| Will he run for San Diego County Sheriff in 2010? In March 2009 Mr. Bejarano announced his intention to run. UPDATE: In August 2009 Mr. Bejarano was appointed police chief of Chula Vista, and decided not to run for sheriff. |
Richard Werlin and Libia Gil |
| Patrick Judd will have to control the board from afar since being voted off the board in Nov 2008. |
| Congratulations to La Mesa Councilwoman Ruth Sterling for opposing (from the start!) sending the abusive letter to Chris Tanner. |
| The taxpayers are paying for the La Mesa City Attorney, but like SDCOE lawyers, he is acting like a personal attorney for those who have obtained power, rather than the attorney of the citizens of La Mesa. Shame on Mayor Art Madrid and councilman Ernie Erwin for not apologizing to Mr. Tanner when the rest of the City Council agreed that the letter was wrong. |
| NAPTA Karen Horowitz Website |
Take a Lesson from Sempra Energy An Open Letter to the CVESD School Board January 6, 2005 Sempra shares went UP three percent yesterday after the company settled lawsuits accusing it of bilking billions from the people of California. CVESD would do better if it turned over a new leaf, and started DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD! |
| In the 90's, the CVESD school board brought in top administrators from Texas (Rick Werlin) and Seattle (Libia Gil) who neither knew nor cared about Chula Vista and its children. These administrators were enforcers for a policy the board wanted to initiate: a new hostile attitude toward teachers. It's past time to get rid of Patrick Judd and Pamela Smith, and Larry Cunningham. |
| P.S. Who's in charge at CVESD? The people the voters elected, or the cut-rate attorneys who have control of so many school districts and organizations? Why don't you start thinking for yourselves? |
If we want to fix schools, we have to suspend our allegiance to politicians on BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE who care more about personal power than they care about the education of children. |
| "The pure arrogance, self-importance and imperial attitude...are beyond the pale." Is this a description of the Chula Vista Elementary School District Board? The actions described by Ronald G. Eberhardt (SDUT letters Feb 24, 2006) were CHILD'S PLAY COMPARED TO WHAT CVESD DID IN RETALIATION for Maura Larkins' lawsuit and PERB (Public Employment Relations Board) complaint. CVESD OBSTRUCTED JUSTICE AGAIN AND AGAIN! Threatening letters (like the one described in the article above that mayor Art Madrid and the La Mesa City Council sent to Chris Tanner) are the sort of frank, open communication that CVESD avoids. The La Mesa action was abusive and contemptuous of American values, yes. But La Mesa has not mastered the art of intimidation. There is some indication that the SDCOE might be trying to clean up the JPA and the problem of indemnification of lawyers. All the members except Bob Watkins, that is. Watkins is clearly working to keep the status quo. He nominated Rick Winet, even though he knew of Winet's conflict of interest regarding SDCOE lawyers. Or perhaps Watkins nominated Winet BECAUSE of Winet's conflict of interest! I suspect that Ernie Dronenburg may have resigned because he didn't want to deal with the problem. And unlike Chris Tanner, I would be delighted to be sued for defamation. SDCOE and CVESD spend millions of taxpayer dollars to hide illegal acts. I would be thrilled to have my allegations brought before a judge and jury. How about it, Pat, Larry and Pam? Why so silent, Cheryl and Bertha? Maura Larkins |
| Note to La Mesa City Council members who supported letter to Chris Tanner: You don't like to be accused of wrongdoing when you feel you don't deserve it? I don't blame you. But you might want to be careful that you don't do exactly the same thing that you felt was done to you. I've heard that one of you has been throwing around some nasty allegations of his own in an extremely unfair manner, and was ATTACKING PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO CLEAN UP CORRUPTION! Please, let's keep malicious partisanship out of our schools! Remember, corrupt Republicans hurt the Republican party as well as hurting all the rest of us. Don't support them! |
