Recall Campaign 07-08
Indignant Trustee Bryson exposes old guard corruption and incompetence
Mar 10, 2008
The following hard-hitting speech was delivered by reform Trustee Anna Bryson at the March 10, 2008 CUSD board meeting immediately following the pathetic, emotional and error-ridden speech read by Trustee Mike Darnold.
I wish to speak. I will respond on behalf of the three of us seated here, Ellen Addonizio, Larry Christensen and I’m Anna Bryson.
I dislike having the integrity of the three of us impugned, when we have sacrificed a great deal in order to bring the first budget in the black to this community, to this board. In six years…five of the prior six years before we were elected, the budgets were in the red, which means that this board was not doing their taxpayers fiscal oversight.
This was brought up, I believe three meetings ago, in January, when Miss Draper, Trustee Draper told me that I was not telling the truth about the circumstances of the reserves of this district, at which point I called upon Sherry Hahn, our chief financial officer, who stated not only was I correct, but it was even more grave than I had stated. That it was presently at 2.2, not 2.4 at that point. Read More...
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Emotional Mike Darnold attacks South OC voters, the Press and the ABC trustees
Mar 10, 2008
The following emotional and error-ridden speech was read by Trustee Mike Darnold at the March 10, 2008 CUSD board meeting.
Thank you Trustee Draper. I umm…I just want to make a statement that I prepared. It’s…umm…I’m gonna read it so that I don’t screw it up.
Umm…first of all, I’m not a politician. I have absolutely no political aspirations. Generally, speaking, pretty much I avoid conflict at all cost. I’m a rather, umm…I’m a rather, umm passive person who would really rather pray for my detractors than confront them.
Umm…the reason…uh…that I’m speaking today is I’ve always avoided using the…my position here on the board to air my personal thoughts, because they’re just that, they’re personal.
My position as a board member is to be of service to the constituents of Capistrano Unified. I make every effort possible to assure quality education and work for the other…with the other six board members to provide the vision for the future. And that’s what we’re tasked to do.
However, the time has come for me to stand up publicly for what I believe to be true. Read More...
Draper plans to oppose the recall
Mar 10, 2008
This speech by Marlene Draper at the March 10, 2008 CUSD board meeting reveals she is in complete denial of the problems facing CUSD.
By Trustee Marlene Draper
Mr. Darnold, would you mind allowing me to respond.
Umm…the campaign I plan to…to perform, is to reach out to the parents of our district, the parents of the children in the wonderful schools, to vote against the recall.
I am not planning on seeking re-election in…in November, but I think it is incumbent to remember that good, solid leadership is important in this district.
And it is a tragedy that right now the recall occurs at a time, and at a cost that equates to about ten teachers and ten classrooms, 766,000 dollars, which I think is a tragedy.
Thank you. Read More...
OC Registrar certifies enough signatures for recall. CUSD Recall Leaders: “We Are One Step Closer!”
Mar 10, 2008
Group leading effort to recall Marlene Draper and
Sheila Benecke received approval today from OC
Registrar of Voters
Rancho Santa Margarita, California: Today, leaders of the CUSD Recall Committee were informed by the Orange County Registrar’s Office that the Registrar had certified the recall petition against Marlene Draper and Sheila Benecke, two Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD).
On January 28th, The CUSD Recall Committee submitted to the Orange County Registrar 66,000 petition signatures – 60% more than required, to recall embattled Capistrano Unified School District Trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper. Read More...
Rancho Santa Margarita, California: Today, leaders of the CUSD Recall Committee were informed by the Orange County Registrar’s Office that the Registrar had certified the recall petition against Marlene Draper and Sheila Benecke, two Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD).
On January 28th, The CUSD Recall Committee submitted to the Orange County Registrar 66,000 petition signatures – 60% more than required, to recall embattled Capistrano Unified School District Trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper. Read More...
"A recall of of Benecke and Draper would be a bargain, and the sooner the better."
Feb 01, 2008
Recall targets Sheila Benecke (left) and Marlene Draper (right)
Some have said that we should wait until the November general election to bounce Benecke and Draper out of office to save the district the cost of a recall election. I would ordinarily agree, however, these two Fleming-era leftovers keep proving they cannot be trusted to vote in even one more board meeting than necessary.
Last October, they admitted to repeatedly violating the state's open meetings law (the Brown Act) to avoid civil prosecution by the D.A. But in every regular board meeting since then, they have continued to violate the Brown Act by failing to provide proper public notice of important agenda items. The urgency is that the proposals Benecke and Draper are advocating without proper notice involve district spending of millions on very controversial (and arguably, luxurious) projects to the exclusion of well-known, needier projects. Read More...
66,088 Petitions to Recall CUSD Trustees Benecke and Draper Submitted to O.C. Registrar of Voters
Jan 28, 2008
40,986 signatures – 20,493 per trustee – are required to qualify for an election to recall and remove Trustees Benecke and Draper from office. Read More...
