Stories Neighborhood News The Breakfast Club By Dorian Hargrove Aug. 8, 2010
...According to Smith, schools throughout the district are raising extra money by redefining the State of California's definition of truancy. Section 48260 of California's Education Code defines a truant as any student who misses more than 30 minutes of class without an excuse. But students and parents who Smith has interviewed tell her that teachers are marking students truant if they are five seconds late.
If the student has three or more "truancies" they are placed on the Loss of Privilege list and banned from attending school dances, graduation ceremonies, and supporting their school's sports teams. The only way for a student to get lopped off this list is by attending Saturday school.
"Some students have attended as many as five Saturday school sessions," says Smith. "Somehow these policies always seem to lead to money."
Smith says teachers and staff earn overtime for administering Saturday school and, schools, not the district, generate extra revenue from the state as part of the state's Saturday School Reimbursement Program, which covers costs incurred by schools to allow students to make up unexcused absences.
"This is happening throughout the district," says Smith, who has spent months collecting financial documents from San Diego Unified.
One Saturday School Reimbursement slip submitted to SDUSD's Budget Management and Cost Controls Department from Serra High School for Saturday School on October 31, 2009, totals $2,915.50. The following week, expenses for Saturday school were $1,999.20.
"Teenagers deserve the protection of the law. They deserve fair and equitable treatment. This tardy policy bears serious scrutiny."
Smith requested in May that the San Diego County Office of Education conduct an investigation. She is waiting for a response.
Stories Neighborhood News The Breakfast Club By Dorian Hargrove Aug. 8, 2010
[Parent activist Sally] Smith received a letter from the principal of Serra High School, Michael Jimenez, dated May 19. A letter that she refers to as "the arrest letter."
"Please be forewarned," reads the letter from Jimenez, "in the event you should enter school property in the future and should cause any disturbance or disruption, the district will have no choice but to place you under arrest and refer your case to the authorities."
The letter, which is also addressed to San Diego's chief of police, was sent after principal Jimenez learned that Smith was in the Serra High parking lot in early May, talking to students as they were leaving from a four-hour-long Saturday school session...
On January 11, 43 students, parents, and school staff gathered inside the media center at Junipero Serra High School in Tierrasanta for the monthly meeting of the School Site Council. The council sat in the middle of the room at four conjoined tables. Comprising three students, three parents, four teachers, a school counselor, and Principal Mike Jimenez, the council is charged with overseeing a plan to improve the school in accordance with state- and federally funded programs. All schools in San Diego Unified School District are required to have a school site council (SSC)...
Ever since Sally Smith got ousted from the Serra High School site council, I've been trying to find a story I read a few months ago about a woman who was ousted from a planning board, and reinstated by a judge.
I searched the SDUT archives and Google, all to no avail. But today Shannon Lopez, Assistant to the Editor, answered my request for help.
Veterinarian kicked off panel prevails in court by Greg Moran SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE Sep 27, 2009 Dr. Almeda Starkey of Pine Valley sued to regain her seat on a county conservation program committee after county officials ousted her.
At all of seven typed paragraphs long, the statement that Dr. Almeda Starkey read at a meeting of a San Diego County land-use steering committee in May 2008 doesn't appear particularly controversial...
But that short statement would get Starkey kicked off the committee two weeks later by county planning officials.
It also touched off a court fight that ended last month when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the county had violated Starkey's First Amendment rights, and ordered her back on the committee.
In a five-page decision, a three-judge panel said the record "flatly contradicts" the county's claim that Starkey was removed because she was uncooperative.
"The only identifiable act that led to Dr. Starkey's removal was her reading of a brief, prepared statement into the record of a committee meeting," the panel wrote in an unsigned opinion. "Viewpoint discrimination of this nature is particularly odious under the First Amendment."
The case drew the attention of Californians Aware, the California First Amendment Coalition and the American Civil Liberties Union, who all sided with Starkey. They said it highlighted a key principle in First Amendment law -- that governments cannot squelch a point of view they simply don't want to hear.
Starkey's return to the committee may have to wait. Budget cuts have led county planners to suspend the committee's work, so it is no longer active.
The East County Multiple Species Conservation Program is intended to map out large habitat preserves to protect threatened and endangered species and would impose land-use restrictions on large chunks of property.
Starkey was brought on the committee to represent the San Diego-Imperial County Cattlemen's Association, which is concerned about the plan's effects on private landholders in the backcountry.
