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latest CF at 11:00 AM 11-19-08
Yes 3337 55.56% needs 3303 now passing by 33 votes
NO 2669 44.44%
Ron Bird's response to Distaso's tirade
11-13-08 In response to your outrageous claims I submit the following:
See Larry Layton treatise about the First Amendment issues
Regarding your first paragraph concerning bylaw 9005(a), I have
always operated openly with trust and integrity, just as the bylaws call for.
Bylaw 9010 does not preempt my constitutional rights to take a
position that is in disagreement with the board majority. I think disagreement
with the majority opinion does promote the board's ability to govern in the
community, as does the nearly one half of the community that agreed with me and
opposed measure CF.
At no time have I disclosed any information from a lawful closed
session, and the statement that I admitted it, is incorrect. You need to
disclose where and when I released lawful closed information and what that
information was.
As to the allegation that my "vote no" facts on CF "made material
misrepresentations" is wrong and it's simply your opinion versus mine.
The majority of the board did decide that
only the high school
receives any bond money. If there's adequate money in the general budget to make
necessary repairs on the K-8 schools, I would like to know why these repairs,
which are so badly needed particularly at Acton and Agua Dulce Elementary
Schools, have not been already made. It is clear by the board majority action
that none of the bond money will go to any place except Vasquez, and therefore
the assumption is the other schools are good enough.
I was unable to attend the Oct 30th Budget Study session, but
I have read the minutes indicating funding is being freed up to fix up the
locker room at Vasquez, a task that should have been done years ago and also to
add some shade structures at Agua Dulce. The major immediate needs still
unaddressed are: supplemental funding for modernization projects at Agua Dulce
and Acton (our district is entitle to two million in state funds for this),
installing working fire alarms at both Acton and Agua Dulce Schools, expanding
the MPR room at Agua Dulce and to replace the two ancient temporary classrooms
there that have been sitting in the parking lot for over 30 years. In my opinion,
we do recognize our “other facility” needs, but we certainly are not doing
enough to remedy these needs. In my opinion, this is not “good enough” to me.
In my opinion, the board has shown poor business practices and
physcal irresponsibility by spending repair money to pay off the energy saving
contract and placing the savings in the general budget. They are paying the three
million dollar Cal Air loan for energy savings (which goes into the general
fund) out of our deferred maintenance fund (the fund used to replace items like
roofs and carpet). It is projected that over the course of this 15 year loan
there will be no deferred maintenance money left for any of the schools.
The refinancing of our non-voter debt at a higher rate, over a
longer-term, is another classic example of fiscal irresponsibility, in my
opinion.
I chose a NO vote on CF because I felt the bond was fraudulent. As
the project list is exactly the same on measure
V and
CF, except CF adds a
cafeteria, it is interesting to note the claimed cost for the same buildings
under V is $46 million and CF is only $13 million. One of these bonds is
obviously fraudulent because any rational person would agee that you cannot
build exactly the same items with a $33 million difference. Either CF
is too small or V was too big. In either case, “future expansion” does not make
up the difference.
At no time did I call the Board's or the District's activity
criminal or did I state that the board engaged in "fraudulent criminal
activity". You made that claim up yourself and this indicates you may be
concerned that what you did may rise to the level of criminal fraud, but I sure
did not claim that.
Fraud is defined as "A deception deliberately practiced in order to
secure unfair gain - a piece of trickery; a trick." By claiming that you can now
do with $13 million that which you needed $46 million to do less than nine
months ago, certainly rises to that definition of fraud.
During the CF campaign at least one other board member made the
assertion that the “district will deunify if measure CF does not pass”. I do not
remember this board making that decision. Is this action censurable?
I remember when measure V was on the ballot, one board member published a
letter claiming this was only a 30 year bond, disagreeing with a community
member's assertion that V was a 40 year
obligation? Is outright lying a
censurable action?
This school board has one and only one employee, the
superintendent. Is speaking with or writing e-mails to his subordinate employees
asking for certain actions censurable?
All of the accusations in this censure motion against me are
completely false. My comments are well within a board member's rights during an election
campaign. The voters have passed measure CF. Now is the time to heal the bond
war wounds, not the time to pick on dissenting board members. It is time to move
on; it is time to build a high school.
The board majority may pass this fraudulent complaint, but as Rhett
Butler said in Gone With The Wind, "I frankly don't give a damn"!
