P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
| h o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| Conservative Commentary |
| G L E N N C O U N T Y , C A L I F O R N I A O F F I C E O F E D U C A T I O N |
| THE AG AND THE DA: TAKING A GOOD LOOK AT GCOE & SAMPLES |
| TRACKING THE YUMMY GOOD LUCK ANGEL THROUGH GCOE |
| CALIFORNIA'S ATT'Y GENERAL INVESTIGATES GCOE SUPE SAMPLES By Peyton Wolcott - Oct. 12, 2006/1 am |
| Canto Del Sol (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico) - Site of GCOE supe's English-immersion training. |
| Sacramento Valley Mirror publisher Tim Crews confirmed this past week that the California Attorney General’s Office is investiga- ting the Glenn County Office of Education and GCOE supe Joni Samples. Glenn County's Office of Education is located in Willows, California, near Chico. |
| INTEROFFICE MAIL, GCOE (ANYTHING GOES) STYLE ? By Peyton Wolcott - Oct. 11, 2006/11 pm |
| About the Glenn County Office of Education - www.glenncoe.org Glenn County Office of Education provides administrative, community and educational services in a variety of areas: Business Services Child & Family Services Facilities Human Resources Information Technology Library / Media Center Senior Nutrition Student Services |
| California Att'y General Bill Lockyer |
| "Is this appropriate on school computers?" asks Sacramento Valley Mirror publisher Tim Crews of the heavily edited photo above. One clue might be the caption accompanying the photo: "You've been tagged by the 'Yummy' Good Luck Angel!" Writes Crews, "Certainly acceptable on private computers and perhaps some very loose business environments, but pictures of naked people are frowned on when housed in public computers." Especially those belonging to public school districts and offices of education. |
| Crews, secretary of the board of directors of California Aware, the Center for Public Forum Rights, filed a series of public records requests which led to uncovering questionable circumstances and practices within the Glenn County Office of Education. According to Crews, Jo Graves, Chief Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Law Division, has disclosed that Mike Farrell, senior attorney in her division, will handle the case, assisted by investigator Chuck French. |
| Graves "has con- firmed that Depart- ment of Justice investigators are looking at Samples’ travel, the use of GCOE credit cards, election issues, destruction of records and labor issues," said Crews, adding, "this news comes at a time when GCOE has slammed the door on public inquiry, while planting favorable stories in friendly papers and shutting out critics." |
| He also points out that "many major compan- ies scrutinize the contents of employees’ e-mails, one, to prevent objectionable material, and, two, to get a measure of how much times is wasted 'surfing' or chatting." |
| Biography for superintendent Joni (pronounced "Johnny") Samples DR. JONI SAMPLES (530) 934-6575 Ext. 20 Affectionately known as “Dr. Joni,” our Superintendent is a renowned parent involvement expert. She is the author of Taking the Guesswork Out of School Success: A Standards Approach (2004). She leads parent involvement workshops throughout the state and writes a column for three local newspapers, where she shares her expertise through stories, humor and wisdom gained from her years in education and as a parent of four children. She is Past President of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) and was recognized by them as the California County Superintendent of the Year in 2003-2004. County Superintendent is an elected office. Dr. Joni has been the Superintendent since 1995. Her term expires in 2006. |
| Joni Samples (R), Tim Crews (AP photo) |
| Tracking the Yummy Good Luck Angel through GCOE Through public records searches, Crews has turned up the following: "On Monday, March 27, 2006, at 4:29 p.m., [GCOE employee Coleen] Parker forwarded the file she received before work that day from Kathryn Hood of GCOE, who had sent it to Mrs. Parker and a number of colleagues: Elizabeth Kelly; Gloria Carcione; Joy Amaro; Kristin Roe; Mary Ann Hagan; Nadine Viet; Sierra Grossman; Vicki Taylor." And, last but not least, Parker sent it to her future mother-in-law, GCOE supe Joni Samples. |
| Would District Att'y Holzapfel really "take care" of Joni? "Was the fix in, or did Joni Samples just think it was in?" asked Crews. "Several people heard the voice mail of Aug. 14 in which the Glenn County Superintendent of Schools says that her attorney is 'also calling Bob Holzapfel and he’ll take care of whatever we need,'” said Crews, noting this statement is in the second paragraph of a transatlantic telephone call ordering the delay of California Public Records Act releases |
| The ties that bind 1. The name of the district attorney looking into the Glenn County Office of Education and its supe Joni Samples is Robert Holzapfel. Robert Holzapfel's wife Judy Holzapfel, P.H.N., is a health services specialist and Local Educational Consortium coordinator for Medi-Cal Administrative Activities for California's Region 2 (Northeastern) encompassing Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Tehama, Plumas, Butte and Glenn Counties--at the Glenn County Office of Education. 2. Coleen Parker is running for Joni Sample's office. Coleen is employed by GCOE as director of adult education and literacy programs at Glenn County Office of Education; she is also an alternate commissioner. Coleen is also the daughter of Joni Samples' fiance Bob Parker. |
