Orange County News Blog

Mimi Walters writes off $7.9 billion.

State Sen. Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Niguel) spouts off in today's Sacramento Bee about a Democratic proposal to commit $7.9 billion to schools--even though California voters last month shot down Prop. 1B, which would have sent educators that exact same amount.  

"The voters have spoken and we need to listen," Walters tells Beekeeper Jim Sanders. "Unfortunately, the majority party in Sacramento isn't listening."

Of course, as with most things involving money and California state politics, it's much more complicated than that.

The California Federation of Teachers and associated groups sued the state months ago for that $7.9 billion, saying it was owed to schools. This was based on how mandatory Prop. 98 funding gets calculated, with the CFT apparently believing it can argue in court it deserved more money under the law than the state provided.

Proposition 1B was essentially an attempted out-of-court settlement, which the California Teachers Association got behind with $7 million in campaign contributions. Having failed in the May 19 special election, the matter now returns to the courts.

Business was brisk Friday night at the Swinging Door Saloon in Tustin, but whooping it up in one corner more than anyone else in the watering hole known for its calendar girl bartenders was a small group of women and maybe one or two dudes.

The leaders of the pack seemed to be a couple thin blondes who grinded, shook their moneymakers and, in the case of one, used a pool stick to pole dance to the music. Who were these chicks, who a couple decades earlier would have inspired David Lee Roth? During a choo-choo train dance around a pool table, they revealed the answer.

"We're teachers and today was the last day of school," said the blonde pole shark, who'd later hit the floor. Not on purpose.

"Thirty-three fifth graders all go back to their parents," yelled the other blonde with a maniacal, victorious laugh.

Connerly: Asian fetish

Ward Connerly, the African American crusader who has never met a government set-aside based on race that he's liked, believes the University of California is hellbent on reducing Asian-American admissions--and Asian-American rights groups are not doing enough to stop them.

Writing in the Sacramento Bee, Connerly--who is president of the American Civil Rights Institute and author of the newly released Lessons From My Uncle James--begins his opinion piece by recalling an incident that supposedly took place five years ago before his term ended as a UC regent.

I was having a conversation with a high-ranking UC administrator about a proposal he was developing to increase "diversity" at UC within the dictates of California's Constitution and the prohibition against race, gender and ethnic preferences.

I asked him why he considered it important to tinker with admissions instead of just letting the chips fall where they may. In an unguarded moment, he told me that unless the university took steps to "guide" admissions decisions, UC would be dominated by Asians. When I asked, "What would be wrong with that?" I got an answer that speaks volumes about the underlying philosophy at many universities with regard to Asian enrollment.

The UC administrator told me that Asians are "too dull-they study, study, study." He then said, "If you ever say I said this, I will have to deny it." I won't betray the individual's anonymity because to do so would put him in a world of trouble. Yet, it is time to confront the not-so-subtle hand of discrimination against Asians that masquerades as "building diversity" at many campuses.

Hey, look! The fresh faces you normally see at the average Capistrano Unified School District board meeting have been picked up and plopped into a professional-looking documentary trailer:

NOT AS GOOD AS YOU THINK - Official Trailer from Lucas Abel on Vimeo.

The movie, sponsored by the pro-"school choice" Pacific Research Institute, chronicles the "Myth of the Middle Class School" -- the idea that by living in affluent areas, your kids are guaranteed an at-or-above-par public education. To make their point, the film makers went to richie-rich south OC and interviewed the parents behind the Capistrano Unified "recall" movement, which has been extensively chronicled by the Weekly.

Even in the trailer's two-minute run-time, we get a good blast of nostalgic drama imported from the James Fleming CUSD era, with the now-indicted superintendent's "enemies list" appearing sinister indeed. Capo parents featured in the film include Lynn Baydu, Jennifer and Tony Beall, Barbara Casserly, Donna Furnis, Jim Reardon, Theresa and Tom Russell, and trustee Mike Winsten. We also get some shots of local schools, including my alma mater (full disclosure!) Dana Hills High. I'd like to note that the pic they used was of the run-down area behind Dana Hills' weight room, which is disgusting and scary but probably has always been and will always be that way.

As for anyone skeptical of the recall movement, thinking it's just a front for the advancement of private school interests: This film might not assuage your fears, given that it's pro "choice" -- which includes, yes, vouchers. But it does tout the Swedish system of education, so it can't be all bad for hard-core evil socialist liberals.

