Greater Orange News Service

OUSD Trustee John Ortega
Confronts OUSD Trustee Steve Rocco
The Image OUSD doesn’t want you to see and the words they didn’t want you to hear.

In a Greater Orange Community exclusive, Orange Net News is publishing this photograph of the Censored September 14th Orange Unified School Board meeting where Orange Unified Trustee John Ortega confronted Orange Trustee Steve Rocco over Rocco’s remarks during the meeting and the complete transcript of the confrontation between the two.

In the photograph shown here, Ortega is seen standing facing off over the seated Rocco. The entire ten minute Rocco rant in the last part of the meeting was censored on orders of OUSD Superintendent Dr. Godley. The censored parts included: the one minute statement that Rocco would have voted to fire former VPHS Ben Rich instead of transferring him to Richland H.S. (that statement is now the subject of a vote of censure, sponsored by Trustee Kim Nichols and Wes Poutsma who was absent from the September 14th meeting); a rambling mostly incoherent complaint about Fred Smoller’s call for Rocco’s resignation; the Ortega confrontation; and the hastily made motion to end the meeting. Nothing in the censored broadcast informed the community that the broadcast they were watching had been censored. Orange Net News broke the story that the broadcast to the community was censored on Godley’s orders on Saturday September 23rd. An Orange County Register story on Monday September 25th confirmed that Godley said he cut out the last part of the meeting.

In the early part of the meeting that was broadcast to the community, Rocco is seen objecting to OUSD Board President Kim Nichols allowing herself and Kathy Moffat to speak to the Villa Park High School situation, but not him. Nichols earlier in the meeting spoke about the credentialing situation of Villa Park High School teacher Dr. Linda Bartom and her ability to teach the Fine Arts designated TV Media Class. While not supporting Rocco, many in the community see Nichols’ move to censure Rocco on Brown Act violations over a letter he received concerning the reassignment of removed VPHS Principal Ben Rich to Richland as hypocrisy given the lengthy personnel comments Nichols made about Bartom. Long time board watchers attribute the move by Nichols and Trustee Wes Poutsma (who was not even present at the meeting) as more of a personal matter. In the only original motion Poutsma has made since being on the Board, his efforts to cut short a meeting during another one of Rocco’s frequent end of meeting rants was voted down by the other Board members. Nichols, unlike former Board President Kathy Moffat, has been unsuccessful in controlling Rocco during Board meetings this year as her lack of leadership in allowing the confrontation between Ortega and Rocco at the Censored September 14th Board Meeting during the Ortega/ Rocco confrontation bares witness to.

The following is the transcript of the Rocco/Ortega confrontation at the Censured September 14th
Orange School Board Meeting:

As OUSD Trustee Steve Rocco rambled on about his reaction activist Fred Smoller calling for his resignation the following occurs:

Trustee J. Ortega: (as he begins to rise out of his chair) “I’m leaving.”

Trustee S. Rocco: “That’s, fine. If you’re bored, if you’re bored, you’re welcome to leave Mr. Ortega. Someday tell us about your brother who was employed here”

(Ortega stands to face Rocco. Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Cohen lets yells out a loud “Oh” as Trustee Melissa Smith covers her face and turns away).

Ortega: “Mr. Rocco I think you need to be quiet. O.K.”
Rocco: “No I think I need to keep going.”

Ortega: “You know you’re not here for the children.”

Rocco: “I’m not?”

Ortega: “Don’t personalize it. Now you have employees. Now you’re talking about a brother of mine who passed away.”

Rocco: “Yes, Wasn’t it of drugs?

Ortega: “You have no heart”

Trustee M. Smith: “Mrs. Nichols.”

Rocco: “Wasn’t it of drugs?”

Ortega: “O.K. enough.”

Smith: “Mrs. Nichols.”

Nichols: “Yes Misses…”

Smith: “I would like to make a motion to adjourn.”

Ortega: “Yes.”

Nichols: “Thank you Mrs. Smith. Is there a second to that motion?”

Trustee Kathy Moffat: “Second.”

Nichols: “Thank you Mrs. Moffat.

Ortega: (looking at Dr. Godley) “Doctor…”

Nichols: “It’s been moved and seconded to adjourn this meeting…it’s a….it’s….not debatable…not…disss…any…all those in favor…all those in favor say aye.”

(Moffat, Ortega, Trustee Rick Ledesma, Smith and Nichols all say “aye”. )

Nichols: “All those opposed, no.”

Rocco: “No.”

Nichols: “Mr. Ledesma did you vote?”

Ledesma: “Aye”.

Nichols: “Thank you. Five yes. One no.”

Rocco: (simultaneous with Nichols above): “By the way, I have more.”

Rocco: “I’ve got more. I’ve heard…”
Nichols: “Where adjourned.”

Rocco: “This is a very dysfunctional board meeting here…”

Ortega: (to Godley who has walked over to him) “Call the District Attorney, cause this is crazy here”.

A complete uncensored DVD of the Censored September 14th Board meeting can be purchased for $10.00 at the Superintendent's Office at the Orange Unified School District.

The ROCCO CENSURE REPORT
a special news series from Orange Net News /O/N/N/
produced by the Orange Communication System /OCS/

The influencial OC Blog and the OC Register's Buzz Blog has reported that a complaint has been filed with the Orange County Registrar of Voters against Orange City Council Candidate Carol Rudat, the wife of former Orange City Manager, now Deputy Orange County CEO David Rudat. Wayne King of Orange filed the complaint on Monday September 25th. The link to the OC Blog's posting of the complaint is included below.

The following is the OC Blog post:

Complaint Filed Against Carol Rudat
According Martin Wisckol at Total Buzz, a complaint has been filed againt Orange city council carpetbagger Carol Rudat:

You may have read in this blog or in today's Buzz column [Jubal -- or prior to that on Red County/OC Blog, Orange Politicos, FlashReport and Greater Orange News eBlog] about how Orange City Council candidate Carol Rudat registered to vote in the city of Orange a few months before her July move there. Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley had said that registration is on the honor system -- they don't check into problems unless there's a complaint.

Well, today a complaint was filed with Kelley over Rudat's registration. Kelley said that he'll be forwarding the complaint to the Secretary of State for investigation today, as protocol dictates.

Excellent.

Carol Rudat actually lives in Corona Del Mar and is a successful Newport Beach realtor

Link to OC Blog's posting of King complaint:http://www.ocblog.net/wayne_king_complaint.pdf

OUSD: Censorship to Censure

The September 14th meeting started off as normal as any Orange Unified School Board meeting gets these days. After seating the new high school SACBE student board members, Board President Kim Nichols in her President’s Report tried to clarify remarks that she made at the August 24th Board meeting regarding a credentialing issue of Villa Park High School T.V. Media Class teacher Dr. Linda Bartom. Nichols regretted any misunderstanding from her statements at the August 24th Board meeting regarding Bartom being a credentialed teacher. Nichols then reported on what credential Bartom currently has and how Bartom is currently applying with the state for a Petition of Certification to teach the Media TV Class as a “fine arts section” (yes this was a personnel matter) . Trustee Steve Rocco asked some clarifying questions regarding the on going Villa Park principal situation and stated he wanted to speak further about the matter. Nichols told him he would have to wait until the Board Comment item at the end of the agenda.

Under the next agenda item, Board Recognition of Students, Staff and Community, among other things Trustee Kathy Moffat “acknowledged” the parents in Villa Park concerning the “issues” at Villa Park H.S. Trustee Steve Rocco interrupted with an objection stating that he was told he could not allowed to speak about the Villa Park H.S. item until later and stated that now both Nichols and Moffat have done so. Nichols and Rocco quibbled over what the agenda item allowed members to speak about. Rocco objected that most of the audience would be gone by time he spoke.

