Friday, February 29, 2008

Closed Meeting - Superintendent Discipline/Dismissal/Release and Appointment

Official Agenda, Special School Board Meeting • February 29, 2008

Call To Order - Open Session - 9:30am

Business To Be Transacted Will Be Limited To The Following:

  1. Approval of Agenda
  2. Public Comment

Adjourn To Closed Session

Closed Session Agenda:

  1. Public Employee Appointment/Employment: Title: Superintendent (Interim) (G.C. 54957)
  2. Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release Pursuant To Government Code 54957

Adjourn To Open Session

Reconvene To Open Session

  1. Report Of Action Taken In Closed Session
  2. Consider approval of the proposed settlement and mutual release agreement between the Brady Company / San Diego, Inc. and the Del Mar Union School District for repair work at Torrey Hills School in the amount of $29,702.00.
  3. Consider approval of the proposed settlement and mutual release agreement between Tower Glass, Inc. and the Del Mar Union School District for repair work at Torrey Hills School in the amount of $22,379.27.
  4. Adjournment Of Special Board Meeting Of February 29, 2008.

More information:

Thursday, February 28, 2008

CV News: Bishop resigns as Del Mar Union School District Superintendent amid controversy

By Ian S. Port
Assistant Editor

Source: Carmel Valley News 02-28-08

The tenure of Del Mar Union School District Superintendent Thomas F. Bishop was ended at a packed meeting Feb. 26, where teachers and parents from the district battled over the legacy of a man who ran one of the county’s highest performing school districts for a decade.

The district’s board of trustees voted 3-2 that evening to buy out the remainder of Bishop’s contract two years early, effectively sending the district chief into resignation.

The board was prohibited from publicly announcing the reasons for seeking to buy out the superintendent’s contract early, which seemed to anger many in attendance.

“I would only consider a decision like this if I really thought it was in the best interest of helping us as a community move forward and continue to have excellence in the classroom,” board president Annette Easton said. “Not all of us see it the same way; not all of us have access to the same information.”

Trustees Janet Lamborghini and Linda Crawford both voted against buying out Bishop’s contract. Easton, Katherine White and Steven McDowell voted in favor of the motion.

“[Bishop] has developed strong educational programs that are the envy of the state, and our children are all the better for it,” Crawford said. “This is a sad day for me.”

Teachers and parents turned out in force Feb. 26 to criticize the board for its decision to remove Bishop, saying the funds used to buy out the contract could have been better spent in a year when the state is likely to slash school funding.

“I have always been proud to be a part of the Del Mar Union School District,” parent and longtime teacher Carole Sharp told the board of trustees. “Tonight I am not proud.”

More than a dozen former and current teachers and employees came out in support of Bishop, highlighting his past leadership and criticizing the board majority for its decision to seek his removal.

“I am truly sorry to see Tom go,” said former DMUSD teacher Linda Castile. “I feel like a series of misstatements and misjudgments have been made by this board.”

Statements opposed to Bishop’s departure earned thunderous applause from the crowd, while a smaller number seemed to cheer for speakers who implied approval of his leaving. But several supporters of the decision to remove the superintendent were present.

“There aren’t a lot of parents here speaking in support of Mr. Bishop because he frankly didn’t listen to parents,” said parent Ginny Merrifield. “He misrepresented the facts, he lied and he collaborated with others to undermine the board. I think that it’s fair to call the question of whether or not he is willing to work with the board.”

Bishop was selected as head of the Del Mar Union School District in 1998, when the district included only three schools. A graduate of UCLA and UC Berkeley, Bishop worked as a teacher and administrator in schools around California before coming to San Diego County and, finally, Del Mar.

His tenure coincided with the growth of development in the city of San Diego east of I-5, an area that would be served largely by the Del Mar district. He oversaw the opening of five schools in Carmel Valley and, importantly, the birth of the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation, a nonprofit that solicits parent donations to help pay for the district’s extended studies curriculum.

Though he commanded fierce loyalty from parents and teachers in the district right up until the moment the board voted to end his contract, Bishop’s leadership began to fuel opposition in later years.

