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Board President: Board’s decision made in spirit of compromise and based on balancing of interests

Mar 29, 2010 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Orange County Register "With a spirit of compromise, the district has worked diligently to balance its fiduciary responsibility to the community with the education needs of our students and the high value we all place on our certificated employees," Bryson and Mahler said in their joint letter to teachers.

Bryson is President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. She is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2006 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Board President: Unprecedented economic turmoil necessitates personal sacrifice, including teachers

Mar 29, 2010 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Orange County Register "We have to make difficult decisions which require valued employees to make personal sacrifices," school board President Anna Bryson and interim Superintendent Bobbi Mahler said in a joint letter to teachers Monday. "This is in no way reflective of the high respect and regard we hold for the certificated employees of our district, but rather an outcome of the unprecedented turmoil in our global, national and state economies."

Bryson is President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. She is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2006 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Board President committed to keeping campaign promises to voters

Mar 30, 2010 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Orange County Register "We were not under any circumstances going to add any more students to our already overburdened classrooms, and we had no intention of letting go of any of our teachers," school board President Anna Bryson said. "Our students need the talent of our teachers at every grade level. We're very confident that we have done what is in the best interest of our district."

Bryson is President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. She is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2006 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Trustee Lopez-Maddox says board will not accept union recommendation for more job losses and bigger classes

Apr 02, 2010 Filed in: Lopez-Maddox, Ken
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Ken Lopez-Maddox, The Orange County Register The school board, however, insisted it would not accept a recommendation that would lead to even more job losses and bigger class sizes. "The last thing these students need is more students crammed in their classrooms," Lopez-Maddox said. "I appreciate that the situation is unpalatable. These are very, very difficult times, and there are no easy solutions. The bottom line is that the state is broke, and it's only going to get worse."

Lopez-Maddox is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2008 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Student rally organizer tries to justify civil disobedience

Apr 02, 2010 Filed in: Song, David
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David Song, The Orange County Register "The reason we chose (to protest during class time) is because people don't take students seriously if we're just out there in the streets picketing," said rally organizer David Song, 16, an Aliso Niguel High junior and founder of the CUSD Student Association for Teachers advocacy group. "But when students are making sacrifices in their own education, people listen. You must use civil disobedience sometimes to get your message across." State law prohibits students from exercising free speech at school if it leads to "the violation of lawful school regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school," according to state Education Code Section 48907.

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Aliso Viejo High principal says students who participate in walk out will face consequences

Apr 02, 2010 Filed in: Salter, Charles
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Charles Salter , The Orange County Register The 400 or so Aliso Niguel High students who walked out of class Friday morning to protest the 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on Capistrano Unified teachers could be facing detention, according to school officials. "There will be consequences for their actions," Principal Charles Salter wrote in an e-mail to parents just after 10 a.m. Friday. "That is a lesson that must be learned. As I shared with one parent, even Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi served the consequences for their civil disobedience."

Salter is the Principal of Aliso Niguel High School in Aliso Viejo.

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Dana Hills High principal says students who participate in walk out will face consequences

Apr 02, 2010 Filed in: Nye, Robert
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Robert Nye, The Orange County Register When Principal Robert Nye heard rumors of "disruptive activity" following a 200-person walkout and rally at Dana Hills High School on Thursday in response to a 10.1 percent pay cut enacted for Capistrano Unified teachers, he made the following announcement Friday morning: "Students who choose to participate in disruptive behavior today will receive disciplinary consequences. If you are a senior, you may jeopardize culminating senior activities. If you are a student athlete, you will risk your ability to participate in future athletic events," according to a copy of the announcement obtained by The Orange County Register.

Nye is the Principal of Dana Hills High School in Dana Point.

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Board President confirms district’s good faith willingness to discuss expiration date for pay cuts

Apr 14, 2010 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Orange County Register “Restoration language is not a common element of unilateral resolutions,” Bryson said, referring to the unilateral pay cut imposed on teachers. “That language is commonly part of a memorandum of understanding, and this is something that can be mutually agreed upon at any time.” Bryson said that such a memorandum could include language giving the pay cuts an expiration date, but that it would have to be discussed with union leaders first. The permanent nature of much of the pay cut has been a point of contention for many teachers. “If they would submit that, the door is open to all things,” Bryson said.

