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How Did We Get in This Mess at Southwestern College and Sweetwater Union?
CHULA VISTA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT has gone "the home grown" route by hiring Dr, Francisco Escobedo. So far, so good from what I hear. But they don't have a board filled with mad dogs trying to climb the political ladder as they do in SUHSD. I don't trust the current SUHSD board to choose a new superintendent. Period! They simply can't demonstrate a strong concern about 42,000 students and their teachers. I hear the talk but I don't see the walk!! It appears to me that their primary concern is about not losing that lovely money that flows into their campaign coffers from from building contractors and those connected to them. CONFLICT OF INTEREST!— July 24, 2011 10:46 a.m.
Borders Bookstores Prepare to Close
I AM NOT SURPRISED BUT I AM DEEPLY SADDENED. The smell of a bookstore, the thrill of holding a book and buying it so you could read it and then loan it to a friend you can't get that online. In the good old days..........— July 21, 2011 2:10 p.m.
How Did We Get in This Mess at Southwestern College and Sweetwater Union?
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? At least members of the public should seek out the names of applicants and google them because board members certainly don't seem to be doing that. If anyone with an iota of common sense had checked out Gandara, Chopra, Alioto or Dave Garcia (City of CV) they could have seen the disaster coming. What I think is happening is they (boards) hire these turkeys and then try to prop the turkeys up so the board doesn't look like it made a mistake.....a sorry and expensive way of doing business.— July 21, 2011 10:41 a.m.
How Did We Get in This Mess at Southwestern College and Sweetwater Union?
Arlie Ricasa says she is “open to looking, reviewing, and interviewing a variety of firms.” Well, bully for Arlie! I have had enough of her poor judgement! She flew to Texas to meet with Gandara before hiring him and then had 93 meals with him on the credit card.....and she never saw anything that smelled bad. She has outlived any usefulness she ever had. IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON. ARLIE!— July 20, 2011 12:05 p.m.
Sweetwater Union Interim Superintendent Ed Brand’s Past
Can someone tell me the correlation between Compact for Success and Sweetwater Education Foundation? Scott Alevy was/is Chairman of SEF. A couple of months ago I heard the rumor that Alevy had pressed for a scholarship for his son. CIting privacy laws no one would confirm or deny. So, how does the public ever know who is getting these scholarships or are they just being doled out to cronies and insiders?— July 10, 2011 8:37 p.m.
Sweetwater Union Interim Superintendent Ed Brand’s Past
Very discouraging! We may have simply exchanged one despot for another. Isn't there anyone out there who will just run the schools, who will resist ordering friends' wives to be hired or indulge in other favors to his rich and powerful cronies? Will he also try to control who wins board seats in the next election? What we don't need is another power hungry bully.— July 9, 2011 8:31 p.m.
Something in the (Sweet)water?
The fishy part is that no such teacher exists. What a waste of time and space. We expect better of The Reader.— July 4, 2011 9:41 a.m.
Something in the (Sweet)water?
Something smells fishy about this story.— July 3, 2011 6:17 p.m.
Superintendent Jesus Gandara “Separated” From Sweetwater Union High School District
John McCann is difficult to understand. He wants to climb the political ladder no mystery there. He won two terms on the Chula Vista City Council easily because not many people really knew him and he had no real negatives. When he tried to win the 78th Assembly seat that changed. Many more people became aware of his raw ambition and ruthless brand of campaigning. Then in July 2009 he was ordered to Iraq with an Army Unit as a Supply Clerk. His wife, Myssie, was furious that John wasn't allowed to name his replacement (her) and singled Rudy Ramirez out for her wrath. When John came back he wanted to be seen as a war veteran and claimed Ramirez was disrespectful of his military service and was anti-American. It seems to me that he perceives his military service as a ticket to elected office. As Board President he gave a dozen or more speeches to graduates - all stressing his military service and his vision of being Mayor of Chula Vista. I think he has overplayed this hand. Over 630 people have watctched the clip of his rant at the Board meeting and it isn't being accepted as he hoped it would be. He can't seem to grasp that people are not disrespecting his military service but are, instead, objecting to his blatantly exploiting his military service for political gain. A subtle difference maybe but a powerful one.— June 26, 2011 5:02 p.m.
Superintendent Jesus Gandara “Separated” From Sweetwater Union High School District
Sorry the video link earlier did not work. Please try this one: http://www.thestarnews.com/ For some reason I can't post a live link.— June 25, 2011 8:40 p.m.