| CALIFORNIA PUBLISHER TIM CREWS UNCOVERS $244,000 ON GCOE CREDIT CARDS BY SUPE JONI SAMPLES & STAFF By Peyton Wolcott - Sept. 21, 2006 - Updated Mon., March 12, 2007 - 1 am |
| A series of public records searches have led to the Sacramento Valley Mirror's publisher and editor Tim Crews' unprecedented look into the operations and actions of a county school district and its elected superintendent, Joni Samples of the Glenn County Office of Education. While administrators tell us again and again that it's "all about the children," again and again their actions would appear to belie their words. Here's an email Samples typed last summer on a district-owned laptop and sent to herself on a district email service while visiting Puerto Vallarta as part of an English-immersion training at the El Famoso Instituto de Espanol; Glenn County locals have questioned the value for Glenn County's students of Samples' attendance at such an institute given that the trip occurred only six months before her term of office ended, plus given that Samples had already announced that she would not run for office again. [Email above right in pink boxes] |
| THE CONTRA COSTER 32nd District PTA MARCH 29, 6:30 PM, GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Please join us at this marvelous opportunity to network and hear from dynamic parent involvement expert and author, Dr. Joni Samples, Glenn County Superintendent of Schools. "Parent Involvement: From Homework Help to Leadership Roles." 7:15 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Joni Samples, Glenn County Superintendent of Schools Meeting location: Contra Costa Office of Education Joseph A. Ovick, Ed.D. |
| 6/25/06: I am sitting in this gorgeous location in Puerto Vallarta [Canto Del Sol]. I don’t want to go to the pool. I’ m not into pools. I like looking at the beach, but I’m not into sitting on the beach with all the sand. I went to walk through the stores and watch the people. I like that. |
| I’ve talked to some of our group and I liked that. I could play cards. I can speak Spanish. I talked to the merchants. I liked getting to know new people. I like people. I like watching the ocean and the clouds and the wind in the palm trees. I don’t care about surfing or snorkeling or mopeds. I could drive in a car and stop and see the stores or the people, but I don’t really care about playing that much. I worked a bit. It’s what I do. Now I’m writing. It’s what I like to do. Accept that that’s what you like and do it. I took a nap. I liked that. It was so pleasant to do that. I slept a couple hours and feel quite rested. Others went out to parth [sic] last night. I don’ t party, but that’s okay. That’s why I’m a superintendent of schools and they are teachers and maintenance people. They are nice, but they won’t do what I’ ve done because they won’t work at it. I am in the nicest place in the world with a nice group of people. I prefer to be here writing and watching and enjoying what’s going on I like Lupe. [sic] She’s fun and full of life. I’m not Lupe. I don’t want to be Lupe. I like Marne. She’s 78 years old and going strong. She wants to learn Spanish to talk to her tenants. |
| Canto Del Sol pool Puerto Vallarta |
| This is still working. I can’t shut my head off to play when I’m still working and taking this class is still working. I can shut it off when I get back for a few days. Then when I leave for a week I can really shut it off because it will truly be vacation, but I can’t do that here. |
| I’m still doing deals and thinking about the office and my books deals. I need to call **** and set up the prining [sic]. I wonder how long it will take him to print books I think I’m only going to do English right now. I won’t need more Punjabi. I will need some Spanish, but I should have enough unless the schools are predominately Spanish speaking. I hop [sic] we can do this without a lot of problem. [sic] I need to set up my computer so it will work well out of the area. It isn’t doing that yet and I want to be sure it will. I may also way [sic] to buy and new one like this for me so I’ ll have a travel computer. If I do I will want it to connect easily and I’ll want Larry to make sure it does before I leave. Then I’ll switch to ***** and his brother. I will want them to maintain my setup and make it easy for me to work. That will be great if I’m in Chico because they’ll be close by. I think I want to work with them more closely. I can’t help but wanting to work. I will work no matter where I am, but I can work the way I want to work and write the way I want to write. I won’t have to worry if someone doesn’ t like it. Bob will like it. It will be fine with him. I just need to do what I want to do. |
| "I’ve just sold $75,000 worth of books and training." |
| Joni Samples |
