Capo District Update

If diverse opinion doesn’t seem to be a positive element on a school board, consider the former way of doing things under ex-supt. James Fleming, whose trial begins this month. His “Taj Mahal” administration center in San Juan Capistrano became a money pit while Mission Viejo classrooms deteriorated. When testifying before a grand jury, some of his trustees defended their decisions by claiming they didn’t know what they were doing or understand what they were voting on. Trustees back then usually voted 7-0 on every item.

The seven trustees who replaced the old regime all ran on a reform platform, but their votes frequently are split. On a recent issue, most of them supported preserving the current method of electing school board members at least until after trustee areas are redrawn. Each trustee represents a geographic area of the district, but all voters vote on all trustees (at-large method). An alternative would be to have voters elect only the trustee for their area.

One angle of this is historically consistent. Whoever is out of power (right now, the anti-reform group is out of power) wants to change elections to the latter method, claiming it is too expensive for a challenger to win in a district-wide election. A Capo mom who resides in San Juan Capistrano, Erin Kutnick, was a champion of the current (at-large) method when the Fleming regime trustees she backed were in office. She wrote a letter to the Capistrano Dispatch, which was published on March 25, 2004. Her letter follows:

“I was quite surprised recently to learn that the most contentious high school battle in San Juan Capistrano history was NOT Measure CC. The real battle over the high school was more than 40 years ago and centered around Capistrano Union High School. Of course, in that first battle, the entire city [of San Juan Capistrano] joined together in its valiant attempt to keep the school within the city. In the early 1960s, it was determined that Capistrano Union High School was in serious need of renovation. While San Juan had been the center of population of many years, more building was occurring to the south. As a result, San Clemente had a larger population than San Juan Capistrano.

“To make a long (and painful) story short, more school board members lived in San Clemente than San Juan and we were outvoted. While residents here were very disappointed, they took some solace in the fact that they were able to save part of the buildings from being torn down. It’s also believed the battle spurred the city to incorporate in 1961. Fast forward to our school board today. Capistrano Unified is a very large district and, like any public agency, it’s governed by a Board of Trustees. We as voters get to choose at the ballot box who represents the public school interests in our community. Our School Board is comprised of seven members: one to represent each of the seven areas. The board member must live in the area that they represent and they have to run to represent the area they live in. An individual cannot live in San Juan and decide that they would like to run to represent Area 7, which is Rancho Santa Margarita. We are not restricted to voting in just our area. Each registered voter living within the district gets to vote for all seven of the board members rather than just the one who lives within their area.

“This system is known as being “elected at large” and there is a very good reason for this. Often times in an elected body, some personalities are much stronger than others. What if hypothetically, one area had a very domineering board member representing them who was only interested in making decisions that were best for their area? If we could not vote that person in or out because they were in another area, there would be no accountability. Likewise, if we did not have a balance of board members located throughout the district, we could potentially have another battle like the one 40 years ago, where decisions were made based on one community’s desire rather than the needs of the district as a whole. Each board member must be accountable to all of the voters within the district. Public schools of course, have to remain focused on the big picture. Having all seven school board members accountable to the entire voting population keeps them focused on working together rather than trying to further a personal agenda. It also provides balance. Each trustee can provide valuable first hand information and knowledge because they know the schools in their area.

“All of this leads to the fact that the trustee areas are being realigned for the first time in over 10 years. Because trustees are elected at large, they are assigned to represent a certain number of voters and the areas need to be as balanced or even as possible. Due to extensive growth in certain areas within the district, the number of voters each trustee was representing was out of balance. Under the previous areas, area 1 was the lowest with about 18,000 voters and area 2 was the largest with over 36,000. Last November, the Board of Trustees voted to re-align the areas balancing them at around 25,000 voters each. This process will be completed prior to July 1, and the new areas will be in effect prior to the November election when four of the seven trustees will be up for re-election. As is with the City Council, the seats are up for re-election on alternating years so that you never end up with all new people at one time. You can view the maps and the exact
trustee areas for San Juan Capistrano at http://www.capousd.org Remember that as a taxpayer and a resident, you have a vested interest in the public schools and voting is an important voice. Join me next time for another school tour as we continue to look Beyond the Blackboard.”

Kutnick ran for a board seat in November 2008 against a reform candidate, and she lost. She’s now a leader for the opposite argument, electing representatives by area only, and she says the change should come as soon as possible.

On Sept. 30, the Orange County Committee on School District Organization decided that the Capo school district constituents should vote in June 2010 to determine which of the two methods should be used to elect trustees. Oddly enough, two deposed CUSD trustees from the Fleming regime (Sheila Benecke and Sheila Henness) are on the committee that made the decision. At least voters will be permitted to vote.

Does anyone wonder where these mysterious committees come from and how they are empowered? Benecke and Henness will also “help” CUSD draw new trustee areas instead of the district hiring a demographer.