In her statement last year, Starkey proposed creating the preserve on publicly owned lands and private lands that were already designated for conservation. That approach would exempt agricultural lands, including ranches, from the habitat preserve.
Once land is designated part of the plan, Davis said, changing its use -- such as putting in different crops -- is almost impossible.
"We have most of the acreage the county would be looking at, and we needed a seat on the committee," Davis said.
Getting that seat was difficult, he said. In 2007, the association sought a seat, but county planners balked...
Starkey was stunned. The committee was supposed to solicit different viewpoints, and that was what she had done. "That's what democracy is," she said...
A request to interview Murphy and other planning officials was referred to Ellen Pilsecker, the county lawyer who argued the case. She said it was not anything Starkey said that got her removed, but her overall demeanor.
[Maura Larkins comment: When you have no facts to support your position, you claim that there was a "perception" that the person you don't like did something improper. It's hard to argue with such a claim, but I'm glad that Dr. Starkey did just that.]
"It was more of a perception issue," Pilsecker said. "What I have been told is it was supposed to be a group of people working together, and other members of that group did not feel she was being a team player."
Pilsecker also said that before Starkey was on the committee, she had been trying to obtain documents from the county under the state Public Records Act. Her lawyer had written the county to say that if not all the records were produced, Starkey might sue to get them -- a step that is allowed under the law. [Maura Larkins comment: Starkey has the constitutional right to petition for redress of grievances. This is the same type of complaint that was made about Sally Smith.]
Pilsecker argued that it fueled the county's perception that Starkey would not be a cooperative member of the committee.
The lawsuit over Starkey's dismissal ended up in federal court. Starkey asked for a court order that would place her back on the committee, but District Judge Janis Sammartino ruled Starkey did not have a First Amendment right to a seat on the committee and sided with the county.
Pilsecker had argued that Starkey could come and speak to the committee as a member of the public.
But Guylyn Cummins, who argued the appeal for the cattlemen's association, said there is a distinct difference between speaking during the public comment portion and having a seat on the committee. (Cummins has also represented The San Diego Union-Tribune in First Amendment and public-records-access litigation.)
Moreover, Cummins said, Starkey's seven-paragraph statement was in response to a request from the committee...
TIMELINE > > February 2008: > > Dr. Almeda Starkey is named to the East County Multiple Species Conservation Program steering committee as the representative of the San Diego-Imperial County Cattlemen's Association. > > May 28, 2008: > > Starkey reads a statement into the record during her second meeting. > > June 12, 2008: > > San Diego County officials inform the cattlemen that she is off the committee. > > September 2008: > > Starkey and the cattlemen sue the county, saying her First Amendment rights were violated and seeking her reinstatement on the committee. > > December 2008: > > Federal Judge Janis Sammartino rules in favor of the county. The case is appealed. > > August 2009: > > The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules in favor of Starkey and orders her reinstated.
I believe that administrators have failed the teachers of Serra High. (See my post on SDUSD general counsel Mark Bresee.) Teachers have a right to know exactly where they stand, and not live in fear that maybe their boss thinks they're not doing the right thing. One problem is that there is no real evaluation system for teachers. Evaluations are very subjective and based on minimal observations. Teachers should be observed by professionals from outside the school, and they should be given precise feedback about their performance.
Also, the district should provide teachers with specific rules about fees, and those rules should be district-wide, not just based on which school received a parent complaint.
ADMINISTRATORS HIDE FROM PROBLEMS, AND HAVE NO SYSTEM FOR SOLVING THEM
Administrators and unions and teacher culture don't encourage teachers to engage in open, honest communication with anyone: not parents, not students and certainly not other teachers. They might say they do, but teachers and principals know that district superintendents and other officials, including the board, want them to keep a low profile. They know that the sound that officials love to hear is the sound of silence.
It is not surprising that the teachers at Serra High are clueless as to how to solve problems. They think if they band together they become untouchable; this is part of the delusion of mob psychology. But the board should hear their demands as a cry for help. The board should show some leadership at Serra High School. I feel sorry for the principal. He knows that if he doesn't support the teachers they will turn on him.
I agree with the eight speakers at SDUSD's recent board meeting that the board should do something about Sally Smith's complaints about Serra High School. But the board should not simply silence Smith as the speakers wish; it should discuss the complaints in a public forum.
One of the questions that should be asked is, "Why do these staff members claim to fear they might lose their jobs?" It could be paranoia, or it could be that they are really just angry and don't want to admit it. They want to appear as victims. That's what happened at Castle Park Elementary.