Anyways, Not As Good As You Think makes its SoCal debut tomorrow, May 20, at the St. Regis in Dana Point.  Cocktail gala at 6 p.m., movie at 7 p.m., Q&A with the director, producer and recall rep at 8 p.m. RSVP online here.

[7 p.m. update: Jonathan Voltzke at the Capistrano Dispatch blogs the news that space in the premier screening has filled up. The movie's overbooked email says, "We apologize for any convenience this may have caused you or your guests." On top of the convenience you save by not going, there will be DVDs available to view in a few weeks.]

UPDATED WITH CORRECTED INTERSECTION!

The signs Orange County motorists will see teachers waving in Tustin this afternoon will not say "Hire Me!"--although they probably should given the California budget mess and the layoff notices 27,000 educators have received statewide.

Instead, teachers organized by the Tustin Educators Association will be spending what is--no shit--the state-proclaimed "Day of the Teacher" urging their fellow citizens to support Props. 1A and 1B on the May 19 special election ballot. If those measures do not pass, billions in education funding will be lost, according to the 340,000-member strong California Teachers Association (CTA).

The CTA and the Association of Mexican American Educators co-sponsored state Sen. Joseph Montoya's (D-El Monte) SB 1546, which upon its adoption in 1982 proclaimed May 13 as the "Day of the Teacher," being patterned after the traditional "El Dia del Maestro" festivities observed in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

However, the theme for the 2009 "Day of the Teacher" celebration--"California Teachers: Standing Up for a Better Tomorrow"--is reflective of their very survival. "This theme was selected to emphasize the need to stand up for schools, teachers and students in the face of severe budget cuts," says a CTA statement. ". . . The problem will only get worse if funds are cut further."

The Tustin Educators Association members plan to be out standing up for a better tomorrow from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the intersections of Irvine Boulevard and Newport Avenue, Irvine Boulevard and Jamboree Road and Newport and Walnut Mitchell Street and Red Hill Avenue.

A feature story by Colin Stack in today's edition of UC Irvine's student newspaper New University reveals that cotton sweatshirts with the familiar "U-C-I" capital letters across the chest have been effectively banned on campus since April 29.

The ban has nothing to do with student self loathing--or being able to come up with the $40-$50 each in these times of economic recession and soaring tuition--but is instead aimed at the maker of the sweatshirts, the Atlanta-based Russell Athletics brand.

"[I]n February 2009, the company opted to close down one of its production factories in Honduras, 'Jerzees de Honduras,' citing losses due to the recent financial crisis," Stack writes. "The closing left 1,800 workers unemployed and occurred just one month after workers in the factory allegedly sought to unionize." The Fair Labor Association and the Workers Rights Consortium were among several groups that launched investigations, with the latter group issuing a 36-page document that concluded the closing of the Honduran factory was in violation of labor laws, and that managers of the factory had regularly harassed its employees.

Cal State Long Beach's Daily 49er student newspaper has a wicked piece about a little-known area within the art department that feeds the souls of young Picassos--if the fumes don't kill them first. It's a room of lockers that students do not stuff freshmen in but instead rent out for $1 a semester each and cover with bright, provocative and at times profane graffiti and drawings.

Writer Julio Salgado leads readers on a tour that includes stops at the "Alien Locker,"  CSULB Art Locker No. 285, which illustration major Paul Zappia gussied up with two strange, little baby aliens. The "Ryan Gosling Locker" (No. 655) is named in honor of the movie star allegedly having had sex against it, or at least that's what a scrawled message informs. The "Defenders of Wildlife Locker" (No. 407) is affixed with stickers from various animal-lover groups.

Salgado dutifully includes disclosures about how defacing university property is against the rules and the lockers' very presence has drawn taggers from off campus who would not know an enrollment form from a toilet tissue. And then there's College of the Arts chairman David A. Hadlock noting that paint fumes from such a confined area can create "a serious health hazard" for students and staff.

But that comes off like so much of the "Wah-wah wot wah-wah" you hear from Charlie Brown's teacher amid vivid descriptions of locker art that range from the crudely kindergarten to the borderline pornographic. Heck, it might even be a subtle recruiting tool.

