Sunday, July 29, 2007

CTA CHIEF COUNSEL BEVERLY TUCKER SPENT UNION DUES IN AN EFFORT TO KEEP CHILD MOLESTERS IN THE CLASSROOM

Those pesky school districts! Once again they are trying to get child molesters out of the classroom.

But California Teachers Association, true to form, has stepped in to protect overly-friendly teachers. In the Albert G. Truitt, Jr. case, the California Teachers Association proved once again that its executive director Carolyn Doggett, its chief counsel Beverly Tucker, and their stable of lawyers have deep-seated feelings of outrage for any violation of human rights--other than children's rights, that is.

Usually, teachers cannot be dismissed or have their credentials taken away for any act occurring more than 4 years before charges are brought against them. But for CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, exceptions have been made to this 4-year statute of limitations in every venue in California EXCEPT WHEN A DISTRICT TRIES TO DISMISS A TEACHER.

Atwater School District wanted to dismiss Mr. Truitt in 2002 for molestations that occurred from 1992 to 1998.

CTA said no way!

QUESTION:

Why do Beverly Tucker and Carolyn Doggett want to keep the following anomaly in California law?

"A teacher could be prosecuted criminally, the CTC could institute credential revocation proceedings, and a school district could be sued for negligent hiring, retention, and supervision all based on the same set of facts that exist here. Yet, the Court of Appeal’s literal interpretation of section 44944(a) would deprive a school district of the ability to dismiss an employee on the same set of facts."

ANSWER:

Beverly Tucker and Carolyn Doggett care about political power and loyalty to friends who commit crimes more than they care about the abuse of children.

Sadly, our friends at CTA lost the Albert Truitt case. In June 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled that equity requires that school districts get the same extension on the statute of limitations that the Teacher Credentialling Commission gets.

CTA must have thought it had a good chance to win, since in 1993 it apparently was able to kill a California bill that would have specifically extended the child sexual abuse statute of limitations for school districts. Can you believe that legislators would fail to vote for a bill that would get child molesters out of classrooms? This goes to show the enormous power that CTA has in California. No Democrat can get elected without CTA's support. CTA holds the purse strings to a huge amount of campaign funds, and every local affiliate in California is rigidly controlled by Beverly Tucker and Carolyn Doggett.

Isn't it sad to see Beverly Tucker and her pal Michael Hersh lose a case? Let's hope they don't get depressed. They would be so much more successful if they didn't defend criminals. I for one am crossing my fingers and hoping that in the next case they fight, Bev and Mike won't be using teacher union dues to protect criminals. Maybe they got over confident when they got my case thrown out of court. They succeeded in protecting union leaders who had started with
misdemeanors,but went on to commit felonies to cover up their misdemeanors.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Today's corruption quiz

"His apparent lack of guilt about his actions speaks, I think, to his extraordinary capacity for self-delusion."

Who is being discussed in the above statement?
(Statement was made by SETH HETTENA, July 16, 2007 in Voice of San Diego)

A. Donald Rumsfeld
B. Richard Cheney
C. Randall Cunningham
D. George Bush
E. Jim Groth


Answer: Hettena wrote a book about Randy "Duke" Cunningham, but he wanted readers to understand how the Cunningham case was a result of politics today, where defense contractors and others can buy access to, and a large amount of control over, those who make decisions about America's defense capabilities and way of life. How did these "deciders" gain power? By constantly repeating a set of messages about "values" and "terror," without ever bothering to pay attention to more immediate dangers to our country.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Why do the brawny bullly the brainy?

"As long as there have been smart people, there have been bullies who prey on them," reports a schoolgirl on the TV cartoon show "The Simpsons."

"Is it jealousy?" she asks. "No! It's airborne pheromones!"

According to the cartoon, smart people produce a chemical that drives bullies wild.

Maybe we could test the skin of students, teachers and administrators, and give the smart ones an antidote for their pheromones, and thus put an end to bullying by adults and kids in our schools!

Or maybe the situation is more complicated than "The Simpsons" makes it out to be. Oh, well. It was a nice thought.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Was Lowell Billings Quoted Correctly?

Superintendent Lowell Billings of Chula Vista Elementary School District in San Diego County seems to think that there is a basic conflict between being a union leader and raising the bar of teaching performance.

It is true, of course, that unions work to protect incompetent teachers.

But so do administrators.

I'm afraid that MOST of the adults in schools care more about how they are perceived than how they actually perform.

But that's true in most professions, isn't it? Isn't it also true in most professions that currying favor with the powerful will get you farther than striving for excellence? Look who we have for president of our country. This is not a man who strives. He's not really concerned about learning as much as he can, or asking how he could do better. And his recent pardon of Scooter Libby proves beyond a doubt that loyalty matters more to him than honesty and obedience to the law. Yet he has risen as high as a human being can rise.

Can we expect more from our teachers than we expect from our president?

Here's the quote from the recent CVESD board meeting minutes:
Dr. Billings bid farewell to outgoing CVE Vice President Robyn Higginson. He mentioned that she is a formidable advocate for all teachers and strong union leader, yet someone who raised the bar with our articulation/collaboration curriculum and instruction.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Judge says it's okay for students to wear Tigger socks



Teachers at Napa Valley's Redwood Middle School will have to get a life now. They can no longer suspend students for wearing Winnie the Pooh-themed socks to school, according to a ruling on July 2, 2007 by Judge Raymond Guadagni of Napa County Superior Court.

When Tigger socks are outlawed, only outlaws will wear cheerful Disney branded cloth on their feet

Last year Toni Kay Scott, a student at Napa Valley’s Redwood Middle School, was sent to an in-school suspension program (with the wonderfully Orwellian-name of Students With Attitude Problems). Her crime? Violating a dress code by wearing socks with Tigger on them, along with a denim skirt and a brown shirt with a pink border.

Said code requires clothes with solid colors in blue, white, green, yellow, khaki, gray, brown and black. Permitted fabrics are cotton twill, corduroy and chino, but not denim.

The post above appeared March 21st, 2007 on
http://collateraldamage.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/when-tigger-socks-are-outlawed-only-outlaws-will-wear-cheerful-disney-branded-cloth-on-their-feet/