| I will be in places like this to visit and train and give keynote speeches if I want. I can be in places to write and enjoy. I can go with Bob [fiance Bob Parker] all over the country and see places and talk to people and write and present. Bob can go or not. That will be up to him. Sometimes he will go and sometimes, like this one, he won’t. he doesn’t seem to want to go out of the country much. I like going out of the country to see places like this, but I enjoy sitting here and watching and writing right now. That could change, but I don’t care about the parties and the craziness. I like what I do. I am accepting what I do as just fine for me. Bob is a great match for me. He likes to do what I like, but will let me do the other stuff too. I don’t have to run off to work everyday with him. I can stay and write and enjoy my writing and let go of all the old stuff. |
| Canto Del Sol diners |
| People here just like to party. He likes to work often enough that he gets some big stuff done, but still take time to enjoy people, especially family, and traveling. I like the traveling and people as well as other things we do. |
| Poor Joe. I could easily have ended up with Joe [Contra Costa County supe Joe Ovick, above]. He likes me. I know he does, but he’s very married. I would make a great compliment to him as well as being a good wife for a senator. Joe was my mainstay for getting through all of this. I figured we’d work things out eventually. ****’s cancer has kept us close, but sort of like Lancelot-just out of reach and rightfully so. She’s a wonderful lady and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. He wouldn’t either, but I think we both probably thought that might work for us. I didn’t expect Bob to come along and sweep me off my feet. Certainly Joe is more good looking and healthier or so I think, but I know he doesn’t have the resources Bob does and he’s certainly more inhibited that [sic] Bob. Just a couple conversations let me know that. I don’t want inhibition right now. Right now I want free and easy. That’ s not what I’ve know [sic], but I like it. Bob doesn’t drink and Joe does. We still have to go through some surgery for Bob, but Joe has to deal with **** and her needs for a while longer. God I know you’ll work this out just like it’s supposed to be. It’s up to you. |
| Canto Del Sol pool |
| I can also depend on him to take care of my financial needs. That’s a first. I sure haven’t had that before. Usually I have to take care of it all. This is a real treat to sit at the window and watch the beautiful scenery and write. I don’t have my writing down yet, but I will. I could sit for hours and do this. I’m not distracted by the view, it’ s soothing and pleasant and I can write and think and play in my head. I’d rather play in my head than play outside it. I wonder what Bob is doing today. Maybe the grandkids came over. If ***** or **** came over they’d want to know about taking me to the airport. ****** will have all kinds of things to say. |
| "Funny this is not vacation." |
| It’s sprinkling a bit. That’ s okay with me. I like the rain and everything here is so green, it has to rain some to get it that way. |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
AASA - American Association of School Administrators ASA - Association of School Administrators CSD - Consolidated School District DOE - Department of Education ES - Elementary School HS - High School ISD - Independent School District JHS - Junior High School MS - Middle School MSM - Mainstream media NSBA - National School Boards Association NSPRA - National School Public Relations Association PS - Public School(s) SBEC - State Board for Educator Certification SD - School District Sup't - Superintendent TAKS - Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills TASA - Texas Association of School Administrators TASB - Texas Association of School Boards TASBO - Texas Association of School Business Officials TEA - Texas Education Agency TEKS - Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills USD - UnifiedUnited School District |
| GUIDE |
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| QUOTES |
Separatists in India's north-eastern state of Manipur have shot six male teachers in the leg for allegedly helping students cheat in exams. Two women teachers were beaten with sticks for the same offence, the rebels of the Kanglei Yana Kan Lup group said. The teachers were abducted from their homes after an exam on Thursday. The rebels said the teachers took up to 5,000 rupees ($110) for helping students cheat and warned of further punishment if the cheating continued. The Kanglei Yana Kan Lup (KYKL) is one of many separatist groups fighting Indian administration in Manipur. It said it abducted the eight teachers from their homes in and around the state capital, Imphal, because of reports they had taken bribes. --By Subir Bhaumik - BBC |
| ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS: Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately. Thank you. |
| Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| POP QUIZ: How do you yourself know for a fact that your state or local supe is actually using the funds entrusted to them for the correct purposes? |
David v. Goliath: How America's Moms & Dads are taking on Education, Inc. PEYTON WOLCOTT |
| QUERY THE SUPE & THE PR GUY |
TO:
KATHY COX-GEORGIA
SUP'T OF SCHOOLS &
CEO-GEORGIA DOE
CC:
DANA TOFIG-
GEORGIA DOE
PUBLIC INFO. OFCR.
DATE: JAN. 22, 2006
Can you please send me
the annual dollar
amount for each school
year (the five annual fiscal
cycles 2000-2005) that the
Georgia Public Schools
DOE has spent with
vendor Computer
Consulting Services
Corp., described as a
consultant to Georgia's
DOE.