CUSD Recall Committee To Submit Petitions to Registrar
Jan 27, 2008
• More than 66,000 Recall Petition Signatures Gathered
• Press Conference Will Take Place Just Before Final
Submission to Registrar
Tony Beall (left) Tom Russell
(right)
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA The CUSD Recall Committee
proudly announces that it has successfully gathered
more than enough petition signatures to recall
embattled Capistrano Unified School District Trustees
Shelia Benecke and Marlene Draper.
The Recall Committee gave Trustees Benecke and Draper
until noon, last Friday, to resign or face certain
recall. Benecke and Draper did not respond, thereby
leaving the CUSD Recall Committee no choice but to
file the original recall petitions with the Registrar
of Voters.
CUSD Recall Committee To Hold Press Conference
Jan 18, 2008
• Place: Entrance to CUSD administration building
• Signed Recall Petitions To Be Displayed
• Last Chance for Recall Targets to Resign Before Signatures Are Submitted
Tony Beall (left) Tom Russell (right)
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA The CUSD Recall Committee proudly announces that it has successfully gathered more than enough petition signatures to recall embattled Capistrano Unified School District Trustees Shelia Benecke and Marlene Draper.
It has now become painfully obvious there is a desperate need for an immediate change in leadership at the Capistrano Unified School District. We are seeking to recall Trustees Benecke and Draper because they have permitted a culture of corruption to infect our school district and because they have grossly mismanaged school district finances. Read More...
ABC Reform Trustees join chorus of elected officials calling for old-guard resignations
Jan 08, 2008
Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry
Christensen, the "ABC Reform Trustees"
San Juan Capistrano, California – In the election of November 2006, the people of the Capistrano Unified School District elected the three of us to the Board of Trustees by 17% landslide margins of victory – a clear mandate for change in the administration of the school district. We ran as the “ABC Reform” candidates on a reform platform, vowing to restore honesty, integrity and accountability, as well as returning scarce dollars back into the classroom. We answer only to the constituents of CUSD and we are charged to do what is best for all of the district’s 53,000 students, as a community.
Under the watch of Trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper, the school district has experienced a tumultuous decade of controversies that has included unlawful secret meetings, misappropriation or mismanagement of public funds, five years of budget deficit spending (2002-2006), unchecked funding of questionable building projects compounded by misrepresentations of their funding, including the extravagant construction of the district’s 126,000 square foot administration building. Read More...
Old guard snubs ABC's and voter mandate...again
Dec 11, 2007
The status quo Fleming-era trustees continue to prove how out of touch they are with the reform mandate sent by their constituents in the November 2006 general election when the ABC reform trustees were elected in landslide victories. Last night, the contrast between the status quo senior trustees and the ABC reform trustees couldn't have been clearer. It was also clear that the old guard is hunkering down for a fight to the bitter end, leaving no doubt that district reform will be impossible as long as they remain, and leaving reformers no choice but to complete the recall of Benecke and Draper ASAP.
Message to the Fleming-era trustees of the CUSD board: The people want you to resign
Oct 22, 2007
Real-world experience of a CUSD Recall signature
gatherer
By Michelle Russell, CUSD resident and CUSD reform volunteer
I am a CUSD resident, a CUSD Recall and ABC Reform volunteer and one of the parents whose name appears on the CUSD “enemies” list. Over the past three years I have worked as a petition gatherer in the campaigns to recall senior members of the CUSD Board of Trustees.
In that time, I have met thousands of people throughout the district who have given me a clear picture of how our communities really view CUSD – and it’s not the view that is generally portrayed by you and your staff during the many board meetings I have attended. Read More...
By Michelle Russell, CUSD resident and CUSD reform volunteer
I am a CUSD resident, a CUSD Recall and ABC Reform volunteer and one of the parents whose name appears on the CUSD “enemies” list. Over the past three years I have worked as a petition gatherer in the campaigns to recall senior members of the CUSD Board of Trustees.
In that time, I have met thousands of people throughout the district who have given me a clear picture of how our communities really view CUSD – and it’s not the view that is generally portrayed by you and your staff during the many board meetings I have attended. Read More...
How Southern California Parents Won Back Their School District
Oct 05, 2007
Full Disclosure Network ® Cable TV and Internet
Series on CUSD Recall Campaign
Parents in South
Orange County successfully fought to take back
control of the Capistrano Unified School
District (CUSD). Full Disclosure Network® cable
television program has recorded the historical
battle within the school district that started
back in 2005 and has taken almost two years, on
its way to completion all documented on seven
DVDs to date, including six complete shows,
along with three stimulating video news blogs.
This special series, on the CUSD grassroots
Recall and School Reform campaign, is featured
on 45 cable television systems. Also, available
for viewing, via streaming video, on the
URL: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/cusd.html
Read
More...
OC Weekly investigates the ongoing campaign to reform CUSD
Oct 04, 2007
Three years in the life of the Capistrano Unified School District
BY DAFFODIL J. ALTAN
Daffodil Altan, OC Weekly THE VAST GLITTERING MEETING ROOM AT CAPISTRANO Unified School District’s shiny new headquarters is crowded this evening. It’s Monday night, the first week of school, and tonight’s board of trustees meeting is the first for the new interim superintendent, Woodrow Carter. He’s the third person to fill the slot in the past year.