After the approval of the Consent Agenda at the end of the agenda, after a fairly typical meeting lasting a little over an hour, the meeting became the most disruptive meeting since masked protestors showed up in 2003. The public broadcast of the end of the meeting was censored, reportedly on order of OUSD Superintendent Godley (the public cable broadcast of the Board Meeting ends with the Consent Item approval).

Rocco was recognized to speak under the agenda’s Board Comments. He started speaking about former Villa Park High School Principal Ben Rich (now principal at Richland Continuation School). Rocco objected to Rich being reassigned stating that it is “a tough sell” to get rid of administrators. Rocco said that sending Rich from Villa Park H.S. to Richland “does a disservice to the students”. He then stated that he has never voted to fire anyone “but I’d fire Ben Rich”. Rocco stated that the consequences for administrators that don’t do a good job is “you just get transferred”. Rocco restated he’d vote to fire Ben Rich and further stated if Rich showed up at a Board meeting “I’d ask him why aren’t you fired yet?” No one on the Board on in the Administration objected, tried to interrupt, or otherwise called Rocco out of order. That 1 minute beginning portion of a ten minute Rocco rant is now the subject of a vote at the September 28th Board Meeting for a Public Hearing at the October 12th meeting to officially censure Rocco.

The Rocco statement that he’d vote to “fire Ben Rich” is the subject of Kim Nichols and Trustee Wes Poutsma (Poutsma was ill and did not attend the Censored September 14th Meeting) Agenda Item 12 A on the September 28th OUSD Board Agenda (page 2). It is a vote to approve a public hearing for the October 12th Board meeting to discuss censuring Rocco for his statement he would fire Ben Rich. The agenda item includes the Proposed Resolution which accuses Rocco of violating Rich’s privacy and not keeping “confidential matters confidential”. Long time community leaders say that if saying Rich’s name was truly offensive and wrong, Board President Nichols (who publicly discussed personnel matters earlier in the same meeting) should have called Rocco out of order. Also, if that was the basis for the censorship of the entire last part of the meeting, Rich’s name could have been easily bleeped out. Many of the community leaders agree what happened in the rest of the meeting is why the September 14th meeting was censored from the public during an election year and why Rocco now faces censure in an election year.

The Rich matter was just the beginning of Rocco’s ten minute rant. Rocco then started discussing nepotism in the district. He stated he requested information on how many OUSD administrators had relatives working in OUSD. He stated he was told that 16 administrators have relatives working for the district. Rocco went on to “wonder out loud” if the relatives of the top district administrators would ever receive a bad review from their supervisors who know they are related to top administrators. Rocco’s next subject of his rant was the public call for his resignation by community activist Fred Smoller. Rocco presented a number of newspapers on Smoller in an unorganized rambling rant.
(CLICK ON: http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/2006/09/metro-talk_23.html ).

It was during this part of the Rocco rant that Trustee John Ortega (who sits next to Rocco) stated aloud that he was leaving. Rocco replied to Ortega “That’s fine if your bored…”. As Ortega stands to leave, Rocco adds “Some day tell us about your brother who was employed here”. At that point, Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Cohen gasps loudly and covers her mouth as Ortega turns and hovers above Rocco. Ortega standing over Rocco tells him he should be quiet as the room is transfixed on the scene playing out. Rocco refuses to yield and replies “No I don’t think I need to…”. The exchange continues with Ortega hovering and leaning in above the seated Rocco as Ortega tells Rocco “Your not here for the children…” and accuses Rocco of personalizing “it” by now mentioning employee names. Ortega continues as Rocco now leaning back in his seat stares up at the angry Ortega who continues “you’re talking about a brother of mine who passed away”. At that point Rocco replied to Ortega “Wasn’t it of drugs? Wasn’t it of drugs?”

Up to that point Nichols had sat mesmerized watching the exchange between the two trustees take place as Godley seated next to her calmly looked on. Smith (who had earlier turned away to avoid watching Ortega and Rocco) now made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Stammering, Nichols barely found the words to explain the motion had no debate. The vote for the motion carried 5 yes to Rocco’s one no. As Nichols adjourned the meeting, Rocco yelled out that the Board is “dysfunctional” as Godley gets up to quickly move between Ortega and Rocco. As Godley approaches, Ortega loudly tells Godley to call the District Attorney. In the Board Room parking lot the controversy continued as Rocco was confronted by an OUSD Administrator who tells Rocco he can pick on him, but to leave his wife out of it.

Community Reaction to Censorship
The community watchdog group the Greater Orange Communities Organization released a community editorial over the weekend calling the OUSD September 14th Meeting Censorship “ an attack on the democratic institutions that the basic rights of a free and informed society are dependent on” and further stated that “the censorship shows clear evidence of hypocrisy on the part of the current OUSD Administration” (CLICK ON: http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/2006/09/metro-views_115913535916206029.html ). In a community email, the watchdog group, while not supporting the eccentric Rocco, reacted harshly to Kim Nichols and Wes Poutsma’s sponsorship of the motion of censure characterizing the Nichols move as “political posturing in an election year that is full of hypocrisy considering at the beginning of the same meeting she publicly discussed personnel matters regarding Dr. Linda Bartom”. The groups email went on to state:
“While Rocco’s statements towards Ortega were ugly and indefensible, two wrongs do not make a right. Rocco has been on the Board for two years, to move now during an election cycle to deal with his unusual behavior on a weak charge, that will span three Board meetings, plus using expensive staff time and legal counsel time for personal revenge is not following the Board’s own Ten Top Core Values. Number two of that Core Value list states: All available resources will be used to ensure student success. While OUSD just had two more schools identified as Improvement Schools by the state, OUSD is focusing on petty name calling. This is not how this Board and Administration will lead this district from Good to Great. Clearly the publicity from this month long process will lead the district once again from Good to Embarrassed”

The political ramifications appear to be coming quickly with a report on the OC BLOG posted by Education Alliance founder Mark Bucher that Richard McKee who successfully brought a Brown Act violation against the OUSD Board has filed a public records act request. The post also states that the censorship could possibly be a criminal act of altering public records. (CLICK ON:
http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/2006/09/crimes_and_cens.html)

Meanwhile….Ben Rich to get a pay hike…sort of….
At the Censored September 14th Meeting, Trustee Rocco inquired about former Villa Park H.S. Principal Ben Rich being made Richland Continuation High School Principal. He was told by OUSD Superintendent Dr. Godley that a decision had not been made yet. Since that meeting, Rich has indeed been made Principal of Richland H.S.

On page 75 of the September 28th Board Agenda, Consent Agenda Item 14L (these items are automatically approved unless pulled for a separate vote and discussion by a trustee) increases the Richland principal’s pay. The item “Alternative Programs Reorganization” proposes to change the pay scale of the Principal of Richland High School by changing the position from Principal, Continuation School, to Principal, Alternative Schools to reflect “increased responsibilities which are to include the development and expansion of areas of alternative education”.

The four regular OUSD High School Principals (including Villa Park H.S.) are at OUSD Leadership pay range 118 which is approximately $94,600 – $119,000 a year. The current OUSD pay range 111 for the Principal, Continuation School is approximately $90,700 to $114,000. The new position of Principal, Alternative Schools will be at OUSD pay range 114 which is $92,388 to $116,232. The agenda item states the staff recommends to the Board authorize the position and pay changes and “the assignment of the incumbent to the position of Principal, Alternative Schools. Richland H.S. was called on Monday September 25, and the secretary who answered the telephone was asked who the principal of Richland H.S. was? Her answer was, “Ben Rich”.



