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  • Thursday, October 29, 2015

     

    Petitions ratified Salas ousted


    SPECIAL REPORT
    OUSD in CRISIS
    #5 in a series
    a special series by /O/N/N/
    Special Election Petition certified
    SALAS APPOINTMENT
    "TERMINATED"
    Salas appointment terminated
    Thirty eight days after the historic September 21, 2015 Orange Unified School Board Meeting that appointed Greg Salas as "Provisional Trustee",  proponents for ousting Salas and using a Special Election to elect an Orange Unified Trustee to the vacated Area 1 Trustee Seat received news today from  the Orange County Department of Education that the Petition for a Special Election has been certified as valid.

    The petition's 3670 petition signatures turned in exceeded the  required 1567 valid signatures  by 134%.

    The collection process of collecting petition signatures was completed on October 19,  within the 30 day legal requirement from the September 21, controversial appointment of Salas in a 4-2 vote by the OUSD School Board. 
    (Click on: Shock and Awe)

    The Orange County Department of Education in conjunction with the Orange County Registrar of voters had 30 days to validated the petition- they completed the process in 8 days.

    All major community segments of Greater Orange responded to the Anaheim Hills  Community in their quest to repeal the appointment of the unknown and unqualified Salas. 

    According to the California Education Code Section 5091 (2) , when the Special Election petition signatures are turned in and "legally verified" then " the provisional appointment is terminated, and the county superintendent of schools shall order a special election to be conducted no later than the 130th day after the determination" . (Click on  ED CODE)

    That Special Election has been ordered for March 1, 2016. 

    Salas' name is so controversial across the district and with no experience in the local schools or community, long-time OUSD watchers doubt that Salas would run in the Special Election.


    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service

    are independent news services of /O/N/N/

    Thursday, October 22, 2015

     

    Another Special Meeting


    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/

    More OUSD chaos
    Tabled Bond items come back as a 
    Special OUSD Board Meeting tonight
    After the Orange Unified School Board met in a Regular Meeting on Thursday October 15, 2015 to vote on three items on the posted Agenda that was to lay the ground work for  some type of 2016 Facilities Bond election- the OUSD Surridge Majority "tabled" items related to the Bond over objections of Trustee Kathy Moffat. The official reason was that Trustee Timothy Surridge was absent from the Board meeting.

    Now a week later, with Trustee Kathy Moffat absent-but teleconferencing a Special Meeting has been called to address

    October 15th's  Agenda Action Item 12 C (page 10) asks the OUSD Board to approve a subcommittee's recommendation to hire Irvine based Fieldman, Rolapp &  Associates  as OUSD's General Obligation Bond Fiscal Advisor ( the firm also has experience with Community Facility Districts).  While the firm's service fee is not listed, it will only get paid if a Bond election is successful.  (See below for more information.)

    On the October 15th Agenda is Action Item 12 D  to give the OUSD staff direction on preparing for the possibility special tax districts called School Facility Improvement Districts (aka Community Facility Districts) now comes back to the OUSD Board as the Special Meeting Agenda Item 10 A.

    These School Facility Improvement Districts would allow specific areas in Greater Orange- that have traditionally voted in a majority for the past failed OUSD Facility Bonds- to approve bonds for their neighborhood's special district schools by approving a special Mello-Roos tax assessment for their specific district. The firm recommended in the Agenda Item to study the OUSD demographics for these specific special districts is Escondido based Special District Financing & Administration.

    Item 12 E on the October 15th Agenda to give the OUSD staff direction on the OUSD Facilities Master Plan comes back a week later as Item 10 B.

    The agenda item reviews the three different facility assessments OUSD procured in 2003, 2013 and 2014. The agenda item offers four options to the OUSD Board: a six month Facility Condition Assessment ( estimated cost  $150,000);   a 9 month "update" of the Long Range Facility Master Plan-last done in 2003 (estimated cost  $300,000); a 12 month "new comprehensive"  Long Range Facility Master Plan (estimated cost  $500,000); or take no action on Facility Master Plans.

    To see the 10/22/15 Agenda please click on SPECIAL MEETING




    Monday, October 19, 2015

     

    SPECIAL REPORT 3670 signatures turned in


    SPECIAL REPORT
    OUSD in CRISIS
    #4 in a series
    a special series by /O/N/N/

    Salas Repeal petitions turned in
    Greater Orange voters         3670
    Greg Salas                                     4

    Soon to be ousted Greg Salas
    Proponents for ousting appointed "Provisional Trustee"  Greg Salas for a Special Election to elect an Orange Unified Trustee to the vacant Area 1 Trustee Seat turned in 3670 petition signatures today at 3:40 p.m.