| Are There Significant Differences Between CVESD and La Mesa? Maybe, but... 1. CVESD has not apologized for abusive tactics, BUT La Mesa might not have apologized either, if the Union Tribune had not exposed its abusive tactics. 2. SDCOE is much more powerful than the City of La Mesa. Its lawyers are connected to CSBA and its Council of School Attorneys. The San Diego Union Tribune ONLY COVERS WRONGDOING AT CVESD WHEN THE STORY GETS SO BIG THAT IT IS COVERED BY OTHER MEDIA. 3. Has La Mesa named any schools after DEVELOPERS? Believe it or not, CVESD did! |
| There is far more evidence that the Board of CVESD knew that justice was being obstructed and the law and contract were being violated than there is that Ken Lay of Enron knew those things about his company. Maura Larkins informed board members directly that the law was being broken, beginning in December 2001. Is Ken Lay guilty? Is the board of CVESD guilty? |
| January 6, 2006 San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders says that the dishonest culture that bred the felonious 2002 City of San Diego pension deal in its last throes. Unfortunately, he can speak only for San Diego. That culture seems to be alive and well in Chula Vista! |
| Cheryl Cox has questions about how decisions are being made. So do I. |
| A Lost Chance Fresh faces from the community challenged the incumbents at CVESD in 2006. |
| Tamara Arce, Russell Coronado, and Steve Yagyagan, parents with experience in education, offered their services to the voters and children of Chula Vista. They were interested in the education of children, not the well-being of developers. |
| Update: Does this surprise you: ALL the incumbents won in 2006! They had the help of a large amount of money from builders and designers. |
| Personality problems at the CVESD school board? A psychiatrist says that Congressman Randy Cunningham's corruption grew out of "an outsized ego and a mantle of invulnerability" that allowed him to rationalize his behavior. Could the same thing have happened to CVESD board members? |
| Administrators Lowell Billings, Supt. Tom Cruz (Dennis Doyle left to Nat'l SD in 2007) Susan Fahle Former administrators: Asst. Supt. Richard Werlin Supt. Libia Gil |
| School Board Russell Coronado Pamela Smith Larry Cunningham David Bejarano Douglas Luffboroough Voted out in Dec. 2008: Patrick Judd Went to Sweetwater USD Dec 08: Bertha Lopez Became mayor of Chula Vista in 2006: Cheryl S. Cox |
| Contact Address 84 East J Street Chula Vista, CA 91910 Phone 619 425 9600 Fax 619 427 0463 |
| Rookie Doug Luffborough has replaced Bertha J. Lopez |
| CVESD's Cheryl Cox Jason Moore case |
| Destroying Documents (Daniel Shinoff, Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz) Behind closed doors with CTA (Perjury lawsuit) |
| When problems at Castle Park Elementary became so out of control, due to district negligence, teachers were forced by the district and its lawyers to come up with elaborate lies to cover up their refusal to allow integration of bilingual first and third grade classrooms, and their criminal actions starting in 2000. They were pressured with fear of losing their jobs to lie under oath. |
| CVESD's lawyers' defamation lawsuit against this website |
| Clearly, CVESD needs some outsiders to come in and clean the place up. |
| Forcing employees to hide the truth from the court Ex-parte conference Sept. 27, 2004 |
| You are wasting human resources by fostering a culture of hostility and sabotage among employees. Instead of misdirecting teachers, why don’t you teach teachers and administrators how to sit down and work together? |
| Tom Cruz, in his wisdom, decided to ignore the above letter, and not to follow the suggestions it offered. This resulted in |
| CVESD lawsuits: Danielle Coziahr case (settled Dec. 2009) |
Is CVESD as corrupt as the California Department of Corrections? The Associated Press, on May 18 2006, reported that California prison authorities and staffers--just like the CVESD school board and staffers--followed a "code of silence" to protect wrongdoers and punish whistle-blowers. A court-ordered audit said administrators worked to "keep errant employees from being properly disciplined." Why are our schools so much like our prisons? Is their similar collusion between officials and workers in both institutions? Is it co-incidental that the prisons and the schools in California have two of the most powerful unions in the state? |
