Peg Myers speaks for a good cause

Chula Vista Educators President Peg Myers

I'm glad Peg Myers is putting some effort into a good cause.

I couldn't help noticing that it looks like she's standing in front of the Hall of Justice in San Diego in the above picture. That's where her lawyers went to file an opposition to her being deposed in a case involving a cover up of teacher crimes at Castle Park Elementary. CTA was apparently very pleased with her efforts to cover up crimes at the school, but the school district eventually became concerned about what was going on at the school, and Peg was administratively transferred out of the school in 2004. Eventually a pal of Peg's was arrested for embezzling $20,000 from the Castle Park PTA, but for some reason Bonnie Dumanis (far right in photo above) declined to prosecute. Peg became Chula Vista Educators president without running for the office with a little help from Jim Groth. Peg herself finally submitted to a deposition (text of deposition is here).

San Diego leaders ask for budget reform now
CTA Action
By Len Feldman

Chula Vista Educators President Peg Myers at a Budget Reform Now rally joined by (left to right) Carlsbad Firefighters Association President Rick Fisher, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender, City of San diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, and San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

Prominent San Diego leaders, including Carlsbad Firefighters Association President Rick Fisher, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender, City of San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, and San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, joined Chula Vista Educators President Peg Myers at a Budget Reform Now rally in April.

"We ask all Californians to join us in support of these propositions as a long-term investment toward a brighter future for our children," said Myers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is slated to release an updated state budget around May 25, and what kind of news that proposal holds for vital services — including public education — depends on whether voters approve CTA-backed Propositions 1A-1F on May 19.

CTA's State Council of Education at its March meeting voted to support each of those pending ballot measures.

CTA fiscal experts note that the national recession has continued to wreak havoc on state revenues, with at least one projection from the state Department of Finance suggesting the weakening economy could open a new budget deficit of up to $15 billion for California.

If voters reject the ballot measures — including Proposition 1B, the repayment of $9.3 billion to public education — the governor's budget plan could include another significant round of budget cuts. Cuts necessary to close a new $15 billion or more budget gap would do untold devastation to public schools, which are already reeling from the impact of cuts suffered earlier this year.

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

See all Helix High posts.


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.

25 Chicago middle school students jailed in food fight; lounge food fight by "Castle Park Family" teachers seems to increase status of participants

A comparison of two food fights, a recent brawl by students in Chicago and a 1999 outburst by teachers belonging to the "Castle Park family":

It took two janitors over a week to clean walls and shampoo rugs and upholstered furniture in the teachers lounge at Castle Park Elementary School after a small group teachers went wild after the students left on the last day of school in 1999. (The teachers never reimbursed the taxpayers.) The teachers brought the leftovers from class parties to the lounge, including lots of fruit punch and whipped cream.

These teachers ruled the roost at the school, getting rid of principal after principal that didn't do what the "family" wanted. One principal acceded to so many demands for spending that he plunged the school deep into debt and was fired. Another allowed teachers to engage in so many illegal actions that the district ended up in court for years defending those teachers. Principal Ollie Matos was hired to get the teachers under control, but the teachers union, Chula Vista Educators, prevented him from doing so.

25 Chicago Students Arrested for a Middle-School Food Fight
New York Times
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: November 10, 2009

CHICAGO — The food fight here started the way such bouts do in school lunchrooms most anywhere: an apple was tossed, a cookie turned into a torpedo, and an orange plunked someone in the head. Within minutes, dozens of middle-school students had joined in the ruckus, and spattered adults were ducking for cover.

By the end of the day, 25 of the students, ages 11 to 15, had been rounded up, arrested, taken from school and put in jail. A spokesman for the Chicago police said the charges were reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.

That was last Thursday afternoon. Now parents are questioning what seem to them like the criminalization of age-old adolescent pranks, and the lasting legal and psychological impact of the arrests.

“My children have to appear in court,” Erica Russell, the mother of two eighth-grade girls who spent eight hours in jail, said Tuesday. “They were handcuffed, slammed in a wagon, had their mug shots taken and treated like real criminals.”...