Special Interests
CUSD’s New Battle: The Voters’ Elected Representatives vs. CUSD’s Entrenched Special Interests
Jan 12, 2009
There is a new battle being waged in our school district…and it is every bit as dangerous as the battle voters just won when they removed the last of the corrupt Fleming era trustees from office.
The voters of South Orange County have spoken…clearly and unmistakably -- for the third election in a row. Voters in CUSD have rejected the corrupt status quo and elected seven reform trustees by landslide margins. Voters have given you a mandate for positive reform in CUSD.
In my remarks to this Board just one month ago, on the night the newly-elected board members were sworn in, I stated:
“With the removal of the last Old Guard Trustee, one battle is over…But no one should misunderstand – the fight is far from over. Many who directly profit from CUSD’s multi-million dollar budget are continuing their efforts to frustrate and rollback the reforms you are striving to implement…”
Read More...
Comments
The truth about Woodrow Carter's past failures
Jan 11, 2009
If all you heard were the impassioned gushing over Woodrow Carter (aka Arnold Carter) by employees and a few parents incited by union boss Vicki Soderberg, and their equally impassioned and vile attacks against our new trustees, you would think Carter should be beatified and the trustees condemned to the fiery pits of hell.
Well here are some other facts and points of view that Carter, Soderberg and their bully mob would prefer not discussed. And these are just few examples. Others can be viewed by clicking here.
Schools' exec stirs outrage
By Julie Kay/Staff Writer, The Reporter (Vacaville, CA), December 1, 2006
The superintendent of the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School district is under fire for having displayed to 85 district administrators an image of a 'Ladies Swiss Army Knife' containing attachments including a tampon and a phallus-like vibrator.
A flyer being circulated shows the Swiss Army-like knife on one side and cites on the other side the California Education Code which says a permanent employee can be dismissed for 'immoral or unprofessional conduct.' Read More...
New trustees exercise leadership and take action to restore order in our broken school district.
Jan 06, 2009
When reformers commenced the first recall in early 2005, CUSD was a school district in crisis. Years of financial mismanagement by the Old Guard trustees and administration created serial deficits and the resulting budget cuts caused severe overcrowding, unhealthy and substandard facilities and massive cuts to educational programs.
These problems were exposed by years of parent complaints and investigations by the Orange County Register and other sources. This not only revealed the severity of the problems, but more importantly, the primary causes. The policies of the district, its leadership and management were found lacking, especially when compared to other school districts.
The Old Guard leadership irresponsibly spent nearly three quarters of a billion dollars on facilities and untold millions more for other purposes without a master plan or budget. To add insult to injury, much of this was knowingly done in violation of numerous laws and regulations. The tragic results were covered up through years of propaganda that misinformed the public by distorting and concealing sources, amounts and uses of funds, conditions of facilities and finances, inequitable spending priorities, prudent alternatives, etc.
Then there were the incessant denials and endless self-adulation by the Old Guard board and staff, coupled with their continuing attacks against their detractors (often illegally through the use of district resources), no matter how egregious or self-evident their offenses.
These are just a few examples of the Old Guard’s notorious “Culture of Corruption,” all arrogantly and dishonestly promoted to inculcate the district's tired, hypocritical mantra, “Kids First.” Read More...
Was Capo superintendent supposed to be fired? Whether he was or not, he should be now.
Dec 19, 2008
But their dishonest threats and bullying tactics have harmed the district and could backfire on them.
Spt. Woodrow Carter (aka Arnold Carter), was scheduled to undergo a performance review yesterday, but now faces an uphill battle after he joined union boss Vicki Soderberg in a dishonest and disgraceful preemptive strike against the new board by attacking them, playing the victim card and inciting possibly the worst example of mob behavior in CUSD history.
The special board meeting had been noticed as a "performance evaluation" for Carter with possible disciplinary action or termination of an unidentified "public employee." No allegations or charges were disclosed and no action was taken.
Carter delivered a speech before the trustees went into closed session. The speech obviously was written in large part by Carter's labor counsel and was designed to intimidate and influence the new board's decisions by inciting confusion over the facts and the process, undeserved sympathy for Carter and groundless, hysterical outrage against the new board - all coordinated with the support of an unruly mob rallied by union boss Vicki Soderberg. Read More...
Recall committee leader Tony Beall: "Congratulations on your impressive election victories…and Best Wishes for tremendous success."
Dec 08, 2008
Tony Beall Rancho Santa Margarita Councilman and
CUSD Recall Committee Leader
Parents and Taxpayers -- in CUSD and all across America – want to believe and trust that their children, and their educations – are being properly taken care of by their school district leaders.
Over the past five years, that belief has been shattered.
The people have spoken…clearly and unmistakably -- for the third election in a row -- and they’ve given you a mandate for positive reform in CUSD.
The old guard did not go quietly... They fought to the bitter end to retain their stranglehold on the people of CUSD -- and upon our school district’s massive annual budget. Read More...