| How did the San Diego Union Tribune cover the emotional and legal meltdown at Castle Park Elementary School in CVESD? The SDUT knew about crimes committed at Castle Park Elementary long before five teachers (at least one of whom had committed crimes against Maura Larkins) were transferred. Shamefully, the Union Tribune did not even mention those crimes when it gave large amounts of ink to the complaints of the five teachers, and to Felicia Starr, a powerful parent. Then, once again, the Union Tribune suddenly lost interest in Castle Park Elementary when it was discovered that thousands of dollars were missing from PTA accounts! Clearly, the people of San Diego can not rely on the SDUT to tell them what is going on. |
| January 18, 2006 To: Tom Cruz From: Maura Larkins |
| How do we fix our schools? |
| I believed that Mr. Werlin's continual violations of law made him an exceptionally bad administrator, below the norm. But after listening to testimony in the Danielle Coziahr case, I've come to believe that either Werlin is run of the mill, or Chula Vista Elementary School district administrators are particularly inept and arrogant toward the law. School insurance company attorneys like administrators with no interest in the truth or the law, who simply follow attorney instructions. These attorneys train school board members, who choose the top administrators. In Chula Vista, the board recently voted... |
| What happened after Maura Larkins wrote to Cheryl Cox? |
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| David Bejarano: will he now step up to the plate? |
| In 2006, BERTHA has finally come out with the truth: Bertha Lopez is running with Larry Cunningham and Pamela Smith as a slate. Their issue? They say voters should vote for them because they are incumbents, so they can keep doing what they've been doing. |
| For years, Bertha Lopez insisted that she was different from Judd, Smith and Cunningham, that she was not as hostile to teachers. Yet, strangely, she constantly rubber- stamped the decisions of the big three. |
| In January 2007 former San Diego police chief David Bejarano was chosen to replace Cheryl Cox on the CVESD board. Can we expect a more law-abiding attitude from Mr. Bejarano? "Chief Bejarano is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," said San Diego Urban League COO Jimma McWilson in 2003. She was reacting to Mr. Bejarano's interpretation of a study showing problems of racial disparity in vehicle stops. We'll wait and see if Mr. Bejarano will be any different from the rest of the board, but we won't hold our breath. |
| Early on, there was hope that that Bertha Lopez, and then Cheryl Cox, would show some independence at CVESD, but they fell right into line. Apparently, builders are hard to resist. They are so nice when it comes time to build up a campaign war chest. |
| The "Big 3," Judd, Smith and Cunningham, held power for many years. They have shown disrespect for the law, for employees, for students and for parents. They do, however, get along very well with certain builders. |
| A prescient 2001 letter to then- board member (now Chula Vista mayor) Cheryl Cox: |
| Nothing. Just more business as usual. |
| Bejarano was fully co-opted before he was appointed in 2007 to replace Cheryl S. Cox. |
| Lopez was fully co-opted by the majority during the Libia Gil/Richard Werlin years. |
| Cheryl/Greg Cox article by Evan McLaughlin. |
| A Comparison of Ethics in La Mesa and Chula Vista |
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| Latest CVESD lawsuit: the Danielle Coziahr case |
| CVESD facts: Number of schools: 44 Square miles: 103 Students served: 27,400 Number of Certificated Employees: 1,515 Number of Classified Employees: 1,010 2007-08 Operational Budget: $240 million 17% of Students Enrolled in Charter Schools Ethnic Composition 64.3 percent Hispanic 14.3 percent White 09.4 percent Filipino 04.9 percent African-American 02.6 percent Asian 00.8 percent Pacific Islander 00.4 percent American Indian or Alaskan Class Sizes of 20 or less in Grades K-3 Dual Language Acquisition Programs State-funded Preschools 35% English Learners Established: 1892 Population areas served: 318,148 residents in Chula Vista, Bonita, Sunnyside, South San Diego |
| Elected in November 1994 and reelected in 1998, 2002, and 2006. Her term expires in December 2010. Director of San Diego County Department of Aging |
| Elected in November 1990, appointed from June to November 1998, elected in 1998, and reelected in 2002 and 2006. His term expires in December 2010. Retired navy, owns plumbing store. |
| Tom Cruz, Assistant Sup. |
| A Short History of CVESD |
| The "Big 3" no longer control the board--or do they? |
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from Voice of San Diego
By EMILY ALPERT
May 30, 2008
"...Critics accuse schools of overreacting. School
boards say their hands are tied.