A vocal group of parents criticized Bishop for what they said was a mishandling of the district’s effort to sell the 5-acre Shores property to the city of Del Mar. He was further admonished by some parents who asked for an investigation into the goings-on of the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation — a request that Bishop criticized at the time.

The election of a new three-person majority to the district’s board of trustees in 2006 — amid community-wide controversy — broke up a board that had been seen by some as too supportive of Bishop.

But the lines of division laid out during the past election did not end there, as comments made Feb. 21 vividly illustrated.

“Tom Bishop never had a chance when the three-person majority was elected in 2006,” Jeannie Waite said at the meeting.

Under the terms of the contract buy-out, Bishop will be paid $287,851.86 — equivalent to 18 months of salary — through Oct. 21, 2009. His employment will be formally terminated April 30, but the superintendent’s last day of work will be Feb. 28. (The interim will be taken as vacation days.)

Bishop also receives health benefits through Oct, 31, 2009, unless he becomes otherwise employed. He was not present Feb. 26.

U-T: Schools chief looks back on his tenure

Board voted Tuesday to buy out contract

Source: http://signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080228-9999-1mc28bishop.html

By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

February 28, 2008

DEL MAR – Tom Bishop, the departing schools chief for the Del Mar Union School District, began yesterday to sift through a decade of work and memories after the school board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to buy out his contract.


Tom Bishop

The outgoing superintendent will leave the district on vacation this Friday and officially resign April 30.

Yesterday, he said he would not criticize the school board's decision. But he said that he probably would have stayed if a majority of trustees wanted him there and that he had no other reasons for wanting to quit.

“The board that hired you is not always the board you have when you leave,” Bishop said. “It doesn't always work well, and my departure is an example of that.”

Bishop, 58, said he was proud of his role in leading the district through a decade of remarkable growth, when the number of schools grew from three to eight and the teaching staff increased from 70 to 250. The district now enrolls about 3,800 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

“The facilities are top-rate, and especially what goes on in the classrooms is top-rate,” he said.

Bishop will leave the district with a healthy $5 million reserve, equal to 14 percent of the budget. The state requires school districts to keep a 3 percent reserve.

He said yesterday that he hopes trustees use the money to weather the state budget crisis, which is expected to cause a $1 million shortfall in Del Mar Union in 2008-09.

California districts without Del Mar's financial cushion are considering layoffs and program cuts to make ends meet.

On Tuesday night, a divided school board voted to buy out Bishop's contract, which will cost at least $287,000 and likely more than $300,000. Trustees Annette Easton, Katherine White and Steve McDowell, who voted for the buyout, have commanded a political majority on the board since late 2006. They had long criticized Bishop for wielding too much power and not listening to parents.

Bishop's critics have said the superintendent angered parents during school attendance boundary changes in 2002, had formed too close a relationship between the district and its independent parent-run nonprofit foundation, and had not been open enough concerning the sale of the Del Mar Shores school property. It's now in escrow with the city.

Some parents have been angered by district talks to start a Spanish language immersion program – a move they claim has not sufficiently involved parents.

At Tuesday's meeting, a handful of parents said it was time for a change in leadership.

But they were far outnumbered by an angry crowd of parents and teachers Tuesday, some of whom called the buyout a waste of money at a time when the district may ask parents to help offset budget cuts.

“I'm going to have to dig very deep to get the motivation to run that campaign when our school board is willing to throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars on this resignation agreement,” said Janet Pecsar, a parent at Del Mar Hills Elementary School.

Trustee Janet Lamborghini, who joined Linda Crawford in voting against the buyout, said she had “unqualified confidence” in Bishop and that he delivered “one of the best educational programs in the state.”

Bishop began his career more than three decades ago teaching high school government, history and English, and he later taught English in middle school and then the fifth grade. Before coming to Del Mar in 1998, Bishop was a superintendent of the Jamul-Dulzura Union School District for 12 years.

Bishop said he has great affection for the community in Del Mar, and he praised teachers, parents, and trustees for their dedication.

He acknowledged that he upset some parents during a decade of rapid growth and dizzying change that required setting new attendance boundaries – a contentious process in any school district.

“There's no doubt that the boundary adjustment was very divisive,” Bishop said. Easton was elected to the school board during that turmoil.

