advertises himself as an expert in the Brown Act. Clearly, he's an expert at HOW TO VIOLATE the Brown Act (see CVESD Is in Violation of the Brown Act).

But that's why you hired him, right?

Lowell Billings wants to save face

At the Chula Vista Elementary School District Board meeting last night, Superintendent Lowell Billings talked about helping fired principal Tim Suanico "save face."

Billings wants to put a band-aid on a serious culture clash.

Filipino principals routinely run into problems at CVESD. I believe the reason lies in the conflict between a traditional culture which requires a lot of respect for authority figures, and the American culture, which requires a lot of respect for employees--at least, if they have a union, and the union bosses support them. Assistant Superintendent Tom Cruz is either unable or unwilling to help.

The problem surfaced for Tim Suanico last December, when eleven teachers at Heritage Elementary School in Otay Ranch wrote an anonymous letter to the district complaining about Suanico.

That was when Billings should have acted.

But he didn't. Since Libia Gil came and established her phony "site-based management" in CVESD, the district has turned its back on problems at schools, preferring to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly to lawyers to cover up the illegal actions the district takes when problems have spun out of control.