The teachers at Castle Park Elementary became so drunk with power, thanks to the legal tactics of the same attorney Mark Bresee who is giving advice at Serra High School, that they went out of control. Well, they'd been out of control even before Mark Bresee helped them cover up criminal activity.
...Eight speakers - three staff members, three parents and two students - addressed the board during public comment to ask trustees for assistance in ending what they called the bullying by Serra High School parent Sally Smith of teachers and students.
Teacher Joe Schmidt said Smith has created an “atmosphere of fear” at Serra with “baseless” concerns and complaints. “It is time we take our school back,” he said.
Counselor Susan Skinner called Smith’s complaints frivolous, and physical education teacher Lorene Dabney, in tears, said Smith is “ruining the programs that support students.” [Maura Larkins' note: Lorene Dabney is likely the Serra High staff person with initials "LD" who recently advised Sally Smith's daughter that it would be appropriate for her to look for another school to attend.]
Senior Lexie Ryan, a member of the School Site Council, said the school suffers from a “hostile environment that Ms. Smith has helped create.” To board members, she said, “You are elected to help the students.”
[Maura Larkins' note: The board is also elected to obey the law.]
Parents said the problems go beyond Smith’s zeal to eliminate illegal parent fees for programs that must be provided at no charge. They described “a culture of fear and intimidation” and said teachers “live in fear” as a result of Smith’s “harassing emails and threats.”
One parent told trustees, “It is your duty to protect us.”
Board members made no comment, although Nakamura thanked the Serra speakers for addressing the board. Serra High School is in Nakamura’s sub-district.
SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL MEMBERS 2009-2010
Parent Representatives Ed Harris Martha Morena
Staff Mike Jimenez, Principal Jann Allen- Counselor Suzie Fore, Math Mike Morales- Math Matt Medina- Math Keri Pisapia, Special Education (PHOTO BELOW)
[Wait a minute. Do we have a bit of nepotism going on here? Is Keri Pisapia related in any way to John Pisapia, the Athletic Director, who has been very involved in getting rid of Sally Smith? Did Keri Pisapia recuse herself from the vote on Sally Smith?]
This case makes me think of the Sally Smith case. Taxpayers will foot the bill through a public insurer. When will officials learn that the Bill of Rights is still in effect in America?
MURRIETA ---- A Murrieta police sergeant has settled a long-standing civil rights lawsuit he filed against the city.
Sgt. Robert Landwehr, a current member of the city's police force, will receive $60,000, which includes $40,000 for attorney fees, Murrieta City Attorney Leslie Devaney said Wednesday.
Devaney announced the settlement after the end of the City Council's closed meeting Tuesday.
She said the city will not pay the settlement, rather a public insurer will.
Landwehr also had been seeking a promotion to sergeant through the 2006 lawsuit, but Devaney said she did not know the outcome of that situation.
Michael McGill, Landwehr's attorney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Landwehr claimed he was denied a promotion to lieutenant and overlooked for special task force assignments because he publicly voiced his opinion about staffing at the department. He wrote several letters that were published by various newspapers regarding the need for more officers to serve the city's growing population.
The Sally Smith case gets more interesting as participants in the drama tell more of the story in the comments section of SDNN.
It appears that the ouster of Smith from the Serra High School site council may have been retaliation for her having filed a lawsuit. Does this school staff know that the right to petition for redress of grievances is protected by the constitution? It would seem that they don't.
It seems that the school staff has gone off the deep end as far as anger goes. One of them seems to be threatening Sally Smith's daughter. (See the comments section below.) I have found that school staffs sometimes begin to think that they are immune to the law and that there is safety in numbers; that's when they begin to exhibit mob psychology.
Before a packed house, Sally Smith was ousted this afternoon from her elected seat on the School Site Council of Serra High School. She was blasted for humiliating a student at last month’s SSC meeting by laughing at her in public, but Smith claims the reason behind the movement to remove her centers around her efforts to eliminate parent fees for athletics and other extra-curricular activities....
Comments:
LD: [LD identifies herself as an educator for 25 years, and seems to be on the staff of Serra High School. She says of Sally Smith:]
"...she has filed at least 3 complaints against me and named me in at least 2 law suits with the school district. I have proven her wrong on every occassion (sic)."
[Maura Larkins response: Did you actually "prove her wrong", or did school district lawyers get the case thrown out of court without submitting to the discovery process? Did a jury agree with you?]