"I think this room is a landmark in our school," Zappia tells Salgado. "I can say to anybody that doesn't come to this school that I'm an art student here and our locker room is so cool."

As this promotional video shows, UC Irvine's Muslim Student Union is at it again, presenting 18 days of events this month under the banner "Israel: the Politics of Genocide."

Among those coming to the campus through May 21 are: George Galloway, the British member of Parliament who speaks against the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine; Cynthia McKinney, the former Georgia congresswoman and 2008 Green Party presidential nominee who is part of the Free Gaza Movement; Anna Baltzer, the Jewish American graduate of Columbia University who went to Israel and had her eyes opened about the oppression against Palestinians there; Amir Abdel Malik Ali, a black Imam from Oakland frequently condemned by Jews for allegedly engaging in hate speech; and Gideon Levy, the Israeli Ha'aretz journalist and former Shimon Peres spokesman who has accused his nation of "moral blindness" for its acts of war and occupations of Gaza and the West Bank.

Co-sponsors include Afrikan Student Union, the Armenian fraternity Alpha Epsilon Omega, Armenian Student Association, Asian Pacific Student Association, Hindu Student Council, Hip Hop Congress, Pakistani Student Association, Society of Arab Students, Sikh Student Association, The Agora, Radical Student Union, Vietnamese Action Committee, Young Americans for Liberty and Workers Student Alliance.

Needless to say, campus watchers of the Jewish persuasion are not exactly thrilled.

Orange Lutheran girls basketball coach Tony Matson, who collapsed at his construction job in Corona and died Friday morning in a nearby hospital, will be remembered during a memorial service Monday at Rose Drive Friends Church in Yorba Linda. The time has yet to be announced, but the service is open to the public.

Two memorial funds have been established in Matson's name to help his wife Heidi and their three children, according to Matson's pastor Jim LeShana. Donations can be sent to: The Matson Memorial Fund at Rose Drive Friends Church, 4221 Rose Drive, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886. There is also a link through the church website. The second fund for Matson's family has been established through the Helping Hearts 4 Friends Foundation, P.O. Box 23, Yorba Linda, CA., 92885. Contributions can also be made online.

Signs were posted near the construction site.

Spencer Kornhaber / OCW

Remember that brouhaha last Thursday about a cell tower being built next to a Huntington Beach elementary school? Remember the outcry from parents, the indignation from school officials, and the petition from the kid who expressed an interest in having T-Mobile pay for his future cancer bills? Remember how the community around Harbour View park and Harbour View Elementary School weren't notified that a big ole' fake tree would be built on city property literally feet away from a kindergarten classroom?

Yeah, that's all better now. Mostly.

The hole was dug, the crane was in place, and the faux-leafy tower was sitting on the bed of a truck around the corner last Thursday when parents at Harbour View realized what was going on and confronted Huntington Beach Mayor Keith Bohr. Sensing that the council may have erred in approving the tower without public hearing back in January, Bohr called an emergency meeting of the council--held tonight.

About 200 people showed up, and 23 put in requests to speak. But before anyone from the public got up to the podium, City Attorney Jennifer McGrath announced the outcome of the earlier closed session meeting. The unanimous decision: Direct city staff to renegotiate the contract for the cell tower with T-Mobile, and reimburse T-Mobile up to $50,000 in expenses.

It took a few seconds for news, delivered in McGrath's soft, bureaucratic tones, to make sense to the crowd. "Alright!" someone shouted, and the room hesitatingly applauded.

Bohr put a finer point on things: "I'd like to add, although it's not a done deal until it's a done deal, that the T-Mobile representatives committed verbally that they will not proceed with the site, actually to the extent we're deciding who's gonna fill the hole in. So I think we're moving in the right direction."

That's when the cheers, whooping, and true applause broke out. A few of the council members cracked grins behind the dais.

And then came the public comments...

Corona Del Mar High School officials' initial decision to cancel the student production of Rent and their subsequent failure to address a growing atmosphere of intolerance at the school created "a breeding ground for homophobic attitudes" that is bringing the Rev. Fred Phelps' "God Hates Fags" group to campus today, says American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California attorney Lori Rifkin.

After first being allowed, then being canceled, then being allowed again, a tamer high school version of the hit Broadway musical that includes gay characters and themes opens tonight at CdM High. But the controversy led to an escalation of homophobia and hate crimes on campus, according to an ACLU suit filed last month.

