"The school district has argued that its decision is legal because it is using stimulus money, not its own ordinary funding, to pay for counselors and graduation coaches at other schools. They believe that the stimulus money does not fall under the same rules that the critics have cited. But while the school district has said the move is legal, it hasn't let us take a look at its legal advice. San Diego Unified attorney Mark Bresee said under California public records law, the school district doesn't have to disclose its attorneys' legal advice. That's true, but the school board could waive that privilege and give it to us anyway. "
San Diego Unified says it has the legal backing to use federal money for disadvantaged students to pay for counselors and graduation coaches at schools with poorer students. But so far, the school district hasn't let the rest of us see the legal advice they're relying on.
The school district paid an outside law firm $5,000 to evaluate whether the controversial idea, which we explored in a recent article, is legal.
Critics and a state official say it appears to be illegal because schools are supposed to provide equal services to all schools with their basic funding. The special federal money is supposed to pay for the extra needs of poor children, not pay for things the district would anyway.
The school district has argued that its decision is legal because it is using stimulus money, not its own ordinary funding, to pay for counselors and graduation coaches at other schools. They believe that the stimulus money does not fall under the same rules that the critics have cited...
What if all this money had been spent on evaluating and training teachers? You don't need whiteboards to teach. Simply walking around the classroom to look at what kids are doing, or skillfully asking for oral responses, will let teachers know if students are learning the lesson. One of my favorite tricks is NOT to let the smartest kids answer right away. Instead, the teacher waits until quite a few hands are raising before calling on someone. Another technique: ask another student if the first student has answered correctly. Do this even when the first student HAS answered correctly.
...In a recent interview, Grier said he might have said that Promethean boards should be installed in classrooms, but that was a meaningless verbal slip, like the Southern habit of calling every soda a Coke...
The way in which the San Diego Unified School District chose a specific brand of technological tools has drawn the interest of the FBI, according to a local businessman who sued the school district over it.
Pete Spencer, president of a La Mesa company that installs computerized whiteboards, filed a lawsuit against the school district last year alleging it had inappropriately picked a specific brand of boards for its classrooms. Spencer says he was visited this month by the FBI, which is already investigating whiteboard purchases in Florida and Iowa...
San Diego Unified is undertaking a sweeping technological makeover for schools that include classroom sound systems, laptops for each child and computerized whiteboards that can pull up web pages and interactive lessons. Two Promethean resellers, Vector Resources and Logical Choice Technologies, won a $50 million contract to install Promethean whiteboards in San Diego Unified schools last summer under a $2.1 billion bond to renovate and build schools...
After Promethean was chosen, Spencer argued he was unfairly shut out of competing to install the new technology because he didn't have an existing contract to obtain and install Promethean boards. He settled with the school district and the two winning installation companies for $42,000 earlier this year.
Spencer said he was contacted earlier this month by an FBI agent who then visited his office and asked for copies of his legal documents, including the settlement agreement, letters between his attorney and San Diego Unified and the notification the school district published seeking whiteboard installers.
"She said, 'I can't tell you whether we're doing an investigation or not. But I'll take everything you've got,'" Spencer said. FBI spokesman Darrell Foxworth verified that the agent that Spencer named exists, but he could not confirm whether an investigation is taking place.
Former Superintendent Terry Grier, now leading the Houston school system, said he had not received any subpoenas or requests for information about the Promethean boards, which were selected during his tenure in San Diego. Neither has San Diego Unified, said its attorney, Mark Bresee.
Government agencies can only specify a particular brand of products in limited cases that are specified under state law, such as matching other products or coping with an emergency. Doing so can be a quicker alternative to seeking bids for pencils, flooring or other products. But the rules are specific, meant to avoid at least the appearance of favoritism for a chosen company.
The school district argued that it needed to match Promethean to other whiteboards that had already been installed in new schools. Technology chief Darryl LaGace said his staff had earlier evaluated the boards for a smaller installation and found advantages to Promethean over another brand.
