Attendence Boundaries

Talega parent calls ABC committee members' experience "tragic" and "an injustice"; process criticized as unproductive and mismanaged by district

Jessica Blischke, Sun Post News “It came down to the fact that these poor people had to sit there for hours and listen to these irate citizens. It was tragic to realize this poor committee did not want to be there. It was truly an injustice, not only to the people who had to sit on the committee, but to everyone who sat there until the bitter end.”

The committee is down to 17 members (from 24) , and the members who resigned said the process was unproductive and being poorly managed by the district. Former committee members say they are frustrated by the way their hands are tied. Given the district’s framework and deadline for finding a solution, there is no way to make a recommendation without upsetting parents, they say. Committee members and parents reported that the contentious six-hour meeting dissolved into personal attacks, name-calling and a lack of order, with one father refusing to yield the podium after his three-minute maximum time and one committee member quitting on the spot. Blischke, 34, of Talega, has a 3-year-old who would be affected by a boundary change.

Former ABC committee member exposes flawed boundary assessment process and district's failure to take responsibility

Ron Frantz, The Orange County Register, "The whole process is flawed. The school district doesn't take responsibility. When the heat comes, they put parents in front to deflect the heat of something that is truly their responsibility."

Like the parent-on-parent brawl set up by Marlene Draper and her Fleming-era trustee colleagues on December 6th over the SJHHS stadium bid issue, the trustees and their administration once again avoid responsibility by placing inexperienced parents in untenable positions, pitting parent against parent, while staying out of the line of fire. Frantz, 50, is a parent and former Attendance Boundary Committee member and parent of Mission Viejo, who resigned from the committee during last month's public hearing.

Admin building controversy is just one of many to plague CUSD in recent years

Seema Mehta, The Los Angeles Times "The administrative center is just one of the controversies to dog the district in recent years. Although many of the district's 56 schools are ranked among the state's best, other brouhahas have included an Orange County Grand Jury probe; a raid of district headquarters by the district attorney; the resignation of its longtime superintendent after accusations he kept an "enemies list"; and disputes over attendance boundaries, a high school's location and portable classrooms."

Mehta is a reporter for The Los Angeles Times.

Judge rules CUSD's "guiding principle" effectively discriminated based on race

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Editorial, The Orange County Register “The ‘general guiding principle’ [of CUSD’s attendance boundaries] that no school shall have a ‘minority’ population greater than 35 percent limits the number of positions available at each high school for members of different ethnicities, effectively discriminating based on race,” the judge ruled. “This is in direct contravention of the state constitution as amended by Proposition 209.”

Racial gerrymandering another symptom of arrogant CUSD leadership

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Editorial, The Orange County Register "CUSD is in the midst of a heated school board race, with many allegations of mismanagement hovering over the current board. The racially gerrymandered boundaries are another symptom of an arrogant district leadership. Instead of continuing the fight, the Capo Unified board – regardless of who wins election in November – should throw out its attendance boundaries and put together new ones that treat race and ethnicity in a neutral manner, as mandated by the law."