"Despite numerous opportunities to address an atmosphere openly hostile to female, lesbian,
bisexual, gay and transgender students, the district has done nothing that we are aware of to
curb intolerance," Rifkin says in a statement sent to the media. "There has not been a single word condemning bullying or homophobic behavior. No school assembly has been held to address harassment. School officials released a public statement about the play recently that offers nominal support for the drama department and student cast members, but distances district and school administrators from the production and emphasizes that it is 'not a school sanctioned event' and that it contains 'adult content.' 
 
"This tepid and inaccurate statement, on the eve of a protest by Fred Phelps‟ vitriolic hate group that could eclipse the musical production and leave cast members feeling vulnerable and scared on stage, is simply inadequate and unacceptable," Rifkin said.

What are you doing here?

UPDATED WITH COMMENT FROM THE CITY...

Weekly editor Ted Kissell encountered more than the usual wet heads, skinned knees and freckled faces scooting into his neighborhood Harbour View Elementary School in Huntington Beach this morning. He also ran into parents pissed off not about grades, ineffective teachers or stale bake sale items (this time), but a cell-phone tower.

Indeed, folks are so hung up over T-Mobile USA's faux-tree tower--which is not the one shown here but is being built on city parkland adjacent to the school's playground--that they have forced a city meeting at 7 tonight at the school at 4343 Pickwick Circle. The mayor, a T-Mobile rep and an Ocean View School District official are expected to attend.

Construction apparently began earlier this week without neighbors or the school being informed. The lack of information being distributed has helped fuel rumors of a radiation-spewing death pole quietly being foisted on defenseless schoolchildren. Actually, radiowaves from such towers are not as toxic as some of the conversations being transmitted. But that's no reason to spring this on a freaked-out populace.

"I'm angry and frustrated at the lack of the city's ability to inform the district and our community about what's happening, so people could at least have their say," said Harbour View Principal Cindy Osterhout, in a Huntington Beach Independent report. "The kids have also now heard about it and are concerned, and this could all been handled in a much better way. To have to be reactive is just not right, and I think we deserve better than this."

Darren Hester / Flickr / Creative Commons

A head-splitting case of cognitive dissonance awaits anyone who reads this April 16 article in the Orange County Register. Skim it, and you get this:

- Saddleback Valley Unified School District believes it was duped by MepCo, a Downey-based contractor who allegedly walked off a renovation project for Mission Viejo's Esperanza Special Education School in 2007.
- Last week, a San Diego judge ordered Saddleback Unified to pay $1.4 million to MepCo as part of a lawsuit judgment.
- The representatives of MepCo call the judgment an "unfortunate waste" of school funds.

Wait, what? If the school district was so wronged, why'd it lose the suit? The majority of the article recounts all the ways that Saddleback Valley Unified feels peeved at MepCo, who allegedly performed shoddy work, delayed a three-month job to become a more-than-eight-month job, and then walked away without finishing. But the article also says a unanimous jury affirmed MepCo's lawsuit against the district, rejected the district's cross-complaint against MepCo, and awarded Mepco more than a million dollars in unpaid fees and legal costs. At first glance, it seems like some sky-is-green, forest-is-blue nonsense.

On top of that, you've got district assistant superintendent Steve McMahon saying the school board might appeal.

Let's clear this thing up, k?

The author

Can you remember anything you were doing at age 7 that did not involve potty jokes, running after the ice cream truck or putting a finger where it did not belong? Taylor Rice, a Lake Forest 8-year-old, can look way back to last year when she wrote what's claimed to be the first children's book of its kind.
 
My Cancer Mommy, which is now available for purchase, presents a kid's perspective on a mother's battle with the disease, from diagnosis to recovery. Taylor was seven months old when her mother, DeAnna Rice, was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time and seven years old when DeAnna was diagnosed with cancer a third time.

"I didn't know what cancer was but it scared me. I just wanted to help other kids whose mommies were sick," Taylor said when asked why she wrote the book, which was illustrated by Russian artist Olga Matushkina--for free.
 
Proceeds from My Cancer Mommy--which is available in hard cover for $24.95 by visiting mycancermommy.com--help Moms with Cancer, a nonprofit DeAnna started to address the special needs of mothers dealing with cancer treatments and recovery.
 