KATHY COX-GEORGIA
SUP'T OF SCHOOLS &
CEO-GEORGIA DOE
CC:
DANA TOFIG-
GEORGIA DOE
PUBLIC INFO. OFCR.
DATE: JAN. 22, 2006
Can you please send me
the annual dollar
amount for each school
year (the five annual fiscal
cycles 2000-2005) that the
Georgia Public Schools
DOE has spent with
vendor Computer
Consulting Services
Corp., described as a
consultant to Georgia's
DOE.
| STATUS: No response rec'd from Sup't Gray; it's been over a year now. |
The question is not how to measure excellence at public schools and education agencies. The question is how to measure competence. -- Dianna Pharr |
| QUERY THE SUPE (& CC THE BOARD) |
DATE FIRST SENT:
FEB. 14, 2006
RE-SENT 03/26/06
Dear Strongsville
Superintendent
James Gray:
I'm hoping you can
clear something up for
me for my book and
website regarding your
standards for
administrative
practices in
Strongsville as there
have been not one but
two situations this past
year warranting
scrutiny....
Regarding special ed
teacher Christine
Scarlett's offering a
date with herself as a
grades incentive
1. What rules/
guidelines do you now
have in place to
assure that nothing
like this happens
again? Would these
be administrative
changes or has your
board set specific
policies in place for
you to follow in future?
2. Rumors of an affair
between Scarlett and
Bradigan persisted for
several months. You
have stated that you
have no idea such an
affair was going on.
Do you feel the fact
that you are
commuting from your
home in Akron (if this
has changed, please
let me know) has
adversely impacted
your ability to monitor
what's going on with
your employees in the
Strongsville
community in an
important and
sensitive area such as
this? Has your board
since made a
condition of your
employment that you
move to Strongsville
and become an
integral part of their
community?
Regarding the sex
education booklet
placed last fall in
young children's
lockers
4. What guidelines
did you follow from
your established
board's policies for
such?
5. There appears to
be a growing number
of parents who want to
be consulted before
such materials are
given to their students.
As one mom put it,
"What's wrong with so
many people in the
educational fields that
they don't even think
twice about providing
children with
inappropriate
materials and not even
consider the parents
wishes....Their tactics
mirror those used in
Communist China and
Cuba where children
are considered not
children of parents, but
wards of the State."
While this is clearly the
statement of an upset
parent, it does raise an
interesting issue
regarding public
school administrators
in the U.S. Do you
consider the students
in your schools yours
to educate as you
deem best or the
offspring of parents to
be consulted before
disseminating such
materials?
Regarding trainings
and conferences
6. Of which
education-related
associations are you
and Strongsville City
Schools a member?
What are these
organizations'
guidelines for
disseminating such
materials?
7. In which
education-related
conferences have
your and your staff
participated this past
year? Where were
they and what were
the costs for each?
Have you attended any
other seminars,
workshops or the like
offering guidance in
this area, and what
were those costs?
It may well be that
there are perfectly
reasonable
explanations for your
approving the placing
sex-education
pamphlets in young
students' lockers
without notifying
parents first, and it may
also well be that there
is a perfectly
reasonable
explanation for your
allowing a teacher to
offer a date at the Dairy
Queen with herself to a
young student; if so, I
am eager to learn such
reason or reasons.
==================
She said the booklet,
which also provides
information on the need for
parental consent for
abortion and a Web
address for the
Lesbian/Gay Community
Service Center of Greater
Cleveland, is
inappropriate for
11-year-olds. I believe
some sex education needs
to be given, but when
subjects are discussed or
material is given to kids of
this nature, a notice
should be sent home to
the parent and they should
be allowed to opt out of
the program if they wish,
Fleming said. School
Superintendent James
Gray said he gave an OK
for the pocket-sized
directories, which were
provided to the district by
United Way Services in
conjunction with the
county health department
and county commissioners,
to be given to students at
the high school, middle
schools and to sixth
graders. Gray said he
received two calls from
parents who took
exception to the booklet's
content. I understand that
and probably, in
retrospect, I should have
considered sending a
letter along with it as far
as an explanation, he
said, adding, this is a
developing situation. I
don't know what we are
going to do at this point.
Colleen Grady, a city
resident and a member of
the state school board,
said she got calls from four
parents concerned about
their children getting the
directory. Grady, who is
also a former city school
board member, said she
has not personally seen
the publication, but they
(parents) read me sections
over the telephone. She
said the state board of
education may wish to
make a legislative
recommendation to the
Ohio general assembly,
and the board could also
consider discussion about
adoption of a model policy
for the distribution of such
materials. Gray said there
will be continued
discussion, in the district's
curriculum and pupil
services departments on
whether to curtail
distribution of materials
which are considered to
be sensitive, particularly
for the younger kids.