Recall committee leader Tom Russell: "This is a momentous occasion and we...finally can declare victory, and the beginning of a new era of positive reforms at CUSD."
Dec 08, 2008
Public comments following the swearing in of the reform trustees at the December 8, 2008 special meeting of the CUSD Board of Trustees
Tom Russell CUSD Recall Committee Chairman and Spokesperson
Congratulations to the trustees. Wow…what a difference five years makes. Who could have imagined that ALL seven board seats would be replaced with reform trustees.
This is a momentous occasion and we at the CUSD Recall Committee finally can declare victory, and the beginning of a new era of positive reforms at CUSD.
You ran on a platform of academic excellence, first-rate classrooms…smaller classrooms.
Every parent has a reasonable expectation of safe and sanitary classrooms for his children. Every child has a reasonable expectation of having his own desk and adequate classroom supplies. Read More...
Teachers Union Running Massive, Illegal, Deceptive Campaign
Oct 14, 2008
• Union Leadership and Candidates are Illegally
Coordinating Campaign Efforts
•
Union Trying to Buy the Election with $72,797.49
Spent So Far
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. The Teachers Union PAC is
the largest special interest group involved in the
CUSD local school board races -- and they are trying
to buy the election using deceptive and illegal
tactics. To date, the Teachers Union PAC has already
spent
$72,297.49 on behalf of candidates
Duane Stiff, Erin Kutnick and Andrea Kooiman!
Here is a link to the California Secretary of State’s
website disclosing the Teachers Union PAC filings:
http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1043314&view=electronic&session=2007
Illegal and Deceptive Tactics.
The Teachers
Union PAC, as well as the three candidates they are
supporting for School Board, have engaged in illegal
and deceptive campaign practices, including without
limitation the following:
Community member alleges Carter failures at CUSD
Sep 29, 2008
Privacy laws restrict our new trustees from openly discussing personnel matters involving public employees. This restricts them from discussing specific allegations or charges, if any, against Superintendent Woodrow Carter (aka Arnold Carter). The law is clear and Carter knows it. He has taken the same position as the board in the past.
Despite this, Carter and his new booster-in-chief, union boss Vicki Soderberg, have done nothing to properly inform disrespectful and unruly district employees about the law or attempted to bridle their disruptive behavior. Instead, Carter and Soderberg have stood by and watched, and even encouraged ignorant or mean-spirited employees to intimidate the board with their mob-like behavior.
With Carter's job on the line and Soderberg fearing for her union gravy train after betraying reformers in the last two elections, they are intentionally destabilizing the district in a power struggle to control the board, the legitimate governing body of the district, and preserve the dominance of a power-hungry administration that hasn’t respected the legitimate chain of command since the early days of the Fleming administration. Hopefully, the board will remain strong and keep their promises to the voters by setting this upside-down situation, right.
In the meantime, the board may not be talking, but that hasn’t stopped community members from weighing in on the subject. Here is one community member’s list of Top Ten reasons why Carter should be dismissed: Read More...
Capistrano Dispatch reader questions CUSD Foundation's Class Size Reduction fund drive
May 03, 2008
Dispatch Reader:
Recently Mission Viejo residents received notices (See attached) placed in their children’s backpacks and school binders by CUSD employees. The notice reads in large print “CUSD teachers deserve our support, not pink slips.” The notice encourages donations of $400 dollars per student in order to offset budget shortfalls.
In a recent conversation CUSD Foundation member Stacy Flynn, told one Mission Viejo parent, “the state budget cuts have created a $7 million dollar short fall for CUSD, and this donation drive will help to fill that shortfall in state budget cuts.” When the parent asked Ms. Flynn if the state had actually reduced the budget amount from last year, or if the cut was in the amount of the increase, Ms. Flynn stated, “No the state has reduced the budget” and that the parent was “misinformed.”
Read More...
Another turf war brewing in CUSD
Oct 17, 2007
Marlene Draper and CUSD staff are playing special
interest politics again, and setting the stage for
more community dissention
By Tom Russell, Spokesperson
CUSD Recall Committee
Last Monday night’s
board meeting (October 15) was an unfortunate
reminder of the days when former Superintendent
Fleming played politics by pandering to local
community interests, usually at the expense of
other communities within the district. If things
didn’t go smoothly, Fleming cleverly diverted
the attention of angry parents away from him and
his staff, to other parents in the district,
causing some of the nastiest turf wars in South
Orange County history. Fleming, in his own
demented way, even bragged about some of the
despicable tactics he used to divide communities
in an article he submitted to the American
Association of School Administrators.
This time, however, the seeds of dissention were being sewn by Fleming-protégé Marlene Draper, who pandered to the interests of parents at the district’s new “gold-plated” San Juan Hills High School. Read More...
By Tom Russell, Spokesperson
CUSD Recall Committee
This time, however, the seeds of dissention were being sewn by Fleming-protégé Marlene Draper, who pandered to the interests of parents at the district’s new “gold-plated” San Juan Hills High School. Read More...