Parents Advocate League Update
by Julie Collier

Capo USD held a board meeting on Aug. 25. The evening kicked off with special recognition for law-enforcement personnel in the OC Sheriff Dept. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens was a special guest for the awards and took time to congratulate them for their hard work and dedication. She also explained that she met with Supt. Carter to review disaster plans and stated CUSD has solid plans.

Oral Communications began with a discussion of the mural at Marco Forester. CUSD parent Tanya McKean discussed her disappointment and anger at how CUSD was not providing for her child with special needs.

A parent from Truman Benedict and I spoke out against the district for not providing classrooms prior to the start of school for 4th and 5th graders. I hope more parents at the school can band together to try to get a faster timeline so their children can have classrooms, desks and textbooks before the February 2009 date set by the district.

A PALs member, Debbi, spoke about the fingerprinting issue for volunteers at CUSD. She explained that the system, while well intended, is flawed and is preventing parents from volunteering at the start of school. The district is forcing the office staff at each school to make badges and process the volunteers. Her school, out of the 100-plus volunteers, only has 12 volunteers in "pending status." She respectfully asked that Supt. Carter delay the fingerprinting check for just one trimester to ensure there will be enough volunteers for the start of school (especially in kindergarten). Supt. Carter (at the end of the board meeting) was clearly not willing to change his mind, and he explained that parents have had plenty of time to get this done. If you are concerned about your volunteer status, please contact your school site.

Item No. 7, Negative Declaration for School Busing Program was approved 6-0 (Dr. Stiff had to leave early).What does this mean? 1) CUSD will not increase busing, 2) More traffic, and 3) Cities will most likely file a lawsuit. (If you live in MV and will be negatively effected by the lack of busing, Mayor Trish Kelley has asked that MV residents who are willing to make a statement should contact her at City Hall 470-3000.. You can also contact Veronica Gunderson vgunderson@rwglaw.com . *Providing this information to PALs members does not mean I support or do not support a lawsuit.)

Teachers will enforce the district-wide "Ushering Program" of directing drop-off and pick-up traffic as well as opening/closing car doors to help speed up the process. Trustee Palazzo asked Suzette Lovely (CUSD administrator) and Vicki Soderburg (union president) if the teachers are aware of their new duty and if it has been negotiated. Lovely explained that it is currently under negotiation and teachers already have a morning duty anyway. Soderburg said nothing. (On a side note: I spoke with several teachers Tuesday. A few of them are the Union Reps for their schools. Not one of them has heard about the "Ushering Program" that is supposed to be under negotiation and implemented next week. Needless to say, they are not thrilled with this idea and worry about the potential for liability issues. They are hopeful the district will come up with a better plan that will ensure the safety of its students and teachers.)

Item No. 8, Pipeline Risk Analysis for SJHHS was approved 6-0.

Item No. 9, Special Education Alliance. This was a report to the board regarding the OC Special Education Joint Powers Agreement. This organization is made up of superintendents in OC to hire attorneys to fight students of special education that ask for  excessive services. Each school district that is a part of this organization pays into it. Supt. Carter said about $0.20 of the daily attendance money earned from each student in CUSD goes to this organization every school year. My husband did the math and that is about $1.8 million a year from CUSD.

Item No.10, Work Orders to destroy old portables were approved.

Item No.13, Star Testing report to the board. District administrators explained CUSD went up 10 points (that is actually very good and hard to go up that much). Trustee Bryson, who will be marrying the U.S. Undersecretary for the Dept. of Education this weekend, asked if the high scores might be because of the NCLB Act. The dist. official gave a big smile and explained that it was most likely due to the wonderful teachers at CUSD. That comment was met with well-deserved applause for our amazing, dedicated, and hard-working teachers. Thanks to all of you!

The following are articles for your reading pleasure:

Fewer buses won't 'significantly' impact traffic, pollution, Capistrano trustees say

Capo shifts crowding problem from one school to another

San Juan Hills safe from gas pipeline, trustees decide

Meet Capistrano Candidates

The next board meeting is Sept. 8 at 7 pm. Enjoy the last few days without homework!