But critics say that if all government agencies followed the same reasoning as San Diego Unified, they could simply block companies from competing for business. For instance, the city could equip a few libraries with a chosen product, then insist on matching all other libraries to it...
Montgomery County Councilmember Michael (Mike) Knapp on the Promethean Board purchase made by MCPS COO Larry Bowers: "At a time when we have limited resources, the school system had locked us into certain expenditures we couldn't afford..."
Gazette; Wednesday, September 9, 2009: "3,300 Promethean Boards in Montgomery County Public School buildings. Where did they come from?..."
I believe that every teacher who is concerned about possible false allegations should have the right to request a full evaluation and report, conducted by professionals from outside the district. Also, a teacher who doesn't know if the district is pleased with his or her performance should have that right.
Ideally, school would do this for all teachers on a regular basis, but since they don't, it should be done when questions arise.
In 2001 attorney Mark Bresee worked with Asst. Supt. Richard Werlin of Chula Vista Elementary School to hide crimes committed by employees, and to eject the victim of those crimes because she wanted to know the truth. Before they were done, the district had paid $100,000s to lawyers (you never hear of budget cuts for school lawyers, do you?). Castle Park Elementary went through 11 principals in 11 years, and a public brouhaha developed when five teachers were administratively transferred out of the school. The trigger of all this misery? Mark Bresee's decision to cover up the truth. I was involved in the Castle Park fiasco, and through it I learned a lot about school attorneys. Here's a summary of that case.
For his reward, Mark Bresee was hired as general counsel of San Diego Unified.
Now Mr. Bresee seems to be working his magic at Serra High School in the Sally Smith case.
One of the big problems is that school districts have know idea who's teaching at their schools. Evaluations are a joke. Administrators have no idea which teachers are dishonest, which teachers are pulling strings, and which ones are excellent educators.
And both the teachers union (California Teachers Association--CTA) and administrators want to keep it that way. Why? Laziness. They don't want to be bothered with evaluating teachers. They just want the teachers to keep a low profile and a calm surface at each school, and not bother them. Richard Werlin, for example, relied on the eyes and ears of one teacher, Kathy Bingham, to give him information about Castle Park School. Werlin himself spent his time standing in the hallways of the district office, chatting with whomever happened to pass by. Superintendent Lowell Billingscontinues to boast about this strategy, which he calls site-based management. It lowers administrative costs significantly.
And if there's ever a problem at a school, these hands-off administrators call in a school attorney like Mark Bresee or Daniel Shinoff to get rid of the problem quietly.
This strategy didn't work at Castle Park Elementary, and it's not working at Serra High School.
What is needed is open discussion, not a cover-up.
I believe that every teacher who is concerned about false allegations should have the right to request a full evaluation and report, conducted by professionals from outside the district.
Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz were denied a second time on January 21, 2009 when they asked to have me held in contempt for not erasing every mention of their name from my websites. It's an unconstitutional order, and it's no wonder the judge didn't want to throw me in jail, as Stutz law firm asked.
The current defamation case against me has its origins in the very bizarre events at Chula Vista Elementary School District in 2001.
My lawsuit against CVESD in 2002 was the result of an odd confluence of circumstances, and at the same time it was a typical event in the system that prevails at many schools across the United States. This system values politics and personal loyalty among adults over the duty to educate and protect children.
Dan Shinoff was the school district's lawyer, and I got a real education watching him direct the district's actions. He's not happy that I've recounted publicly his interesting way of handling public entity affairs.
DISTRICT LAWYERS BRING THE CASE BACK TO COURT IN 2007
As fate would have it, however, my case is back in court. CVESD’s law firm, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, brought this case back to San Diego Superior Court in 2007 by filing a defamation suit against me for publishing this website.
So it’s still possible that justice and sanity will find their way back to Chula Vista Elementary School District.
by Maura Larkins
Interestingly, Joe Hogan's wife, Marlene Scholz, is a player in California Teachers Association. She got involved in this case during a local affiliate president's conference at Asilomar, plunging into a long discussion with Barbara Kerr and David A. Sanchez about her husband's ex-wife, making Barbara and David very late for a planned presentation.
