CUSD Update
Editorial staff

After breaking the law repeatedly, the four remaining Fleming-era trustees (Sheila Benecke, Mike Darnold, Marlene Draper and Duane Stiff) promised the Orange County District Attorney in October 2007 they wouldn’t violate the Brown Act again. Within two months, they committed another Brown Act violation at their December meeting.

A March 27 press release issued by the three CUSD reform trustees (posted on this week’s blog) reveals allegations of another Brown Act violation by the four Fleming holdovers during the March 24 board meeting. The latest allegations point either to the old-guard’s desperation or arrogance in trying to approve new projects without public notice.

The old-guard will likely lose two seats on June 24 when voters have an opportunity to recall Fleming loyalists Draper and Benecke. With less than three months before the special election, are the Fleming holdovers rushing to enact The Flem’s final wishes?

The action leading to the press release was a closed-session item on the March 24 agenda, which was publicly noticed as anticipated litigation. To the contrary, the three reform trustees reported that it was about purchasing additional land from Concorde Development for a football stadium at the $150-million new high school, San Juan Hills High School (SJHHS), in San Juan Capistrano. The methods used to push projects through at SJHHS are starting to smell stronger than the dump.

The principal at SJHHS abruptly resigned two months ago and gave no reason. Perhaps he knew the details of CUSD’s 2002-2003 real estate transaction with developer Dennis Gage of Whispering Hills LLC (also doing business as Concorde Development), owner of the dump-side property that became the SJHHS campus. After Gage couldn’t give the parcel away to the city of San Juan Capistrano, CUSD purchased it for a whopping $52 million. Now, the three reform-minded school board members say that CUSD doesn’t own the adjacent plot on which it plans to build the SJHHS football stadium – although ownership is still being claimed by those who deny anything is amiss.

A CUSD parent mentioned that a large, high-pressure fuel pipeline runs underground in the vicinity of the planned football stadium, which may have prevented the acreage from being included in the original purchase. However, considering that SJHHS is adjacent to a dump, near a green-waste burning facility and under power lines, a pipeline that could blow it off the map may have been no big deal.

One question being asked is who created and/or approved the illegal March 24 agenda. Old-guard Trustees Mike Darnold and Sheila Benecke serve as president and clerk, respectively, of the school board. While Supt. Woodrow Carter may have approved or worked on the agenda, he cannot be guilty of a Brown Act violation because he’s not an elected official. He should have, however, stopped the illegal agenda item from moving forward.

The long string of illegal acts at CUSD has constituents asking why the D.A. hasn’t been more aggressive in going after the Flemingite trustees. As a possible scenario, one should keep in mind that Mike Carona was indicted by the feds, not the county D.A. It has caused speculation on whether the D.A. himself is being investigated. The D.A.’s history of selective prosecution is well known, and the feds are investigating various high-profile officials in Orange County. The point is that the feds may have taken over the CUSD investigation because they don’t trust the D.A. to follow through on crimes more serious than Brown Act violations and lies about enemies lists.

The D.A.’s most recent warning to the old-guard majority for their ongoing Brown Act violations can be read here: http://www.cusdrecall.com/page68/page47/page224/files/08-0313%20DA%20Ltr.pdf

Carter responded to the reform trustees’ statement, condemning their March 27 allegations of Brown Act violations. His response was printed in the March 29 Orange County Register. For anyone who hasn’t previously noticed that Carter will be on the outs if a new majority takes form after the June 24 recall election, his public remarks to the newspaper should denote one thing: his days are numbered.