FEB. 14, 2006
RE-SENT 03/26/06
Dear Strongsville
Superintendent
James Gray:
I'm hoping you can
clear something up for
me for my book and
website regarding your
standards for
administrative
practices in
Strongsville as there
have been not one but
two situations this past
year warranting
scrutiny....
Regarding special ed
teacher Christine
Scarlett's offering a
date with herself as a
grades incentive
1. What rules/
guidelines do you now
have in place to
assure that nothing
like this happens
again? Would these
be administrative
changes or has your
board set specific
policies in place for
you to follow in future?
2. Rumors of an affair
between Scarlett and
Bradigan persisted for
several months. You
have stated that you
have no idea such an
affair was going on.
Do you feel the fact
that you are
commuting from your
home in Akron (if this
has changed, please
let me know) has
adversely impacted
your ability to monitor
what's going on with
your employees in the
Strongsville
community in an
important and
sensitive area such as
this? Has your board
since made a
condition of your
employment that you
move to Strongsville
and become an
integral part of their
community?
Regarding the sex
education booklet
placed last fall in
young children's
lockers
4. What guidelines
did you follow from
your established
board's policies for
such?
5. There appears to
be a growing number
of parents who want to
be consulted before
such materials are
given to their students.
As one mom put it,
"What's wrong with so
many people in the
educational fields that
they don't even think
twice about providing
children with
inappropriate
materials and not even
consider the parents
wishes....Their tactics
mirror those used in
Communist China and
Cuba where children
are considered not
children of parents, but
wards of the State."
While this is clearly the
statement of an upset
parent, it does raise an
interesting issue
regarding public
school administrators
in the U.S. Do you
consider the students
in your schools yours
to educate as you
deem best or the
offspring of parents to
be consulted before
disseminating such
materials?
Regarding trainings
and conferences
6. Of which
education-related
associations are you
and Strongsville City
Schools a member?
What are these
organizations'
guidelines for
disseminating such
materials?
7. In which
education-related
conferences have
your and your staff
participated this past
year? Where were
they and what were
the costs for each?
Have you attended any
other seminars,
workshops or the like
offering guidance in
this area, and what
were those costs?
It may well be that
there are perfectly
reasonable
explanations for your
approving the placing
sex-education
pamphlets in young
students' lockers
without notifying
parents first, and it may
also well be that there
is a perfectly
reasonable
explanation for your
allowing a teacher to
offer a date at the Dairy
Queen with herself to a
young student; if so, I
am eager to learn such
reason or reasons.
==================
She said the booklet,
which also provides
information on the need for
parental consent for
abortion and a Web
address for the
Lesbian/Gay Community
Service Center of Greater
Cleveland, is
inappropriate for
11-year-olds. I believe
some sex education needs
to be given, but when
subjects are discussed or
material is given to kids of
this nature, a notice
should be sent home to
the parent and they should
be allowed to opt out of
the program if they wish,
Fleming said. School
Superintendent James
Gray said he gave an OK
for the pocket-sized
directories, which were
provided to the district by
United Way Services in
conjunction with the
county health department
and county commissioners,
to be given to students at
the high school, middle
schools and to sixth
graders. Gray said he
received two calls from
parents who took
exception to the booklet's
content. I understand that
and probably, in
retrospect, I should have
considered sending a
letter along with it as far
as an explanation, he
said, adding, this is a
developing situation. I
don't know what we are
going to do at this point.
Colleen Grady, a city
resident and a member of
the state school board,
said she got calls from four
parents concerned about
their children getting the
directory. Grady, who is
also a former city school
board member, said she
has not personally seen
the publication, but they
(parents) read me sections
over the telephone. She
said the state board of
education may wish to
make a legislative
recommendation to the
Ohio general assembly,
and the board could also
consider discussion about
adoption of a model policy
for the distribution of such
materials. Gray said there
will be continued
discussion, in the district's
curriculum and pupil
services departments on
whether to curtail
distribution of materials
which are considered to
be sensitive, particularly
for the younger kids.