Bryson is President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. She is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2006 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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In response to student sickout, Board President assures constituents their voices are being heard

Apr 15, 2010 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Orange County Register "Wherever we can, we are going to factor in the individual groups, the teachers, the students," Bryson said. "We listen and we discuss what is said to us as we are permitted. ... But there are times when individual perspectives do not allow people to see things from other perspectives. As trustees, we look at it from every perspective. We are looking at literally millions of facts that they don't take the time to look at."

Capistrano Unified school board President Anna Bryson said she was relieved the absence rates weren't higher and that she regretted many students had missed a day of their education. But she also stressed that trustees were hearing the message of their constituents.

Bryson is President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. She is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2006 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Trustee Lopez-Maddox confirms boards willingness to negotiate, but union tactics make it difficult

Apr 16, 2010 Filed in: Lopez-Maddox, Ken
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Ken Lopez-Maddox, The Orange County Register Lopez-Maddox said it would be impractical to “begin an entire year’s worth of negotiations over now” and emphasized that the school board has tried to be responsive to teachers, despite the imposed pay cut. Just hours before approving the imposition, the school district removed a clause that was generating considerable angst among teachers, Lopez-Maddox noted. The clause stated that Capistrano Unified “reserves the right to implement further reductions, consistent with its pre-impasse offers, should the district’s fiscal outlook deteriorate beyond current budget projections.”

Also, trustees on Wednesday expressed a willingness to meet with union leaders to discuss whether the pay cut will become temporary – via a non-bargaining route known as a memorandum of understanding – although they said they would not reopen contract negotiations. “We can never make them happy no matter what we try to do,” Lopez-Maddox said. “Every time the teachers union comes to the board and asks for X, we say OK. Then they say, ‘That’s not good enough. We want you to do Y.’ They have a moving target.

Lopez-Maddox is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2008 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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CUSD trustee Ken Lopez-Maddox: The strike vote was politically motivated and not about the teachers’ contract at all

Apr 16, 2010 Filed in: Lopez-Maddox, Ken
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Ken Lopez-Maddox, The Orange County Register “This has never been about the contract; the union is upset over being on the losing end of the last two elections,” said Lopez-Maddox, referring to the June 2008 and November 2008 school board races, when the teachers’ union opposed the winning candidates. “They’re hoping a strike will cause the taxpayers to turn on the board,” said Lopez-Maddox, who is being targeted in a recall attempt. “The bottom line is we’ve done everything we can. We don’t have the money to pay them what they want.”

Lopez-Maddox is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2008 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Board President confirms trustees willingness to negotiate

Apr 17, 2010 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Orange County Register "The board of education has made it clear that we are ready to meet with CUEA to discuss a memorandum of understanding about the temporary nature of these cuts should our fiscal situation improve," Bryson said in the trustee statement Saturday. "The union has rejected this sincere offer and is demanding that we resume the same unproductive talks that led us to this point. We simply cannot do that."

Bryson is President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. She is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2006 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Board President speaks out on threatened teacher strike

Apr 17, 2010 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Orange County Register "A teacher walkout will be a political statement by the union that will not change the fiscal reality we face as a school district or the need to move forward with the level of concessions required in the CUEA contract," Bryson said in the statement. "Individual teachers will be asked to pay the price in lost wages for that union decision."

Bryson is President of the CUSD Board of Trustees. She is one of the CUSD Reform Trustees who was elected in 2006 to bring fiscal responsibility to the school district.

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Capo Superintendent calls attention to misinformation driving sickout

Apr 13, 2010 Filed in: Mahler, Bobbi
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Bobbi Mahler, The Orange County Register "I have read one of the e-mails giving numerous reasons for this movement, and as I did so, it further saddened me to learn there are so many misperceptions and so much misinformation driving a suggestion that completely loses sight of CUSD's most important group – our children ... Due to furlough days, our students will already be losing three days of school this year. I only see an additional loss of privilege and a loss of opportunity to learn with their teachers should they not attend school tomorrow.”

Interim Superintendent Bobbi Mahler addresses one of the letters driving the misguided and illegal April 13th student sickout staged by teachers and union sympathizers.

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Union president says new superintendent needs to work to let teachers know they’re heard on key issues

May 06, 2007 Filed in: Soderberg, Vicki
Vicki Soderberg, The Orange County Register “He needs to improve communications between teachers and him, and not have the barriers. With (former superintendent James) Fleming, it was always a one-way communication."