The district today is settled to the point that people who buy houses have a good idea of where their children will attend school for 20 to 30 years, he said.

Bishop said he has also set high academic expectations for all students. Last year, the district scored 947 on the state's Academic Performance Index, a multifaceted measure of academic achievement that ranges from 200 to 1,000. The district had the highest API score in the county in 2007, and the seventh highest in the state.

As the parent foundation continues to raise money to provide music, art, science and physical education teachers, trustees will struggle with equity issues, Bishop said.

He said he has wanted all schools to be treated equally, but some parents have wanted to donate just to their own campuses. The board allows parents to pay for up to two teaching positions at their child's school.

On Tuesday, Easton said trustees would not comment on the decision to buy out Bishop's contract.

On Friday, the board is scheduled to meet privately to discuss hiring an interim superintendent.



Source: http://signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080308/news_lz1mc8lets.html

Focusing on Del Mar School District

I am writing to clarify statements I made that were quoted in “Schools chief looks back on his tenure” (Our North County, Feb. 28).

The article implied that I will be less motivated to financially support my district due to Superintendent Tom Bishop's forced resignation and buyout of his contract. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am overflowing with motivation to donate my time and money to my school and district. I have to look no further than my school's outstanding teachers and exceptional programs to find that motivation.

The quote that “I am going to have to dig deep to get the motivation to run such a campaign” referred to a letter-writing campaign focused on our legislators in Sacramento to fight the governor's proposed budget cuts. My next statement to the school board was that I will run that campaign, regardless of how they voted on the resignation, because I believe that I have a voice in government.

I recognize and appreciate the programs that my children enjoy at our school that are not paid for by public funds, and will continue to support those programs. While I respectfully disagree with the school board's decision, I will not let that stop me from supporting my school and district.

JANET PECSAR
Del Mar

I take issue with the newspaper's coverage of the Del Mar Union School District. Specifically, the coverage of the hot lunch proceeds that were diverted, the missing money at Del Mar Hieghts Elementary School and of the recent board meeting accepting Tom Bishop's resignation. Where, for example, were the mention of reprimands that were placed on Bishop? Where were any quotes from anyone supporting the board?

CORINNE HACKBART
Del Mar

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

U-T: Trustees vote to buy out contract of schools chief

By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

URL: http://signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080227-9999-1m27resign.html

February 27, 2008

DEL MAR – In a move that angered many teachers and parents, a bitterly divided Del Mar school board bought out Superintendent Tom Bishop's contract last night, ending his decade of leadership in the highly regarded elementary district.

The buyout, which will cost the Del Mar Union School District at least $287,000 and likely more than $300,000, ends a rocky relationship between Bishop and trustees Annette Easton, Katherine White and Steve McDowell. The three trustees had continually criticized Bishop on a number of issues since White ad McDowell were elected in fall 2006.

The vote to accept the buyout was 3-2, with trustees Janet Lamborghini and Linda Crawford dissenting.

More than 150 people attended the school board meeting last night, many angrily opposed to the majority vote. The three trustees had little to say, other than to express their desire to take the district in a new direction. Bishop did not attend.

Board President Easton said the board could not speak about personnel issues in public.

“This process has been extremely difficult,” she said. “One of the primary issues I ran on was transparency. . . . Unfortunately, this situation does not allow it.”

Crawford did say Bishop's departure was regrettable.

“Our district is world-class because of Tom Bishop and his staff,” she said. “This is a sad day for me.”

In the past, the board majority had criticized Bishop's management style, saying he was not open enough and did not seek consensus.

However, many teachers and parents said Bishop worked hard to inform them of decisions and enlisted their opinions about how to make schools better.

As a result, the district experienced rapid growth over the past decade, expanding from three to eight campuses while still improving academically. The district is one of the highest performing in the state.

Many speakers said the board's decision was reckless at a time when state budget cuts are looming.

“As we sit at the edge of near certain financial turmoil, I'm concerned that the board is fixing something that clearly isn't broken,” teacher Jennifer Jo Mokiao said.

According to the resignation agreement, the district will pay Bishop $287,851.86, equal to 18 months' salary.