| CONTACT: Peyton Wolcott P.O. Box 9068 Horseshoe Bay, TX 78657 peyton@peytonwolcott.com |
| F o c u s i n g o n accountability f i r s t |
| Then-GCOE supe Joni Samples' email to herself last June from Puerto Vallarta By Peyton Wolcott Copyright 2007 Mon., Mar. 12, 2007 - 1 am |
| When you use a county-owned laptop and send yourself what appears to be a stream- of-unconsciousness email using your office email service, your email becomes a public record. The following is an excerpt from such an email Joni Samples sent to herself while visiting Puerto Vallarta as part of an English-immersion training at the El Famoso Instituto de Espanol: |
| Glenn County locals have questioned the value for Glenn County's students of Samples' attendance at such an institute as the one described at right in Puerto Vallarta given that the trip occurred only six months before her term of office ended, plus given that Samples had already announced that she would not run for office again. |
| Judge Byrd dismisses GCBE actions v. Mirror By Tim Crews Sacramento Valley Mirror March 3, 2007 Willows—A decidedly grumpy Superior Court Judge Don Byrd yesterday dismissed the counter actions against this newspaper. In the complex aftermath of the Sacramento lawsuit against the Glenn County Office of Education, the Glenn County Board of Education refused to join in a settlement, a victory for the newspaper — and for access to public information. The board, a somnambulating beast awakened when Arturo Barrera took office as the new Glenn County Schools Superintendent, tried to drag to unresolved matters. They mumbled about “enforcing a temporary restraining order” when none was issued. (One of the several judges involved, Judge Golden said that GCOE attorneys needed to describe the behavior they wanted prevented. And that would all boil down to prior restraint.) The board seemed to want the MIRROR punished for revealing embarrassing things about GCOE, misspending, destruction of records and the like. In the end Judge Byrd told the new GCOE attorneys that if GCOE wanted an injunction, they’d have to file it. And that way lies a great peril: Prior restraint. The board seemed crestfallen. MIRROR attorney Paul Boylan observes, "I have been working with the California Public Records Act for years advising public agencies on how to respond to requests for public records. When I agreed to represent the MIRROR, I really believed that I could negotiate an agreement where the MIRROR received the information it asked for and the GCOE privacy and confidentiality interests could be met. That is the way 99.9 percent of public records disputes are resolved. But not this one. After six months of the nastiest litigation I have ever been part of, I still don't understand why the GCOE fought so hard to keep these records secret. Why pay four different law firms so much money to keep so little secret? It just doesn't make any sense. "This should have been an uncomplicated, straight forward court proceeding. The court was going to decide a very simple question: |
| The real deal about public records: Generally & specifically By Peyton Wolcott - Monday, March 12, 2007 - 2:17 am Updated Thurs., Mar. 15, 2007 - 5 am |
| Tim Crews (PHOTO/AP) |
| To speak with any credibility about goings on in your local schools, you've got to have hard facts to back up what you say. The quickest and surest way to get hard facts is to file public records requests as we generally are not |
| able to count on information from either our local schools or our local news- papers for reliable information beyond sports scores. One notable exception Publisher Tim Crews at the award- winning Sacramento Valley Mirror has worked tirelessly and fearlessly this past year to expose goings-on in the Glenn County Office of Education, including GCOE credit card expenditures. $244,000 Via a series of increasingly contested public records searches, Crews found charges by then-GCOE supe Joni Samples and her staffers amounting to at least $244,000; items included Samples' travel such as trips to Texas which although financed by GCOE taxpayers appear to have been linked to promoting her book, "Taking the Guesswork Out of School Success." There was also the trip to Puerto Vallarta with the stream-of- unconsciousness email from Joni to Joni using her GCOE laptop and the GCOE email service. (See pink boxes at far right.) While Crews faces the same economic pressures other small-town presses do to publish only the "good" news about local public education, he has stood strong against those pressures despite arson during the height of his investigation in the building next door. Fortunately, this time, the good guys have won: |
| The power of the individual-- especially a committed journalist |
| Small-town journalist makes big-time impact on Central Valley community Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, March 19, 2007 (Page A-1) |
| (03-19) 04:00 PDT Willows, Glenn County -- Tim Crews looks like a jolly fellow, with his thick white beard, suspenders and jiggling belly, but many Glenn County officials probably see his rosy visage in their nightmares. The 63-year-old owner, editor, reporter and editorial voice of the Sacramento Valley Mirror has a habit of sticking his nose where it isn't wanted. He has written exposes that have infuriated politicians, law enforcement officials, jailers, educators and developers. He has, in short, yanked the cloak of secrecy off Glenn County bureaucracy. "We're s -- disturbers. It's what a small county needs," said the bespectacled editor as he sat at his cluttered desk in his office, fielding calls and listening to a police scanner. "It is really important for a place like this to have somebody hold up a mirror." The kind of scrappy journalism Crews does may become harder to find if current media trends continue. With classified advertising usurped by the Internet, newspapers across the country are facing mounting losses and, in many cases, cuts in staff and resources. First Amendment scholars fear that investigative