A secret panel is working to name Grossmont Union's new high school

I'm not concerned about the name of a school, but the political shenanigans engaged in by the board of Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) are a clear indicator of how little this board cares about education. The antics of Jim Kelly certainly throw the effort to destroy Helix High into a new light.

What’s in a name? East County school fight diverts attention from education
San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial
May 9, 2010

It’s a secret that East County’s high school district evidently would prefer you didn’t know – the names of politicians on an advisory panel to help the public name a school coming to Alpine in 2013.

The Grossmont Union High School District, pushed by trustee Jim Kelly, tried to name the unbuilt school he has consistently opposed after Ronald Reagan, though policy suggested the name should carry local geographic significance. The naming maneuver prompted a backlash and Grossmont Union opted to come up with a “public” panel.

The public doesn’t need to know who represents it, apparently. This editorial page was told to file a public records request.

[GUHSD lawyer Dan Shinoff seems to regularly advise his public entity clients not to release public records.]

Here are the 10 panelists – two chosen by each trustee – that we gleaned from other sources:

•Ron Nehring, chairman of the California Republican Party, who was appointed and served briefly on the Grossmont board. Famously, he and Kelly once held a news conference to announce that all district high schools would become charter schools.

•Duncan Hunter Sr. of Alpine, the Republican who retired after 14 terms in Congress. Hunter was swept into office in 1980 on the Ronald Reagan wave.

•Bob Watkins, an Alpine resident, businessman and a member of the county Board of Education from 2003-08 until he ran for the Republican nomination in the 52nd Congressional District.

•Jennifer Martinez, a business owner who won a seat on the Alpine Planning Group in 2008.

•Doug Deane, Alpine resident, president of DSD Business Systems, and a board member of the East County Chamber of Commerce.

•Leona Bennett, an Alpine resident who helped collect more than 300 signatures asking that the community be allowed to name its school.

•Mark Price, Alpine school board member and a driving force in winning support for a second school bond to make the Alpine school possible. It was a school bond that trustee Kelly actually campaigned against.

•Steve Hunyar, Alpine resident, president of a software company and a nonprofit drug education and awareness organization, and a former Alpine school board member.

•Louis Russo, a high schoolteacher, member of the Alpine planning group, and a Republican who also has run for school board and fire protection district.

•Sylvia Sullivan of La Mesa, who owns a bookkeeping business, is a former spokeswoman for Operation Rescue in San Diego and a member of the Republican Central Committee.

No matter where you are on the political spectrum, it is clear these are politicians, former politicians or politically experienced people. When the exercise, or charade, is finished, some observers expect an 8-2 vote for Ronald Reagan High School.

The Grossmont Union board has been preoccupied the past 15 months in a Kelly-led feud with Helix Charter High School, each side losing its superintendent in the process...

Grossmont trustees hold off on revoking Helix High charter

Extremist Grossmont board member Jim Kelly and his faithful sidekick attorney Dan Shinoff will be unhappy about this story.

See all Helix High posts.


Grossmont trustees hold off on revoking Helix High charter
By Maureen Magee, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 8, 2010

LA MESA — Helix High School has put off charter revocation — at least for a while.

The Grossmont Union High School District has postponed today’s charter revocation hearing to give a new Helix board of trustees a chance to address its growing concerns about the campus’s leadership.

The Grossmont school board voted in February to begin proceedings to rescind Helix High’s charter after an assistant principal violated a conduct code by helping a troubled student leave the state to visit her grandmother. The administrator was eventually fired and the student was not harmed, but the district claims that the school mishandled the situation and failed to promptly report suspicions of misconduct to authorities.

The incident came after four Helix teachers were convicted of sex crimes against students during an 18-month period. The series of scandals nearly cost the school its charter last year, when revocation hearings were scheduled and eventually canceled.

“We have very legitimate concerns about the safety of kids at Helix,” said district spokeswoman Catherine Martin, who declined to say what the school could do to keep its charter. “If and when those issues are resolved, then we will speak publicly (about it).”

Under an agreement reached to preserve the Helix charter after the sex scandals, the school imposed a strict employee-student conduct code. It also agreed to reconstitute its nine-member board of trustees to include fewer employees.

With three new Helix trustees taking office this week, the reconstituted board has “reached out to the district to open up new avenues of communication and resolution,” Grossmont district officials said in a statement released yesterday...

Judge denies Helix High injunction request

"But the school must take responsibility for what appears to be systemic problems, said Dan Shinoff, an attorney representing Grossmont."

Dan Shinoff is paid a lot of money by schools to make sure they don't have to take responsibility for systemic problems, but consistency doesn't seem to be one of Shinoff's strong points.

See all posts about Helix High.

Judge denies Helix High injunction request
By Maureen Magee, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 3, 2010
HELIX vs. GROSSMONT

A Superior Court judge yesterday refused to wade into a dispute over the Grossmont school district’s effort to rescind the Helix High School charter because the process for revocation has yet to run its course.

Superior Court Judge Randa Trapp denied Helix’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have halted the Grossmont Union High School District’s revocation proceedings. Helix needs the charter to operate independently.

Helix must appeal any decision to revoke the charter to the county, and perhaps the state, before it can turn to the courts, according to the decision.

“The court determines that it lacks jurisdiction to proceed with this matter because Helix Charter High School has failed to exhaust its administrative remedies,” Trapp said.

The Grossmont school board voted in February to start the revocation process after an assistant principal at Helix was accused of violating a new conduct code — one that was adopted to stave off a previous effort to revoke the charter.

Joshua Stepner, who has since been fired, drove a troubled student to a bus station — after helping her buy a ticket online — for a trip to her grandmother’s house in Oregon. At the time, the student was reportedly living unhappily with relatives who were not her parents. The student was not harmed...