Conflicts of Interest Alleged at Guajome Park Academy

See all Guajome Park Academy posts.

Although Dan Shinoff is not mentioned in the story below, he was present to advise board members at the Vista Unified School District meeting last night.


Conflicts of Interest Alleged at Vista Charter
by Emily Alpert
Voice of San Diego
September 11, 2009

A Vista charter school's practice of having employees, particularly the superintendent, serve on its board creates "potential and/or actual conflicts of interest, according to lawyers hired by the Vista Unified School District to investigate complaints about conflict of interest at the school.

The fact that Bob Hampton, who became the superintendent of Guajome Park Academy this summer, sits on the school's executive board is problematic for several reasons, said Dina Harris, an attorney with Best Best & Krieger, the firm retained by the district.

In the past, employees felt nervous about questioning decisions made by their leader because the superintendent had to authority to terminate employees and sat on the board, Harris wrote. They also "felt there was no one to turn to ... because the same individual held position(s) at three levels of the complaint process." And the executive board also handles the superintendent's contract.

Harris recommended that Guajome Park remove employees from its board and instead create an advisory board for employees. She singled out the superintendent in particular as a problem. Hampton wrote in a statement that "we respectfully may not agree with some of their commentary and conclusions."...

The report also included a slew of other findings, including that Guajome Park approved a contract four years ago that a board member had a financial stake in. It also found "some occasional violations of the Brown Act" which mandates that meetings be open to the public, and that the school violated its own rules by choosing an interim superintendent who didn't have the credentials listed in its founding charter...

Silvia Peters, a Vista parent who once sent her child to Guajome Park, called the report "watered down," alleging that it didn't reflect other complaints about the school curriculum and how it handles special education. "I think you're trying to play the patsy," Peters said...

Guajome Park Academy case against employee who exposed grade changes; federal trial Sept. 15, 2009

UPDATE SEPT. 11, 2009: The federal court has ordered Guajome Park Academy to prepare dismissal documents for this case, which had been scheduled for trial next Tuesday. Apparently there is a settlement in the case. Shame on GPA for abusing the justice system to cover up its own wrongdoing.

Citizen Media Law Project summary of case: Guajome Park Academy v. DuPerry

See all Guajome Park Academy posts HERE.

Declaration in favor of McCulloch by Vista Unified School District board president Carol Herrera.


The court has refused to allow a defense witness to testify. Why is the court protecting the Plaintiff? The court granted an order excluding the testimony of Stephanie Persichetti at trial, although the court noted that "Defendant opposes the motion, claiming that this “entire lawsuit arises from the grade change of one student,” taught by Persichetti. Defendant states that Persichetti will provide relevant testimony regarding Plaintiff’s grade change policy and alleged violations of the policy, within the context of her experience as a teacher at the academy.".

VistaUSD is finally investigating Guajome Park Academy

VISTA: School district to investigate Guajome Park Academy
North County Times
By STACY BRANDT
January 15, 2009

School district officials decided Thursday to investigate Guajome Park Academy to ensure there are no problems with leadership or instruction at the charter school.

The request for a "compliance review" was prompted by recent complaints from parents about curriculum and school administrators, said board President Carol Herrera, though she said she couldn't give more specific details.

"The whole charter has to be looked at," she said before the meeting.

The board voted unanimously to proceed with a review.

Several parents and employees from the academy attended the meeting to either praise the school or to encourage an investigation.

Guajome Park Academy has been without a superintendent for six months, since Penny Harrison quietly stepped down. Chief Business Officer Carla Skaggs has filled in since then...

In the past the district has sent complaints to school officials to address the concerns, she said.

Guajome Park serves 1,500 students in grades six through 12 with a project-centered curriculum. It's a charter school, which is a publicly funded school that operates independently, outside of many of the rules typical public schools face.

Chartering districts are responsible for monitoring the schools to make sure they're financially and academically successful.

"In the past, we haven't perhaps provided the oversight for that program that we needed to," Herrera said...

Unlike PowayUSD and VistaUSD, Indiana school board disapproves of abuse of special ed students

Poway Unified School District (PUSD) (Lindsey Stewart case) and Vista Unified School District (VUSD) (see Guajome Park Academy) have protected abusive teachers of special education students during the tenure of school attorney Daniel Shinoff. It's nice to see that some school districts are different.

The Poway school district still has not apologized to Megan Donovan and Jerry Ramelli for refusing to protect them.

Indiana Teacher Fired for Duct Taping Kid's Mouth Shut
Fox News
January 16, 2009

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A school board in Indiana has fired a middle school teacher who placed duct tape over a special-needs student's mouth to keep him from talking in class.

The board of Tippecanoe School Corp. voted Wednesday to cancel Pamela Dahnke's contract. She was an eighth-grade health and nutrition teacher at Battle Ground Middle School in West Lafayette.

Superintendent Scott Hanback says the September taping incident "cannot be tolerated."

The board also says Dahnke failed to implement the student's program for special needs and that she returned to the school after being told to leave.