journalism may die as newsprint fades away. Crews won't have any of it. He is a country editor whose little paper is influencing public opinion on a shoestring budget. A maverick, old-school muckraker, Crews is notorious in this rural farming community of 6,220 people and the governmental center of Glenn County. In 2000, he was jailed for five days after refusing to name his sources for a story about a former California Highway Patrol officer charged with stealing a gun, a case that received national attention. Depending on who is talking, his financially strapped newspaper is either a beacon of journalistic integrity or an unsavory scandal sheet run by a scoundrel. "I would prefer a little bit of the good news for a change rather than the dirty laundry all the time," said Forrest Sprague, a local developer and former county supervisor, echoing a common lament. "We all know that controversy sells newspapers. The sad part is that local newspapers can fall into that trap of yellow journalism." Despite the criticism, the twice-weekly Mirror is surprisingly influential for a paper with a circulation of 2,944. Almost everybody in the community reads it, more than pick up the Willows Journal and Orland Press Register, which have a combined circulation of 2,122 and are distributed twice a week by the Tri Counties Newspapers chain. The Mirror is, readers insist, the most comprehensive source of information for the citizens of Glenn County, a historic agricultural county formed in 1891. Some 30 percent of the 27,000 people in Glenn County are Latino, and many people live in virtual poverty. The median income for a household in the county is $32,107, according to the 2000 census. Crews has written about farms and businesses failing, more children dropping out of school and the rising illiteracy rate. He has documented the slow deterioration of the downtowns in Willows and other Glenn County communities and lamented the movement of people to other places, such as Chico, in neighboring Butte County. He has castigated officials for taking years to build a promised soccer field for Latinos and pushed for the construction of an Indian casino as a way to revitalize the community. "The function of newspapers is that by reporting the truth we will make you better," he said. "When I came here, there were twice as many hardware stores, there were music stores, a department store. Half of it is gone. I care a lot about this community, and want to make it better." For his efforts, he has been snubbed and threatened, and seen advertising pulled and his beloved dog die in 2004, apparently with poisoned meat that he believes was left by an angry sex offender he named in the paper. An arson fire was set recently in an office adjacent to his newspaper. There have been several attempts to silence Crews, but he has moles virtually everywhere, and the plots themselves invariably end up in print. The most infamous involved a series of hard-hitting stories last year about Joni Samples, then the superintendent of the County Office of Education. The stories detailed Samples' alleged use of county resources for vacations, personal speaking engagements and financial deals with friends. Crews accused her of campaigning at work for her chosen successor, using the office computer for private business and trying to cover it up. Samples and her colleagues got so fed up that they held a brainstorming session on how to shut Crews up, according to statements in the Mirror from people who were there. "How do we quiet the lion?" screamed the front-page headline shortly after the closed-door session. It was a direct quote from an assistant superintendent as she kibitzed with Samples and other officials. "The public records act has been broken, individual constitutional rights violated, thousands of dollars of taxpayer money spent on controlling a political scandal," Crews wrote. "And now they want to 'quiet the lion,' or, put more plainly, silence this newspaper." The California Department of Justice is looking into some of the allegations in the Mirror. "We've been investigating allegations of wrongdoing involving the Glenn County Office of Education for several months now," said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for the California attorney general. "I know there has been a lot of reporting there on the subject." Samples has denied any wrongdoing and defended her 40-year record as an educator. She said she could not comment about the allegations because of pending court proceedings, but her supporters have characterized the articles as a smear campaign fueled by wild exaggerations. "I loved education. I still do," said Samples, whose chosen successor was defeated by the man Crews supported after she announced she would step down in January. Born in Aberdeen, Wash., Crews grew up in Olympia. He spent three years in the Marine Corps and, after his discharge in 1963, enrolled in Central Washington State University. He was a bit too rebellious to get a degree and instead worked for a logging company and a steel mill, and also did commercial fishing. He got his first newspaper job in the mid-1970s with the Santa Barbara News & Review. He worked for publications in Texas and Colorado before moving back to Washington in the early 1980s, where he wrote for two newspapers. After a stint as a documents expert at Boeing, he went to the Middle East as a freelance writer. Crews returned to California in 1988, and a year later he was hired as general manager and editor of the Tri Counties Newspapers, covering Willows and Orland. Soon after that, he heard that certain officials had been issued concealed-weapons permits, so he published a list of several questionable permits issued by the county. That infuriated the sheriff and other law enforcement officials, who, with political supporters, met with the publisher and demanded that Crews be fired. When the publisher sided with the sheriff, "I said screw these people," Crews said. He got a divorce, his fourth, and with $35 in his pocket started