The next Orange Unified School Board Meeting: September 28, 2006Closed Session will begin at 6:30 pm, Regular Session remains at 7:30 pm
To view the ENTIRE September 28, 2006 Agenda CLICK ON:
http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/board/pdf/agenda_092806.pdf

Orange Unified Schools Digest is an independent news service of
/O/N/N/

OrangeNetNews@verizon.net
“Independent, Local, UNCENSORED News and Viewpoints”

OUSD Censorship Violates Community Trust
A community viewpoint from the
Greater Orange Communities Organization

The Orange Unified School District Administration’s censorship of the community broadcast of the September 14th Orange Unified School Board meeting is an affront to the people of the Greater Orange Communities and an attack on the democratic institutions that the basic rights of a free and informed society are dependent on. Equally offensive is that the order to stop the broadcast of the politically charged and chaotic end of the September 14th Board meeting reportedly came from OUSD Superintendent Thomas Godley who has in the past tried to put a stop to the community broadcasts through budget cuts (to broadcast the 18 meetings cost only about $500 per meeting ).

In the center of this controversy is the eccentric, but elected, Trustee Steve Rocco. Officially elected, his election apparently represents the irony of an uniformed electorate. Since his election, the OUSD Administration and current Board Members have acted to silence him. When Rocco was first elected and incommunicado for days (he says because of the death of his father), the OUSD Administration and some Board members acting like third world military generals, actively sought legal ways of not allowing Rocco to take his elected post. Having failed in that respect, they resorted to other ways to silence him. They have changed rules to prevent him from assuming a leadership role, they have tried to silence him with votes to end the meeting during his rants, they have cut him off, and just plain tried to ignore him. While the eccentric Rocco has provided hours of dribble in his time on the board, his occasional populist announcements to assembled crowds has brought him numerous spontaneous applause. While many openly doubt his sanity (i.e. his conspiracy theory Partnership) his frankness and lack of PC (politically correct) in his educational comments cause some to wish if only the sane trustees could say it too. His comments, though not politically correct, on student testing scores based on race, his immigration stances, and ideas on wasting taxes have often rung true with many in the community, but are often mixed-in with his trademark personal agenda based on a persecution complex. At the September 14th meeting, part of the meeting that was censored was Rocco’s remarks on nepotism in OUSD as he names administrators with family members working in the district ( he said he had a list of 16) and questioning out loud can these family members job performance be fairly evaluated by their immediate supervisors who know they have a top administrative relative?

Obviously in the last two years, the community has grown tired of Rocco, and at the September 14th meeting it was obvious a frustrated OUSD Trustee John Ortega (Rocco’s “elbow partner”) spoke up for the community in his frustrated verbal attack on Rocco. Rocco’s response to Ortega’s attack about the cause of Ortega’s brother’s death (a former OUSD employee) was insensitive and cruel. That said however, in a free society, the voters have a right to observe, hear and see all the actions of their elected officials in a free and open meeting and make up their own mind. None of the exchange at the end of the September 14th meeting was worthy of censorship. Condemnation perhaps, censorship no.

Furthermore, the censorship shows clear evidence of hypocrisy on the part of the current OUSD Administration. The September 14th Censorship clearly violates the trust the community has in the OUSD Administration. In the Godley inspired TOP TEN CORE VALUES, number seven states:

“7. That we will demonstrate trustworthiness in everything we say and do.”

Another reform model that Godley has given lip service to is the Good to Great business model. In Stage 2 of the model a concept called Confront the Brutal Facts states that Good to Great entities: “confront the most brutal facts of your current realty, whatever they might be.” Clearly censoring what the community sees is not “confronting the most brutal facts”, but a sad attempt at manipulating those “brutal facts”. Any “Good to Great” leader (called Level 5 Leadership in Good to Great lingo) would know that in the end, the loss of community trust in trying to manipulate and censor information far exceeds the impact of the information being out in the community.

If the OUSD Superintendent thinks that a display of trustworthiness is to censor the broadcast of an open OUSD Board meeting when two trustees face off verbally, what other items might he decide in the future that are unfit for the community to see? A parade of parents upset at program cuts in the budget addressing their elected trustees? Would parents addressing their elected officials about concerns over a high school principal be considered a personnel issue and therefore censored? Would a Board vote on a controversial administrative funding request qualify for censorship? Would a popular trustee criticizing the administration’s attempt to cut Board meetings being video broadcast to the community be something unfit for the community to see?

By going down the path of censorship in a community that fought hard and long for the right to view their elected officials at work, Dr. Godley is once again leading us to question whether we can trust he is the right man for the job of leading us from Good to Great.

To view OUSD’s Top Ten Core Values CLICK ON:
http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/downloads/10_core_values.pdf

Metro Views is open to community members to voice their opinions on important local community issues in the
Greater Orange Communities.

OUSD Censorship Violates Community Trust
A community viewpoint from the
Greater Orange Communities Organization

The Orange Unified School District Administration’s censorship of the community broadcast of the September 14th Orange Unified School Board meeting is an affront to the people of the Greater Orange Communities and an attack on the democratic institutions that the basic rights of a free and informed society are dependent on. Equally offensive is that the order to stop the broadcast of the politically charged and chaotic end of the September 14th Board meeting reportedly came from OUSD Superintendent Thomas Godley who has in the past tried to put a stop to the community broadcasts through budget cuts (to broadcast the 18 meetings cost only about $500 per meeting ).

In the center of this controversy is the eccentric, but elected, Trustee Steve Rocco. Officially elected, his election apparently represents the irony of an uniformed electorate. Since his election, the OUSD Administration and current Board Members have acted to silence him. When Rocco was first elected and incommunicado for days (he says because of the death of his father), the OUSD Administration and some Board members acting like third world military generals, actively sought legal ways of not allowing Rocco not to take his elected post. Having failed in that respect, they resorted to other ways to silence him. They have changed rules to prevent him from assuming a leadership role, they have tried to silence him with votes to end the meeting during his rants, they have cut him off, and just plain tried to ignore him. While the eccentric Rocco has provided hours of dribble in his time on the board, his occasional populist announcements to assembled crowds has brought him numerous spontaneous applause. While many openly doubt his sanity (i.e. his conspiracy theory Partnership) his frankness and lack of PC (politically correct) in his educational comments cause some to wish if only the sane trustees could say it too. His comments, though not politically correct, on student testing scores based on race, his immigration stances, and ideas on wasting taxes have often rung true with many in the community, but are often mixed-in with his trademark personal agenda based on a persecution complex. At the September 14th meeting, part of the meeting that was censored was Rocco’s remarks on nepotism in OUSD as he names administrators with family members working in the district ( he said he had a list of 16) and questioning out loud can these family members job performance be fairly evaluated by their immediate supervisors who know they have a top administrative relative?

Obviously in the last two years, the community has grown tired of Rocco, and at the September 14th meeting it was obvious a frustrated OUSD Trustee John Ortega (Rocco’s “elbow partner”) spoke up for the community in his frustrated verbal attack on Rocco. Rocco’s response to Ortega’s attack about the cause of Ortega’s brother’s death (a former OUSD employee) was insensitive and cruel. That said however, in a free society, the voters have a right to observe, hear and see all the actions of their elected officials in a free and open meeting and make up their own mind. None of the exchange at the end of the September 14th meeting was worthy of censorship. Condemnation perhaps, censorship no.

