OC Register’s Stories are Incomplete
Letter to the editor

The OC Register’s article "Capo to stop paying former superintendent's legal bills" (2/7/07) states that former Capo USD Superintendent James Fleming "kept lists" of people who attempted to recall the then-board of trustees. Fleming's actions went far beyond merely "keeping lists.” He sent two district officials to the OC Registrar of Voters’ office to gather names of petition circulators from confidential recall petitions, which we now know was in violation of a law intended to protect us citizens (and for which OC Registrar Neal Kelley received only a slap on the wrist). Fleming then took those names and directed another district official at the time, Susan McGill, to use our children's private education files to create a spreadsheet with the names of circulators’ children, the CUSD schools they attended, their grade levels, spouse’s names and other confidential information. 

Fleming used district time and resources to create these political lists (there were two that we know of); he used our children's private education files to generate them, and he sent emissaries to the Registrar of Voters’ office to illegally gather names. This was a powerful man in CUSD whose reputation for retaliation against those who disagreed with him was well known. This is why what Neal Kelley did in allowing Fleming access to our names was so egregious and, as many parents claim, damaging to their children. 

Kim Lefner
CUSD parent