| What kind of administrators control ACSA? The Region 18 Chair is Ed Brand Term expires July 2009 |
| Should superintendents like Ed Brand direct our SDCOE lawyers? He is on the San Diego County School Legal Services Council until 2008! |
| As demonstrated by the Mary Anne Weegar case, and many other cases handled by the SDCOE JPA and legal services, Ed Brand contributes to, and helps enforce, SDCOE's culture of dishonesty and secrecy. Should superintendents like Ed Brand be in a position over SDCOE lawyers, when they are the very individuals for whose wrongdoing SDCOE must pay? Isn't that putting the fox in charge of the hen house? The taxpayers have to keep paying and paying, while Ed Brand violates the law. Ed Brand directs SDCOE lawyers to assist him and other school district leaders in illegal actions! |
| Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) |
| NSBA--National School Boards Association CSBA--California Council of School Attorneys |
| Attorneys who have helped cover up crimes in schools are in charge of training both new board members and new school attorneys. |
| California Council of School Attorneys November 29, 2007 San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina Who Can’t Remember: The Basics of Relations Relations Mark Bresee, Counsel, Orange CDE |
| 1) Mark Bresee formerly of Parham/Rajcic--now works for Orange County Dept. Education; as of July 2008 works for San Diego Unified School District |
| Who trains new school attorneys? |
| 2) Dan Shinoff trains board members and employees as well as attorneys |
| Special Education One of Daniel Shinoff's specialties is destroying the lives of parents who complain that their kids aren't getting the right education. He clearly doesn't teach the teachers to work with parents. SP ED AFTER REAUTHORIZATION Title: GR K-12 SP EDUC TCHRS Date: 3/14/2005 8:00AM Details: Daniel Shinoff and Jack Sleeth will present vital information to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes and best practices in the implementation of IDEA as reauthorized...agenda topics include legislative updates; evaluations, eligibility determinations & IEPs; related services & assistive technology; discipline; behavioral intervention procedures; confidentiality of student records and most common mistakes. $205; Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, San Diego; sponsored by MEDS-PDN |
| Shinoff and Sleeth Present "The Forensics of Special Education Litigation" Daniel R. Shinoff and Jack M. Sleeth presented at the 2008 Association of California School Administrators Symposium on January 17, 2008 in Monterey, California. The presentation addressed pre-litigation strategies that educational institutions should consider implementing in order to prevent a variety of civil rights claims, such as violations of the Hughes Act or discrimination based on disability. Strategies include proper documentation of all events that may trigger a civil rights claim, and methods to ensure that negotiations which occur in the context of private converstation (sic) are not damaging. The seminar also covered issues of privileged communications, and the interplay of the litigation process in special education beyond due process procedures. For more information or to request a workshop, please contact us at 619-232-3122. from Stutz website |
| Training new attorneys |
| Collaborating for whose benefit? |
| Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost San Marcos office Melanie A. Petersen... served fifteen years as in-house counsel for San Diego Unified School District... Ms. Petersen is the chair of the firm’s Charter School Practice Group...[She] is a frequent presenter at ACSA, CSBA, NSBA and several other professional organizations. She is the 2008-09 President of the California Council of School Attorneys. downloaded 09/01/08 from FFF website |
| From the Lozano Smith website: "... Our attorneys are routinely asked to speak at all of the major Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) labor and employment conferences, School Employees Association (SEA), California Council of School Attorneys (CCSA), the National School Boards Association (NSBA), and the California School Boards Association (CSBA) as labor and employment experts..." downloaded 09/01/08 (This law firm was ordered to give ethics training to all its lawyers by Federal Judge Oliver Wanger in the Moser decision. ) |
| From the Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz website: "...Our attorneys are frequent speakers at local and national education conferences and seminars on advisory, special education and litigation topics. We develop and conduct workshops on legal issues of importance to our clients in an effort to keep them current on important changes in the laws that affect them. We are also active members and participants in many school related professional organizations including the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), California School Boards Association (CSBA), the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO), the California Council of School Attorneys for which one of our attorneys was a founding member, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) downloaded 09/01/08 |
| Education Reform Report |
| BLOGS |
| Stutz Defamation Suit |
| Daniel Shinoff and violence in schools |
National School Boards Association and Council of
School Attorneys: collaborating for whose benefit?
If you look at the website of NSBA, you'll see
"SCHOOL ATTORNEYS" right up there in the little
orange menu bar that stretches across the page.
Why are the attorneys so prominent? Because
they're in control. Or perhaps it would be more
correct to say that the insurance companies who
pay the attorneys are in control.
School board members come and go, and while
they're in office they do what the attorneys tell them
too.
These attorneys aren't interested in kids getting
educations. They're interested in insurance
companies getting profits, and themselves getting
financially rewarded.
Interestingly enough, it's the same in the National
Education Association (NEA), the teachers' union.
The elected officers are basically talking heads.
They're just for show. The decisions are made by
the permanent employees such as the executive
directors and--you guessed it--the lawyers.
School Attorneys: collaborating for whose benefit?
If you look at the website of NSBA, you'll see
"SCHOOL ATTORNEYS" right up there in the little
orange menu bar that stretches across the page.
Why are the attorneys so prominent? Because
they're in control. Or perhaps it would be more
correct to say that the insurance companies who
pay the attorneys are in control.
School board members come and go, and while
they're in office they do what the attorneys tell them
too.
These attorneys aren't interested in kids getting
educations. They're interested in insurance
companies getting profits, and themselves getting
financially rewarded.
Interestingly enough, it's the same in the National
Education Association (NEA), the teachers' union.
The elected officers are basically talking heads.
