RSM councilmember says responsibility for money or effort wasted on recall election falls on the Fleming trustees.

Mar 10, 2008 Filed in: Beall, Tony

Tony Beall, The Capistrano Dispatch "It’s a moot point now. That was an issue before we turned in signatures. We gave those trustees every opportunity to resign and they chose not to, that’s a question for them. Removing trustees Draper and Benecke will save the district millions of dollars. They are wasting millions of dollars at virtually every board meeting.”

Beall is a Rancho Santa Margarita councilmember and a member of the CUSD Recall Committee.

Tags: Recall Campaign 2007-08, Waste, Sheila Benecke, Marlene Draper

OC Register columnist emphasizes absurdity of trustee Draper's defense to repeated Brown Act violations

Oct 22, 2007 Filed in: Mickadeit, Frank

Frank Mickadeit, The Orange County Register "The catch-all Brown Act exception the board used to justify all manner of secrecy was 'Evaluation of Superintendent,' which were it strictly about Fleming’s performance would be OK. However, board President Marlene Draper told the grand jury she allowed the board to discuss just about anything in private because 'all issues pertaining to the management of the district fall under his evaluation.' "

Mickadeit is a columnist for The Orange County Register.

Tags: Open Meetings Law, DA Investigations, Marlene Draper, Arrogance, Stupidity, Dishonesty

County counsel denies advising Draper on Brown Act after she blamed him to save her own skin under oath

Oct 18, 2007 Filed in: Wenkart, Ron

Ron Wenkart, OC Weekly “I went back and double-checked the records,” he says. “I didn’t speak with them. . . . I was not involved with that.” His office was advising the district on “other legal issues” at the time, he says, but nothing relating to closed meetings or the Brown Act.

Past board president Marlene Draper contended in her grand-jury testimony that the closed meetings and the board’s non-disclosure were legal because all of the agendas for Saturday performance-evaluation meetings were pre-approved by counsel from the Orange County Department of Education. But Ron Wenkart, general counsel for the department and the attorney who would have approved such agendas at the time, says he has no records of him or anyone in his office ever having conversations with Fleming about the Brown Act or of approving CUSD closed meeting agendas.

Tags: Open Meetings Law, Marlene Draper, James Fleming, Dishonesty

Smollar dares Erin Kutnick to cover Dave Doomeys role in soliciting political contributions from a list of district vendors

Aug 10, 2006 Filed in: Smollar, David

David Smollar, The Capistrano Dispatch "Maybe sleuth Kutnick could revisit Draper telling the Dispatch and other media that contributions from district contractors to the trustee’s Political Action Committee “Kids First” were made from the goodness of their hearts and weren’t solicited. Another not-so-little lie. The business division under Doomey printed out a list of major district vendors for Draper, as directed to do so."

Kutnick is a columnist for The Capistrano Dispatch. Smollar is the former Director of Communications at Capistrano Unified School District.

Tags: Kids First, Erin Kutnick, Dishonesty, Marlene Draper, David Doomey

Waldrip conspicuously overlooks evidence of Fleming trustees' knowledge of, or involvement in wrongdoings

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Waldrip, Stuart

Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "The report’s also silent about what the Trustees knew about these lists, and when. Waldrip notes Fleming sent a report on recall proponents’ efforts to trustees early in the campaign, an April 2005 memo stamped “CONFIDENTIAL.” In Fleming’s words, a “mole” had approached the district’s security officer. The memo outlines key players in the recall effort, including four San Juan residents, referring to them as NIMBYs ... That was about the same time the first list was generated, and should have been enough warning for Trustees to tell their superintendent to focus on running the school district and let them worry about the politics. Waldrip didn’t ask Trustees whether they thought the memo was appropriate – the only trustee he even interviewed was Draper, about her daughter’s work with Culbertson Adams."

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

Tags: Enemies Lists, Waldrip Investigation, Recall Campain 2005-06, Marlene Draper, Culbertson-Adams

Waldrip report revealed nepotism and conflicts of interest

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan

Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "We learned that not only did former Superintendent Jim Fleming’s son get a job with the district’s contract plumber, but so did relatives of other employees – including that of the district employee who supervised the contracts at times. And we learned that former Board President Marlene Draper now recognizes it is “ill-advised” to vote on district contracts with Culbertson-Adams, because her daughter is an executive there. That concern, by the way, surfaced in 2002."

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

Tags: Nepotism, Conflicts, James Fleming, Marlene Draper, Culbertson-Adams

Draper voted to approve environmental reports prepared by daughter

Jan 02, 2007 Filed in: Winsten, Mike

Mike Winsten, Trabuco Canyon News “Draper’s daughter, Shawna Schaffner, works for CUSD’s primary environmental consulting firm, Culbertson, Adams & Associates. Schaffner was personally responsible for producing numerous environmental reports and documents that were submitted and approved by Draper and the rest of the Board of Trustees.”

Tags: Culbertson-Adams, Nepotism, Confidential Records, Marlene Draper

Taxpayers should not pay Draper's criminal defense lawyer fees

Jan 02, 2007 Filed in: Thompson, Gary

Gary Thompson, Trabuco Canyon News “The CUSD Trustees should not ask the taxpayers to spend one penny on a criminal lawyer to defend Trustee Draper. If she broke the law, she should be held accountable and should pay for her own criminal defense – just like anybody else.”

Thompson is Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Rancho Santa Margarita.

Tags: Accountability, Indemnity, Legal Costs, Marlene Draper, Elected Officials, Criminal Prosecutions

Waldrip confirms two lists linking childrens names to activists

Feb 10, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan

Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "The board received the report a month ago, but didn't comment on it then. The public didn't have a chance then, either, but emotions soared again after learning the district compiled two lists linking the names of political activists with information about their children. The second list was created after district officials and trustees vehemently denied the existence of even the first."

Vozke comments on the lack of any district response to the published report from the special investigator hired to look into allegations of wrongdoing by former Superintendent James Fleming. Volzke is the publisher of The Capistrano Dispatch.

Tags: Waldrip Investigation, Enemies Lists, Dishonesty, Marlene Draper

COMMITTEE TO REFORM CUSD: Restoring honesty, integrity and accountability to public education

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