My source for this story has an avid interest in the behind-the-scenes machinations of the board of The Accelerated School. Unfortunately, she doesn't have access to the discussions of board members. She just has access to their track record.
"Look at the facts," she tells me. "When Patrick Judd mysteriously disappeared from his job as superintendent of Mountain Empire School district, then shortly afterward got booted from his long-held position on the Chula Vista Elementary school board, he applied to a lot of school districts. No one would take him in. If it weren't for his pal Lowell Billings, he might never have gotten another job as school administrator. Now Lowell Billings seems to have been forced to retire as superintendent of Chula Vista Elementary School District. Where will Lowell go now?"
I am flummoxed. "Belize?"
"No, silly. The Accelerated School! It's perfect. Pat Judd's contract expires this year. Lowell Billings had enough sway over TAS board members to get them to hire a guy that nobody else seemed to want. He can surely get them to hire himself."
"You think so?" I ask.
"I'll put good money on it. How much do you want to bet?"
"I always lose. I don't think I should take the bet."
"You're wise. Very wise."
Showing posts with label CVESD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CVESD. Show all posts
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Pam, Bertha and Cheryl listen to Dan Shinoff instead of their consciences
from CVESD Report
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Daniel Shinoff to appeal Danielle Cozaihr court decision
The Chula Vista Elementary School District board has once again abdicated its responsibility for moral decisionmaking. It has rehired attorney Daniel Shinoff, after an effort for a few years to use less controversial lawyers.
And Daniel Shinoff has decided to appeal the jury verdict won by teacher Danielle Cozaihr against the district.
A jury said the district violated the law.
I believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger's education budget cuts create a smoke screen for bad behavior by districts. CVESD probably won't lay off teachers (we've been through all of this before, when Rick Werlin was in charge of human resources at CVESD in 2003). But when they threaten to do it, everybody feels sorry for the pink slip teachers, and violations of the law against individual teachers don't seem as important any more. The first teacher that CVESD should rehire is Danielle Cozaihr.
But what happened to Danielle Cozaihr is an indicator of what is wrong with education: politcs matters more than kids.
Superintendent Lowell Billings is remarkably lazy. He doesn't pay any attention to what happens at schools until things go wrong. Then he does whatever the principal wants, or he fires the principal and does whatever the ruling clique of teachers wants. He never actually improves anything, just decides who gets fired.
And since the problems arise from a dysfunctional system--not from just one person-- the problems remain.
Posted by Marie Killelea
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Daniel Shinoff to appeal Danielle Cozaihr court decision
The Chula Vista Elementary School District board has once again abdicated its responsibility for moral decisionmaking. It has rehired attorney Daniel Shinoff, after an effort for a few years to use less controversial lawyers.
And Daniel Shinoff has decided to appeal the jury verdict won by teacher Danielle Cozaihr against the district.
A jury said the district violated the law.
I believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger's education budget cuts create a smoke screen for bad behavior by districts. CVESD probably won't lay off teachers (we've been through all of this before, when Rick Werlin was in charge of human resources at CVESD in 2003). But when they threaten to do it, everybody feels sorry for the pink slip teachers, and violations of the law against individual teachers don't seem as important any more. The first teacher that CVESD should rehire is Danielle Cozaihr.
But what happened to Danielle Cozaihr is an indicator of what is wrong with education: politcs matters more than kids.
Superintendent Lowell Billings is remarkably lazy. He doesn't pay any attention to what happens at schools until things go wrong. Then he does whatever the principal wants, or he fires the principal and does whatever the ruling clique of teachers wants. He never actually improves anything, just decides who gets fired.
And since the problems arise from a dysfunctional system--not from just one person-- the problems remain.
Posted by Marie Killelea
Friday, December 14, 2007
Chula Vista Elementary teacher wins $1 million
For news about the Danielle Coziahr v. CVESD lawsuit, click HERE.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
After reading headlines, Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez and Cheryl Cox to fight gender discrimination?
What do Chula Vista Elementary School District board members have in common with a religious Canadian man who demanded modesty from his daughter?
Gender discrimination.
Both stories were in the news today. The odd thing here is that the abuse in Canada was committed by a man and his son who are now charged with crimes, while the wrongdoing in California was ordered by a group that consisted mostly of women.
The school board members who voted to discriminate against Danielle Coziahr were three women and two men. Last Friday, a San Diego jury ordered the school district to pay Coziahr $1 million. But the perpetrators will not be charged with wrongdoing. They are above the law.
Here's what I'm guessing:
Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez and Cheryl Cox aren't completely corrupted by their positions, and have actually had a change of heart regarding their firing of Danielle Cozaihr for having a young child while working at a school where probationary teachers were not allowed to have young children. The principal, Alex Cortes, had been picked by administrators Tom Cruz and Lowell Billings to put an end to the collegial spirit at Silverwing Elementary School. During the trial, the superintendent testified that the first-year principal had his "marching orders."