Furthermore, the censorship shows clear evidence of hypocrisy on the part of the current OUSD Administration. The September 14th Censorship clearly violates the trust the community has in the OUSD Administration. In the Godley inspired TOP TEN CORE VALUES, number seven states:

“7. That we will demonstrate trustworthiness in everything we say and do.”

Another reform model that Godley has given lip service to is the Good to Great business model. In Stage 2 of the model a concept called Confront the Brutal Facts states that Good to Great entities: “confront the most brutal facts of your current realty, whatever they might be.” Clearly censoring what the community sees is not “confronting the most brutal facts”, but a sad attempt at manipulating those “brutal facts”. Any “Good to Great” leader (called Level 5 Leadership in Good to Great lingo) would know that in the end, the loss of community trust in trying to manipulate and censor information far exceeds the impact of the information being out in the community.

If the OUSD Superintendent thinks that a display of trustworthiness is to censor the broadcast of an open OUSD Board meeting when two trustees face off verbally, what other items might he decide in the future that are unfit for the community to see? A parade of parents upset at program cuts in the budget addressing their elected trustees? Would parents addressing their elected officials about concerns over a high school principal be considered a personnel issue and therefore censored? Would a Board vote on a controversial administrative funding request qualify for censorship? Would a popular trustee criticizing the administration’s attempt to cut Board meetings being video broadcast to the community be something unfit for the community to see?

By going down the path of censorship in a community that fought hard and long for the right to view their elected officials at work, Dr. Godley is once again leading us to question whether we can trust he is the right man for the job of leading us from Good to Great.

To view OUSD’s Top Ten Core Values CLICK ON:
http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/downloads/10_core_values.pdf

Metro Views is open to community members to voice their opinions on important local community issues in the
Greater Orange Communities.

OUSD Censors School Board Broadcast
The talk about the near physical show-down at the September 14th Orange Unified School Board meeting between an emotional Trustee John Ortega (a large Orange County Deputy Sheriff) and “push your buttons” Trustee Steve Rocco (a small skinny eccentric) is true.

Yea we know you’ve watched the latest OUSD Board Meeting cable cast on your local cable station and seen nothing unusual in the meeting besides Rocco’s rants at the beginning. Well that’s all you’re going to see because the fiery ending has been cut out, reportedly on order from OUSD Superintendent Thomas Godley himself. That’s right all the following was cut: Rocco’s accusations of rampant nepotism in OUSD; Rocco’s reaction to community activist Fred Smoller’s call (CLICK ON: http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/2006/09/metro-views_13.html) for Rocco to resign; Rocco’s reaction to Ortega saying he was leaving while Rocco was speaking; the shocked reactions from staff and trustees to Ortega standing over Rocco challenging him to be quiet; the chaotic ending with a paralyzed Board President Kim Nichols barely being able to end the meeting. All the political, emotional drama is missing from the televised version as the censored cable broadcast ends at the vote on the Consent Agenda, thus avoiding the emotional fireworks and near physical volley that ends the meeting.

Not to worry, what Godley doesn’t want you to see, Orange Net News will be reporting. That’s right the whole event will be covered in the next Orange Unified Schools Digest proving once again why an independent local source of information on our elected leaders is needed in a free society, especially when powerful bureaucrats like Dr, Godley have the power to censor what the public will and will not see and hear about their elected officials.

Be sure to read all about it right here on your local, independent and UNCENSORED news source.

VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS PANCAKE BREAKFAST
TICKETS ONLINE
On Sunday October 1 the Villa Park Firefighters Association will host the 44th Annual Villa Park Volunteer Firefighters Pancake Breakfast. One of the biggest events in the local Greater Orange Communities and the longest running yearly event in Villa Park continues the tradition of pancakes, sausages and eggs (plus this being an election year probably some politicking) cooked by the local firefighters and your Villa Park City Council members with help from local business sponsors and youth groups. As always lots of demonstrations and displays of fire equipment and tours of Fire Station #23 keeps everyone interested and a bounce house for the kid keeps them hopping.

Tickets are $4.00 at the long line at the door, or $3.00 prepaid on line with a PayPal account. To pay in advance CLICK ON: http://www.villapark.org/fire/

Fire Station #23 is at 5020 Santiago Canyon Road.

For a map CLICK ON:
http://maps.yahoo.com/beta/index.
php#maxp=search&q1=5020+santiago+canyon+rd+villa+park,
+ca&trf=0&mvt=m&lon=-117.798307&lat=33.810354&mag=3

Metro TALK is a community service of the
: Greater Orange Communities Organization:
:GoCo:

With two candidates on the Orange Unified November Ballot:
EDUCATION ALLIANCE BACK IN BATTLE FOR OUSD

a Special News Analysis series
by Orange Net News /O/N/N/

In June of 2001 voters in the Orange Unified School District recalled three OUSD School Board members with ties to a political group called the Education Alliance. Marty Jacobson, Maureen Aschoff, and Linda Davis were defeated after a bitter recall campaign and an attempt to hijack the recall election ballot by adding inflammatory “advisement” votes to the beginning of the ballot. Coupled with those ballot engineering tactics, the Education Alliance candidates also campaigned accusing the local teacher’s association of trying to establish “sex clubs” at schools while Marty Jacobson during the OUSD School Board meetings openly discussed deviant sexual fetishes that would show up at schools if he was recalled. In the end, the three fringe trustees were recalled. Then a few months after being recalled two of the recalled trustees, Jacobson and Davis, were running for their old seats back as two other Education Alliance supporters, OUSD Trustees Kathy Ward and Terri Sargeant ran to hold on to their seats. All four Education Alliance candidates were ultimately defeated by a landslide vote in another messy election. To the relief of the Greater Orange Communities those days seem long ago, but the November election could start the nightmare cycle again as two of the candidates that are running for seats on the OUSD School Board are connected to the same Education Alliance voters ousted from OUSD five years ago.

The Education Alliance is the brainchild of Orange County political activist and ultra conservative attorney Mark Bucher and his allies Jim Righeimer (now Orange County Housing Commissioner) and Frank Ury (now Mission Viejo Councilman). The idea was to elect fringe ultra Christian right extremists (which they label as conservative) to local school boards. The Education Alliance was started in 1994, with financing coming from radical Christian extremist financer Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., heir to the Home Savings fortune and a member of the Board of Trustees for the leading radical Christian Reconstructionist think tank Chalcedon. Chalcedon’s website (see link below) states its beliefs as follows:

“We believe that the whole Word of God must be applied to all of life. It is not only our duty as individuals, families and churches to be Christian, but it is also the duty of the state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere to be under Christ the King. Nothing is exempt from His dominion.”

It further states it is dedicated to “the necessity of returning to Biblical Law”. In addition to his Chalcedon leadership, Ahmanson is a member of the secretive ultra conservative Council for National Policy.

In 1993 Bucher, Righeimer and Ury backed Proposition 174, a school voucher initiative that lost big in part due to opposition from the state and national teacher’s associations. From there the story is that Bucher was angered that the “unions” were able to mobilize huge resources against his political initiative. Bucher and his allies took inspiration from a 1992 Washington State “pay check protection” proposition to limit political contributions to labor union Political Action Committees (PAC). In June 1998, Bucher and political allies brought California the “Paycheck Protection” initiative, Proposition 226. The number one donor to their cause was Howard F. Ahmanson Jr. At the polls, Proposition 226 was defeated.

Meanwhile the stealth Education Alliance candidates had eventually captured five out of seven seats on the Orange Unified School Board. Thus started a community nightmare which saw the Greater Orange Communities become ground zero in the battleground of educational ideological and culture wars that eventually became a magnet for fundamentalist religious zealots from around the country. Orange Unified became a nationwide educational laughing stock and a bell weather of what could happen if a local community is drawn into culture wars that extend far beyond its borders by groups with a hidden political agenda.

