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Tuesday, October 14, 2014
OUSD 5-2 against Super Sports lease
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
Independent
insight into OUSD
a news service of Orange
Net News
/O/N/N/
OUSD Board votes 5-2 against
Super Sports lease at Peralta
At
their last regularly scheduled meeting on September 11, 2014 the Orange Unified
Board of Trustees voted 5-2 against an 18 month lease extension for the Super
Sports complex at the Peralta site. The current lease expires in March 2015.
Opposition
to the proposed lease extension (which included a clause that OUSD could not
offer to sell the land during the lease period) drew fire from both Trustee
Rick Ledesma and Trustee Timothy Surridge. Both stated that they were against
the clause preventing the Peralta site from being sold as well as belief that
the district was in an enhanced position to dictate other terms-or find another
operator if the property was not sold. The two Trustees are running for
re-election and have had their opponents endorsed by the Peralta neighborhood
group and other Greater Orange open space advocates
Trustee
Kathy Moffat who made the motion to approve the contract extension (with
Surridge seconding the motion-then voting against it) cited numerous reasons
for approving the lease extension- including her opposition to selling the land
for development. Moffat has long maintained that the land (which is zoned by
the City of Orange
Trustee
Diane Singer also voted to deny the lease stating she wanted district staff to
come back at a future meeting as an informational item (which cannot legally be
acted upon) with more information on possible leasing options.
Male OUSD Trustees
vote to exclude 17 word reference to prohibit "unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks or other unlawful
considerations"
A
routine Board Policy vote became a protracted battle of the sexes parliamentary
struggle over deleting anti-corruption wording from a Board Policy at the
September 11, 2014 OUSD Board meeting. At that meeting the four OUSD male
trustees majority again voted to trump the three female trustees ongoing concerns
for assurances for an open and transparent OUSD polices and procedures. In the
resulting discussion the integrity of the Measure K process was specifically
cited, but other wide-raging ethical concerns on the deleted anti-corruption wording have been raised.
(
For more information on MEASURE K CLICK ON: MEASURE K).
The
Board Policies facilities section on "Architectural
and Engineering Services" (9-11-14 Agenda pages 33-38) had new wording
that specifically deleted six areas that the then current Board Policy required
the Superintendent to ensure. Number two
on that deleted list specifically stated the Superintendent was to ensure:
"Practices which
might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful
considerations are prohibited (Government Code 4526)."
Included
at the end of the Board Policy is the note:
"(Legal
Reference next page)"
Government
Code 4526 is then referenced on the next page.
When
the deletion was brought to the attention of the Board during Public Comments
from Surridge's election opponent Attorney
Florice Hoffman, Trustees Dr. Alexia Deligianni, Kathy Moffat and Diane Singer
tried unsuccessfully to have the 17 deleted words in the original Board Policy
that specifically listed unlawful
activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful considerations are
prohibited reinserted into the new
policy or delay adoption until district staff could investigate why the words
were recommended to be deleted.
Trustee
Rick Ledesma argued that the deleted wording was not needed because if Measure
K passed it would have "lot's of oversight". Ledesma also questioned why it was brought
forward by a community member running for the school board.
Trustee
Timothy Surridge stated that it was wasteful for the district staff and
attorney to re-look at the Board Policy.
Trustee
Mark Wayland stated that he just read the item and that he understood it and that
it was time to move forward because he did not agree to putting things off.
President
John Ortega appeared to revert to his pre-presidential and less statesman-like
frustration declaring "Welcome to
the political season" as he
declared the deleted words were brought up in the "9th hour" of the
Board Policy adoption.
In
the end, the vote to reconsider the Board Policy that would eventually lead to
the reinserting of the wording spelling out the illegal activity the
Superintendent was to make sure were prohibited was defeated with the three
women trustees Kathy Moffat, Diane Singer and Dr. Alexia Deligianni voting to
move toward re-inserting the language into the Board Policy and the four male
trustees- Rick Ledesma, Timothy Surridge, Mark Wayland and John Ortega voted
against reconsidering reinserting "rebates,
kickbacks, or other unlawful considerations are prohibited" back into
the Board Policy.
That
however was not the end of the controversy. Fast forward to October 16th.
On
the October 16, 2014 Agenda, Board President Ortega and Trustees Rick Ledesma
and Timothy Surridge have added Item 12B (Agenda pages 6-8) a resolution on
Measure K.
The
Agenda states that:
"The
Resolution provides assurance to the community that Measure K projects will be
awarded on transparent open and competitive bidding practices..."
The
watchdog group the Greater Orange Community Organization* reacted to the
resolution when it was published in the Agenda on Monday October 13 with a
released statement ( CLICK ON
The
next day, Trustee Mark Wayland responded in the comment section of the post
which was reposted here: (CLICK
ON
Four Plans to
reinstate elementary music program reviewed
Also
at the September 11, 2014 Board meeting, the OUSD Trustees heard details of
four plans to reinstate the Elementary Music Program that was ended in 2008 due
to the budget crunch of the Great Recession.