"It's a crazy way of doing business," said
Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula
Vista Elementary School District, which
cancelled 274 planned layoffs for classroom
teachers, but is still planning to slash more than
140 other positions. Its budget gap narrowed
somewhat, from $11 million to $7.5 million,
based on Schwarzenegger's revision.
"The clearest budget information didn't emerge
until two months after the deadline" to warn
teachers of layoffs, Millican said. "Where is the
logic in that process?"
"Chula Vista Elementary School District spent
about $40,000 on substitute teachers during a
two-day hearing, said Millican. Like San Diego
Unified, its legal costs have not yet been totaled.
The school district hired the firm Atkinson,
Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, whose partners
and senior associates charge $210 an hour..."
By EMILY ALPERT
May 30, 2008
"...Critics accuse schools of overreacting. School
boards say their hands are tied.
"It's a crazy way of doing business," said
Anthony Millican, spokesman for the Chula
Vista Elementary School District, which
cancelled 274 planned layoffs for classroom
teachers, but is still planning to slash more than
140 other positions. Its budget gap narrowed
somewhat, from $11 million to $7.5 million,
based on Schwarzenegger's revision.
"The clearest budget information didn't emerge
until two months after the deadline" to warn
teachers of layoffs, Millican said. "Where is the
logic in that process?"
"Chula Vista Elementary School District spent
about $40,000 on substitute teachers during a
two-day hearing, said Millican. Like San Diego
Unified, its legal costs have not yet been totaled.
The school district hired the firm Atkinson,
Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, whose partners
and senior associates charge $210 an hour..."
| CVESD Attorneys Dan Shinoff |
| Mark Bresee Bresee and Werlin Bresee OAH hearing Bresee and school attorneys |
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San Diego Union Tribune
August 30, 2008
"A civil rights group is threatening to
sue the Lemon Grove School District
unless it publishes public
information on per-pupil
expenditures and teacher
salaries...
"Public Advocates sent a similar
letter to the Chula Vista
Elementary School District last
year. A spokesman for Public
Advocates said Thursday that Chula
Vista has since complied with all
reporting requirements... "
August 30, 2008
"A civil rights group is threatening to
sue the Lemon Grove School District
unless it publishes public
information on per-pupil
expenditures and teacher
salaries...
"Public Advocates sent a similar
letter to the Chula Vista
Elementary School District last
year. A spokesman for Public
Advocates said Thursday that Chula
Vista has since complied with all
reporting requirements... "
How can voters find out what's going on in their school district? It's next to impossible. |
| An Open Letter to CVESD Board members, and Lowell Billings and Tom Cruz Why are you hunkering down and hiding instead of dealing with problems? Do you cover your eyes and ears because you think that if you don't know about something, then it's not happening? You'd be wiser to allow free and open communication instead of blocking it. You cannot keep the truth hidden in the long run. --Maura Larkins |
| Superintendent Lowell Billings: Rewarded for turning a blind eye? |
| CVESD board election Nov. 4, 2008 Seat 2 Archie McAllister was the people's candidate. He was endorsed by the Republican party in his race against another Republican, David Bejarano. He was also endorsed by Democrats, including me! Norberto Salazar was merely a spoiler, on the ballot only to split the vote and protect David Bejarano. A vote for Salazar was a vote for Bejarano. |
| Castle Park Elementary |
| See full letter: Dec. 4, 2001 letter to Cheryl Cox from Maura Larkins |
| The question now is: Who will be the new board leader? |
| Maura Larkins case |
| CVE |
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| Feb. 3, 2009 Luffborough appointed |
| Former Member (2000-2006) Cheryl Cox Ms. Cox had little power at CVESD, but she successfully supported wrongdoing in an apparent effort to cultivate supporters for her mayoral campaign. |
| Nov. 2008: Judd replaced by Russell Coronado > > > |