Larry Layton treatise about the First Amendment issues
ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED 11/13/08 RELATING TO
PROPOSED BOARD CENSURE OF RON BIRD
11-14-08 Opinion by LARRY H. LAYTON
In the first instance, I must state I definitely do not agree with
the statements espoused by Mr. Bird on the mailer and on the Vanguard document,
both of which are referred to in the proposed resolution. I have set forth my
opposition to those comments in our local papers. Having said that, it is far
more important that we all (AADUSD, the Board, the students and the community)
understand that there is an issue far more important here. That is the
First
Amendment of our United States Constitution involving freedom of expression.
Wars have been fought and lives have been lost to protect such freedoms.
While our school district has policies binding the Board, those
policies are subject to both the letter of the law of the First Amendment and
the application of the letter of the law to specific situations.
It is the job of those judging to balance those freedom of
expressions (speech, both oral and written, and association) against the rights
and freedoms of others, such as the freedom to be free from being defamed or
injured, an example being trampled if one yells “fire” when there is no fire in a
crowded place.
In balancing those rights, there are certain rules we need to
consider. The rules differ according to status, such as individual v. media,
media v. individual, public official/figure v. media or individual. The rules
differ when the reasons for the communications are in the political arena.
1st RULE TO CONSIDER IS MALICE
In the resolutions involving free speech v. not telling the truth,
we must use a test to determine if Mr. Bird acted with the degree of
“constitutional actual malice”, which differs from a lesser standard called
merely “malice”, which means only an ill will or spite. The definition of that
“CONSTITUTIONAL ACTUAL MALICE” includes only two choices:
1. He knew he was not telling the truth, which is also called
a known falsehood. or
2. He made the statement with reckless disregard for the
truth.
The reason we must use the higher standard of “constitutional
actual malice” instead of the lesser standard of malice is because this case
involves the political arena and because public officials and a governing
body are involved.
2nd RULE, WE MUST CONSIDER FACT V. OPINION
When one merely states his opinion as opposed to stating what
is a fact, that opinion is protected by the First Amendment and can not be
the grounds for this censure.
Therefore, without expressing an opinion in this writing as to
the application of the facts of the resolution to the above rules, I do set
forth the issues:
1. Are the allegations in each bullet set forth in the
resolution merely opinions and thus not grounds for censure or are they
facts?
2. If any are determined to be facts, were they written
knowing they were not true OR were they written with a reckless
disregard for the truth?
The issues and law I submit to you for decision have been
reviewed in:
1. Ghafur v. Bernstein (2005) 131 C.A.4th 1230, 32
C.R.3d 626 a case involving a charter school system and did
discuss school districts, board members and others involved in
education.
2. Nadel v. Regents of Univ. of Calif. (1994) 28 C.A.4th 1251, 34 C.R.2d 188, another case involving issues in
the field of education
3. Numerous other landmark cases in the field such
as
New York Times v. Sullivan
and Gertz v. Welch (citations
omitted) [links added with permission].
WHY DO WE HAVE THE ABOVE RULES INVOLVING SPECIAL
RULES FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS, POLITICS AND GOVERNING BODIES?
THE RULE REFLECTS OUR “PROFOUND NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO THE
PRINCIPLE THAT DEBATE ON PUBLIC ISSUES SHOULD BE UNINHIBITED, ROBUST, AND
WIDE-OPEN, AND THAT IT MAY WELL INCLUDE VEHEMENT, CAUSTIC, AND SOMETIMES
UNPLEASANTLY SHARP ATTACKS ON GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS.
The biggest bully in Acton is Mark Distaso
11-11-08 No wonder we have a bullying problem in Acton, when the head of the school board
is a bully against anyone who opposes his personal view. As we all know, Ron Bird
opposed the CF bond. Now that the vote
is so close on CF,
Distaso has produced a personal trumped up complaint against Ron Bird.
Without going to the board and receiving approval, he spent thousands of dollars
of the kids educational funds and he directed the school's attorney to draft a personal
vendetta against Ron Bird. Distaso
personally directed the
Superintendent to act
under Distaso's orders.
Distaso now thinks he runs the board, without his two Brighter Group lackeys
acting as a backup chorus. He even says in his tirade that "conduct the Board
considers to be inimical" as a fete' de accompli', without a board vote.
Exactly who, without any board approval, authorized Distaso to contact the
School's attorney and spend the schools tax funds to .take action against Ron
Bird. When Ron at the worst was simply exercising his First Amendment rights. We call on
Distaso to step down for what amounts to theft of tax funds for
Distaso's personal political gain.
He is such a bully that instead of bringing his complaints to a board meeting and discussing it, he spent thousands of dollars of the kids educational money to promote his personal
vendetta against Ron Bird.
