No Improvement at CUSD
Staff editorial

Lack of funds for a theatre at Capo Valley High School is another sign of Capistrano Unified School District’s financial woes. CUSD has collected enough tax dollars in Mission Viejo to pay for the finest theater at Capo High, along with the finest gymnasium at Newhart and permanent classrooms as well. With the district’s long history of shell games and buffoonery, students continue to do without. After initial denials from CUSD officials, documents surfaced, indicating tax dollars collected in Mission Viejo were diverted to the new $50-million administration center in San Juan Capistrano.

The 2005 effort to recall all seven CUSD trustees was based on the need for responsible leadership and accountability. While the recall failed for a variety of reasons, two incumbent trustees (John Casabianca and Sheila Henness) were dumped by voters in November 2006, and a third incumbent (Crystal Kochendorfer) didn’t run. Following former superintendent James Fleming’s messy departure in 2006, residents may have thought CUSD’s biggest problems were over. The current budget crisis (e.g., no contract for teachers and the failed attempt to sell district real estate) caused some residents to say the district is incapable of digging itself out.

Where is Fleming now? Is he calling in plays to his longstanding incompetent shills (Trustees Sheila Benecke, Marlene Draper, Mike Darnold and Duane Stiff)? The policies and practices of Fleming’s regime continue despite idle talk about change from Interim Superintendent Charles McCully. For many years, Fleming got the blame or credit as master puppeteer, shell-game designer and liar-in-chief. Some of those who worked in the recall say nothing has changed. Fleming’s unofficial heir appears to be Deputy Superintendent David Doomey, who publicly acknowledged administrative wrongdoing by saying, “Mistakes were made.” For reasons that defy explanation, Doomey is still on the payroll.

The four old-regime trustees have a majority vote to maintain the Flemingdom, minus the old king. These four were apparently not rattled by the Election Day ousting of their peers. It will take at least one more election to dump the remaining officials who have been called weak-minded, incompetent and corrupt. Instead of proving themselves up to any leadership task, it’s clear the trustees have no plan regarding the current financial dilemmas.

A plea from a CUSD resident was published in the blog last week, saying it’s up to parents and other community members to raise cash for a theatre at Capo High School. That’s the sad truth. Looking at CUSD’s big, bleak picture, a theatre is such a luxury it’s not going to happen any other way.