More comments on Karen Janney Thursday April 23 SD Union Tribune Article

Keep on commenting on the article.  Brick wall will archive all commentaries here, too.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/23/1sz23janney212657-sweetwater-ends-contract-longtim/?uniontribSweetwater%20ends%20contract%20with%20longtime%20educator

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  houseofcardsToday 05:17 PM
  This article was great until the last two paragraphs. The County's recommendations were to the district because it is a program improvement district; they were not directed at specific sites. To imply that this is a result of Janney's leadership is misleading at best. The schools under her supervision were improving in their performance. In fact, 2 recently exited from program improvement status: a direct result of her leadership and involvement at the sites. 
  
  All of the major initiatives that have been successful in recent years(the Strategic Planning Process and the Common Calendar are two) were led by Karen Janney, not Dr. Gandara. The truth is that Gandara is probably threatened by Ms. Janney's competence and the respect she receives from colleagues everywhere.
  
  Karen Janney is probably one of the most competent, respected educators in the state. To lose her leadership in this district is a tremendous loss. What is the board doing? Remaining silent and allowing Dr. Gandara to dismantle the things that have worked for the district. Change is good; destruction is evil. It is also interesting that all the demotions have involved women. Hmmm?

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  LeadershipHeroToday 01:11 PM
  HEY, UNION TRIB....What happened to investigative reporting? 
  
  Isn't it curious that 75% of the positions affected by the Sweetwater district re-organization eliminated females over 50; and 80% of the men affected by the re-organization received a promotion? Of the men promoted, 100% have contributed money and company time to promoting school board members. TAKE A LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE! What did some of the board members gain by these moves???????? 
  
  Has the UT been bought out, too? Where was the story about recent trouble at one of the board member's South Bay businesses? It's been kind of quiet lately....hmmm
  
  Come on! I know that when new CEOs come on board, they bring with them new senior leaders. That's business. But they don't try to hide this reality by using the previous senior leaders to raise the hopes of the employees about the new administration and then fire the people who have done the work.
  
  It seems that the character of the Sweetwater district is now built on test scores, not on building contributing citizens. 
  
  If you are a business owner or home owner in the South Bay....good luck.

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  supportexcellenceToday 10:42 AM
  The San Diego County Office of Education supported the firing of Karen Janney???? What the hell business is it of theirs?? I guess it is just as much their business as it was Gandara's business to tell Southwestern College who to fire. I didn't know sdcoe was so caught up in SUHSD politics - what benefit will they get from this?
  
  Or - did Chris not verify the information? Seems to me a little research would have led him to discover that under Janney's leadership of the Program Improvement schools: 
  1. Sweetwater High was one of only 2 Year 5 PI high schools in the state to exit Program Improvement
  2. Two other high schools met all the PI criteria and are poised to exit this year.
  
  There is a real story here Chris - too bad you missed it.
  
  Karen Janney is an excellent administrator, who will now be using her talents to bring about improvement somewhere else. A HUGE LOSS for Sweetwater, and all for political reasons.

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  JustaTeacherToday 04:07 PM
  Chris didn't say that the SDCOE supported her firing he just made a bad choice in where he combined two sentences. He said they suggested a change in the instructional process. However, I do agree that there needs to be more investigation. Usually Chris is extremely good and calling the district out on things they are doing that hurt our students but he has been much more quiet lately. Is it a change at the UT or is the district holding some influence over him. Either way we need to get the media - and more than just the UT more involved in all that is going on. My understanding is that Janney/Carberry have filed a lawsuit. . . if this is so it's public knowledge so why hasn't it been publicized anywhere? More research needs to be done but with all the fear in the air it's not surprising that it hasn't been. . .

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The censored rally notice pulled from boxes district-wide

Communication Censored by the District?

Thursday April 23, pink handouts reminding the Sweetwater family of the April 27 board meeting were pulled from staff boxes. Now, rumors and questions abound. Were they SEA flyers pulled illegally by a district management mandate? What was wrong with them?
What is going on? Similarly virtual communications have been occurring on First Class.
Posts to ALL SUHSD languish for hours/days before the italics are removed or, more frequently, mysteriously disappear. Again, the questions and rumors multiply as people scratch their heads and wonder what is going on?
It would be useful for some discussion here because this brick is feeling kind of thick. Anybody out there able to explain the legalities of the disappearing communication?