Bucher’s direct involvement with the OUSD Trustees became evident when he became the attorney for the OUSD Recalled Trustees in their attempts to hijack the Orange Recall Ballot by introducing controversial non-binding advisory votes and manipulating the ballot order, one of the fringe Education Alliances’ favorite political tricks. Bucher represented the Recalled Trustees and OUSD (which they controlled at the time) in court challenges brought by then candidate Kim Nichols. Bucher lost the bid to control the ballot and the “advisory” votes when the courts ruled against him. This first Nichols v Bucher set the stage for round two in the Education Alliance battle for OUSD.

Fast forward five years later to 2006 for round two of Nichols v Bucher. Now the incumbent, OUSD Trustee Kim Nichols faces two challengers this November. One is Chris Enami who filed for election with the ballot designation of “teacher”. After the surprise election win two years ago by Steve Rocco (which many experts attribute to his election ballot designation of “Teacher”) Nichols was not about to let the “teacher” ballot designation for Enami go unchallenged because he is actually a walk-on girls basketball coach, not a California Credentialed teacher. In the court challenge, Enami would be represented by none other than Education Alliance founder Mark Bucher. In this second court challenge, Bucher again lost to Nichols and Enami was ordered to change his ballot designation. It now reads the more accurate “Coach/ Sports Program Director” description.

Further proof of Mark Bucher’s continued ties to the Educational Alliance can be seen on the new website of the Education Alliance. Not only is Bucher listed as a contact under the contact information, but his Irvine Boulevard business address in Tustin is listed as the Education Alliance headquarters. The other contact person listed on the Education Alliance website is recent Chapman University communications graduate Hope Gray.

On June 30th, 2006 Education Alliance leader Hope Grey sent an email out to 15 present and former local community members about the Educational Alliance choice for a candidate to run against OUSD Trustee Melissa Smith in OUSD’s Trustee Area 4 covering mostly Anaheim Hills. Among the 15 email recipients’ the email was sent to was local former supporters of Gray in her bid for the Republican Central Committee, as well as famous anti-Orange Recall players Mark Bucher, Villa Park City Councilman Robert Fauteux, local Villa Park gadfly Kathy Moran, and recalled former OUSD Trustee Linda Davis who now lives in the Palm Springs area. The email reads:

Hi Everyone!
You're invited to attend the upcoming Education Alliance meeting for the Orange Unified School District. We are pulling together a group of education activists in the area to build support for Alexia Deligianni, who has stepped forward to run against Melissa Smith for School Board Area 1, and also to discuss other potential candidates and issues in Orange.

The meeting is set for 7 pm, Wednesday, July 5 at the home of Deborah Pauly: [edited*] Gloria Circle, Villa Park, 92861. (Phone: (714) 633[edit*]).

Please forward this invitation to anyone who may be interested and let us know if you will be attending. Your input and help is important!

We hope to see you there!
Thanks,
Hope Gray
The Education Alliance

*edited for privacy

In June 2006 Alexia Deligianni ran for the Orange County Republican Central Committee (A.D. 60). Her two key endorsements came from Orange City Council Members Jon Dimitru and Carolyn Cavecche. Alexia Deligianni has held various positions within the Orange County Young Republicans including most recently as Political Director. While frequent biographies list her as a teacher; reportedly her actual position has been as a substitute teacher. Deligiainni received her Tier 1 Administrative Services Certificate from Azusa Pacifica University in August of 2001 (the same university that OUSD Superintendent Dr. Godley taught educational administration classes at before joining OUSD). Her doctorial degree in Education Leadership is from Argosy University, a Chicago university with satellite campuses across the nation. Argosy allows 50% of course work to be done online.

The candidates’ statements of both Deligianni and Enami have similarities that appear that they were written together with similar phrasing, content and composition. Both statements contain endorsements of candidates that the Educational Alliance website state they helped to elect including Dr. Ken Williams, Alexandria Coronado and Phil Yarbrough (see link). They also include a hallmark of the Educational Alliance Platform: “Promote Local Control”. While Congressional Republican conservatives and President Bush have instituted the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act, the radical Educational Alliance Platform states:

“How school districts are run belongs under the control of local parents and taxpayers, not the State or Federal governments.
“Federal control of education strikes at the very heart of the system of federalism…
“We therefore believe that all attempts to increase State or Federal control over any aspect of our education system or its funding should be resisted.

Among the other targets of the Educational Alliance are “social service programs” including “school breakfast programs” and of course, Bucher’s favorite, target number five on the Educational Alliance platform: ELIMINATING UNION AND OTHER SPECIAL INTERESTS CONTROL OVER SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. This platform item is vintage Bucher:

“Union dues which are taken from teachers' salaries without the teachers' consent are used to fund political activities which they often disagree with the election of school board members who represent the Unions, not the teachers, parents or the local voters. This has allowed the Unions' handpicked candidates to gain majority status on most school boards and to therefore control educational policy. School board policy should be made for the benefit of children, not Unions.”

However, one of the tactics the Educational Alliance uses is stealth candidates, so despite the goal of eliminating union Political Action Committee (PAC) funds, the two hand picked Educational Alliance candidates were more than willing to be interviewed by the OUSD teacher’s association (OUEA) in hopes of an endorsement and election funding from the OUEA PAC that they in principle are opposed to. Neither Education Alliance candidate won the endorsement and sources in the OUEA report that neither candidate in their interview revealed their affiliation with the Educational Alliance.

While the Educational Alliance does list some mainstream conservative goals that it uses to attract supporters, a number of its goals go beyond the mainstream conservative realm well to the right. In addition, their educational goals appear to be secondary to the groups own political agenda which also goes beyond the mainstream conservative Republican educational agenda of No Child Left Behind (i.e. elimination of all federal and state support to schools and elimination of breakfast and lunch programs).

On September 12, 2006 the Educational Alliance had its first fundraiser which was sponsored by Red County Magazine featuring conservative radio host Dennis Prager as the keynote speaker. Prager is an ultra orthodox Jew who sides with the right wing Christian political wing (see link) in support of the teaching of the Ten Commandments in schools and other ultra right wing religious educational goals. As the fundraiser’s sponsor, Red County Magazine publicized the fund raiser including on the influential OC Blog (began by Orange resident Matt Cunningham). The OC Blog has just recently become the Red County/ OC Blog as it joined with the Red County Magazine to become the main online presence of that new center-right Orange County magazine.

If history is any indicator, the voters in the Greater Orange Communities will be subject to another school board campaign full of exaggerated scare tactics and political dirty tricks from outside political interests with a political agenda that goes beyond the operation of the local school system.

LINKS:
Orange Recall Election Link: http://www.oc.ca.gov/election/Live/e7p/frame7.htm

Chalcedon Website Link: http://www.chalcedon.edu/ministry.php
Education Alliance Contact Information Link:
http://www.education-alliance.org/index.cfm/contact.htm

Education Alliance Platform Link:
http://www.education-alliance.org/index.cfm/about_us_platform.htm

Education Alliance History with Candidates they elected:
http://www.education-alliance.org/index.cfm/about_us.htm

Argosy University Online Link: http://online.argosyu.edu/online_education/

OC Blog/ Red County Education Alliance Fundraiser:
http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/2006/09/education_allia.html

Educational Alliance Fundraiser
Key Note Speaker Dennis Prager Bio Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Prager

a community service of Orange Net News /O/N/N/
BAD NEWS IN STATE TEST SCORES FOR OUSD

The California Department of Education released the latest school testing data on August 31, 2006. Orange Unified School District, like California as a whole, had bright spots and as has happened since standardized testing was instituted some scores went up. However, the released state testing data results reveal continued troubling results for OUSD at schools across the district. Those continuing problems continue to be overlooked by the current OUSD administration with its “one size fits all” approach of top down management style and millions of educational dollars invested in the controversial consultant program called Focus on Results. For the millions of educational tax dollars invested, OUSD has yet to see any bang for its buck. In fact the test data points to Focus on Results appearing to have caused unfocused results in schools across the district.