While contemplating her next project, the author is living with her mother, father Tim Rice, black lab Ruby, mini border collie Bella and teacup long hair chihuahua Papa, when she isn't attending her third-grade class at Cordillera Elementary School in Mission Viejo.

World events are moving so fast and furious, one wonders how participants in the Saturday and Tuesday Chapman University School of Law debates featuring visiting professor and Bush White House torture enabler John Yoo at the center of each are keeping up with their talking points.

CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen:

What a remarkably good day it has been for Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, and Jay Bybee (who is now, inexplicably, a federal judge). In the span of just a few hours, those ignominious men and dozens more learned that they would be spared from prosecution either here in the United States, where they formulated our odious torture policies, or in Spain, where or upon whose citizens those illegal policies were evidently practiced. Somewhere, Dick Cheney is smiling.

Cheney has the muscles and other facial infrastructure required to smile? Who knew?

Ken Bane describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur and a long-time Fullerton resident." His online bio for Bane Media, Inc.--which specializes in "creating and executing online media plans that drive traffic, sales and customers to our clients"--notes that he was formerly the director of sales for Carsey-Werner Television's online media division.

However you want to characterize Bane, you can add that he's pissed off at Fullerton College. "Is it just me, or is the Fullerton College screwing its neighbors royally (again)?" Bane asks in an email sent to the Weekly. He writes that neighbors who for years have put up with their streets being used as de facto campus parking lots, with the accompanying increases in traffic and trash, went ahead and supported local Measure X in 2002 to fund much-needed campus improvements. "'Spend it responsibly!' was all we asked," Bane writes. Two years later, neighbors got behind the college's approval of a campus master plan that included a renovation of its practice track field and bleachers.

But they were horrified around last Christmas to learn the college was planning to install new seating for 2,000 with "game-intesity" lighting and a "stadium-quality" sound system. Despite significantly changing the character of the neighborhoods, the college wanted these "improvements" without the benefit of local environmental review, Bane charges.

Clockwork informed you yesterday about controversial law professor John Yoo being at the center of two upcoming Chapman University School of Law debates, one he is participating in and another that he is not participating in.

When it comes to Saturday's "Forum on National Security, Rule of Law & Torture: The Torture Memos of John Yoo," which the National Lawyers Guild hosts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Kennedy Hall, Rooms 237 A&B, we'd noted the speakers Include Larry Everest, author of Oil, Power & Empire, and Ann Fagan Ginger, president of Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Los Angeles office informs others have joined the debate. For one, there's CAIR-LA's staff attorney, Ameena Qazi. Also scheduled to be on the panel are Tim Goodrich of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Chapman University law professor Katherine Darmer. Emceeing will be Michael Slate, who hosts KPFK's Tuesday edition of Beneath the Surface. (Email here or call 949-257-8501 for more information.)

Of course, it will be a decidedly different crowd in the Orange campus' Memorial Hall 11 a.m. Tuesday, when Yoo, a visiting professor to Chapman from UC Berkeley's School of Law at Boalt Hall, and John C. Eastman, dean and Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law at Chapman's School of Law, debate Darmer and fellow Chapman law professor Larry Rosenthal on "Presidential Power and Success in Times of Crisis." (Tickets available through Chapman's ticket office or by calling 714-997-6812.)

Photo by Gregory Miguel

A hand-cuffed activist is led away from an anti-abortion protest at Cypress College last year.

The independently funded Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression cites the administration of Cypress College on its 18th annual list of the "best" Muzzlers of Free Speech.

Officials at the northern Orange County community college campus land at No. 6 "for calling police to arrest members of the pro-life group 'Survivor' claiming that they were creating a disturbance by passing out literature and discussing their pro-life views with students. The group was told they had to confine their activities to an area near a construction site and away from all student traffic."

A story on the incident posted March 5, 2008, on the Cypress Chronicle student newspaper's online site identifies the group as "Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust" as it reports two male and three female activists were cited by Cypress police for trespassing and released after waiting in the back of patrol cars in handcuffs for about a half hour before being allowed to leave. 