They're just for show. The decisions are made by
the permanent employees such as the executive
directors and--you guessed it--the lawyers.
| Will school employees intimidate witnesses and lie under oath if a lawyer tells them to do so? Yes--more often than you'd think. Here's why: The Millgram Experiments The Millgram experiments proved that 65% of ordinary Americans will follow the directions of a man in a white coat who tells them to continue giving shocks to someone who gave the wrong answer on a memory test! Most people will not stop even when the victims pound on the wall and complain about a heart condition--if the authority figure directs them to continue. In the experiments, as wrong answers were given, the voltage went up and up--to the highest voltage available. Jason Bellows says, "One might hope that we've evolved to the point that we can question authority–where we can look our leaders in the face and ask why." In San Diego, the SDCOE JPA contributes to a culture where teachers follow orders without asking why. What happens to the 45% of people who refuse to continue the experiment? What happens to whistle-blowers? Usually, they get fired, as happened to Coach Carter in Escondido, Maura Larkins in Chula Vista, Mary Anne Weegar in Sweetwater, etc. |
Do What You're Told Written by Jason Bellows on December 1st, 2005 From DamnInteresting.com In the early 1960's the people of the world were still pondering how the otherwise good people of Germany followed Hitler into World War II. After all, the same atrocities that shocked and befuddled the world committed at Nazi hands also shocked many Germans–even some of them who were involved. Stanley Milgram wondered at what it was that caused ordinary people with contemporary values to engage in acts of torture and genocide. How could people go against their conscience in the name of "just following orders". So he conducted a test. Simply described, a test subject was recruited by newspaper and ad mail which sought people to aid in a "memory study". The subjects thought they were assisting rather than that being tested. Most of his contemporaries felt that the Milgram experiments were a waste of time, after all the results were easily predictable: only a scant few sadists would follow Dr Millgram's protocol–most people would leave. The subjects came from all educational backgrounds and walks of life. The subject and an actor were ushered into a room and asked to draw names from a hat to see if he would be the "learner" or the "teacher" in the faux-can-memory-be- improved-via-punishment study. In reality, the names in the hat both said "teacher", but the actor knew this, and would always report that he'd drawn "learner". The three participants were then put into place, the actor in a booth, and the subject was seated at a console. After getting a taste of the 45-volt electric shock that would serve as the punishment, the teacher would read a list of word-pairs to the learner. After finishing the list, he then read the first word of the pair, and a list of four possible matches. If the learner did not give the correct match to the word as a response, he was punished by the teacher. Each wrong response meant that the voltage was increased 15 volts. The teacher's control panel that delivered the shocks was thoroughly marked, including a red, "dangerous" level. Of course, the actor failed most of his questions, and the teacher was told to continue giving shocks despite the man in the booth pounding on the wall and complaining about a heart condition. As wrong answers were given the voltage went up; if the teacher expressed any concern about the situation, he was told things like "You won't be held responsible". If a teacher expressed the desire to leave, there was hard and fast protocol for dealing with it. He was told: 1. Please continue. 2. The experiment requires you to continue, please go on. 3. It is essential that you continue. 4. You have no choice, you must continue. Only if the subject persisted after all the refutes was the test terminated. 65% of the subjects followed through up to and including the 450-volt shock. 65% of common US citizens listened to a man cry in pain and exclaim that his bad ticker might bust, and followed the directions of a man in a white coat. One might hope that we've evolved to the point that we can question authority–where we can look our leaders in the face and ask why. But I wager we haven't yet. Take for example airline security. We can't take nail clippers onto the cabin, and why? Because we're told that they can be used as a weapon? A 6'6", 300 pound boxing champ is allowed on board; if he wanted to cause a fuss, would nail clippers matter? Why aren't we all asking why? |
| High court maintains $1 million verdict against Portland schools Pamela Settlegood Teachers must sue for their right to due process [since school attorneys don't obey the law]. Peter Wright of Wrightslaw November 9, 2004 Pamella Settlegoode's contract was not renewed in 2000 after she repeatedly complained about services available to students. She filed suit, contending that the district violated the Disabilities Act of 1978, her First Amendment rights to free speech and the Oregon Whistleblower Act. A jury deliberated nine hours before awarding her $1 million in 2001. A federal magistrate set aside the verdict, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restored the judgment earlier this year. Settlegoode started teaching in the district in the 1998-1999 school year after earning a doctorate in education from the University of Oregon. She was hired to work with disabled high school students in physical education. Settlegoode developed her own curriculum and had students taking part in track, tennis, hiking and self-defense classes. She complained that some of the equipment was missing or unsafe, and it was tough to find locations to teach her students. |
| School District Used Power to Retaliate Against Parents Federal Judge Approves Record $6.7 Million Settlement in Porter v. Manhattan Beach Unified School District, et. al. State Allowed District to Flout Authority In his December 2004 decision, Judge Feess stated, “it seems that the District has endeavored to use the power it has over [the student’s] education as a means of retaliating against the Porters for their criticisms of, and challenges to, the District.” Judge Feess also took the California Department of Education to task for its failure to exercise appropriate oversight over the District: “... although it is true that the District repeatedly flouted the State’s authority by failing to comply with two state agency orders, it was only successful in doing so because of the CDE ’s inattention.” As interim relief, in a separate order entered on November 23, 2004, Judge Feess transferred control over the student’s education from the Manhattan Beach USD and the CDE to a Special Master, Ivor Weiner, Ph.D. Under the settlement agreement, Manhattan Beach USD (in Los Angeles County) and the CDE have been ordered to set aside approximately $1.1 million to pay for the education of the student at the direction of the Special Master. |