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Classroom shenanigans in Sweetwater school district?
As I understand it usually a Charter School is run outside the District Trustees by a group of adminstrators and/or parent activists to create a different environment for learning. Often these Charters are run by or alligned with a "For Profit" Corporation. I can see the siphoning off District Value into a separately run corporation with the same players currently running the whole district, Ed Brand, Jim Cartmill, John McCann, Quinones, etc. Since once the Elections come up in November they will not have jobs... Secondly think about what neighborhood Castle Park is in! The Promise Grant Zone, now we have South Bay Community Services and the Federal Money available ($30M?) to the same group I mentioned above, the self-proclaimed saviors to Lower income education, the same ones that have run down every school in the district especially those in the "Promise Zones"!!! People follow the Money and it is appearent what the motives are for our so called Trustees. Mark my words even with Ed and the Board changed they are going to keep messing with the schools down here in the district. As I have said before, we need to up the participation of each neighborhood school, empower them to determine their needs ie, additional ESL or remedial math or extended school days to meet their particular demographic. We need the teachers to determine the best method of delivering the product to their students and have the District Adminstration and Union stand by to support them, not deter them. A top down change is required to achieve these things, not the change of one school using lies and inuendo to trick families to fall into line with another potentailly failed plan. BBQ, CAVE, Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 29, 2014 5:50 a.m.
Sweetwater district corruption trial postponed
Funny, I volunteered to Mr. Calhoun to be an independent citizen doing the site evaluations with the "Team" of experts and was turned down. What's my experience, grew up with one of the top construction lawyers in the US, set up two automotive assy plants, have an MBA and Engineering degrees, 25 years experience, have kids in the district..... Funny how McCann the High School President & School Board Flunky, is an instant expert on buildings and conditions... Where are the reports of the deficiencies in the facilities which we have already allocated $400,000 for? Isn't this a function of Staff? Mr Brand and Mr. Calhoun? What have they been up to? Oh I know, figuring a way out of the last Real Estate fiasco (H St, 3rd St et.al) and buying a new Adminstration Building, "The SUHSD, Ed Brand Adminstration Building and Hall of Fame" (Gag me with a spoon, 1980's reference) Sorry for the sarcasm but enough is enough.... John where is the criteria for replacing Ricasa? Where is Brand's evaluation? Would you like someone to independently walk the sites with you? I would love to do it. Let me know, the district has my number. BBQ, CAVE Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 28, 2014 9:55 a.m.
Sweetwater district corruption trial postponed
FYI, Attached is the announcement for a SDCOE Public Meeting to review election of Trustee seats by Trustee Areas, Either side of this issue, if you follow the Sweetwater district, you should attend. It is the first time the County Board of education will be involved at sweetwater in a very long time. ****NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUSTEE AREAS IN THE SWEETWATER UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE ELECTION OF ONE MEMBER OF THE GOVERNING BOARD RESIDING IN EACH TRUSTEE AREA BY THE REGISTERED VOTERS IN THAT TRUSTEE AREA You are hereby notified that a petition has been filed with this office in accordance with Education Code section 5019 for the establishment of trustee areas in the Sweetwater Union High School District and for the election of one member of the governing board of the Sweetwater Union High School District residing in each trustee area by the registered voters in that trustee area. YOU WILL THEREFORE TAKE NOTICE that a public hearing to receive public testimony on this matter will be held by the Board of Education, San Diego County, acting as the County Committee on School District Organization, on Thursday, February 6, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. at: Administration Center – Board Room Sweetwater Union High School District 1130 Fifth Avenue Chula Vista, CA 91911 Guidelines for conduct of the public hearing are available at: www.sdcoe.net/Board/Pages/Agendas-and-Minutes.aspx or by contacting Kathy Bowers, Executive Assistant to the County Board of Education, at [email protected] or (858) 292-3515. January 24, 2014 RANDOLPH E. WARD, Ed.D. County Superintendent**** Want you to Know, BBQ, CAVE Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 28, 2014 6:01 a.m.
