School Update

Any school update in Mission Viejo should summarize the city’s current lawsuits against school districts. At the Oct. 19 council meeting, two closed-session items involve the city suing Capistrano USD and Saddleback Valley USD. That should answer most questions about the city’s ability to help schools sort out problems.

During the Oct. 5 council meeting when Councilman Lance MacLean launched a lengthy attack from the dais, he said the recall group would end city support of OCSD officers in the schools. To the contrary, it would not. With regard to OCSD officers in schools, MacLean taken both sides, opposing the program prior to supporting it.

When Jonathan Volzke posted news about Mission Viejo’s one-district survey on his blog ( http://capistranoinsider.typepad.com/beyond_the_blackboard/2009/10/mission-viejos-announcement-about-poll-supporting-new-school-district/comments/page/3/#comments
he used the text from City Attorney Bill Curley’s press release. As a reader noticed, someone who is making a lot of money to write press releases doesn’t know the name of the school district:

“Somebody tell those MV voters how much it'll cost, how the calendars can be aligned for free, and that the ‘Capistrano Valley Unified School District’ doesn't exist and then see what they say.”

Here’s another reader comment from the post:

“Poll done by Probolsky Research? I suppose folks know who he is – the OC GOP's favorite son. So Ury and company come in and screw up the district, then they hire a friendly pollster to demonstrate that people think the district is screwed up. Nice. More adult-centered activity from people who don't give a damn about public education. No, wait, I take it back – they DO care about public education – they care about eliminating it.”

When Ury was on the SVUSD board in the early 1990s, his former supporters said he lied to them and spent his entire tenure fighting with everyone. After four years, Ury had accomplished nothing except to show his hostility toward public schools. After voters threw him out, he said he was removed from office because the union didn’t like him. Constituents said the union, teachers, school administrators, parents and other taxpayers didn’t like him. In 2004, either SVUSD amnesiacs voted him onto the council or they thought he’d be OK in a position that had nothing to do with education.

MacLean has seven more council meetings before can be voted out of office on Feb. 2. With the clock running, Ury announced that he wants to fast track a number of items.