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  • Wednesday, February 19, 2014

     

    OUSD's own Realty Reality show continues

    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    OUSD's own Realty Reality show continues....
    Peralta site Super Sports Golf and Recreation Center owners to address Trustees on proposal for long term lease tied to education
    In its second "On the Road" meeting this month on Thursday, February 20, 2014,  this time at Canyon High School, the Orange Unified School District School Board will hear from one of the owners of Super Sports Golf and Recreation Center located at the former Peralta School Site.

    Information Item 12 B (Agenda page 20) reports that Kent Hawkins, a partner of the Super Sports Golf and Recreation Center, has requested to present to the OUSD Board "an updated idea for leasing the property on an ongoing basis".  The presentation will be  a proposal to the OUSD Trustees about a new idea about combining sports and education at the Peralta Site. 

    Information in the Agenda about the proposal includes "making it a more educational oriented facility while still keeping the sports" . The business which currently leases the Peralta site is proposing to change the name to "Super Sports and Education Center".  The Agenda information also includes this description  " a new idea, where several schools can have their sports as a shared resource"  and " this will help us pay the district additional rent over time".

    Earlier in the same meeting, the Closed Session Agenda 4B again includes the Peralta Site as part of the Closed Session discussions with the purpose of "Instructions to negotiators will concern items and conditions for possible sale of sites" .

    OUSD Board to approve Riverdale site sale for $15.9 million
    After the February 20th Closed Session and before the Information Item Super Sport presentation, the OUSD Trustees will vote to put the former 11.5 acre Riverdale School site up for sale for $15.9 million dollars. The resolution includes the exemption from environmentally sensitive areas as outlined in  the California Environmental Quality Act  (CLICK ON) 15206(B) 4.

    Action Item 13 A ( Agenda pages 3-15)  on the February 20, 2014 agenda includes a Resolution to sell the City of Anaheim  site and consider counteroffer to the stated price.

    The resolution also declares that no public agencies (which would have first choice in buying the land) had expressed any interest in acquiring the land.

    The OUSD Board voted to close Riverdale at the height of the Great Recession in December 2009.  The school closed in June of 2010 at an estimated savings of $349,000 annually to the cash strapped district. In October of 2013, OUSD Trustees officially voted the Riverdale site to be surplus property. 

     Discussion of  Automatic External Defibrillators on Agenda
    On  August 7, 2013 fourteen year-old Canyon High School student Mitchell Cook collapsed and died during football practice at the Anaheim Hills high school. 

    As a result of Cook's death and other reported national high school related deaths, in October 2013, the OUSD Board directed staff after a presentation on AED's to report back with a policy for their potential use.

    In a bit of fate, Information item 12B and 12 C (Agenda pages 16-19) on Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) will also be discussed at the Canyon High School meeting on February 20, 2014 meeting.

    The information item on the progress and change to the Board Policy's to allow AED's are included in theses two agenda items.

    Lobby of the Hilton Arden West -site of teleconference
    Kathy Moffat to Teleconference during the meeting
    Trustee Kathy Moffat will be participating in the February 20, 2014 meeting from a hotel lobby in Sacramento.  The California open meeting law called the Brown Act requires that when a meeting is held using teleconferencing, all votes must be done by roll call.

    Other Brown Act Requirements about teleconferencing include:
    INSIDE the February 20, 2014 Agenda
    Item 12 A- and the reason to hold the February 20th meeting at Canyon High School is to update the Master Planning on the High School Needs Assessment for Canyon High School.

    For an UPDATE on the Canyon H.S. Master Facilities Master Plan CLICK ON: CANYON.

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING February 20, 2014
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -Canyon High School Cafeteria
    CLOSED SESSION- 5:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 6:00 pm
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: AGENDA
    For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
    For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

    ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
    the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/
    Orange Net News

    “Greater Orange's TRUSTED independent news for over 12 years"

    Monday, February 10, 2014

     

    OUSD votes $50,000 in educational tax money for PR

    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    "IMAGINE"  that!
    OUSD Board votes 4-3 to spend $50,000 in educational tax funds for public relations 
    Just as the Great Recession starts to end and educational tax monies are again flowing  into OUSD, at the January 23 2014 Orange Unified School District Board Meeting the four previously "fiscal conservative" male OUSD Trustees started a new taxpayer funded spending spree by voting to spend $50,000 of educational tax monies on a public relations firm against the votes and advice of the three female OUSD Board members.

    The former self-described fiscally conservative OUSD Board President John Ortega, Trustees Timothy Surridge,  Mark Wayland and Rick Ledesma all joined together to vote to approve OUSD spending $50,000 in educational tax funds for a public relations firm for a purpose not exactly clear.

    Wayland, who characterized the $50,000 as a "trial run" said that the district was getting "beat up locally and nationally in the press" and questioned "Where do people turn to get the truth?".  Wayland characterized  spending the $50,000 in educational tax funds as "a good investment". 

    Voting against using the  $50,000 of educational tax money for a public relations firm were the three women trustees: self-described fiscal conservative trustee Dr. Alexia Deligianni; and pro-education trustees Villa Park's Kathy Moffat and Anaheim Hills Dianne Singer.

