Beyond the Blackboard

Fleming Sues Capistrano Unified, Former Attorney

Former Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent James A. Fleming has filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging officials reneged on a deal that would have seen CUSD pay his legal fees in exchange for his resignation.

Fleming was Superintendent until 2006, when he and Assistant Superintendent Susan McGill were indicted by the Orange County Jury for allegedly using district resources to investigate who was involved in an attempted recall against all seven CUSD trustees.

But courts later ruled it was within Fleming's duties to find out who was unhappy with CUSD, and why. Additionally, the courts pointed out that so-called "enemies lists" compiled by the district seemed more the work of one-time (and, Fleming alleges, disgruntled) CUSD communications director David Smollar than Fleming.

All charges were ultimately dismissed against Fleming and McGill.

Fleming has also sued his former attorney, Ron Brower, for failing to get the deal in writing and for allegedly leading him to believe his legal fees would be repaid if he was acquitted.

In the filings, Fleming's attorneys say he was ready to continuing serving as Superintendent, but was talked into resigning by trustees. His resignation letter simply says "In order for the Board and the Superintendent to meaningfully plan for the future, the Superintendent will retire effective August 31, 2006."

The letter is signed by Fleming and then-trustee Marlene Draper.

In a letter to the district, an attorney for Fleming estimated his losses -- between back pay, legal fees and lost future income -- at $1.65 million.

Further, Fleming says his contract required the district to pay his legal expenses.

Here's the lawsuit:

Download Fleming V. CUSD

 

The Names that Keep Surfacing ...

OC Weekly reports that Mark Bucher will run for Orange County Supervisor.

Those who follow Capistrano Unified School District will recall that Bucher was a founder of the Education Alliance, a group that supported the previous Tony Beall-picked board.

Here's the link.

Brown Vetoes Bill that Would have Altered API

Governor Jerry Brown is apparently no fan of standardized testing. He railed against the idea of teaching to the tests and the weight put on scores on Tuesday in Irvine, I'm told.

Here's a report on that.

But earlier he vetoed a bill that would amended the Academic Performance Index. His reason: Adding another speedometer to a broken car doesn't fix it, he said.

Here's more:

A sign hung in Albert Einstein’s office read “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”

SB547 nowhere mentions good character or love of learning. It does allude to student excitement and creativity, but does not take these qualities seriously because they can’t be placed in a data stream. Lost in the bill’s turgid mandates is any recognition that quality is fundamentally different from quantity.

There are other ways to improve our schools — to indeed focus on quality. What about a system that relies on locally convened panels to visit schools, observe teachers, interview students, and examine student work? Such a system wouldn’t produce an API number, but it could improve the quality of our schools.

See the entire post here.

Here's another link to a story on the issue, from EdSource

Legal Fees ...

Capistrano Unified School District settled a couple of lawsuits lately, but here's another number sometimes lost: Legal fees.

From the district:

Legal fees for Brown Act issues are $22,308.74. Because some of the items overlapped, this is an estimated breakdown. Jim Reardon (Brown Act) allegations have cost $10,886.17 and the DA investigation (resulting from Reardon's complaint) cost $11,422.57.

These totals are as of the end of September.

Superintendent Farley to Address Capistrano Chamber at Wednesday Breakfast

From the San Juan Capistrano Chamber of Commerce:

Please be our guest at Wednesday's Networking Breakfast as the Chamber presents an update on Capistrano Unified School District.

Our guest speaker will be Dr. Joseph Farley, Superintendent at CUSD.  Local schools are one of the most important resources in any community, and the students we are educating today will make up the workforce for our local economy in the years ahead.

Please come learn about what's going on at the District and how the local business community can get involved.  For more information, visit www.sanjuanchamber.com or call 949.493.4700.

RSVPs are not REQUIRED but they are certainly helpful.  If you'd like to attend, please email Email [email protected] or call the Chamber office:  (949) 493-4700

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The breakfast is Wednesday at Vintage Steakhouse in San Juan Capistrano -- at the train depot.