| Aug. 2008: Patrick Judd problems at new school. Supt. Pat Judd retired from Mountain Empire in June 2008 without saying why he went on leave in Feb 2008. |
| Twenty-year incumbent Patrick Judd is out, but his legacy lingers. |
| "Big 3" Larry Cunningham |
| David Bejarano needs to find a way to set the board on the right track. |
| At CVESD's Organizational Meeting of December 9, 2008, the following Board of Education Officers were elected: President - Pamela B. Smith Vice President - David Bejarano Clerk - Russell Y. Coronado Member - Larry Cunningham Member - Vacant Secretary - Lowell J. Billings, Ed.D. |
| New Board Holds First Meeting |
| In 2001, and for seven years since then, Cox has ignored well-founded concern about the spread of illegal behavior. |
| 3. Why won't you release public records about how much Dan Shinoff and Mark Bresee have been paid for work on your behalf? Update: In 2007 CVESD released records of how much it paid directly to Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff. It still has not revealed how much the SDCOE JPA has paid to Stutz on its behalf. |
| Dear Ms. Cox: "...I am concerned that our new director of Human Resources, Tom Cruz, is being tainted by the unfinished business and improper policies of Mr. Werlin..." |
| Questions regarding Cheryl's decision-making: 1. How did YOU, Ms. Cox, make the decision to cover up the crimes of Rick Werlin and other employees? 2. Why did you vote to force employees to commit perjury? |
| Photo taken and published by CVESD in 2008. Cheryl Cox and CVESD maintain close ties. |
| In November 2006 Cheryl Cox was elected mayor of Chula Vista. Will Cox continue to cover up wrongdoing now that she is mayor? The outlook is not good. Cox didn't waste much time in approving the funnelling of more public money to her favorite law firm, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz--and to the wife of a developer. On March 9, 2007, Chula Vista Assistant Manager Laurie Madigan's law firm (Cheryl Cox's former law firm) completed a deal that Madigan would receive $155,000 and lifetime retirement benefits (for about four years of work) in exchange for her resignation. Madigan was being investigated for a conflict of interest regarding her developer husband. Cox says that the settlement with Madigan was made to prevent a lawsuit. She says, "It's all very blurry because I didn't know who was working for whom or what the relationship might be." Cheryl Cox has a long history of pretending not to understand wrongdoing when she authorizes it. |
| In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I was mystified to find Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Richard Werlin just standing around in the halls of the district office, apparently looking for someone to chat with, on several occasions when I visited. In 2001 I discovered that the schedule posted for use of the large conference room in the front of the building was bogus. Richard Werlin was listed as being in charge of an activity in the room for several hours in a day when there was no activity at all. |
| The Five School Board Members |
| Will Russell be able to stand up to Dan Shinoff and demand that the interests of the people of Chula Vista be protected? |
| Cheryl Cox announced in February 2006 that she was considering running for mayor because she had questions about how decisions are being made! |
| Home Why This Website SDCOE CVESD Castle Park Elem Law Enforcement CTA CVE Stutz Artiano Shinoff Silence is Golden Schools and Violence Office Admin Hearings Larkins OAH Hearing |
| CVESD and Lowell Billings settle defamation, tortious interference lawsuit filed by Ana Stover. |
| The habit of pursuing personal political power at the expense of education by CVESD board members and superintendent Lowell Billings was exposed in the Ana Stover case. Stover, an effective and dedicated administrator, was in line to be superintendent of the district |
| until she supported Russell Coronado instead of Pamela Smith in a school board election. CVESD was represented, as usual, by attorney Daniel Shinoff. The suit was eventually settled privately. |