    Singer stated her vote against spending $50,000 in educational tax funds on PR was that the educational tax monies would be better spent on a variety of still needed educational priorities.  Singer stated the district had a long way to go in restoring educational program cuts from the Great Recession and reasoned that spending $50,000 of educational funds on PR was not a high priority.

    Kathy Moffat was against the PR spending because of her concern about the "timing" of spending $50,000 of educational funding for a public relations firm so close to an election cycle. Surridge and Ledesma are two trustees who are up for re-election in November 2014 and have been initially targeted by community open space advocates for leading efforts to lease the Peralta site for a high density apartments and now are leading the efforts to sell Peralta and other OUSD properties across the Greater Orange Communities to developers.  If either trustee were to lose in November the balance of power on the Board would shift away from the current OUSD pro-development majority of which they both are part.



    KCOMM Account Exec Daniel Moorlach
         The PR firm hired for the $50,000 in educational tax funds is KCOMM.  One of KCOMM's account executives is Daniel Moorlach, son of  Orange County Supervisor and declared Congressional candidate John Moorlach.

    Ledesma at first reasoned that he was in favor of spending $50,000 in educational taxpayer monies on public relations because it could be used to sustain the "buzz" in the community about supporting a possible OUSD High School Bond.  After the Ledesma "bond buzz" comments,  Dr. Deligianni quickly asked OUSD Superintendent Michael Christensen about district money being spent on Bond publicity. Christensen confirmed that once a Bond is authorized by the OUSD Trustees, no educational tax dollars can be spent on Bond related publicity.  Ledesma quickly thanked the Superintendent for correcting him. Ledesma also characterized the $50,000 in educational taxpayer money as  "just a drop in the bucket".

    Moffat also reminded the Board that the "Bond Buzz" referred to by Ledesma was created by the meetings held for the High School Master Facilities Plan.  Moffat noted that each of the planning firms had the responsibility for the pubic relations related to the Facilities Plan as part of their contracts. 

    The fear of using the $50,000 in educational tax funds ending up for "political PR"  is not a far fetched theory.  Another OUSD School Board that was "beat up locally and nationally in the press"  was the eventually recalled Reactionary Jacobson Board of the late 1990's and early 2000's.  That Board had an in-house publicity director ( "Information Officer" ) named Judy Frutig.  As members of the OUSD Board tried to manipulate the "message" of politically motivated lawsuits and the community recall against them, the moves of the Trustees continued to be national news. In response, the community organized their own communication structure- then called the Citizen's News Network  (predecessor of Orange Net News).

    Unable to contain and drive the narrative against an upstart citizen's community news organization and unwilling to do what a micromanaging school board ordered her to, Frutig was unceremoniously fired. Frutig then joined the community opposition to the Jacobson Majority and provided game-changing  information to the opposition working on recalling four trustees.  Frutig also joined a lawsuit against the Board's "political" firings. Those lawsuits were eventually settled out of court after the recall was successful. 

    OUSD Board Meetings go on the Road
    Also at the January 23 2014 Board Meeting, the OUSD Board voted 7-0 to approve President John Ortgea's plan to hold OUSD Board meetings at the district's four comprehensive high schools to discuss and review the Facilities Master plans for the school hosting the meeting. 

    The first of the 2014 On the Road OUSD Board meetings will be held at Orange High School mulit-purpose room this Thursday February 13. The Closed Session will take place at 5:00 pm with the Open Session moved up 1 hour to 6:00 pm.

    Ortega's proposal to hold the meetings at the high schools was widely applauded throughout the Greater Orange Communities.

    For information on the On the Road meetings CLICK ON: Traveling Board Meetings


    OUSD February 13th Agenda has a resolution to sell property
    At the January 23 meeting two community members spoke during the Pubic Comment sections about the possibility of selling the Peralta site to developers.

    Long-time OUSD resident Jan Meyers spoke during Pubic Comments section before the Closed Session opposing the selling of the Peralta Site. That session included a discussion on selling "surplus property". 

    Later in the Public Comment section of the Open Session, Jason Schubert addressed the Board again opposing the sale of the Peralta site and acknowledging the growing coalition across the community of Open Space advocates.

    Once again, selling the OUSD surplus property will again be on the OUSD Agenda on February 13, 2014 meeting. Again in the Closed Session, the Trustees will be discussing the Killerfer Sites, the Peralta site, the Riverdale site and the Walnut site.  The Open Session Action Item 13 A also includes a Resolution again authorizing the sale of the Killerfer site.

    INSIDE the February 13 Board Agenda
    Closed Session 4 B-  ( Agenda page 1) More discussions on selling Peralta and other properties

    Action Item 12 A- (Agenda page 4)  Facilities Master Plan Update for Orange High School

    Action Item 13 B- (Agenda page 23-24)  Board Policy against electronic cigarettes

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING February 13, 2014
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -Orange High School Multi-purpose Room
    CLOSED SESSION- 5:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 6:00 pm
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: AGENDA

    For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
    For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

    ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
    the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/
    Orange Net News
    “Greater Orange's TRUSTED independent news for over 12 years"



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    Greater Orange News Service is a community service of the Orange Communication System /OCS/, the communications arm of the Greater Orange Community Orgainization