If the three people standing outside Irvine Barclay Theater late this afternoon represented the "Vicente Fox Welcoming Committee at UCI," the committee that has not forgotten Chiapas, Atenco, and Oaxaca, the committee that "opposes Fox and other oppressors wherever they show their faces," the committee that felt there was "a good chance" that they would "be arrested or suspended" because OC is, after all, "a hostile community," well, they weren't much of a committee, sub-committee or sub-sub-committee. They wouldn't even represent a quorum at many city council meetings.

Worse, they didn't do anything but just stand there. One young woman held a sign that stated, "Pinche Fox." So much for insightful political discourse.

Now, the former president of Mexico was also participating in a couple invite-only events today, including a dinner tonight. It is possible more protesters will show up to those, although he'd be more likely around here to draw more dissenters of the Minutemen/Barbara Coe variety--you know, the types that anarchists shout down on college campuses.

Should you attend an event in Orange County tonight that includes Vicente Fox, Michael Fox or Fox Mulder, and notice demonstrators out front, let us know how many and what they're up and we'll pass it along, at the next Welcoming Committee at UCI meeting in the nearest phone booth.

Fleming aka Peter Pan?

Almost two years after making headlines for being the highest public official to ever be indicted in Orange County (this was pre-Carona), ex-superintendent James Fleming, and indicted ex-assistant superintendent Susan McGill, walked out of the Orange County Courthouse today unfazed by the court trial that never was.

For the fifth time in two years today, when a jury trial was (finally) set to begin, Judge Thomas Goethals allowed the case against Fleming and McGill to be delayed yet again. This despite Goethals' irritation with Fleming's sluggish attorney and what seemed like a promise made back in February to not delay the case again.

But he allowed it. And why? It's not a murder case. There are no DNA samples to analyze or hidden surprises witnesses to track down and subpoena. It's mostly just tons of school documents which Fleming and McGill's lawyers can't seem to get through, and which allegedly outline how Fleming, with the help of his underlings, used taxpayer money to create enemies lists and send moles into the living rooms of members of the OG Capistrano Unified recall group back in 2005. The official charges are misappropriation or embezzlement of funds by a public officer, use of school funds for political purposes and conspiracy to act in a manner injurious to the public against Fleming; and perjury and conspiracy to act in a manner injurious to the public against McGill.

Today's request came from the usual delay suspect: Fleming's lawyer, Ron Brower, who, in a surprise move (if its still possible to be surprised in this case) asked to be removed from the case because of a "legal and ethical" conflict of interest. 

Photo by Ariel Gutierrez Vivanco/Presidencia de la Republica

The "Vicente Fox Welcoming Committee at UCI" won't be bearing flowers, fruit baskets or a key to the university when Mexico's former president visits the campus Wednesday.

Fox, who is being hosted by the university's Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), gives a public lecture 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Irvine Barclay Theatre. An invitation-only reception and $500 a plate dinner are also scheduled.

"Students at UC-Irvine in Orange County, CA, are fighting to keep Vicente Fox from giving 'Democracy lectures' at their campus. We are asking for support and endorsements from groups anywhere in the world, to send a strong message that the world has not forgotten Chiapas, Atenco, and Oaxaca, and we will oppose Fox and other oppressors wherever they show their faces," states the group's unsigned letter on InfoShop.org. "All forms of support are also requested because anarchists and activists in the OC live in a hostile community, and there's a good chance that we'll be arrested or suspended."

It outrages the Vicente Fox Welcoming Committee "that his talks are being given under the auspices of 'democracy.'" They cite his responsibility, directly or indirectly, "for paramilitarism and repression of social dissent in Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Tlaxcala, femicide in Ciudad Juárez, and the displacement and dissolution of indigenous communities, all of which have had lasting consequences for the people of Mexico and the United States."

The nation's first interactive Museum of Teaching and Learning (MOTAL) is in desperate need of space, and operators are looking to Orange County to provide it.

Conceived in 2002 by former teacher and principal Greta Nagel, who is the nonprofit museum's curator and professor emeriti with the Department of Teacher Education at Cal State Long Beach, MOTAL presented "traveling exhibits" at the university in 2006 and 2007.

The first, "Horace Mann: Uncommon Visionary for the Common American," honored the congressman and "Father of American Public Education," who lived from 1796 to 1859 and promoted teacher reform and free, quality education for all. The second exhibit, "Maria Montessori: Honoring the Individual" focused on the achievements of the Italian physician, educator, philosopher and humanitarian in educating children with disabilities and low socioeconomic status.