    The total  signatures exceeded the required 1567 valid signatures by 2103 signatures or 134%.   The whole process done in 30 days is just the latest example of a long line of examples when the voters in Greater Orange have followed through on threats to  local politicians who crossed well organized community activists across Greater Orange.

    All major community segments of Greater Orange responded to the Anaheim Hills  Community in their quest to repeal the appointment of the unknown and unqualified Salas.  

    The sheer number appears to guarantee that the petition will be validated. According to state law, once the petition is validated,  Salas will be ousted as the "provisional" trustee and a Special Election will be ordered.   Salas was appointed in a controversial 4- 2 vote by the Surridge Majority of the OUSD Board exactly 30 days ago.  The Surridge  Majority just includes all the male trustees on the OUSD Board who follow the ideas of OUSD Trustee Timothy Surridge.

    The whole Salas Affair is just another of a long line of political bungles orchestrated by Surridge. Those huge political missteps include the failed Surridge attempts to lease the Peralta Site to a developer for high density apartment buildings, then when that failed, Surridge tried to  sell the Peralta Site to developers ( that too failed) , and a proposal by Surridge to eliminate two of the seven trustee positions on the OUSD seven member board ( not even his allies would go along with that plan).

    In the latest Surridge led debacle, Surridge admitted personally recruiting his friend Greg Salas after Surridge admittedly independently investigated the political persuasions of those other applicants for appointment to the OUSD Board. 

    At the last of the three Special Meetings called by the Surridge Majority regarding the Salas Affair,  Surridge and  Board allies tried to blame the whole Salas Affair on various parts of the Greater Orange Community as they taunted the community leaders who had showed up to the Special Meetings protesting the Salas' appointment as "not representing the whole community".

    In the required 30 days, those community leaders, who had put the Board on notice that they were prepared to go down this road, proved that they are doing so with the backing of the Greater Orange voters.

    For more information see the You Tube video below- OUSD Timothy Salas explains why he recruited Greg Salas at the 3rd Special Meeting on the Salas Affair.




    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/

    Tuesday, October 13, 2015

     

    OUSD moves on 2016 Bond


    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    Amid community political chaos...
    OUSD Board to decide on ground work for possible 2016 Facilities Bonds
    The Orange Unified School Board will meet in a Regular Meeting on Thursday October 15, 2015 and vote on three items that may lay the ground work for  some type of 2016 Facilities Bond election.

    This month's "Regular Meeting" comes on the heels of three disastrous OUSD Special Board Meetings held since the last Regular OUSD Board Meeting on September 10th. Those three Special Meetings ultimately resulted in the selection and swearing-in of Greg Salas as the "Provisional Trustee"  for the vacant OUSD Trustee Area 1 seat and a botched attempt at the Board passing a resolution aimed at dissuading angered voters from signing petitions now widely being circulated to oust the appointed Salas in favor of holding an election. 

    To characterize the selection of  Greg Salas as the "Provisional Trustee" on a 4-2 Board vote at the second of those Special Meetings as controversial would be an understatement. Since the very moment of the Salas appointment, community leaders across Anaheim Hills and their community allies across Greater Orange have been in a basic open rebellion against not just the Salas appointment, but the very backroom political process that made the unknown and apparently unqualified Salas an OUSD trustee. 

    Surridge leads Trustee majority and OUSD off political cliff
    Adding to the community rebellion are statements by the architect of the Salas appointment- OUSD Trustee Timothy Surridge- that he personally recruited his friend Salas for the non-partisan trustee position based on Salas political affiliation. Plus, Surridge also stated at the October 1st Special Meeting that the Salas appointment has nothing to do with selling the Peralta Property...why?... because Surridge stated he had already decided to bring the Peralta Property back to the Board for sale after the next election.  

    All this political controversy from just one OUSD Trustee- Timothy Surridge who continues to have three other elected trustees- John Ortega,  Mark Wayland and Rick Ledesma...follow him like suicidal lemmings as the trio continue to follow Surridge over one political cliff after another. 

    Ironically, the State of the School Report that starts off this Thursday's Regular Meeting will be a report from Anaheim Hills own Canyon High School.