Poor school system in Acton substantially reduces your home value
11-10-08 Here is a post from a Santa Clarita Realtor, Paul Atkins.
It shows how the poor school system in Acton substantially reduces the market value of
your home. Throughout Santa Clarita it's about a five-month inventory, but in
Acton and Agua Dulce, nearly a 17 month inventory. And if Distaso has his way, you can change your city code
to Palmdale
Current home Inventories as of September statistics:
Stevenson Ranch: 4.6 months
Valencia: 5.3 months
Saugus: 4.6 months
Canyon Country: 5.4 months
Castaic: 5.6 months
Newhall: 6.1 months
Acton/Agua Dulce: 16.8 months
On the bottom, just like our Schools.
Here is a story on the district Distaso wants us to merge with:
11-8-08 Antelope Valley Union High School District trustees have voted
narrowly to defeat a plan to place the words "one nation under God" on a
boardroom wall. The phrase is contained in the Pledge of Allegiance.
A godless liberal at all cost School District.
The Signal contains this lie "A strong movement within the community
to deunify the district will gain steam if the bond measure fails, said
Ron Bird, school board vice president. That would send Acton-Agua Dulce
students back to Antelope Valley Unified School District high schools,
he said."
I have just interviewed Ron and he states he never said that and
strongly opposes deunification. He states the only person to support deunification has been
Distaso, as a threat if CF does not pass.
Here is another quote from a CF supporter "The 552-vote cushion in favor of
Measure CF is reason for optimism, said Denise Hunt, parent of a Vasquez High
student".
The actual margin is only 20 votes, but the Signal continues to be
unbalanced, quoting the pro CF side only, and a provider of mis-information.
CF - SCHOOL
IMPROVEMENT BONDS
11-24-08 The passing level of CF has moved from 22 vote to 34 votes.
They may have finally passed a bond on the fifth try by a margin of 33 votes with about 80% of voters
voting. We can agree the $25 per 100 thousand valuation bond is not too high, as our kids need
educational facilities.
In fact, in July I
editorialized for this size of bond and the only reason I refused to support CF, is that
under CF, the school board can spend all they want on the gymnasium and nothing
for education.
The gym does not qualify for matching funds. It's highly unlikely there will be any state money available
to match for education facilities, since LA Unified projects approved are more
than the available state funds.
So what we have to do is convince the Brighter Group to take all of the bond money, except for $1 million to fix the problems at the existing gym, and spend the remaining
$12.5 million on educational facilities for the kids.
If they do that, we will all benefit as the bond is reasonable in size and the kids need the facilities for their education.
If they instead spend $8 to $12 million on a gym, we need to recall the school board members supporting that
waste.
We know the continued history of the waste of educational money on sports has drawn down the performance and the educational quality of
Vasquez.
If you want the money spent on educational facilities, then write the superintendent and send us a copy
to publish for the rest of the community to read.
Dr. Stan Halperin, Superintendent,
SHalperin@aadusd.k12.ca.us
But, if the Brighter Group intends to waste a substantial amount of this money on a gym for their sports supporters, I along with other community members will organize a recall
of board members and replace them with ones who care about the kids' education.
I PRAY I was wrong and it won't be
wasted on a gym and they actually spend it for education.
Election information
Bond CF full text
10-31-08 Reading the full bond text confirms interesting statements.
The School Board intends to do absolutely
nothing at any of these schools
except Vasquez.
The project list
for the $13 million CF is nearly identical to the project list on the $46 million
V bond. How can that be true and the answer is, it isn't. The
CF bond states that if they don't raise enough money
to build all the projects, the school board will determine which projects will be built.
Just like we have said all along, this is the Gym Bond.
They claim that this bond was discussed in the community, with the town councils and various community organizations.
Of course,
it was not. The board met at 5 pm to stop the public from participating. This bond is simply build the Gym Bond and continue screwing the education of the
Vasquez kids.
On the who knew about the bullying issue
10-30-08 We saw a
report from Martin Young, Principal, written a week before he
left in July of 06 worried about the
discipline problems at Vasquez.
This makes the statements of the superintendent and principal, that they knew
nothing about the discipline and bullying problem, outrageous lies that are
normal at Vasquez.
In the 120 year history of the school district, the first student
is dead (Jeremiah Finton Lasater) at Vasquez and part of the cause is
mismanagement by the administration, coaches, and teachers.
10-26-08 Our Superintendent refers to this as "an incident" not the tragedy it actually
is.
The constant quotes that the Superintendent and Principal
did not know
about the bullying and harassment of Lasater are unbelievable.