A new MOTAL exhibit on Mendez v. Westminster and school integration is scheduled to open next year at the Old Courthouse in Santa Ana, in collaboration with that museum, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Chapman University, Fullerton College, Orange County Department of Education and the Pacific Region of the National Archives.

Writer Paul Oginni catches readers up on former UC Irvine professor Ronald A. Sherman in the latest issue of New University, UCI's student newspaper. Sherman, the medical director at Monarch Labs and founder of the nonprofit BioTherapeutics, Education & Research Foundation, is now making new headlines with an old technique: maggot therapy.

Saturday Night Live had this skit years ago where they presented a Fugitivesque TV show called The Last Liberal. With all the talk on Fox News and conservative talk radio about the rise of Socialism in Obamerica, Bill Moyers decided to go out and find The Last Socialist to get the other side of the story. It turns out the subject of the host's recent Bill Moyers Journal interview is an old pal of the Weekly to boot!

Moyers jokes that when it came to locating a socialist, his show "consulted the Endangered Species Act and actually found one, way out to the People's Republic of Southern California." That one would be meat cutter and long-haul driver-turned-writer, historian, urban theorist, social commentator and MacArthur "genius" Mike Davis, who teaches creative writing at UC Riverside and is still listed on UC Irvine's history faculty page. Davis, of course, penned City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear and his latest, In Praise of Barbarians: Essays Against Empire.

You can read the whole interview transcript here or watch some of it here.

Late yesterday the Capistrano Unified School District released a 54-page termination report detailing the charges that led to ex-superintendent Woodrow Carter's firing on Monday March 9. Carter's spa getaway weekend-- paid for partially by the district and by an architectural firm which was later awarded a lucrative district contract --and reported by the Weekly on March 3, was among the charges that were "sustained" by the board after consulting with attorneys.

The lengthy report also finds that Carter misappropriated school district funds by becoming politically involved (which is illegal) in last November's hotly contested school board elections.

• To Peggy Lynch, of Springboard Schools he wrote in an email: "...if there is anyway [sic] you can influence or support the following candidates running in our district, it would be greatly appreciated. The ones I am hopeful will get elected are: [p] Erin Kutnick [p] Duane Stiff [p] Andrea Kooiman [p] Ken Maddux [sic]...If they prevail we will have a dynamite school district once again. If they don't, well I doubt I'll see Christmas in Capo!!"

• He later directed his assistant Heather Wheeler to "prepare an agenda that allows Andrea [Kooiman] to visit 2-3 schools per day" and "alert the principals that she will be visiting."

• He also contacted county superintendent of schools William Habermehl asking for the endorsement of the same four candidates. Habermehl later pulled his endorsements.

• To ex-trustee Sheila Benecke (who was recalled in June 2008), he wrote: "What's the word on the street? Will I be stuck with [candidates Sue] Palazzo and Mike Winsten? If so, I need to give notice to my landlord!!"

The termination report, dated March 17, and signed by board president Ellen Addonizio, also found that Carter illegally inserted an additional line into his contract giving himself 18 months of severance pay without board approval; deceived the board on several occasions regarding reimbursements; repeatedly prepared misleading agendas or withheld information that was requested by the board; and behaved inappropriately with parents. Carter's rebuttals to each of the charges (not all of which were sustained) are included in the report, along with 58 pages of exhibits. To see the report, click here; Carter's rebuttals, click here.

MOVING UP AND UPDATING WITH DISTRICT REACTION, MORE BACKGROUND.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials say they were attempting to resolve a complaint stemming from the staging, cancellation and re-staging of the musical Rent at Corona del Mar High School when they learned today the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California was suing the public school system.

The ACLU announced this morning its suit against the district and Corona del Mar High officials "for permitting and sanctioning an atmosphere that is hostile to female, lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender students in general, and has led to despicable threats of violence against one student in particular."

An unidentified female student involved in the production of Rent was allegedly the target of rape and death threats by male students amid an atmosphere of homophobia on the campus that the district has done little to squlech, charges the ACLU. Newport-Mesa Superintendent Jeffrey Hubbard, Corona del Mar High School principal Fal Asrani and a vice principal are named in the lawsuit that was filed in Orange County Superior Court.