    Now, amid this self-inflicted political chaos, the OUSD Board plans now to take-up laying the groundwork for some type of 2016 Facilities Bond Election with three items on Thursday's agenda.



    October 15th's  Agenda Action Item 12 C (page 10) asks the OUSD Board to approve a subcommittee's recommendation to hire Irvine based Fieldman, Rolapp &  Associates  as OUSD's General Obligation Bond Fiscal Advisor ( the firm also has experience with Community Facility Districts).  While the firm's service fee is not listed, it will only get paid if a Bond election is successful.  (See below for more information.)

    Also on the October 15th Agenda is Action Item 12 D (page 11) to give the OUSD staff direction on preparing for the possibility special tax districts called School Facility Improvement Districts (aka Community Facility Districts).  These School Facility Improvement Districts would allow specific areas in Greater Orange- that have traditionally voted in a majority for the past failed OUSD Facility Bonds- to approve bonds for their neighborhood's special district schools by approving a special Mello-Roos tax assessment for their specific district. The firm recommended in the Agenda Item to study the OUSD demographics for these specific special districts is Escondido based Special District Financing & Administration.   ( See below for more information.)

    The third Bond item on the October 15th Agenda is  giving the OUSD staff direction on the OUSD Facilities Master Plan. The agenda item reviews the three different facility assessments OUSD procured in 2003, 2013 and 2014. The agenda item offers four options to the OUSD Board: a six month Facility Condition Assessment ( estimated cost  $150,000);   a 9 month "update" of the Long Range Facility Master Plan-last done in 2003 (estimated cost  $300,000); a 12 month "new comprehensive"  Long Range Facility Master Plan (estimated cost  $500,000); or take no action on Facility Master Plans.
    For more facility bond information CLICK ON:





    INSIDE the OUSD October 15 Regular Meeting
    Agenda Item 4 C-Closed Session Property Sales Negotiations:
    Agenda Item 4 D-Closed Session Superintendent Performance Review
    Agenda Item 9 C - Recognition of the Week of the School Administrator
    Agenda Item 14 H-Consent Agenda: El Rancho Charter -Charter Amendment to change requirement for parent volunteers.
    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING Thursday October 15, 2015
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
    CLOSED SESSION- 5:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD 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/

    Sunday, October 11, 2015

     

    SPECIAL REPORT: SALAS PETITON DRIVE

    COMMUNITY UPDATE

    SPECIAL REPORT
    OUSD in CRISIS

    Foothills Sentry* report:
    OUSD stakeholders aim to force special election to void irreconcilable board appointment
    by Tina Richards, The Foothills Sentry

    * The Foothills Sentry is an independent newspaper and has no affiliation with the
    Orange Communication System /OCS/ or Orange Net News /O/N/N/

    For this Foothills Sentry story CLICK ON: FOOTHILLS SENTRY

      
    The Greater Orange News Service Update   A community news service of the
    Orange Communication System /OCS/
    OrangeNet.News@gmail.com
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    Orange Net News /O/N/N/   eLECTION Watch 2015  Metro Talk    Metro Views  OU$D Bond WATCH 2015
     ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE   COMMUNITY UPDATE     
     Greater Orange News SErVICE            SPECIAL REPORT


    Thursday, October 01, 2015

     

    Surridge admits Salas was a politcal recruit

    SPECIAL REPORT
    OUSD in CRISIS
    OUSD Resolution against a Special Election dies as....
    Surridge admits Salas appointment was political 
    Number 4 in a special news series by Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    Orange Unified Board Trustee Timothy Surridge admitted at the Special OUSD Board Meeting held October 1, 2015 that he had alone took it upon himself to recruited a candidate based on a political criteria. 

    Surridge stated he had  recruited and "chose"  Greg Salas to be appointed to the OUSD Board based on that political criteria . 

    Surridge's comments came after the Public Comment section of the meeting  when community members from across Greater Orange took the four Board members who voted to appoint the politically recruited Salas to task.  During those public comments the widely circulated account of a September 20th statement Surridge made that "Five Republican's are not going to appoint a Democrat or a Decline to State"  was introduced into the public record of the meeting. Surridge, who took copious notes during the public comments, at no point during the meeting denied making that now widely circulated statement. 

    Unlike the last Special Meeting when Salas was appointed, this meeting was video taped for cable broadcast.