While a hallmark of the model Good to Great companies (a model that OUSD Superintendent Dr. Godley has embraced) is to acknowledge and take ownership of “bad news”, as in the past the current OUSD administration has again tried to put the best spin possible on the overall troubling test results just released and ignored the ownership required from the Jim Collins’ Good to Great business success stories. Despite the millions of educational tax dollars spent on the OUSD administrators’ pet bureaucratic Focus on Results program, OUSD did no better than the rest of Orange County in “test growth”, but at the same time had two more schools named by the state as underperforming Program Improvement Schools. In addition, subgroup populations at schools across the district had dropping test scores which are yet another early warning for the OUSD Administration.

An examination of the just released OUSD scores shows major problems in the important Academic Progress Index (API) test scores for the federally mandated student population subgroups. Orange County has 12 unified (K-12) school districts. Orange Unified was second only to Santa Ana Unified ( the only other Orange County school district that has had a significant Focus on Results commitment) in the number and percentage of schools failing to meet their mandated API goals.

Below is the number of schools in each of the 12 Orange County unified school districts failing to meet API testing goals (from most to least):

Santa Ana Unified 43 schools representing 73% of the district schools
Orange Unified 14 schools representing 33% of district schools
Saddleback Unified 9 schools representing 24% of the district schools
Capistrano Unified 9 schools representing 15% of district schools
Placentia Unified 8 schools representing 29% of district schools
Newport-Mesa Unified 7 schools representing 22% of district schools
Garden Grove Unified 7 schools representing 10% of district schools
Brea-Olinda Unified 1 school representing 12% of district schools
Tustin Unified 2 schools representing 0.07% of the district schools
Los Alamitos Unified 1 school representing 1% of district schools
Irvine Unified 1 school representing 0.03% of district schools
Laguna Beach Unified All schools met goals

More Trouble for OUSD Elementary Schools:
2 New Underperforming Schools
Despite 47% of the OUSD elementary schools having negative or no API growth, various student subgroup population scores dropping throughout the district, plus two new state designated underperforming Program Improvement Schools in OUSD, the just released September 1, 2006 OUSD published District Dialog “News and Views” remarkably declares: “Elementary Education-Test Scores are Up!”.

In one part of the District Dialog OUSD Executive Director of Elementary Education Rachelle Morga wrote:

“Once again we are proud to note that one of our schools is no longer termed as a program improvement school. The five remaining program improvement elementary schools are supported by the County and District…)

What Morga fails to note is that as of August 31st, two new elementary schools have been added to the “five remaining [elementary] program improvement schools” thus bringing the total number of elementary underperforming Program Improvement schools to seven. This year’s scores at Taft Elementary and Lampson Elementary have qualified both schools as first year Program Improvement Schools. The five other elementary Program Improvement Schools and the number of years they have been designated are: Esplanade (4 years); Fairhaven (3 years); Handy (2 years); Prospect (3 years); Sycamore (4 years). Two OUSD middle schools, Portola (5 years) and Yorba (3 years) bring OUSD’s total number of state designate underperforming Program Improvement schools to 9, or 21% of the 42 OUSD schools.
(To view Morga’s report in the September OUSD District Dialog CLICK ON http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/downloads/dialog/0906.pdf ).

A Record Number of OUSD Schools with Falling Scores
In addition to the 14 OUSD schools failing to make their API growth goals, 13 OUSD schools also had falling API scores from the previous school year. Those 13 schools represent 30% of all OUSD schools. In Orange County, only Santa Ana Unified had a larger percentage of schools with falling scores (43%). Of those 13 OUSD schools with negative test scores, 12 were elementary schools representing 40% of the 30 OUSD elementary schools. In addition, two schools McPherson Magnet and Fletcher Elementary both had a “0” (zero) growth (three other schools had negligible growth scores: Yorba Middle School 1 point ; Serrano Elementary 2 points ; Villa Park Elementary 3 points).


The Orange Unified schools with dropping negative growth scores are:
Anaheim Hills Elementary- Negative 10 points
Canyon Rim Elementary- Negative 7 points
Chapman Hills Elementary- Negative 3 points
Crescent Intermediate- Negative 23 points
Handy Elementary- Negative 21 points
Imperial Elementary- Negative 12 points
Linda Vista Elementary- Negative 6 points
Olive Elementary- Negative 9 points
Riverdale Elementary- Negative 8 points
Running Springs Elementary- Negative 2 points
Sycamore Elementary- Negative 4 points
Taft Elementary- Negative 11 points
Richland Continuation H.S.- Negative 52 points

Two schools did provide a bright spot for OUSD with scores climbing to over 900 (800 is the statewide goal), Nohl Canyon Elementary students scored 910 and Panorama Elementary students scored 906. Panorama Principal Michelle Moore had been criticized earlier in the year by the Greater Orange Community Organization for her article in School News Roll Call attributing her top API Similar School rankings to the controversial Focus on Results consultant program (Panorama’s top 10-10 score was later changed by the state to the still above average 10-9 score). In their responding community editorial, the Greater Orange Community Organization attributed Panorama’s success not to the millions OUSD spent on Focus on Results, but to the “fairytale school status” of Panorama. The watchdog group pointed to the fact that Panorama had only 200 students tested and has nothing close to the diverse student populations found at the failing OUSD schools. Only the school’s 137 white students’ scores counted toward Panorama’s outstanding 906 API score because Panorama’s other subgroups were too small in number to be considered statistically significant. Those subgroup scores that did not impact Panorama’s 19 point API jump this year included: a total of only 28 Hispanic/Latino students; a total of 27 socioeconomically disadvantaged students; and a total of only 12 designated English learner students.

A "Focus on Data" supports Focus on Results
is failing OUSD
In a now infamous public report to the OUSD School Board on the consultant program Focus on Results, OUSD Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Cohen compared the multi-million tax dollar program to “marriage encounter training” while speaking in support, Trustee Wes Poutsma incorrectly labeled it as a “reading program”. Cohen then used the principal of OUSD’s Yorba Middle School as an example of an OUSD’s Focus on Results “instructional leader”. The Greater Orange Community Organization polled teachers at Yorba and found almost no one knew what Focus on Results was, and no one knew of any useable classroom applications from the program. Yorba’s just released scores show that Cohen’s model Focus on Results school only scored a 1 point improvement over last year, the lowest of all OUSD’s middle schools. Furthermore, Yorba is now in its third year as a state designated Program Improvement School.

While Yorba made large gains in their math program as part of the CSUF Tassel M consortium, other statistics are alarming. Yorba’s 116 white students make up only 16% of the 708 students tested and scored 47 points higher than the previous year. The white subgroup helped give the school an API of plus 1 point instead of a negative score. All of the other subgroups in Yorba’s No Child Left Behind mandated student subgroups were all down from last year. The school’s 542 students in the Hispanic/Latino subgroup dropped 3 points. The 402 students in the English Learner subgroup dropped 9 points and the 367 students in the Socioeconomically Disadvantaged subgroup dropped 12 points over last year. The scenario of one group carrying a school’s scores played out at schools district wide. So while huge numbers of student scores dropped from last year, the OUSD Administration, based on a small group of students, declared scores are up.