April 23: read the paper: Still no COMMENT from DR. G

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/23/1sz23janney212657-sweetwater-ends-contract-longtim/?uniontrib

Sweetwater ends contract with longtime educator

By Chris Moran

Union-Tribune Staff Writer

2:00 a.m. April 23, 2009

CHULA VISTA — Sweetwater Union High School District has terminated the contract of Assistant Superintendent Karen Janney, ending a 31-year career in South County public schools for the former state principal of the year.

Last month, Sweetwater's school board demoted Janney to a post as National City Middle School principal. She refused the position as well as a teaching job.

Sweetwater Superintendent Jesus Gandara would not comment on why Janney was demoted. Nor would Janney comment, other than to say, “I declined the position. Since they terminated my contract, then that means I'm no longer working for the district.”

Janney's contract calls for a payout of six months' salary if the district terminates it. Her annual salary was $156,789.96. But the payout is $108,675 because it also calls for health benefits and cashed out vacation days.

Janney had worked for Sweetwater since 1978. She started as a physical education teacher and later served as dropout-prevention specialist, assistant principal, principal and, for the past four years, assistant superintendent.

She and former assistant superintendent Dianna Carberry, who also was demoted last month, were the district's highest-ranking instructional leaders after the superintendent.

In 2004, the Association of California School Administrators named Janney the state's high school principal of the year for her work at Montgomery High in Otay Mesa.

Also that year, Montgomery received a California Award for Performance Excellence from the state Council for Excellence. The award recognizes education organizations for leadership, management, planning, focus on students and stakeholders, and results.

The entrance to Chula Vista High's School of Creative and Performing Arts has a brick with her name and her motto: “Make it a great day. The choice is yours.”

Janney's backers protested her demotion and circulated a petition with more than 500 signatures calling for her reinstatement. They also have started a blog, a Support Karen Janney Facebook page, written letters to the editor and spoken on her behalf at board meetings.

Gandara said county Office of Education consultants had recently recommended that Sweetwater review its instructional program. Janney led the district's middle and high schools that were under federal sanctions for subpar performance.

Gandara said he would be supervising the principals who had reported to Janney and would do so probably for the next four to six months until he finds successors to Carberry and Janney.

---

Chris Moran: (619) 498-6637; chris.moran@uniontrib.com

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/23/1sz23janney212657-sweetwater-ends-contract-longtim/?uniontrib

UNION SEA website has newsletters to arrive by Friday

Check the SEA website (see link in margin: teacher union website) for the latest plans on the MONDAY rally. Please note that First Class updates allowed by contract are often in italics and unavailable to read. When one notes the italics --head straight to the website.

Other news of note: many repeated calls to District Office to move location of board meeting to a larger venue go unheeded. Why?

Cartmill sends a note via First Class but does not respond to emails.

Mr. Cartmill sent this out to each employee via First Class email on April 20, 2009:

Good morning. As President of the Board of Trustees, I am pleased to report that we have rescinded 72 layoff notices to teachers and counselors, and we are working diligently to rescind the remaining 37.

Attached is a letter and recent Union-Tribune article.

Thank you for all that you do.
Jim Cartmill
see first class

He also includes a link to April 15 SD Union Tribune Article:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/15/1m15rescind234546-school-districts-begin-rescind-t/

School districts begin to rescind teachers' layoff notices
By Chris Moran (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. April 15, 2009

A month after issuing tentative pink slips to thousands of educators, school districts across the state have started rescinding some of the notices.

Los Angeles Unified School District voted yesterday to save about 2,000 elementary school teachers' jobs but may still have to lay off as many as 5,400 teachers and support personnel, The Associated Press reported.Sweetwater Union High School District Superintendent Jesus Gandara said yesterday that 66 of his 109 educators who received layoff notices will not lose their jobs.
San Marcos Unified School District has rescinded eight of the 49 notices it has issued, while the Del Mar school board will consider rescinding some notices tonight. Encinitas school trustees will be asked to rescind most or all of its 16 notices next week.

Last year, more than 2,000 San Diego County teachers received notices, but few of them ultimately lost their jobs.

This year, an estimated 26,000 tentative layoff notices have been issued to teachers statewide, more than 1,400 of them in San Diego County.

School administrators say they hope to find more budget cuts that save teachers jobs, and in some cases, they're trying to thin the teaching ranks voluntarily through golden handshakes.