| To: CVESD's lawyer Daniel Shinoff, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz From: Maura Larkins As a representative of a pubic entity, you should be particularly careful to obey the law. Instead, you use dishonesty and intimidation in your efforts to help clients whose interests are not the same as those of the people of Chula Vista who pay your bills. Please stop gobbling up the taxpayers’ money with your unnecessary motions and your repeated and time-consuming efforts to evade the discovery process with which the law requires you to cooperate. (On the other hand, I must admit you have saved the taxpayers some billable hours by refusing to answer interrogatories and produce documents.) |
| It’s quite clear that some employees of CVESD have committed crimes, and that they and their associates have worked to cover up those crimes. Those people want this case to disappear. Of course they don’t want to hear from me. These individuals should not be working for public entities because they have no respect for the law or the justice system. After reading the story about the innocent Grossmont parent who spent five days in jail in a case your firm worked on, I now strongly suspect that your firm may have committed obstruction of justice in my case. If CVESD had honest lawyers, this case would have been settled long ago. Your firm should repay the huge amount of money that the taxpayers of Chula Vista paid for this case, and encourage the San Diego County Joint Powers Authority to find ethical lawyers to replace you. |
| Visit the website of Karen Horowitz' organization, NAPTA, to read story after story about the unethical conduct of education lawyers across the country, and how they often target the most innovative and creative teachers and administrators. |
| Bertha Lopez- -moved to Sweetwater UHSD's board Dec. 2009 |
| Was CVESD a rogue district in recent years? Yes, and no. CVESD is far from unique. Many school boards, school administrators, and union officials across the country behave in a similar fashion. The board that consisted of Cheryl Cox, Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez, Pat Judd and Larry Cunningham violated the law on several occasions. Can the new board do better? Pamela Smith and Larry Cunningham are still there, making progress more difficult. But we can hope. Are the best educators in charge of our educational system? In many cases, clearly not. |
| Why Would a school district get involved in working to throw out an obstruction of justice lawsuit in which it was not a party? Chula Vista Elementary School District, Stutz law firm and California Teachers Association were determined in March of 2005 that Maura Larkins lawsuit would not be examined by the Superior Court. They got their wish when the court accepted a pleading filed by NON-PARTY CVESD (!?!) to protect Stutz law firm. Now the matter is in San Diego Superior court: |
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| Nov. 2008--Bertha Lopez won a seat in Sweetwater Union High School District. |
| Pam Smith and Larry Cunningham have a history of going along with Judd, not sticking their necks out. Bertha Lopez is leaving, and her replacement will be a rookie, as is Pat Judd's replacement, Russell Coronado. |
| CVESD |
| What do many--if not most--school districts do to teachers who fail to keep teacher and administrator wrongdoing secret? They fire them--with help from insurance company lawyers. |
| Chula Vista Elementary School District |
| Photo (left to right): Russell Coronado (new)* Superintendent Lowell Billings Larry Cunningham Pamela Smith David Bejarano (new)* Doug Luffborough (new)* *New members were not involved in wrongdoing. |
Pamela B. Smith, President
Phone: 619-479-1507
David Bejarano, Vice President
Phone: 619-421-0201
Email: bejaranos@cox.net
Russell Y. Coronado, Clerk
Phone: 619-818-5688
Email: russell.cvesd@gmail.com
Larry Cunningham, Member
Phone: 619-475-5639
Email: lecunningham@gmail.com
Douglas E. Luffborough III, Member
Phone: 619-750-4182
Email: dougluff@gmail.com
Lowell J. Billings Ed.D., Superintendent
Email: lowell.billings@cvesd.org
Phone: 619-425-9600 ext. 1300
84 East J St, Chula Vista, CA 91910
Max Batangan, Assistant to the
Superintendent and Board of Education
Email: max.batangan@cvesd.org
Phone: 619-425-9600 ext. 1311
84 East J St, Chula Vista, CA 91910
Content last updated: 3/3/2009 @
12:40 PM
| No Oversight The board backed up Superintendent Libia Gil in 2001-2002 and beyond to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on legal fees and increased liability insurance payments. Libia Gil appointed Richard Werlin to investigate complaints against himself. |