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Dust Devil Settles in Southwest High’s Dumped-Dirt Debacle
In re: Grand Jury -- www.sdcounty.ca.gov.grandjury/about/purpose gives the entire scope of purpose for the San Diego County Grand Jury. Here are some salient excerpts: "The Grand Jury may inquire also into written complaints brought to it by the public... the Penal Code requires the Grand Jury to inquire into the williful or corrupt misconduct on office of public officers."— July 30, 2012 10:10 a.m.
Dust Devil Settles in Southwest High’s Dumped-Dirt Debacle
Hear Hear! If no one else is listening to the pleas for action from a host of agencies, why not seek the attention of the Grand Jury? At a minimum, they could embarrass the hell out of agencies who seem not to paying attention.— July 29, 2012 5:41 p.m.
Dust Devil Settles in Southwest High’s Dumped-Dirt Debacle
Any 'waiver' by the SDCOE to allow SUHSD do something, on its face, implies that SDCOE has oversight authority over something that the SUHSD is doing....which directly contradicts the SDCOE claim that they have no authority over SUHSD.— July 29, 2012 3:53 p.m.
Dust Devil Settles in Southwest High’s Dumped-Dirt Debacle
Well, I think 'inefficiency' lets everyone off the hook way too easily. Rather, 'derelection of duty' might be a better characterization of both public agencies, each of which is governed by elected officials and who are subject at the very least to recall, if not charges of negligence or worse.— July 29, 2012 3:47 p.m.
Dust Devil Settles in Southwest High’s Dumped-Dirt Debacle
HMMMMMM. This post by Brickley is intriguing for many reasons. Take a look at this statement: "SDCOE replies in a letter dated February 28, 2012, sent specifically to Dr. Brand granting an emergency waiver to deal with the dirt. The letter states "The site staff had the free, untested soil placed at the school without obtaining appropriate district approval but was unaware that it contained large rocks and stones and was dumped over the main drain." (ref. as stated) " So, despite the SDCOE assertions to the contrary, that body DOES have oversight of the SUHSD? What oversight power gives them the authority to waive something?... and why did Brand and Russo think it was necessary to so inform the SDCOE about the dirt in the first place?. Either you DO, or you DO NOT, have oversight authority! It seems that they just might be responsible for oversight after all.— July 29, 2012 2:33 p.m.
Fraud Possible in Calexico Unified School District Bond Expenditures
It is my understanding that an Extraordinary Audit is performed at the request of a County Board of Education, or at the request of the State Superintendent of Instruction in cooperation with a CBOE. It is usually performed at the request of the CBOE "Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team" (FCMAT). I believe (but this is a guess) that a forensic audit focuses on alleged fiscal irregularities, and/or possible criminal issues, while an 'extraordinary' audit is performed to overview what and how a school district manages its resources, its internal controls, and if it is in compliance with ed code. The ed code section 1240 deals with extraordinary audits. There is one such extraordinary audit report posted on the San Diego County BOE website at SDCOE.net/business2/ . It was performed on the Eagle Creek Charter School and prepared for one Ms. Laura Duzyek...so she should certainly know about such things.— July 24, 2012 3:31 p.m.
Questionable Contract for Southwestern College?
Well, that seems an easy answer, but it is not. It's too easy to go to the ethnic answer, but that is an easy out. Think about the poor folks in Scranton, PA, who have gone 'belly up' this week. Once lived there, and it is a cesspool of corruption. One could pay a couple of hundred to get one's property taxes lowered...no wonder they have nothing in the coffers. Not 'mordida' but other corruption...call it what you want...mafioso... or mordida, or just plain greed. Those city officials were for sale for a long time...it 'cost' several thousand dollars to 'buy' a job as a police person or a fire fighter...forget a job with the school district...also jobs for sale there. The saying is that we get the government we deserve, and that is the truth. Doesn't matter the ethnicity...it takes vigilance to protect the public from the public officials. As they said about Nixon, 'a public office is a public 'lust'....Dont' mention Dick Cheney here. In the 'good old days' most folks cared about what was going on in public meetings. Today, few care to even spend the time. God bless those who do and those who care enough to call them out.— July 20, 2012 8:39 p.m.
Dirt Dumped at Southwest High School's Campus Still Under Investigation
Kudos and thanks to 'Erupting' and the two others who addressed the County Board of Education July 11. I encourage everyone to view the archived video on the CBOE website. You do know the importance of keeping their feet to the fire, because they do not like to be 'called out' and embarrassed, no matter how much they protest that financial oversight just isn't their job. IT IS! and they are shirking that responsibility, if not aiding and abetting the slight of hand at SUHSD.— July 17, 2012 11:25 a.m.
Dirt Dumped at Southwest High School's Campus Still Under Investigation
You can always ask them that question. Here is a piece copied from their website www.sdcounty.ca.gov/grandjury What is the jurisdiction of the San Diego County Civil Grand Jury? The San Diego County Civil Grand Jury has jurisdiction over all local governmental entities within the County of San Diego.— July 16, 2012 11:52 a.m.
Dirt Dumped at Southwest High School's Campus Still Under Investigation
Sigh! It seems the San Diego County Office of Education just does not understand its role. In order to help them get it, here is a section posted from a document titled "Statutory Functions of County Board of Education and County Superintendents of Schools", available at www.scoe.org/files/statutory_functions.pdf. IV. GENERAL DUTIES OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS Education Code § 12402 describes the general statutory duties of the county superintendent. This section was significantly amended by the legislation enacted to implement the settlement of the Williams, et al v. State of California, et al. lawsuit. Section 1240 states that **county superintendents shall:** (a) Superintend the schools of his or her county. (b) Maintain responsibility for the fiscal oversight of each school district in his or her county. (c) (1) Visit and examine each school in his or her county at reasonable intervals to observe its operation and to learn of its problems. While it seems the San Diego Office may not understand this statute, perhaps the Grand Jury can help dissuade them of the notion they are not responsible for these duties.— July 16, 2012 11:39 a.m.