A DOUBLE STANDARD?
LD seems to have a double standard when it comes to how students should be treated. LD complains that Sally Smith made a girl cry by laughing at what the girl was saying, but then LD turns around and tells Sally Smith's daughter, who is also a student at the school, that she should LEAVE THE SCHOOL!
LD: "What about the student who was in tears when she was talking to your mom? Your mom walked out and to this day has not apologized??? What a hypocrite! Your mom needs to go home and be a mom. She needs to take her one and only child out of Serra and place her where she believes the school is following the law and teaching her daughter better values. School-of-choice is for people like your mom who are so unhappy with the school that it’s time to find a new place where she and her child are happy."
[Maura Larkins' response to LD: It's important that all students be taught to respect the law, including the students at Serra High School. This isn't such a big problem, LD. Just ask for donations to cover the cost of programs; I'm sure most families can give the donations, and those who can't are precisely the ones that the law is intended to protect.]
LD continues to harangue this child:
"Your mom has been mean, nasty, negative and isn’t trying to help students or trying to help us educators to follow the law..." LD then seems to make a threat:
"The stuff has not all hit the fan yet, sister. But it’s coming. It’s coming big."
[Maura Larkins response: Good heavens, LD. It's not professional to intimidate a student at your school in this manner. You seem to be quite a bully; are you one of those coaches that thinks it's appropriate to abuse students to make them tough? I think you should say just what this "big" thing is that's about to hit the fan. I get the impression that it's going to hit Sally Smith and her daughter. Are you and some of the other staff members and students planning further revenge?]
No one has given me any information about any commenter, but I see that Lorene Dabney teaches PE at Serra High School. The students on the School Site Council are two field hockey/soccer players and a cheerleader. I can't help wondering if Dabney talked to them about this issue.]
THE CURSE OF THE GOOD GIRL
The Serra High School situation reminds me of the Rachel Simmons book “The Curse of the Good Girl.” Simmons notes that girl culture requires females to be “nice,” and not confrontational. Sadly, the alternative to confrontation is whispering behind people’s backs and working to gather more members into the secretive circle of angry “good” girls. Sally Smith broke the good girl rule, so the “good girls” proceeded to ostracize her. (Yes, I know men are involved; it seems that teacher culture is eerily similar to girl culture.) Several commenters claim that Serra High School is “our” school. It’s a public entity; it doesn’t belong to any subgroup. A healthier alternative would be to discuss issues openly. I think that the school should hire a facilitator to conduct a public discussion of the issues Sally has brought up. The law that requires that education be free is a doozy, but the school should model the appropriate procedure for dealing with difficult challenges in a democracy.
Before a packed house, Sally Smith was ousted this afternoon from her elected seat on the School Site Council of Serra High School. She was blasted for humiliating a student at last month’s SSC meeting by laughing at her in public, but Smith claims the reason behind the movement to remove her centers around her efforts to eliminate parent fees for athletics and other extra-curricular activities.
This just in from Smith a few minutes after the meeting:
“I am out. The three parents: me, Ed Harris and Martha Morena voted for me. Ed and Martha spoke in support of me. … The room was packed with parents that have never shown up ever. Most magnificent turnout in the history of SSC - must have been 80 parents, teachers and staff. … My supporters were African-American and Mexican-American parents. Most spoke in Spanish in support of me.”
The Serra site council consists of 12 members: three parents, three students, principal Michael Jimenez, counselor Jann Allen, and four teachers - the SSC chair Suzie Fore, Matt Medina, Mike Morales and Keri Pisapia.
Serra’s SSC bylaws state that a two-thirds vote is required to expel a member.
According to Smith, Fore told an audience member that Smith was being voted off because, at last month’s meeting, her behavior was inappropriate and she “chuckled” at a student who was upset about the likelihood that after-school programs might be eliminated if fees from parents could no longer be collected.
“I didn’t chuckle but I did sigh because I was so disappointed that a student would be complaining that she didn’t like the law,” Smith said.
Smith said this is not an issue that students should have to deal with. “This is an adult thing that we’re supposed to be doing for them - implementing it correctly, following the law,” she said. “It isn’t our job to get them all excited and stressed out about all this. It’s our job to get it right.”
After the vote, seven speakers addressed the site council in support of Smith and one opposed, she reported. But several audience members asked why they were not permitted to speak before the vote was taken...
Until teachers learn to discuss issues openly instead of shutting people up, schools will be run by cliques, not the public.