Official subgroup statistics released by the state last week for selected schools throughout OUSD are listed below. The positive or negative points spread from each school’s subgroup scores from last year are shown (the negative scores have a minus sign [-] and on most screens will appear in red numbers):

Anaheim Hills E.S. : White (208 students) -15 pts; Asian (62 students) – 4
Canyon Rim- White (279 students) -1 pt; Asian (93 students) +3
Canyon H.S.: White (1002 students) +4 pt; Asian (326 students) +23; Hispanic/Latino (215 students) +6 pts; students with disabilities (124 students) +1 pt.
Crescent Intermediate: White (253 students) -11 pts; Asian (90 students)+26
Chapman Hills E.S.: White (177 students) -12 pts
California Elementary: English Learners (257 students) +22 pts; socioeconomically disadvantaged (254 students) -3; Hispanic/Latino (364 students) +19 pts
Fletcher Elementary: English Learners (69 students) – 42; Hispanic/Latino (143 students) -3 pts; White (139 students) +11; socioeconomically disadvantaged (77 students) +39;
Handy Elementary: White (73 students) -64 pts; English Learners (245 students) -15 pts; socioeconomically disadvantaged (262 students) -29 pts; Hispanic/Latino (344 students) -9 pts
Imperial Elementary: White (174 students) -6 pts.
Lampson Elementary: Asian (115 students) -23; socioeconomically disadvantaged (275 students) -19; Hispanic/Latino (356 students) +29 pts.; English Learners (191 students) +14 pts.
McPherson Magnet: White (374 students) +7; Hispanic/Latino (153 students) -6 pts.;
Olive Elementary: White (140 students) -13; socioeconomically disadvantaged (80 students) -14; Hispanic/Latino (167 students) + 7 pts
Orange H.S.: Students with disabilities (151) -29; White (282 students) + 4 pts; Asian (114 students) +44; Hispanic/Latino (1136 students) +10 pts.; English Learners (784 students) +10 pts.; socioeconomically disadvantaged (691 students) -17; White (282 students) +4
Palmyra Elementary: Hispanic/Latino (266 students) + 14 pts.; English Learners (158 students) + 1 pts.; socioeconomically disadvantaged (122 students) -17; White (123 students) +18;
Portola M.S.: Hispanic/Latino (610 students) + 33 pts.; English Learners (453 students) + 29 pts.; socioeconomically disadvantaged (409 students) -1
Prospect Elementary: White (54 students) -29; socioeconomically disadvantaged (183 students) “0” growth; Hispanic/Latino (242 students) + 26 pts; English Learners (152 students) +24 pts.
Riverdale Elementary: Hispanic/Latino (86 students) -7 pts; White (71 students) + 8
Running Springs E.S.: White (330 students) -9; Asian (137 students) +15
Santiago M.S. Socioeconomically disadvantaged (82 students) -4; White (158 students) +9; Hispanic/Latino (94 students) +21 pts
Serrano Elementary: Hispanic/Latino (72 students) -11 pts.; White 158 (271 students) +8 pts.
Sycamore Elementary: Hispanic/Latino (343 students) -6 pts.; socioeconomically disadvantaged (196 students) -6; English Learners (218 students) -4 pts
Taft Elementary: Hispanic/Latino (273 students) -4 pts.; English Learners (191 students) -12 pts.; socioeconomically disadvantaged (173 students) -17; White (116 students) +12
West Orange Elementary: English Learners (106 students) -25 pts; socioeconomically disadvantaged (116 students) “0” growth; Hispanic/Latino (231 students) + 21 pts

As the OUSD Administration declared “Test Scores are Up”, some community leaders who understand the data have expressed concern that the current state of OUSD denial, or outright disingenuous public spin, will ultimately catch-up with the district and the unsuspecting public as the No Child Left Behind testing stakes continue to increase yearly . Others in the community express concerned that the OUSD Administration’s top down approach is ignoring problems and inconsistencies in test data across the district as the OUSD Administrators continue their dump of millions of educational tax dollars into OUSD’s consultant driven Focus on Results program. Concerned community members call the various falling scores across the district a reflection of OUSD’s continued unique “Focus on the Program” approach (what some describe as an almost “religious devotion” by upper level administrators). Meanwhile as test scores drop across the district most of the current OUSD Trustees continue to approve the OUSD expenditures and vision without question as they read they are told “Test Scores are Up” and two more OUSD schools are added by the state to the underperforming Program Improvement list.


California Department of Education API Information:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/apidescription.asp

For a school API report CLICK ON:
http://api.cde.ca.gov/reports/page2.asp?subject=API&level=School&submit1=submit

Special Reports are ecast over the
Orange Communication System /OCS/

OUSD TRUSTEE ROCCO SHOULD RESIGN
a community viewpoint from Mr. Fred Smoller


In 2004, Steven Rocco was elected to the Orange Unified School Board. He says that something called the "Partnership" runs Orange County, and that Albertsons and Kodak are out to get him. Political observes concluded his victory was due to "voter fatigue" and an inaccurate ballot description. Others say they voted for Rocco to demonstrate their displeasure with the school board majority. If so, they have made their point. Regardless, after two years, it is clear nearly everyone that he is unfit for this position and should resign.

Mr. Rocco has made it a policy not to attend closed session meetings of the Board because he feels that all issues should be discussed in public. This would be insensitive and unwise, and could possibly expose the district to a lawsuit. Closed sessions are where sensitive personnel and other disciplinary matters are discussed. Moreover, one has to take part in the deliberations that precede the public meeting in order to make an informed decision. Mr. Rocco does not have to agree with his colleagues, but he does have to listen to them.

Mr. Rocco is not seriously engaged in the issues. He consistently abstains and reflexively votes "no" on everything before the board--including the approval of the minutes-without offering any coherent explanation. Also, Mr. Rocco is completely unresponsive to the needs of his constituents, or to his Board colleagues, reporters, or district administrators. He does not return telephone calls, emails, or other efforts to contact him. He should resign and thus spare the district an expensive recall election. The board should then appoint someone such as his opponent to replace him.

Mr. Smoller is a resident of the City of Orange. He teaches political science at Chapman University.

LINKS:
CLICK ON
>http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/2006/09/roccomania.html
CLICK ON:

http://blogs.ocregister.com/buzz/2006/09/
former_dem_boss_gets_the_cold_1.html
CLICK ON:
http://o-juice.blogspot.com/2006/08/endorsement-conclusion-hunting-of-john.html
CLICK ON:
http://theliberaloc.com/2006/08/passion-of-st-john-hanna.html

Metro Views is open to community members to voice their opinions on important local community issues in the Greater Orange Communities.

a news service of Orange Net News /O/N/N/

“Mr. Rich, he needs to get out of our school”
-VPHS Student to OUSD Board at August 24 Meeting

An emotional full capacity crowd awaited the Orange Unified School Board at the usually sedate summer August OUSD School Board meeting held on August 24th. Villa Park High School students, parents, staff, alumni and community leaders appeared before the board to address a multitude of issues concerning Villa Park High School and it’s then principal Ben Rich.

Close to twenty community speakers cited changes in a host of classes, staff and the “depersonalization” of students at what many consider the crown jewel of OUSD’s high schools. The community made such a strong case to the Board and top OUSD Administrators, that within days the OUSD Administration defused the growing educational and soon-to-turn political situation (Denise Bittel is the PSTO President of VPHS and is running against Trustee Kathy Moffat) by the reassignment of Rich to the district office as “principal under special assignment” and placement of OUSD Administrator trouble shooter Chris Reider as VPHS Interim Principal.