Soderberg commented upon the two-year teachers contract tentatively agreed to Monday (May 2) that will cover the 2007-08 school year. Soderberg is the President of the Capistrano Unifed Education Association, a teachers union.

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Smith's four guiding principles for the budget, addresses automatic allocation for teachers' raises

May 06, 2007 Filed in: Smith, Dennis
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Smith, The Orange County Register "You’ll see on Monday, we have (four) guiding principals for the budget: We can’t deficit-spend, we have to build up our reserve, we have to look at multiple-year projections. The fourth one is you have to allocate for your compensation. You have to budget something aside. Other than that, you’re in the middle of the year and teachers say, 'We want 4 percent' and we don’t have 4 percent. It doesn’t work! You end up giving it anyway."

What about budget cuts, Denny? Smith is the Superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District.

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Teacher salaries dispute settlement terms disclosed

May 03, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "Capo Unified officials and teachers have reached a tentative agreement in their bitter contract dispute, which has seen teachers picketing school campuses. The agreement’s key provisions call for a 4% salary increase for the 2006-07 school year, retroactive to July 1, 2006; a 3% increase for the 2007-08 school year; and a compression of the salary schedule. In conjunction with the salary increase, the district will continue to pay any additional costs of medical, dental and vision insurance for all teachers."

Volzke is the publisher of The Capistrano Dispatch.

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Teacher raises will strain district with $4 million more in cuts beyond $9 million shortfall already identified

May 03, 2007 Filed in: Miller, Sam
Sam Miller, The Orange County Register “Union officials figure the raises mean 8.19 percent more total pay over two years. The raises could mean more cuts for CUSD, which had already faced a $9 million shortfall after years of deficit spending. A package of proposed cuts will be announced next week by new Superintendent Dennis Smith.”

Miller is the South Orange County education reporter for The Orange County Register.

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If possible, admin building should be sold and money spent on facilities and supplies for the children

Aug 31, 2006 Filed in: Plepler, Pat
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Pat Plepler, Dana Point News "Money once spent cannot be unspent ... unless ... unless ... that grand edifice could be sold to some large business venture and, following that, the "support staff" put in Quonset huts. (Many of you will not remember Quonset huts; others never heard of them at all. Springing up during World War II, they were somewhat like the temporary buildings we use for classrooms, only even more temporary.) As for the money recovered from the sale of the fancy new building, put it where it is most needed, and no, I don’t mean teacher’s salaries. I mean things to directly benefit kids, like decent, clean buildings, large enough to accommodate as many as needs be, with lockers for all, books for all, a library in each. From all that I read, hear, and observe, we have top notch teachers here."

Guest columnist Plepler is a Dana Point resident.

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Land sale delay could affect teacher salaries and retirement fund

Apr 10, 2007 Filed in: Miller, Sam
Sam Miller, The Orange County Register "Part of the district's offer to teachers includes a 0.75 percent pay raise once the land sale goes through; waiting on the sale would mean a delay for when teachers would see that raise, if agreed to. And CUSD's 2007-08 budget projections, to which trustees are still looking to make cuts, depends on the land sale to erase a $2 million-per-year annual debt the district owes to a public retirement fund."

Miller is the South Orange County education reporter for The Orange County Register.

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Enormous salary increases paid to two of CUSD's worst offenders

Jan 02, 2007 Filed in: Winsten, Mike
Mike Winsten, Trabuco Canyon News “CUSD provided three enormous salary increases to two of CUSD’s most controversial deputy Superintendents -- Dan Crawford and David Doomey. ... Doomey (who many believe is the person most responsible for creating the CUSD portable classroom crisis) admitted CUSD had provided “misinformation” to the public as to how CUSD would fund the new $52,000,000 administration office ... During the recall, Crawford was roundly criticized for publishing a letter in the O.C. Register that grossly understated the total number of portable classrooms actually utilized by CUSD.”

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Teacher frustrated with CUSD, wants to get back to teaching

Feb 26, 2007 Filed in: Willett, Sue
Sue Willett, The Orange County Register "We asked the district to budget the increase last year, but we haven't seen any progress ... We started talks months ago. I just want to get back to doing what I love: teaching."

Willett is a teacher at Tesoro high School.

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Union leader says CUSD inflexible, teachers will be angry

Mar 01, 2007 Filed in: Soderberg, Vicki
Vicki Soderberg, The Orange County Register “This district is not willing to make any kind of movement ... Let me tell you, my people are going to be angry.”