Four
models based on a year-long study process that the OUSD Administration has
conducted were outlined. District-wide start-up costs ranged from $754,000 to
$2.5 million depending on the plan make-up.
Further
study and work on the models and development of an Action Plan are planned for
two Strategic Planning days over the next two months for the committee and a
wider group of invited stakeholders.
INSIDE the October
16, 2014 OUSD Board Meeting
OUSD
Board President John Ortega will be teleconferencing from a hotel in Sacramento California
Other Board Agenda items include:
CLOSED SESSION
4B 1&2 Selling of Riverdale and Killerfer properties
4D Superintendent Review-Discussion of Evaluation Instrument
ACTION ITEMS
12 A
Sale of Riverdale property
12B Measure K Resolution (see
above)
12 D Community Foundation of Orange Presentation $4,000
donation to OUSD High School
CONSENT ITEMS
Page 19- $17,050 for architectural drawings for upgrades to 3
portable classrooms at Richland H.S.
Page 21-20- $429,170 in needed urgent repairs to 6 OUSD Schools
Page 56-Resignation of Lori Davis, Director of Support
Services
NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING Thursday,
October 16, 2014
CLOSED SESSION NOTE Time change 5:30 pm
OUSD Regular Session: 7:00
pm
For the 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
Metro VIEWS: Trustee Mark Wayland
Metro VIEWS
service of the Greater Orange Community Organization :GoCo:
( EDITOR'S Note: The
following response was posted to the 10/13/14 Metro VIEWS post below titled 293+155 reasons why Greater Orange needs a new OUSD Board majority [which
can be seen under Comments]. It has been reproduced here from
its original posting with a response from GOCO).
by OUSD Trustee Mark Wayland
Once again, cherry pick your facts, I love it, I love how you neglected to inform your readers that this was the third reading of these board policies, THE THIRD READING, get that. The girls on the board had 3 months to look at these policies and make changes, corrections, additions or subtractions.
They waited until Ms. Hoffman could do a little political
grandstanding to make a point. If your that concerned about Ethics, of which I
think your lacking, Look to page 99 of the July agenda where it is discussed in
detail, conflict of interest etc. Pages and pages of do's and don'ts.
So please, if your going to bash the boys, myself included,
get all of your facts straight. Also, the ladies were very concerned with the
language on one page of the new board policies.
I read that language, 3 times while it was being discussed,
and no where [sic] was it confusing. It was written in easy to understand English.
That is what I was objecting to. These policies have been looked over by the
state and the county legal department to insure we are doing everything
correctly.
In conclusion, if you want to bash me and the other board
members who voted against delaying this language another few months, at least
have the honesty to report everything. What [it] really tells me, is that their [sic] is a few board members that are not doing their homework. If I have a problem
understanding what is in the agenda that I get one week before a board meeting,
I call a staff member and get it cleared up. I don't wait until the board
meeting to ask questions that I should know the answer to.
____________________________________________________
RESPONSE
TO TRUSTEE WAYLAND
(EDITOR'S Note: The following
response was from GOCO was sent by email
to ONN-note ONN is the Communication Committee of GOCO ).
by the Greater Orange Community Organization :GoCo:
Mr.
Wayland is correct- it was the third reading of the Board Policy- and the legal
reason for the public multiple readings in our democracy is for the community and elected Board Trustees to give input during any of
the multiple readings.
As
Mr. Wayland should be aware, during any of the public readings it is correct procedure
to question and make changes. That is why there are multiple readings during
which time any Trustee- including as Mr. Wayland referred to them "The
girls on the board" -could as Mr. Wayland stated "look at
these policies and make changes, corrections, additions or subtractions".
Which is exactly what Trustees Dr.
In addition, perhaps if Mr. Wayland had read page 99 of the July 2014
Board Agenda that he referenced in his response as carefully as he had claimed
to read the anti-corruption language questioned at the September 11th meeting he
would realize that the referenced language in BB 9005B Ethics Policy Statement
deals with Bond and Construction contracts...and not let's say for example...land deals... like
selling surplus property.
Which leads one to wonder what does Mr. Wayland and his
fellow trustees have against these 17 words enough to vote to delete them:
"Practices which
might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful
considerations are prohibited"
Monday, October 13, 2014
Metro VIEWS: 293+155 reasons
Metro VIEWS
service of the Greater Orange Community Organization :GoCo:
293+155 reasons why
Greater Orange
by the Greater Orange Community Organization :GoCo:
Last
month at the September 11, 2014 OUSD School Board Meeting three Orange Unified
Trustees, Dr. Alexia Deligianni, Kathy Moffat and Diane Singer fought to keep
17 words dealing with public corruption from being deleted from the Orange
Unified School Board's Board Policies.