Speaker after speaker (VPHS staff members, students, parents and community leaders) made their position clear that Villa Park Principal Ben Rich was changing successful teachers and programs and causing havoc with student schedules. Perhaps the most damming testimony came from students in the VPHS TV Media Class who spoke individually of Rich telling the students in a TV Media Class summer workshop what a great year they would have in the class when school started. Parents, staff and students spoke how Rich would not answer why changes were happening. Almost to a person they told the Board and district administrators that when they asked Rich why a change took place, they were told that “change was sometimes painful” (a mantra that has been reportedly repeated by many OUSD Principals around the district at this year’s various before school staff meetings). To this repeated quote attributed to Rich, one parent told the Board said “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

As the speakers continued at the August 24th OUSD Board Meeting, it became clear that the number of speakers would outlast the 20 minute per topic OUSD Board speaking limit. OUSD Trustee Wes Poutsma made a motion (at OUSD Board President Kim Nichols request) that the speaking time be extended until all speakers were heard. With a seconding of the motion from Trustee John Ortega, the motion carried 7-0 with a rare “Yes” vote from Trustee Steve Rocco.

After all the speakers were finished, Nichols then spoke. She apologized for the lack of communication in the current situation, but also insisted change was needed to progress. Nichols then tried to explain that she was told that the reason the T.V. Media Class was taken away from VPHS teacher Dr. Linda Bartom was because Bartom did not have the proper teaching credentials. This led to an uproar from the audience and Bartom approaching the dais and handing Nichols information on the credentialing needed for the elective class that Bartom wrote the curriculum for and had it approved by both the OUSD Board and the UC System. After the meeting, apparently after reading the material, Nichols reportedly apologized to Bartom in the district office parking lot, were many of the VPHS supporters were still mingling.

After Nichols boardroom comments, in a break with Roberts Rules and Board precedent, she took other comments from Board members on the public comments from the VPHS speakers. Trustee Rick Ledesma asked for a consensus from the Board to refer the matter the OUSD Administration for resolution. Trustee Steve Rocco stated that the community would get what they wanted sooner or later and used the example of the continued Board cable broadcasts as an example. Rocco stating that the OUSD Administration had a hard time finding $8,000 to continue the public broadcasts (the OUSD Administration had called for the broadcasts to be cut during the state financial crisis), but found the $9,000 for Superintendent Godley’s raise. Nichols took exception to Rocco’s characterization and reminded Rocco that the Board was still broadcasting its meetings. Rocco received a loud applause from the crowded board room.

Not unnoticed by those attending from Villa Park was one trustee that was missing from the comments, discussion or motions (except to vote) over the VPHS issues. OUSD Trustee Kathy Moffat (who represents the OUSD Area 4 that includes Villa Park) when given the chance to comment sat silent throughout the portion of the meeting devoted to VPHS and at the end of the meeting, with another chance to comment on anything she wanted, she said nothing. Clearly, the political ramifications of the evening were evident to many as Moffat’s opponent in the November election, VPHS Parent Student Teacher Organization President Denise Bittel sat watching her Villa Park neighbors from the audience. On September 6th, Rich’s reassignment was announced.

Call for Rocco to Resign
The public comments were not confined to the VPHS at the August meeting, nor the spoken fireworks. The evening’s public comments started with Orange resident and local university political science professor Fred Smoller calling for OUSD Trustee Steve Rocco’s resignation. Smoller, remarked that he had no ill will toward Rocco, then listed several reasons he felt it Rocco should resign. Smoller’s concerns included: Rocco’s position of not attending closed session meetings; Rocco’s disengagement from voting by abstaining (which Smoller characterized was like an umpire refusing to call strikes or balls); Rocco’s public comments during Board meetings which Smoller characterized as irrelevant to his job as a trustee; and Rocco’s not responding to constituents (Smoller used himself and his unanswered attempts to speak with Rocco as an example). Smoller also pointed to Rocco’s recent decision to seek election to the Rancho Santiago College Board of Trustees.

Another citizen spoke about some Anaheim Hills students in the Riverdale school area not eligible for bus transportation because of a 3 mile radius rule. This rule forces the students from the Riverdale area who attend Canyon H.S. to walk along the dangerous Santiago Canyon Road which does not have sidewalks along the route to the high school. Trustee Melisa Smith who represents Anaheim Hills thanked the speaker for being proactive before something happened.

AUGUST 14th SPECIAL MEETING
The OUSD Board called a Special Meeting August 14th to approve and announce the newly hired Assistant Principal positions at each high school. In addition, the Board approved the OUSD Administration’s District Strategic Plan and authorized the OUSD Administration to develop time lines and strategies for implementation for later approval. Part of the discussion focused on the understanding that a new top OUSD Administrative “Director” position would be created.

SEPTEMBER 14 BOARD MEETING ITEMS:
The new student representatives from each of OUSD’s high schools for the Student Advisory Council to the Board of Education (SACBE) for this year will be introduced.

In addition:
Item 12 A: Approval of the required updating of Conflict of Interest policies
Item 12 B: Approval of Final Revised Budget numbers: OUSD surplus this year includes $8,706,568 educational tax dollars in “Unappropriated Funds”.
Item 12 D: Approval of the Superintendent’s Goals and Objectives that were taken directly from the May 22 Community Strategic Planning Workshop that developed the District Strategic Plan and apparently also developed the Goals and Objectives for Dr. Godley that are required by his contract.
Item 12 E: Approval of the OUSD Administration’s three year goal setting cycle and the schedule for the District Strategic Plan.

During the month of August, the Orange Unified School Board met twice, once in Special Session (August 14) and once in Regular Session (August 24).
For a recap of the July 20th, 2006 meeting CLICK ON:
http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/2006/08/orange-unified-schools-digest_20.html


Digest’s EDUCATIONAL TAX DOLLARS WATCH 2006

“We’re a $220 million dollar business; we’re going to spend the money somewhere.”-OUSD Trustee Wes Poutsma 9/22/05

Total for Watched Tax Dollars spent in 2006: $ 849,717.00:

2006 Consultant Fee Tally:
6/22/06 Douglas DeVore Speech $ 2,000
6/08/06 Focus on Results $164,400
3/09/06 Bob Sadler 3 Day Workshop $ 10,000
Total $176,400

2006 Attorney Fee Tally:
7/20/06 Parker & Covert $100,000
7/20/06 Parker & Covert $ 50,000
7/20/06 Miller, Brown & Dannis $ 30,000
6/22/06 Miller, Brown & Dannis $ 50,000
6/22/06 Parker & Covert $175,000
4/20/06 Parker & Covert: $ 50,000
1/19/06 Parker & Covert: $200,000
Total $655,000


2006 Administrative Conference/Travel:
2/9/06 Roney and 5 principals to Florida $ 10,623
2/23/06 Roney and 2 principals Tx/ Fl $ 4,050
3/09/06 2 to Florida Conference $ 3,644
Total $ 18,317

Total for Watched Tax Dollars spent in 2005: $ 978,300.000:

Total 2005 Conference Administrator/Board Fees: $ 7,500.00
2005 Attorney Fee Tally: $730,600.00
Total Watched 2005 OUSD Consultant spending: $ 270,200.00
The next Orange Unified School Board Meeting: September 14, 2006
Closed Session will begin at 6:30 pm, Regular Session remains at 7:30 pm
To view the Agenda CLICK ON: : http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/board/pdf/agenda_081406.pdf

# posted by /OCS/ Orange Communication System @ 5:51 PM

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