The Journal & Courier of Lafayette reported Wednesday that Dahnke said she was unaware the board had made a decision. A call to a listing for Dahnke was not answered Friday.

SIATech test scores don't correlate with staff salaries

The salaries of SIATech Charter School staff in San Diego have skyrocketed, unlike student test scores. A reader sent me the 2006 990 IRS forms for SIATch, which lists wages. The salaries for SIATech Board of Directors and employees:

LINDA DOWSON President of the Board of Directors and Operations Manager $ 220,461.

ED BROWN Director and Operations Manager $ 124,878.

LINDA MILLER Director of Educational Services $172,860.

DAVID JENKINS Assistant Supervisor $ 169,81.

KRISTIN MALLORY Assistant Supervisor $ 168, 896.

DIANE FAIRCHILD Director of Special Education $ 161,348

MANOUCHEHR HADJIAGHAI Director of Administrative Services $ 160, 210.

SIAtech scores went down 45 points from 2007 to 2008. Of course, the children tested in one year are not the same group of children that are tested the next year. Some kids graduate, others move away and new kids take their places.

SIATech tested 135 students. SIATech is 100% funded by the United States Department of Labor (Job Corps), and is not regulated. SIAtech operates the education for about seven Job Corps in California.

SIATech student composition is: African American--15 students; Hispanic: 39 students; White--4 students; English Language Learners 3 students; socioecomomically disadvantaged--67 students; American Indian or Alaska Native--2 students; Filipino--1 student; and no students with disabilities.

Guajome Park Academy improved from 753 in 2007 to 768 in 2008. This charter school averages 21 students per classroom and the staff is highly paid.

More about North County test scores can be found at the North County Times.

Links for VUSD stories

District: Vista Unified has spent about half its bond money
By: ROB O'DELL
March 12, 2005
North County Times

VISTA ---- The Vista Unified School District has spent about half of the money it raised three years ago through a $140 million construction bond, but enough cash remains to build a controversial high school campus near Highway 76, officials said last week.

The $140 million bond, dubbed Proposition O, was to be teamed with $104 million from the state, giving the district $244 million to build nine campuses, renovate 10 aging schools and make physical improvements to the district's other 14 schools...

$7.3 million misappropriated from taxpayers, but Bonnie Dumanis files no charges

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis routinely protects school boards and administrators who commit crimes, yet she charges little guys with felonies for using school hoses to water their palm trees (see MiraCosta College).

Education isn't going to improve as long as it is controlled by people who use a corrupt system to get rid of the best and brightest educators for challenging ineffective and/or illegal practices.

The District Attorney has had an inappropriate relationship with the San Diego County Office of Education ever since the days of SDCOE Superintendent Rudy Castruita, when her campaign photo was published on the SDCOE website.

NORTH COUNTY TIMES
BY STACY BRANDT
December 7, 2007

VISTA ---- A county report released this week says poor judgment and lax oversight led to several problems at North County's largest charter school, where allegations of money mismanagement, nepotism and conflicts of interest erupted into an ugly power struggle last year.

No criminal charges were filed against anyone at either school.

The report was released Tuesday by the San Diego Office of Education, which hired an auditing firm to look into 12 allegations against former administrators at the school that had been lodged by its board of directors.

...the report offers recommendations for how to get the school back on track, including repaying $7.3 million in state funding that may have been based on falsely reported attendance figures.

The report also suggests that Eagles Peak develop policies for dealing with nepotism and conflict of interest, and that it streamline how the school reports attendance...

[Blogger's note: Policies mean nothing if they're not implemented. In the Danielle Cozaihr case, Chula Vista Elementary School District's board completely ignored its own policy regarding helping teachers meet goals. Of course, that's because the teacher was already meeting goals, and their claims to the contrary were for the sole purpose of getting rid of a teacher for taking maternity leave. The board also ignored the penal code, the Labor Code, and the contract in the Maura Larkins case. Most school boards seem to act only to maintain the status quo by protecting the people who have power.]

The report doesn't place all of the blame on former administrators. The school's board of directors contributed to the problems by not keeping an eye on expenses, the audit states. Before last year, the school board "provided minimal monitoring, at best," according to the report.


COMMENTS:

" Same names, same behavior, same outcome... They just move from one charter to another but they had their training at GPA [Guajome Park Academy]. These folks should be held accountable ... What about the child's life that they affected, are the children able to bounce back? "


" Hum no criminal charges? Why not? The answer is simple perhaps the San Diego County Office of Education and the San Diego DA's office should be investigated for not doing their JOB!!! Where there are hundreds and thousands of dollars missing/unaccounted for/discrepancy and so forth the DA looks the other way. Then on the Palgate scandal the DA spent an enormous amount of money investigating $ 350.00 or so. What is wrong with this picture? By the way Stacy Eagles Peak is not the biggest charter school in the North County. The biggest and the meanest is Guajome Park ... "

" As magistrate Judge Barbara Major said, " If there are no sanctions, than where is the deterrence." The same can be said with these charter schools, "if there are no criminal charges, than where is the deterrence."

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/12/07/news/coastal/4_01_5212_6_07.txt