Helix High's charter on the line after GUHSD trustees' vote

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Helix's charter on the line after trustees' vote
By Leonel Sanchez
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
February 11, 2010 at 10 p.m.

The Grossmont Union High School District board of trustees Thursday night went ahead with plans that could result in Helix High losing its agreement to operate as an independent charter school.

The board is concerned about the school’s handling of an administrator who is accused of aiding a student runaway.

The board voted 4-0 to issue a letter of intent to revoke the school’s charter and plans to hold a public hearing next month...

Helix High School supporters said they would fight to keep their charter and claimed that the district wants to control the school for financial reasons, which the board denies.

Board Chairwoman Cathy Singer said that if the district pulls Helix’s charter, the school could seek sponsorship from the county or state...

Despite its challenges, Helix High School last year was named a California Distinguished School, the second time in a decade that it has earned the honor.





ORIGINAL POST: Dan Shinoff explains why Helix High should lose its charter
Attorney Dan Shinoff

See all posts on Helix High.

Attorney Dan Shinoff is the person who refused to investigate when two teachers at Castle Park Elementary School in Chula Vista reported their belief that another teacher might come to school and shoot them (and everybody else). Shinoff's inaction ushered in a period of extreme instability at the school, which went through 11 principals in 11 years and a scandal when five teachers were transferred out of the school. In Grossmont High School District, Shinoff refused to hold a conference on school violence as requested by the parents of slain Santana High School students. So it seems fair to say that Shinoff isn't concerned much about either student safety or ferreting out the truth.

Shinoff's actions at Grossmont's Helix High charter seem to be about politics, pure and simple.

GUHSD Media Statement
February 4, 2010
For Immediate Release
The Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) is placing an item on the February 11, 2010 Board Meeting agenda to consider the possible revocation of the Helix High School Charter. The item is being placed on the agenda due to continuing concerns by the GUHSD Board regarding the safety of Helix students...
The Board Meeting agenda will be available online by 4 P.M. on Friday, February 5, 2010, at: LINK.
All other questions regarding the GUHSD Board item in this matter should be referred to
Daniel Shinoff, GUHSD Counsel,
Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz.
He may be reached at: (619) 232-3122.


CHANNEL 10 NEWS REPORT
District To Decide On Helix High School's Charter Status
February 11, 2010
In a statement issued by Helix High School, officials accused the district of several things, including refusing to meet with them after well over five different attempts to discuss the district's concerns or to engage in the dispute resolution process required by the charter.

Singer said, "District reps have employed slander, innuendo and out-and-out lying in what we can only assume is an effort to damage the school for its own financial gain."...



SHINOFF SHOWS LITTLE CONCERN FOR YOUNGSTERS IN SEX ABUSE CASES

In Sweetwater Union High School District about ten years ago, Dan Shinoff defended the school when a mentally disabled girl was found having sex in a classroom. Shinoff said the girl wanted it.

Then there was the Fred Kamper case. Shinoff denied the girls were telling the truth, but eventually settled with at least one of the girls.



SHINOFF QUOTE FROM THE SALKA CASE

Winter 2005-06 - High School Censorship
XXVII, No. 1 - Page 11

CALIFORNIA — The San Dieguito Union High School District has rejected a $1.5 million claim filed by the parents of a 16-year-old girl who posed in her underwear for photos in a high school literary magazine.

The claim sought damages for "defamation, invasion of privacy, inadequate supervision, sexual harassment and related damages all stemming from unauthorized nude photographs…" appearing in Torrey Pines High School’s Dialogue Spring 2005 First Flight.

...Dan Shinoff, the school district’s lawyer, said the entire claim is baseless.

"I think these youngsters knowingly participated in this issue," he said.