Here is the Reuters report about the Canadian tragedy:
Dad Allegedly Kills Girl Over Head Scarf
By Jonathan Spicer
Reuters
2007-12-11
TORONTO - A Canadian teenager who was said to have clashed with her father about whether she should wear a traditional Muslim head scarf died of injuries late on Monday, and her father told police he had killed her.
A memorial for Aqsa Parvez is set up at her high school near Toronto. Some of her classmates were quoted as saying she wore traditional Muslim dress when leaving her house in the morning, but would change into other clothes in school washrooms.
Aqsa Parvez, 16, was found without a pulse in her home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga earlier on Monday. She was resuscitated by paramedics, treated at two hospitals, and later succumbed to her injuries, police said on Tuesday.
Her father, 57-year-old Muhammad Parvez, has been charged with murder and was remanded back into custody after his first court appearance early on Tuesday.
"There was a 911 call placed by a man who indicated that he had just killed his daughter," Jodi Dawson, a constable with Peel Regional Police, told Reuters. "Everything else is evidentiary in nature and the investigation is in its preliminary stages at this point."
The victim's brother, Waqas Parvez, 26, was arrested and charged with obstructing police.
The story was on the front pages of Canadian newspapers on Tuesday. The newspapers quoted friends and schoolmates of the victim as saying she argued with her father over wearing a hijab, the traditional head scarf worn by Muslim females.
Photos of the teen retrieved from a social networking Web site show her in Western dress with her long dark hair loose.
"She was always scared of her dad, she was always scared of her brother," the Toronto Star quoted a classmate as saying.
Others were quoted as saying the girl wore traditional Muslim dress when leaving the house in the morning, but would change into other clothes in school washrooms.
Dawson said investigators will likely speak to the victim's schoolmates. The father will return for a bail hearing on Wednesday.
Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited.
Gender discrimination.
Both stories were in the news today. The odd thing here is that the abuse in Canada was committed by a man and his son who are now charged with crimes, while the wrongdoing in California was ordered by a group that consisted mostly of women.
The school board members who voted to discriminate against Danielle Coziahr were three women and two men. Last Friday, a San Diego jury ordered the school district to pay Coziahr $1 million. But the perpetrators will not be charged with wrongdoing. They are above the law.
Here's what I'm guessing:
Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez and Cheryl Cox aren't completely corrupted by their positions, and have actually had a change of heart regarding their firing of Danielle Cozaihr for having a young child while working at a school where probationary teachers were not allowed to have young children. The principal, Alex Cortes, had been picked by administrators Tom Cruz and Lowell Billings to put an end to the collegial spirit at Silverwing Elementary School. During the trial, the superintendent testified that the first-year principal had his "marching orders."
Here is the Reuters report about the Canadian tragedy:
Dad Allegedly Kills Girl Over Head Scarf
By Jonathan Spicer
Reuters
2007-12-11
TORONTO - A Canadian teenager who was said to have clashed with her father about whether she should wear a traditional Muslim head scarf died of injuries late on Monday, and her father told police he had killed her.
A memorial for Aqsa Parvez is set up at her high school near Toronto. Some of her classmates were quoted as saying she wore traditional Muslim dress when leaving her house in the morning, but would change into other clothes in school washrooms.
Aqsa Parvez, 16, was found without a pulse in her home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga earlier on Monday. She was resuscitated by paramedics, treated at two hospitals, and later succumbed to her injuries, police said on Tuesday.
Her father, 57-year-old Muhammad Parvez, has been charged with murder and was remanded back into custody after his first court appearance early on Tuesday.
"There was a 911 call placed by a man who indicated that he had just killed his daughter," Jodi Dawson, a constable with Peel Regional Police, told Reuters. "Everything else is evidentiary in nature and the investigation is in its preliminary stages at this point."
The victim's brother, Waqas Parvez, 26, was arrested and charged with obstructing police.
The story was on the front pages of Canadian newspapers on Tuesday. The newspapers quoted friends and schoolmates of the victim as saying she argued with her father over wearing a hijab, the traditional head scarf worn by Muslim females.
Photos of the teen retrieved from a social networking Web site show her in Western dress with her long dark hair loose.
"She was always scared of her dad, she was always scared of her brother," the Toronto Star quoted a classmate as saying.
Others were quoted as saying the girl wore traditional Muslim dress when leaving the house in the morning, but would change into other clothes in school washrooms.
Dawson said investigators will likely speak to the victim's schoolmates. The father will return for a bail hearing on Wednesday.
Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited.
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