the Mirror out of a motel in the hamlet of Artois. The first issue came out on Christmas Eve 1991. The paper recently moved to Willows. He has won numerous journalism, photography and press-freedom awards, including the Bill Farr Freedom of Information Award from the California First Amendment Coalition and the California Society of Newspaper Editors. Still, critics claim Crews mixes his opinions so liberally with the facts that it is impossible to decipher the truth. "Frankly, I can't rely on stories he's written as being factual," said Denny Bungarz, a former county supervisor, who gave several examples of how he believes Crews jumped to conclusions about county actions before he knew all the facts. Even some of Crews' supporters acknowledge that his prose often reflects his point of view. "He's an excellent writer, almost a novelist, if you get my drift," said Roy McFarland, a retired judge. "He can take an incident and make it pretty big." But Jim Bettencourt, a landscape contractor and former Glenn County supervisorial candidate, said Crews' aggressive reporting has kept the public involved in government. "Tim is the conscience of our community," said Bettencourt, who, like many locals, regularly stops by Crews' dusty office. "He addresses issues that others choose not to. He has empowered the downtrodden and instilled fear in the majority of the old guard in this community." ----------------------------------------------------------- Sacramento Valley Mirror online To see what Tim Crews is writing about, read the Sacramento Valley Mirror online at www.valleymirror.us. E-mail Peter Fimrite at pfimrite@sfchronicle.com. |
| Status of the California Attorney General's investigation of former GCOE supe Joni Samples Wed., Oct. 10, 2007 By Peyton Wolcott California AG Jerry Brown's media guy, Gareth Lacy, has not yet responded to queries with a status update. In all fairness to Brown's former deputy campaign manager, Lacy may still be busy dodging questions regarding Brown contributor Norman Hsu. On the other hand, we note the following from Samples' GCOE official bio: |
| Did the GCOE reasons for keeping documents secret outweigh the public's interest in that same information and the public's right to know? If yes, then the GCOE would have won. If no, then the MIRROR would have won. Simple. But the case got complicated when the GCOE attorneys — the ones hired to handle all of the MIRROR's requests — gave the MIRROR huge amounts of student and personnel information that the MIRROR didn't ask for. “How on earth did such an incredible mistake happen? These were the experts hired to stop exactly the sort of thing that they ended up doing. It makes no sense. But then the case got even more complicated when the GCOE tried to get that information back — as if that was even possible — and wanted the court to order the MIRROR not to report on the information the GCOE attorneys gave the MIRROR. “They knew or should have known that the MIRROR would not cooperate with any attempt to compromise its First Amendment rights to get the news and report the news," Mr. Boylan points out. Last year, then-Superintendent Joni Samples appointed a Sacramento attorney as a public records chief, and an expensive one at that. Mark Ellis released a disc to the MIRROR that continued seven years with of special education e-mails. The e-mails were supposed to have been swept clean of confidential information. They weren’t. We later learned that the attorneys couldn’t f figure out how to open them. So they were tossed in a box with spending records. And even later GCOE lawyers were supposed to have gone back and produced “clean” versions for us. They never did. The MIRROR reported that instead of protecting confidential information, the lawyer had negligently released it. And then we did a story on the failure of special education management to report suspected child abuse, a story with fictionalized names and the special education children protected, Mr. Ellis sought to have us punished. For his error. We had earlier turned over the discs, in a stipulated agreement we entered into most reluctantly. We did not agree to turn over our hard drives. Friday, Judge Byrd scolded both sides and complained about the complex litigation but congratulated both sides for an agreement. With Mr. Ellis appearing by telephone, Judge Byrd reviewed matters, noted that Mr. Ellis had filed for a TRO and “I denied that request.” He asked what GCBE wanted and Donald Anthony Velez Jr ., of Miller Brown & Dannis suggested that the information be eliminated from the MIRROR’s computers, perhaps by the appointment of a “tech savvy” referee. Judge Byrd waved that off, grumbled a bit more and said he was returning the cart load of records and discs to GCOE. The Mirror obtained the information legally. We retain it. Mr. Boylan notes, "We tried to end this nonsense - this huge waste of time and money. The MIRROR offered to settle many times. It didn't do any good. But then Superintendent Barrera fired his attorneys and negotiated an agreement that gave the MIRROR the records the MIRROR asked for in exchange for dismissing the Brown Act and the public records claims against the GCOE and the Board. We thought it was over. The issue of those confidential records - the ones the GCOE's attorney's gave to the MIRROR - was still out there. And no one seemed to know what to do about it. "Judge Byrd solved that problem. He is an excellent judge. He did for the parties what the parties could not do for themselves — he ended the case by dismissing the actions against the MIRROR. I am grateful." # # # |
| She is Past President of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) and was recognized by them as the California County Superintendent of the Year in 2003- 2004. |
| Given the tendency of such groups to circle the wagons and protect their own, wondering if General Brown has bowed to CCSESA lobbyists and quietly filed this investigation under "Allow to Die a Quiet Death Away from Public Scrutiny." We'll keep you posted. |