Sweetwater district corruption trial postponed
oldchulares, The handwriting is on the wall for Cartmill, the only reason he is hanging on is the Lifetime Medical Insurance. His near vesting is the only thing that keeps him hanging on. I do not believe that he has an ethical bone in his body, and will hang on to every continuance available to get to that Vesting for his insurance. Thus along with John McCann, there is no use in appealing to ethics or common sense, they do not have anything else but the vesting and appearing to care about the public, even if we, the public, can see through their motives. No matter what, all of their days are numbered, but how much more havoc can they create? BBQ CAVE, Citizens active for Value in Education— January 26, 2014 8:43 p.m.
Sweetwater district corruption trial postponed
I have read all of the comments above, I have four comments at this time, Judge Espana, Mr. Pfingst, and the other attorneys, get off your butts and get this rolling, we are 14 months since the original indictments, the depositions have been public record for 6 - 8 months. Judge Espana you have a duty to the public to see these cases through in a timely manner and the schedule was already long and drawn out when you look at the freedom and control of a public entity (SUHSD) these indictees have. Mr. Pfingst, et.al. you have had sufficient time to prepare your defenses, you knew the schedule cancel your other cases, this is important to this community. I am sure you have all put massive billable hours into this and may see it as a cash cow for your firms. Current Board Members, Ed Brand and the staff of SUHSD should have no additional contact or influence with the Board over who they want to replace Ms. Recasa. This replacement is not a District function it is a voting community function or Board function. If there is any contact between Ed/Staff and the current trustees about "preferable" Trustees, there is a Conflict of interest and the offending Staffer be Publically reprimanded. There would also possible racketeering offenses against you for allowing this influence to sway your duty to the public (Think about it, John and Jim) Ms. Lopez and Ms. Quinones the best thing that could happen right now would be for you to immediately resign from the board, if you are acquitted of your indictments, you can run for your seats back on the Board in November. If you are both out there is no longer a board that can act and spend any addtional monies. As for Ed, the little things are where he will stumble, I suggest that with minimal investigation we will see his Conflicts of interest and manipulation of the Board as being termination type offenses. He could walk back from vacation, see the light and prepare to leave the district, I have little hope of this as I am sure he will see this comment as a challenge to his ego and as Nero did play his fiddle as the district burns down around him (Fire Alarm Reference intentional). Best to all, BBQ CAVE Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 26, 2014 8:38 a.m.
Picket at Sweetwater trustee Cartmill's home
oskidoll, I strand fully corrected, no one ever told me there were full time professional School board trustee positions in my life planning and vocational advisory classes . However it appears that Mr. Cartmill, Ms. Quinones and Mr. McCann had different advisors than I did. Perhaps we should look to remove renumeration and benefits from the Board positions? With this new information I now understand why Mr. Cartmill was so against Term-limits and district area seats on the board. To quote Bluto Blutowski (John Blushi) from Animal House "S__T twenty years of School Board down the drain...." if you remember the final credits he went on to become a US Senator, no such luck Mr. Cartmill, McCann or Ms. Quinones... BBQ— January 24, 2014 12:19 p.m.
Final competition of Chula Vista robotics league
Having been accused of being one of the Ed Cave people, Citizens against virtually everything... I applaud these efforts, but we do not touch enough of our students.... Here is a prime example of "Hands on", work through it, problem solving! This is exactly what our general academic policies in Sweetwater Union High School District lack. The value of being able to use all of your senses to create, the feeling of putting screwdriver to screw, the creation of an operating or complete machine or object is completely lacking in our "College Prep", "teach to the test" core curriculum. I am of the mind that the current and near term "Core Curriculum" have created a vacuum around the joy to learn for learning's sake. The tedium of lecture, reading and multiple choice test must really suck for our kids. We have removed or seriously limited, the experience part of education from our district and are creating a bunch of Mechanically Illiterate and unmotivated students. Here Ed, right in your face is what has been systematically removed from the "Normal" everyday in every school education while you have been in tenure at SUHSD. These programs are what makes a student successful, gives meaning to 'Higher Education" and you have all but striped it out of the district in search of Test Scores, which you've also failed at. I applaud the volunteers, parents and teachers that give our kids a chance to experience the world... and for being examples of Participation, Responsibility, Teamwork, the concept of group dynamics, Respect and Self-respect. This is what education is about and should be about for every student, everyday, in every school in the district... BBQ CAVE Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 24, 2014 11:09 a.m.