Citizen McCaw, a documentary on the journalistic war (or war on journalism) in Santa Barbara, is heading down coast to Chapman University, which counts one of this war's correspondents among its faculty.

McCaw would be Santa Barbara News-Press owner Wendy McCaw, whose bizarre publishing reign came to light in July 2006, when editor Jerry Roberts and five of his colleagues quit the paper over co-publisher McCaw's "abandonment of journalistic ethics," something McCaw has steadfastly denied.

What has followed has been a battle royale marked by community protests, legal wrangling, pushes to unionize, child pornography charges, a drop in circulation, allegations that local news coverage has dropped and even the intervention of the federal courts. The "fierce clash of wills" raises "important national questions of journalistic ethics and media ownership," according to the press packet for the doc, which premiered at the 2008 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and now plays on the local PBS station up there in Oprah country.

Students Nathan Yee of UC Irvine and Brendan Callahan of Boston University this week launched a website and fund-raising campaign for their nonprofit Achieve in Africa, Inc., which strives to help African children receive quality education through donations of school supplies and facilities. The pair have been friends since preschool and remain close and committed to volunteerism despite finding themselves coasts apart.

"I am deeply moved by the strong desire these children have to learn, despite lacking the necessary facilities and supplies needed for a proper education," says Yee. "Through Achieve in Africa, we hope to continually impact the lives of these children so that they can choose their own path in life."

Yee has dedicated himself to heading up fund-raising. Callahan, president of Achieve in Africa, actually co-founded the organization with fellow BU student Alyssa Snow in September 2008. The trio have set a goal to raise $30,000 by June to construct two additional classrooms and provide school supplies for the overcrowded Olasiti Primary School in Tanzania, which Callahan intends to visit to oversee the beginning of the construction.

Learn more by checking out the website--especially if you are in a giving mood. You can also send an email requesting more details.

California law mandates that school districts notify teachers and administrators about possible layoffs for the following school year by a certain date. This year's deadline is Sunday and, facing uncertain financial futures, many districts are issuing pink slips. Once the numbers are crunched, many who get them will likely be rehired in June, but who wants to get a stupid pink slip in the first place?

The California Teachers Association (CTA) certainly does not wish them on its membership. With the number of possibly laid off soaring past 20,000 teachers this go-round, "Pink Friday" demonstrations will be held up and down the state, from CTA headquarters in Burlingame to a busy corner in Huntington Beach. This Friday, members of West Orange County United Teachers--a coalition of the Huntington Beach Elementary Teachers Association, District Educators Association and Ocean View Teachers Association--join district administrators in wearing black and pink t-shirts all day. That should make them stand out as they march beginning at 3:30 p.m. from Ocean View High School at 17071 Gothard St., Huntington Beach, to the corner of Warner Avenue and Beach Boulevard, where they will hold a rally before passing motorists. Honk if you love gym class.

The Capistrano Unified School District board of trustees voted unanimously to fire superintendent Woodrow Carter late Monday night, after emerging from a fifty minute closed session meeting at 11:45 p.m. The board voted to terminate the embattled superintendent for "material breach of contract," according to a press release issued by the district at around midnight.

Trustees didn't elaborate further at the board meeting, according to reports, explaining only that the district's legal counsel would be issuing "a statement consistent with its decision."

Carter gave a ten-minute speech at last night's board meeting (listen here), lashing out at the newly elected "reform" trustees, saying that he'd been a victim of a smear campaign waged against him in blogs and e-mails. "Get a life," he told them, "and I mean that in the most sincere and affirming way possible." He said the time he's spent at home (where we briefly caught up with him last week and found him looking relaxed and tan with his shirt off) since the board put him on paid administrative leave Jan. 6, has been "torturous."

He didn't comment in his speech about the conflict of interest allegations that surfaced last week in our story about the awarding of a lucrative contract to an architectural firm which partially paid for two weekend wine-tasting, spa getaways for Carter in 2007 and 2008. 

About 100 supporters gave him a standing ovation after his speech. Carter was given a list of 60 charges in late February detailing why he was put on leave. He told the Register last night that he has refuted all the charges in a 22-page rebuttal prepared by his lawyers.

Rumors of a possible termination began floating through the district last summer, after Carter became mired in controversy over a $58,000 pay raise, a $400,000 severance package and allegations that he negotiated a teachers'-union contract without board approval.