The meeting begins with that staple of school-board gatherings across the nation, a syrupy video presentation about kindergarteners. Audience members chuckle at the squirmy kids on the two giant screens.
But many in the room aren’t laughing. Some watch with their lips pursed. Others shake their heads. Glances are exchanged across rows of chairs; the video does little to mask the tension that hangs in the room like a heaving storm cloud. Read More...
OC Weekly assesses recall chances: "A lock. With Fleming already indicted and a well-seasoned recall team ready for war."
Aug 24, 2007
Recall Madness!
Sheila Benecke, Mike Darnold, Marlene Draper, Duane Stiff, Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District
Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly Opponents Accuse Them Of: Mishandling millions of dollars in school funds, gerrymandering school boundaries to ensure racial diversity, and being lackeys for former superintendent James Fleming, whom the Orange County Grand Jury indicted for misappropriating funds and creating an enemies list. Read More...
Sheila Benecke, Mike Darnold, Marlene Draper, Duane Stiff, Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District
Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly Opponents Accuse Them Of: Mishandling millions of dollars in school funds, gerrymandering school boundaries to ensure racial diversity, and being lackeys for former superintendent James Fleming, whom the Orange County Grand Jury indicted for misappropriating funds and creating an enemies list. Read More...
CUSD Recall Petitions Approved
Aug 22, 2007
Trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper to Face
Recall
![Draper 15_2[1]](page26_blog_entry89_summary_2.jpg)
Santa
Ana, CA.
Today
the CUSD Recall Committee received confirmation
the Orange County Registrar of Voters had
approved the Petition to Recall Capistrano
Unified School District Trustees Sheila Benecke
and Marlene Draper. Recall Proponents may now
formally begin the process of collecting
signatures from 10% of the registered voters in
the School District to qualify the recall
election. They have 160 days to circulate and
submit petitions. The grounds for the recall
read as follows: Read
More...
It's time to take back our school district. School board recall kick off party
Aug 15, 2007
Parents in the Capistrano Unified School District
invite you to join us for a School Board Recall Kick
Off Party
Date
and Time: Wednesday, August
29, 2007, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Place: Casta del Sol Golf Course, 27601 Casta del Sol, Mission Viejo
Complimentary hors d'oeurves and beverages, no host bar
R.S.V.P. to Barbara Casserly, (949) 637-4687 or bcasserly@cox.net
Recall petitions will be available
Donations needed and appreciated - Please make checks payable to Committee to Reform CUSD. Read More...
Place: Casta del Sol Golf Course, 27601 Casta del Sol, Mission Viejo
Complimentary hors d'oeurves and beverages, no host bar
R.S.V.P. to Barbara Casserly, (949) 637-4687 or bcasserly@cox.net
Recall petitions will be available
Donations needed and appreciated - Please make checks payable to Committee to Reform CUSD. Read More...
Final petition forms to recall Trustees Benecke and Draper submitted to OC Registrar
Aug 09, 2007
After consulting with the recall proponents and the three seated CUSD Reform Trustees, for strategic reasons a decision was made not to circulate petitions to recall Trustees Duane Stiff and Mike Darnold.
A plea to the honest employees of CUSD
Jul 09, 2007
For the good of the district, please step forward, do
the right thing
It’s obvious we are now witnessing the final gasps of the corrupt Fleming regime. The four leftover trustees – Benecke, Draper, Stiff and Darnold – are on their way out. The employees of CUSD no longer need to hide in fear. Now is the time to come forward and expose the corruption you have witnessed at CUSD.
It’s obvious we are now witnessing the final gasps of the corrupt Fleming regime. The four leftover trustees – Benecke, Draper, Stiff and Darnold – are on their way out. The employees of CUSD no longer need to hide in fear. Now is the time to come forward and expose the corruption you have witnessed at CUSD.
Benecke,
Draper, Darnold and Stiff
The
Leftover Fleming Trustees
"For these reasons, we now serve upon you official recall papers."
Jul 02, 2007
Public comments addressed to the CUSD trustees at the
July 2, 2007 board meeting
My name is Tom
Russell. As you know, I have one child attending
school in CUSD.
My child is on the CUSD enemies list. So is my wife…and so am I.
Today, you are scheduled to meet in closed session where you are scheduled to consider who will be the next interim superintendent – the third since recently indicted former Superintendent James Fleming left in disgrace. Read More...
My child is on the CUSD enemies list. So is my wife…and so am I.
Today, you are scheduled to meet in closed session where you are scheduled to consider who will be the next interim superintendent – the third since recently indicted former Superintendent James Fleming left in disgrace. Read More...
Fleming's foes are just getting started
May 25, 2007
Opponents of the indicted former Capistrano Unified superintendent are now going after remaining trustees who supported him.
Dana Parsons, Orange County, The Los Angeles Times
You bet they feel vindicated. What they aren't feeling is charitable. You could say, in fact, they're just getting warmed up.
The foes of former Capistrano Unified School District Supt. James Fleming — yes, the man had enemies — had reason to celebrate Thursday, if that's the right word. They had been loudly proclaiming in recent years that Fleming was running a corrupt administration, and now they've got county grand jury indictments against Fleming and his assistant superintendent to back them up. Read More...