Soderberg is president of the Capistrano Unified Education Association.

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New superintendent gets lucrative compensation package

Mar 13, 2007 Filed in: Miller, Sam
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Sam Miller, The Orange County Register “Smith, superintendent since 2000 of the 27,000-student Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified, will be paid $255,000 annually plus benefits – including $900 a month for a car and a $33,000 tax-sheltered annuity each year – to lead the 50,000-student CUSD.”

Miller is the education reporter for the Orange County Register.

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Even with cuts, not enough to pay teacher salary increases

Mar 29, 2007 Filed in: Miller, Sam
Sam Miller, Laguna Niguel News “Even with the expected cuts, CUSD would have little left over to pay salary increases – about $3.7 million, or about 1.5 percent more for all employees. Raises typically are nearer to the state-allocated Cost of Living Adjustment, which CUSD expects to be more than 4 percent.”

Miller is the South Orange County education reporter for the Orange County Register.

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Trustees should have anticipated teacher salary increases

Mar 29, 2007 Filed in: Walen, Ronda
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Ronda Walen, Laguna Niguel News “You’d think they would anticipate a salary increase and build it into their budget ... Stability is everything.”

Walen is president of the 2,000-member union for classified workers.

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Wrong for teachers to take out money issues on students

Mar 29, 2007 Filed in: Eisner, Alex
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Alex Eisner, Aliso Viejo News


Alex Eisner is a senior at Dana Hills High School and has been a resident of Laguna Niguel for 14 years. He currently serves as a member of the Laguna Niguel Youth Committee and treasurer of his school’s Student Union.

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Reader critical of superintendents' compensation

Apr 26, 2005 Filed in: Fanelli, Al
Al Fanelli, Orange County Register "The front-page article about school superintendents' salaries reassured me of something I already knew - that our tax dollars are once again being wasted ["O.C. superintendents in elite pay class," News, April 24]. The salaries and benefits for these positions are an outrage. They are paid these salaries, it is said, because it is hard to get good people and retain them. Maybe we should take a closer look at those who are doing the hiring."

Reader's reaction to an article published in The Orange County Register entitled, "O.C. superintendents in elite pay class," News, April 24, 2005.

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Reader critical of superintendents' compensation

Apr 26, 2005 Filed in: LaBonte, Rosemary
Rosemary LaBonte, Orange County Register "The best quote? James Fleming of Capistrano Unified: 'This job is hard and demanding.' Cry me a river. Here are some hard and demanding jobs: air traffic controller; paralegal with a demanding boss; a guy picking strawberries in a field for eight hours. The superintendents think they are part executive, part mediator and part politician. Actually, the job is 100 percent politics. And when did those in the teaching profession become company executives with "lifestyles" that had to be maintained?"

Reader's reaction to an article published in The Orange County Register entitled, "O.C. superintendents in elite pay class," News, April 24, 2005.

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Reader critical of superintendents' compensation

Apr 26, 2005 Filed in: Boag, John
John Boag, Orange County Register "If there is one thing government officials do well, in monarchies, dictatorships or democracies, it is to ensure their own financial well-being. It should therefore come as no surprise that local government bureaucrats, with their six-figure salaries for life, have used their positions for personal financial gains. It is absurd to compare private-sector compensation to that of government employees, since the latter do not have to worry about profits; they just spend unlimited taxpayers' money."

Reader's reaction to an article published in The Orange County Register entitled, "Perks fill out city managers' compensation," News, April 25, 2005.

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Trustees avoided cuts and paid raises during recall by depleting reserves

Nov 24, 2006 Filed in: Miller, Sam
Sam Miller, Saddleback Valley News “It is a turnaround from last year, when the district gave teachers a raise, reinstated spending such as the popular class-size reduction program and avoided cuts that officials had warned were pending. The district avoided those cuts last year by spending reserve funds down to the legal minimum of 2 percent. No such cushion exists this year. Those reserves are gone, while services, programs and employees must still be funded.”

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Soderberg critical of Trustees' budget decisions that repeat same mistakes

Nov 24, 2006 Filed in: Soderberg, Vicki
Vicki Soderberg, The Orange County Register “If you budgeted in salary increases for employees, you wouldn’t have to cut anything ... You’re taking this new money and putting it in other places, and you’re telling me you have to cut? It seems like a continued pattern.”

Soderberg is president of the Capistrano Unified Education Association, a teachers union.

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