    Surridge's admission that he used the criteria of party affiliation to recruit Salas suggests that Surridge sought out the information on the other candidate's party affiliations.  Party affiliation information was not part of the application process for the non-partisan trustee seat. 

    Surridge also stated that he also voted for Salas because he was impressed that Salas visited Orange High School.  At the September 22 meeting, Salas too mentioned in his 3 minute candidate presentation to the Board that he had visited two OUSD schools to become familiar with OUSD "issues"; Orange HS and Fletcher Elementary School.  At the October 1st meeting, Trustee Kathy Moffat revealed that it was Surridge who presonally brought Salas on a tour the two OUSD schools- a move she stated Surridge did not offer to any other candidate. 

    During the October 1st meeting Surridge also revealed that he personally knew Salas before recruiting him. Moffat at the meeting characterized the relationship between Salas and Surridge as a "friendship".

    Greg Salas -appointed trustee for his politics
    Salas in a strange defense of his appointment,  tried to address the concerns in Anaheim Hills of his intimidation of petition gathers. Salas stated that he was not a "stalker" and that he just happens to go to shop at Ralphs and goes to Starbucks to get "coffee for his wife".  He however did not address why this week at both locations he engaged the Special Election petition gathers with the subject of  intimidating them, nor did he explain why on his shopping trips he tried to engaged citizens who were signing the petitions for a Special Election.

    The October 1st Special Meeting was called to swear in Salas, explain the Trustee's votes from the September 22 appointment, and pass a resolution against a Special Election.  OUSD Superintendent Michael Christensen was dealt the task of swearing in Salas as the Provisional Trustee.  Despite the full Board Room, after Salas took the oath- not one person applauded- the room was silent as Salas returned to his seat and said nothing.

     After Wayland, Ledesma and Surridge made attempts to explain their votes for Salas (Ortega never did explain why he voted for Salas)- the topic turned to the proposed resolution to oppose the drive by the community for a Special Election.

    Several contorted reasons were offered by Ortega, Ledesma and Surridge against the Special Election. Primary among those arguments was that a Special Election ( which would be scheduled months before the November 2016 target for a Bond election) would dash the hopes of passing a Facilities Bond.  At one point, OUSD Board President Ortega argued that if the community did not go for a Special Election - the money saved could be money used to try and get a Bond passed. This argument was made despite the fact that it is illegal for a school district to use funds to promote a bond issue.  Other arguments was blaming resigned Trustee Diane Singer, district teachers, the teacher's union and that Ortega and Surridge repeated numerous times that the audience members who wanted the Special Election did not represent the community at large.

    Another issue the embattled Board members pointed to was that Salas would have to run for election regardless in November 2016.  What they did not say was that if a Special Election is not called, Salas would be on the ballot as the incumbent appointed trustee. 

    However, according to the California Education Code Section 5091 (2) , when the Special Election petition signatures are turned in and "legally verified"  then " the provisional appointment is terminated, and the county superintendent of schools shall order a special election to be conducted no later than the 130th day after the determination" .  (Click on Ed Code)

    Simply put- when the Special Election petitons are certified, Salas will no longer be a Trustee and will not legally be able to be listed on the ballot as an incumbent OUSD Trustee during the Special Election.

    During the election resolution discussion Trustee Kathy Moffat once again put the issue into perspective.  Moffat recounted that it was Surridge who was behind the "paper screening" process that produced a non-transparent process that led to Salas being in the "final" three candidates. Moffat reminded the Board that it was Surridge that proposed that each candidate who made it past the paper screen would only get a 3 minute public statement.  Moffat also reminded the Board that it was  Surridge who did not want the  candidates to have a public and transparent interview-and it was Surridge who urged the  candidates to privately contact the OUSD Trustees.

    Surridge proposed and had his allies on the OUSD Board vote to approve all of his non-transparent scheme after already recruiting Greg Salas for the Board position.

    Moffat said that now after that flawed and non-transparent process and an a public outcry- Surridge and his allies who recruited and stacked the deck to vote for their  political candidate now "Point the finger of blame at the community".

    After Moffat's comments, the Ortega sponsored Resolution for OUSD to oppose a special election died when it did not receive a second from any member.


    SPECIAL REPORT
    OUSD in CRISIS
    a special news series by Orange Net News /O/N/N/
    is an independent news service of

    Orange Net News /O/N/N/

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