I know from experience that one can advocate very well from outside school committees, but the Serra High School situation has developed into something that I believe is a teachable moment for schools and the public.
We have a situation that typifies what schools teach students about democracy and the rule of law: if someone makes you uncomfortable, or demands that the law be obeyed, throw them off the committee.
Teachers need to develop a new bag of tricks.
Anger is mother's milk to teachers, and teachers lounges are breeding places for it. I've seen it firsthand at the four schools I taught at.
At one school I taught at years ago, staff meetings developed into two-hour long sessions of yelling at the principal, and if you had to go pick up your kid at daycare, the other teachers resented it deeply. They wanted everyone to partake fully in the anger fest.
At another school, current CTA bigshot Jim Groth got mad at me because I wouldn't sign a petition that said the principal was mentally ill. I was only willing to sign a petition that asked for an end to specific practices.
The mental illness charge is a favorite. It's frequently used against principals who commit the sin of criticizing popular teachers. Parents, teachers and kids who don't fall into lock step with the ruling clique also get the label. But I've seen teachers with such a deep sense of victimhood, anger and paranoia that I have come to the conclusion that schools need to offer more mental health support for teachers.
At issue at Serra High School is a law requiring schools to give equal access to all students regardless of income. It is an important law.
Instead of trying to silence a parent who asked that the law be obeyed, why didn't the athletic director of Serra High School tell cheerleaders that they needed to find a way to obey the law? Perhaps they could campaign for a special cheerleader tax, or for an end to Prop 13, or simply conduct a fundraiser for athletics.
This afternoon it appears that San Diego Unified School District parent Sally Smith will be ousted from her seat on Serra High School’s School Site Council.
Smith, an activist in San Diego Unified, has made a name for herself with her relentless efforts to eliminate parent fees for curricular and extra-curricular activities, including sports and after-school programs. She said student representatives on the Serra site council “are angry with me about the fees issue and how it affects their athletic programs.”
A call for details made last Friday to the school’s principal, Michael Jimenez, was not returned. And the school’s site council Web page, which was active on Friday, was blank by Sunday night.
She said the school’s principal told her the site council students decided on their own to vote her off the site council. The three student representatives include two field hockey/soccer players and a cheerleader, she said.
[Maura Larkins comment: How would the principal know that? Was he listening to all conversations on the matter between the students and adults?]
Smith claims some of the school’s cheerleaders approached her daughter, a student at Serra, and asked her why her mother is “trying to get rid of cheerleading and sports.” Smith said the cheerleaders pay $1,000 each to be on the squad.
She said the students, parents and staff don’t understand the law that prohibits charging families for school activities, based on equity and fairness for low-income children, and that they are trying to “shoot the messenger” instead.
However, the school’s athletic director, Jonn Pisapia, and at least one parent, complained that the real issue is that Smith laughed at a student when the student struggled to express her view that it was unfair to impose fees that would eliminate popular programs.
In an email dated Dec. 7, after last month’s Serra SSC meeting, Pisapia wrote, “I am concerned with the conduct that I witnessed today at the SSC meeting that was held in the media center. Students brought to the table concerns that they had and while doing so one of the students was laughed and snickered at by Mrs. Smith. The student was speaking on something near and dear to her heart. These students are not only speaking for themselves but for many students and are trying to understand the process and the events that are taking place around them...
Serra parent Loraine Gutierrez de Hurtado wrote to SDUSD school board members on Jan. 8, and referred to the incident at the Dec. 7 school site council meeting when she said she “witnessed a student representative on the council, a child, reduced to tears while addressing Ms. Smith and Ms. Smith’s inappropriate response was one of laughter.”
She asked “that Sally Smith be removed from the SSC as a parent representative, that her physical presence be restricted from SHS grounds.”
After Smith notified Jimenez, Serra’s principal, that she wished to videotape the Jan. 11 school site council meeting, she received a note from SDUSD General Counsel Mark Bresee, who wrote, “Please be advised that, in my opinion, you have no right to video and/or audio tape the meeting without the consent of those who are recorded.”...
[Maura Larkins' comment: I feel like crying, not laughing, to know that students are being taught to manipulate the law in order to violate it. I can certainly see that someone might be startled into a laugh of disbelief when a student asks her, "Why are you bringing up this law now?" In my experience, attorney Mike Bresee has previously worked to damage people with subjective allegations while at the same time keeping solid evidence out of the record. He knows very well that you can't stop someone from recording an open meeting of decision-makers at a public entity.]
