Beyond the Blackboard

Is Your Teen At Risk?

Capistrano Unified School District and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department invite you to attend a very important parent meeting:

 Is Your Teen At Risk?

What every parent needs to know

Medicine Abuse:  A Dose of Prevention

Thursday, November 12, 2009

6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Capistrano Unified School District Office Board Room

 §  Did you know that 1 in 10 teen children reports having abused cough medicine?

§  And even more alarming, did you know an estimated 1 in 5 teens has abused prescription drugs to get high?

§  Recent studies have spotlighted medicine abuse as an alarming trend among young people.

 Visit this link for a live announcement from OCSD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVUjWX-mKZ8

 Please mark your calendars and join us to learn more about the medicine abuse problem in Orange County, as well as the efforts currently underway to educate parents and community leaders about teens who intentionally abuse medicines to get high.  A panel of experts, both local and national will present information and answer your questions about this rising drug trend among our youth. 

Date:   Thursday, November 12, 2009

Time:   6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Where:   Capistrano Unified School District Office Board Room

33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675,

RSVP:   hpremac@cox.net

This program is FREE to the community!

Spanish translation available

Light Refreshments

WIN a $100 Costco Gift Card (winner must be present

Agenda for Tuesday's Meeting: Attorneys, Plans and a Sale?

The agenda is up for Tuesday's Capistrano Unified School District meeting.

Some of the interesting items:

* Trustees will consider a contract with attorney Phil Greer, to challenge the county's decision to hold the June date on how to elect trustees. The contract calls for a $25,000 retainer.

Here's that staff report.

* The process of updating the district's strategic plan is on the agenda, and calls for creating a committee that includes two trustees, two administrators, three parents and other stakeholders. The process is expected to last through next year's budget cycle. It also includes trustees setting priorities and goals.

Heres' that staff report.

* Trustees will consider the next step in selling the 5.5-acre bus barn in Capistrano Beach. That, the staff report says, could bring as much as $1.5 million per acre. There's also a lot of options of leases, partial sales and potential joint use agreements.

Here's that staff report.

Here's the full agenda.

For those of you attending, plan on a long one ...

Court Fees Going Against Farnan

This is on top of $1,400 Farnan was ordered to pay earlier. From the OC Register:

SANTA ANA – A federal clerk court on Tuesday awarded $8,483 in court-related fees to attorneys for high school teacher James Corbett, more than tripling the amount of money that the student who sued over Corbett's anti-Christian rhetoric has been ordered to pay.

Milli Borgarding, the deputy in charge of the Santa Ana division of the U.S. District Court clerk's office, determined that although Corbett violated the First Amendment rights of former student Chad Farnan, Corbett's legal team is entitled to recover a total of $12,631 in court costs.

The decision went against Farnan because the same attorneys represented the Capistrano Unified School District, which was found not liable for Corbett's actions.

The fees are to be paid by Murrietta-based Advocates for Faith & Freedom, the Christian legal group that represented Farnan on a pro-bono basis.

"It remains to be seen whether they are entitled to these costs," said Farnan's attorney, Jennifer Monk. "On many cases, it's very clear who won and what the costs are. In this case, nothing is that simple. It will go to the judge to make a final decision."

Here's the entire story.

Board's Attorney a Big Name

From the OC Register:

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Prominent Orange County election-law attorney Phillip Greer has been hired by the Capistrano Unified School District to try to delay an upcoming, parent-led ballot initiative that could permanently alter the way trustees are elected.

Capistrano's school board wants the initiative to come before voters in November 2010 instead of its scheduled June 2010 date, because it would save up to $487,500 in election-related fees. If approved, the ballot measure would restrict voters to electing one trustee to represent their geographical area, instead of voting for all seven in an at-large election.

Greer, who confirmed his hiring in a Register interview today, has represented four of the five sitting Orange County supervisors on election-related issues, and currently represents Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street. He's also been disciplined by the State Bar twice.

"I feel very strongly that we're going to be successful in court," said Greer, whose practice is based in Newport Beach. "I hope there's no lawsuit. I hope we can resolve this matter quickly and amicably and do what's right for the students and parents and taxpayers in the district."

Here's the whole piece.

CUSD: No Liability for Student's Suicide

Martindale over at the Register has been working hard. This just posted:

A lawsuit that alleges school administrators failed to stop the "blatant and ongoing" bullying leading up to a 16-year-old student's suicide is a case of misplaced blame in the wake of a tragedy, the Capistrano Unified School District is arguing, with the school district neither legally nor morally responsible.

In court papers  filed last week in Orange County Superior Court, attorney Daniel Spradlin said Capistrano Unified should not be held liable for student Daniel Mendez's death, which took place off school grounds and was, at most, an unintended consequence of employees exercising their professional discretion.

"Anytime a parent loses a child under any circumstances, it's a horrible thing," Spradlin said. "I understand and sympathize with the parents. However, this is a misplaced effort to say the school district is responsible. We're trying to respond in a way that acknowledges the loss of the parents, but also recognizes that legally the school district is not responsible for this occurrence."

-- Skip --

Spradlin, however, cites state law that says public employees, including educators, are not responsible for any injuries that may result from exercising their professional discretion in the course of performing their duties.

California Government Code Section 820.2 states: "Except as otherwise provided by statute, a public employee is not liable for an injury resulting from his act or omission where the act or omission was the result of the exercise of the discretion vested in him, whether or not such discretion be abused."

Here's the entire story.

Another Saga: Farnan V. Corbett

From Martindale at the Register:

Nationally renowned constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Irvine's law school, will represent high school teacher James Corbett in appealing a federal court ruling that found Corbett violated a student's First Amendment rights.

Corbett, who referred to Creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense" during a fall 2007 classroom lecture, filed his appeal today with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Chemerinsky was named in the filings as a member of Corbett's new, four-person defense team. All of the attorneys will work on a pro bono basis.

"Dr. Corbett has rendered an extraordinary service to the Capistrano Unified School District and its students for many, many years," said one of the attorneys, Craig Johnson, who works in Riverside, "and I think that it is a disservice to his record and his legacy to allow the current ruling on summary judgment to stand."

Both sides are appealling the earlier ruling -- which found Corbett crossed the line in one of 20-plus instances cited, but the teacher wasn't liable for any costs.

Here's the full story.