Picket at Sweetwater trustee Cartmill's home
Lightsaber, I do not think anyone has doubted Mr. Cartmill's intelligence, his judgement, ethics, and chosen alliances are another matter.... With this latest concern over his "Vesting" for Medical Insurance, doesn't it just cast that much more doubt on the why he has been on the Board of Trustees in the first place? I have said this before, I am sure that when he first went after the Board position he had noble reasons and desire to make things better, but over time he got corrupted, by the "Power" and ability to "Broker" so much money. He has become the worst type of Public Servent, one that is wholly in it for themselves as witnessed by this potential "Vesting" issue. It is sad that he stuck his hand into the cookie jar, one more time and got caught, does he deserve the pension/lifetime insurance, absolutely not! This is not about the actual crime, but the dis-service, bad reputation and Public Distrust he has brought to the Sweetwater Union High School District and all of our current Elected Officials. Those things along with the mis-management during his Tenure on the board, many as Board President. That Mis-management will take years if not generations to repair. Are the reasons he does not deserve any more Public Largess. It's obvious now that he's just been in it for himself and his Buddy Ed Brand. Let him go to trial, let the public decide if he deserves his pension/insurance, I think most will convict him for the weak willed, self-agrandizing poser he has become.... BBQ, CAVE Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 24, 2014 7:26 a.m.
D.A. Dumanis at center of tangled cash web
Truther, "Far less serious:" how full of crap is that.... Anytime someone elected or appointed or even hired in a position for Public Service commits fraud it is very serious Please do not take this as support for Ms. Dumanis, this is just to point out there is no acceptable "level of seriousness" when it comes to Ethics while in Public service. Any lapse erodes our trust and faith in our elected and/or others in Public service . Should Ms. Dumanis be prosecuted over this? I do not know the whole story. Does she owe us "the public" an accounting without sugar coating? Defintely! Step down? That is up to her ethical standard, which we'll all know as this plays out. It is obvious the Southwestern/Sweetwater folks have very low Ethical Standards or they would have moved on by now, not letting these scandal laiden boards continue as the joke they have become. BBQ, CAVE Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 24, 2014 5:46 a.m.
Picket at Sweetwater trustee Cartmill's home
This is a paraphrased copy of an opinion piece by Diane Ravitch on the San Diego Unified School District in 1/22/14 Voice of San Diego, http://voiceofsandiego.org/2014/01/21/yes-sd-unif… ***…But I do not see test scores as the highest possible measure of success. Districts can get higher test scores by investing heavily in test prep, by coaching kids to pass the tests, by cheating, by narrowing the curriculum and dropping the arts. They can get them by threatening to fire teachers if scores don’t go up. These kinds of activities might raise test scores, but they don’t improve education. They corrupt it. …you won’t find any such measures in our nation’s best private schools, which are free of this mindless test-score mania. Schools that want to offer a good education focus on the curriculum and the wellbeing of children, not just test scores. They respect teachers, and they value their experience…. …does not regurgitate the failed strategies of the so-called “reformers” who are now in charge of the U.S. Department of Education. She does not believe that teachers will work harder if they are threatened or urged to compete with one another for a bonus. She believes in teamwork and mutual respect…. …I am also impressed by the cooperative spirit that characterizes the relationship among the school board, the administration and the teachers’ union. San Diego is trying to forge a new paradigm for school reform, which the leaders call “community-based.” That means reform relies on collaboration at every school among parents, students and staff. Is it hard to do? Yes. Is it better than whips and threats? Yes….*** Wouldn’t it be nice if we could look each other straight in the eye and move towards this “Community Based” format, end “Education Flight” caused by the Open Borders Policy? Wouldn’t be nice to work with respect instead of threats? Where are the rest of the reformers? Teachers, Staff, Administrators, Board members, Citizens, Students? BBQ, CAVE Citizens Active for Value in Education— January 21, 2014 10:09 a.m.