School officials, however, were emphatic that no
bullying was ever reported to them. Nor were taunts ever witnessed by Vasquez
school staff, Principal Rosemary Oppenheim said.
The Dean of Students, who is directly
responsible for student discipline, has not been heard from. If any of these three simply stood up and said that we have
a bullying problem and we are going to work to
get to the bottom of it, we could have been supportive of them. But they constantly repeated
the absurd claim that they knew nothing about it, which either indicates that they're lying or incompetent to be school administrators.
We have had
three parents write us to tell us that after they complained
about bullying,
nothing was done to the perpetrators and each one of the parents
removed their
students from Vasquez, as they felt the school was unsafe for their kids.
Students and
administrators that were interviewed by the TV stations and the major
newspapers all said the same thing, and that was essentially everybody knew about
the bullying. Here is a quote from the LA Times,
Lasater was a target of frequent
taunts by schoolyard bullies at Vasquez High School in Acton, students said. One parent whose
child went to the aid of a person being
bullied was then attacked by the same people and the school
refused to take any
action against the attackers.
Here is a quote from his last year's teacher
Michael Daly, one
of Lasater's former special education teachers, who said the teen had endured
teasing and bullying for years.
If you
believe the obvious lie that the administration knew nothing about it, it was still
their fault for not knowing anything, doing nothing and refusing to act. The argument that they have
a zero-tolerance is pretty meaningless if they take no action on the problems
reported to them.
In one case it appears the administration punished the person being harassed, just
because
they complained. He was pulled from class
and required to [do his school] work in the school office.
It is
particularly bothersome, as reported in the Signal and the Times, that the
athletic department punished all of the kids on the football team because a
student "mouthed off " to the team doctor. And
then when the student athletes complained about their group punishment, the so-called staff team leaders told
the students their punishment was a result of Lasater. The
Head coach
(Turner) specifically pointed out Lasater as the cause of the punishment. This was apparently a
week before Lasater decided to kill himself at school.
If this is how they resolve problems,
then these administrators,
coaches, and teachers need to be fired
immediately and quality persons should replace the see nothing, do nothing bastards
who caused Lasater's death
One parent who
complained and also removed his kids made it clear he was told if we just passed
the bond issue, the tooth fairy would solve the High School's problems.
Mr Lasater's idea for a special help line for the students to receive call
backs from off campus professionals is an excellent idea and should be
implemented. We still need the students that see bullying to call in the
incidents to
the school Administrators. The real
solution is to get the administration to do something about the bullying they see
before their eyes, not just hiding the problem.
The administration
needs to apologize to the community for its incredible mismanagement of the high
school as they leave the community.
The Jeremiah Lasater tragedy
 10-26-08 The Administration is to blame
10-28-08 The sports groupies screwed the educational program again.
10-26-08 Get tough on bullies
- Daily News letter
10-24-08 Vasquez claims bullying is rare; some disagree
10-23-08
Bullied to death - Daily News Editorial
10-22-08 Quiet boy's hidden anguish has tragic outcome
- Daily News Story
10-22-08
Teen who killed himself at Acton high school was bullied - LA Times
10-22-08 Schools square off with bullies - Signal Story
10-22-08 RIP Jeremiah Lasater: 14-Year-Old Bullied to Death at Vasquez High
10-22-08
On October 20, 2008 a tragedy occurred at Vasquez
High that never, never should have happened. - Acton parent
Boy shoots, kills himself at Vasquez High School
10-20-08 - A ninth-grader apparently shot and killed himself in a
restroom at Vasquez High School on Monday, school officials said. The
boy was found by another student at the campus.
Authorities are investigating the death of Jeremiah Finton Lasater,
14, as a suicide. He was found in a boys' restroom with a gunshot wound
to the head."The cause of death is a gunshot wound to the head," said Ed
Winter, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office. "The
case is being investigated as a possible suicide.
No one else
was in the bathroom at the time, according to the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department. His body was discovered later by students, said
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public on 10-1-08
REMINDER....all cell phone numbers were released to telemarketing companies
and you will start to receive sales calls. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS .
You can go to
www.donotcall.gov to block the calls
or call from the cell phone number you want to
have blocked. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of
your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years.
The graffiti hotline number is (800) 675-4357. Residents can call 24 hours a
day, seven days a week to report graffiti to a live operator. Town Council
leaders are also asking residents to keep track of how long it takes the
contractors to clean up the graffiti once it has been reported to see if the
county is meeting its 48-hour goals
Up coming meetings
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