But they also warn that teachers are more likely to lose jobs this year than last because of the deteriorating state budget situation. Schools get most of their funding from the state.

School leaders are making decisions based on the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 that the state Legislature approved in February. That budget, though, is contingent upon the passage of a series of ballot measures next month, most of which are trailing in polls. In addition, an $8 billion deficit has appeared since the budget was passed.

Scott Patterson, assistant superintendent of business services for the Grossmont Union High School District, sounded surprised to hear that Sweetwater had already rescinded so many notices.

“That's pretty dicey business,” Patterson said. “There's so many things in play. There's the federal stimulus money that I hope helps, but the problem is the state budget is looking worse.”

Sweetwater started rescinding notices after 86 of its educators accepted an early-retirement incentive. The Mountain Empire Unified, National, San Marcos Unified, San Ysidro and South Bay Union school districts and the San Diego County Office of Education have offered the incentives, but none have reported results yet.

Teresa Juarez, one of five Sweetwater teachers of the year in 2008, received a layoff notice this year. She found out yesterday that her notice had been rescinded.

“It gave me the momentum I needed to push through the rest of the semester,” Juarez said. She had postponed her wedding after receiving the tentative pink slip but now hopes to hold to her original plan of getting married in November.

Staff writers Bruce Lieberman, Linda Lou and Leonel Sanchez contributed to this report.

Chris Moran: (619) 498-6637; (Contact)


email to Cartmill from a teacher:


Jim,
With so many notices rescinded it seems to me that maybe it was unnecessary to send them out in the first place.
I hope that the board is now also paying as much attention to the issues of increased class sizes and teacher salary as they are "saving jobs". Let's refocus our attention to saving our classes and the professionals that dedicate their lives to the kids, shall we?
Stephanie Hubner

This email was bounced back twice and Ms. H. still awaits a response.
Boardmembers use First Class for one way communication.
Thanks for all you do, Jim.

Thursday 4/16 Union Tribune article: Gandara's letter requesting removal of SWC employee

Read this article in the Our Region section of SD UNION TRIBUNE.


http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/16/1m16college231241-five-southwestern-may-lose-jobs/?uniontrib/

Five at Southwestern may lose jobs
College is retaliating against him, one says
By Tanya Sierra (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. April 16, 2009

CHULA VISTA — Five Southwestern College employees were on the verge of losing their jobs late last night, and a number of other positions were to be reclassified under a proposed reorganization that would save $1.5 million.

The college's board of directors was being asked to eliminate 16 positions, six of which are vacant. Five others would be reassigned. The positions being eliminated include a secretary, a performing arts coordinator, a Web technologist and the directors of outreach, of community and media relations, and of grants and development.

Several faculty and staff members were not able to provide input on the proposed reorganization, the details of which were released to them on Monday.

One administrator slated to lose his job, Fernando Poveda, who is the director of outreach, said he was the target of retaliation for exposing two of his colleagues in a sexual-harassment scandal that shook up the campus last summer.

Martha Jiminez, an office worker, had said in a complaint that she had sex with an administrator to keep her job and that two other administrators sexually harassed her.

Two high-ranking officials, Arthur Lopez and Greg Sandoval, lost their jobs as a result of the allegations, and the college was later named in lawsuits.

Sandoval is a board member with the Sweetwater Union High School District.

Last night, Poveda, who has been at the college for 18 years, passed out copies of a June 12, 2008, letter calling for him to be removed from his position. The letter was written by Jesus Gandara, superintendent of the Sweetwater school district.

In the letter that Gandara wrote to Southwestern College Superintendent Raj Chopra, Gandara said Poveda was causing trouble.

“As you know, Mr. Poveda and his allegations against Mr. Sandoval are now at the center of a great deal of public controversy, all to the detriment of both of our institutions,” the letter reads. “I must insist that you assign another staff person to take the place of Mr. Poveda. In addition, I ask that Mr. Poveda's replacement be someone who has not been, is not, and not likely to be, supervised by him.”

April 13 Special Meeting CANCELLED at 9:28 AM Monday morning

See ALL SUHSD First Class if you have access.
An italicized posting timestamped 9:28
Notice of adjournment of Special Meeting is posted.
IT has yet to approve the announcement, so it is in italics...stay posted for more scheduled, cancelled, special meeting updates.