Those 17 anti-corruption words were
simple enough...
"Practices which
might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful
considerations are prohibited"
Regardless
of the fact that the deleted words in Board Policy 1740A was brought to the OUSD Board's attention
during the public speaker section on the item from Attorney Florice Hoffman-
the candidate running against Timothy Surridge in November- keeping the 17
words that list illegal activities in the Board Policy should not have been
controversial.
However,
in their disingenuous explanations of why need, waste and cost caused them to
vote to exclude those 17 words, Trustees John Ortega, Timothy Surridge, Rick
Ledesma and Mark Wayland added insult to the Greater Orange Communities injury
their votes caused.
Today
the October 14 Board Agenda was released to the public. In it is a 293 word
resolution requested from Surridge, Ledesma and Ortega that shows how disingenuous
their original explanations of why need, waste and cost caused them to vote to
exclude those 17 anti-corruption words.
At the September 11th Board Meeting:
- Trustee Timothy Surridge complained about what
a waste of time and money for staff to investigate why these 17 words were
deleted from the OUSD Board Policy 1740A-
"Practices
which might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful considerations are
prohibited"
- Trustee Rick Ledesma argued that if Measure K
passed it would have "lot's of
oversight" and these 17 words were not needed-
"Practices
which might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful considerations are
prohibited"
- Board President John Ortega declared "Welcome to political season"
as he stated politics was the reason the female trustees wanted these 17 words put back into the Board Polices-
"Practices
which might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful considerations are
prohibited"
- All the men on the OUSD Board voted AGAINST these
17 words being in the OUSD Board Policy-
"Practices
which might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other unlawful considerations are
prohibited"
Now
today, after an uproar from the Greater Orange Communities, the three Trustees who
voted AGAINST reinserting 17 anti-corruption words NOW proposed a resolution in
the October 16th Agenda that takes up three pages and includes a 293 word attorney
written resolution plus a 155 word attorney written Clerk's Certificate to replace
these 17 words:
"Practices
which might result in unlawful activity such as rebates, kickbacks, or other
unlawful considerations are prohibited"
This is just 293+155
reasons why Greater Orange
Views expressed on
Metro VIEWS
are not necessarily the views of the
Networks and Systems that these appear on.
Sunday, October 05, 2014
Yes on Measure K
Metro Views
service of the Greater Orange Community Organization :GoCo:
Yes on Measure K
is a "no brainier"
is a "no brainier"
by the Greater Orange Community
Organization :GoCo:
Voting "Yes" on Orange Unified School District
In Pauly's September "guest editorial" for the Foothills Sentry, the outspoken Council women (who often speaks first then thinks later) acknowledged that the OUSD facilities need modernization. Pauly writes that "a real need for refurbishing and modernization" exists. Pauly in her editorial against Measure K does not explain to the voters how her acknowledged "real need for refurbishing and modernization" will ever get accomplished if voters follow her numerous flawed reasons on voting against Measure K.
More importantly, Pauly does not explain to the voters how Greater Orange property values are currently negatively impacted, nor does she explain to business owners of the problems that will come with a continued decline in property values because of substandard schools. Documented tragic examples from across the nation exist of what happens to communities that go into a spiraling social-economic decline. In those declines, population flight due to declining schools takes place resulting in rapidly declining property values and an explosion of lower level businesses catering to an ever declining cliental buying the cheap housing.
This is a vision of the Greater Orange Communities that Pauly and her Measure K opponents do not explain.
 |
| 18th Century architect's "drawing board" |
Unfortunately, Pauly in her editorial clearly is not concerned with the future. In a simpleton phrase, the reactionary Pauly urges Measure K supporters and Orange Unified to "go back to the drawing board" . Yes, the "drawing board" - that 18th Century multi-purpose desk mostly found in an 18th Century gentleman's study in the pre-industrial revolution era.
So while other Orange County
The age of the 18th Century drawing boards belong to the past as much as 20th Century chalkboards. That is why the leadership of Orange Unified and a coalition of concerned community leaders have gone to the voters of Greater Orange to save their schools and save their communities.
That is what true leaders do.
Unlike the past, the current open and transparent process for Measure K has been supported by a coalition of forward thinking community leaders from parents, homeowners, open-space advocates and from all sides of the political dialogue.
Now it is time for the voters to follow those leaders into the future.
When you vote by mail or vote in person on November 4th, the selfish no-brainer thing to do is vote to save your community's future.
for more information CLICK ON: MEASURE K
Below are the 21st Century educational upgrades the $74 million at each OUSD high school will bring:
Views expressed on
Metro Views
are not necessarily the views of the Networks and Systems that these appear on.