The district also will pay health benefits through Oct. 31, 2009 – unless Bishop is hired elsewhere.

Other provisions allow Bishop to:

  • Keep his district cell phone and laptop computer.
  • Receive up to $10,000 for any attorney fees he incurred during negotiations to resign.
  • Be paid for 3.6 days of vacation accrued between Feb. 29 and April 30.

February Regular Board Meeting

February 27 Regular Board Meeting

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Closed Meeting - Superintendent Discipline/Dismissal/Release

Official Agenda, Special School Board Meeting • February 26, 2008

Call To Order - Open Session - 5:00 pm

Business To Be Transacted Will Be Limited To The Following:

  1. Approval of Agenda
  2. Public Comment

Adjourn To Closed Session
(In the Del Mar Hills Academy – Administration Office Conference Room, 14085 Mango Drive, Del Mar, CA 92014)

Closed Session Agenda:

  1. Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release Pursuant To Government Code 54957

Adjourn To Open Session

Reconvene To Open Session (Anticipated Start Time is 6:00 pm)

  1. Report Of Action Taken In Closed Session

Persons wishing to address the board on Item “E” are invited to do so at this time. If you wish to speak, complete a “Speaker Slip” at the sign-in desk and present it to the secretary of the board.

  1. Personnel - Resignation Agreement Between Del Mar Union School District And Thomas F. Bishop
  2. Adjournment Of Special Board Meeting Of February 26, 2008.

More information:

Monday, February 25, 2008

URGENT SCHOOL NEWS e-mail received

This unsigned email, disseminated by room parents of children in the Del Mar schools, made the rounds the day before the special board meeting approving Tom Bishop's resignation agreement.


Subject: URGENT SCHOOL NEWS

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

Many of you may remember the hard fought, gut wrenching days of the DMUSD School Board boundary decision back in 2002. Others of you may not have even lived here at that time. Then again, some of you went so far as to sell your home(s) and purchase another one just to be able to attend a certain school.. Prior to 2002, there were no school boundaries in the Del Mar district.. You could live on the beach in Del Mar, and send your kids to Ashley Falls or whatever DMUSD school you so desired. When the boundaries were enacted, that created neighborhood schools. That has been the status quo since 2002.

Unfortunately, now, the "newly elected majority of 3" has decided that they don't want the boundaries anymore. In order to do away with them, they are voting on Wednesday, February 27, 2008, at their regular meeting to be held at Del Mar Hills school to allow permanent interdistrict transfers for any student who desires one. They are doing this against the advice of their own legal counsel. Their lawyer wrote a 4 page opinion letter on why this should not be done. However, they are going to do it anyway. This vote is not being publicized, however, you can download the meeting agenda from the website, hopefully, by this weekend.

What is appalling about this vote for permanent transfers to school sites other than the child's neighborhood school, is that it will effectively increase the class sizes in the upper grades. Right now, in the 6th grade at my son's school (Ashley Falls), there are at least 7 students who should be at other schools, but they were granted transfers to Ashley Falls. This makes my son's 6th grade homeroom class a 27 member class, instead of 20. Three of the transfer kids are supposed to go to the newer school, Sycamore Ridge (they can walk there), but the kids didn't like that school, and wanted to come to Ashley Falls. Voila! A transfer was granted! So, with those children at Ashley Falls, our class size is high (27), and the Sycamore Ridge 6th grade class has only 19 kids. You might be asking, (since my child will be graduating the school in June), why do I care? I care about my property values! That's why! Think about what a permanent lifetime transfer could mean! With "out of boundary" kids taking up desks at your home school, there will not always be room for the kids who live near the school to be enrolled. (This was one of the school district's lawyer's admonishments advising against the practice of permanent transfers!)

That was the problem we faced back in 2001 -2002, when my 6th grader was in Kindergarten! So, here we go again, unless lots of people attend that meeting and speak out against enacting a new policy! Please help if you can! Those crazies are doing whatever they please! In fact, they are firing Tom Bishop, the Superintendent for the last 10-11 years on Tuesday night...Why would you force someone to resign and have to pay out the balance of a contract for two more years, and pay big bucks to hire a new person, when the state is in such a horrible budget crunch? Even if you hate Tom Bishop, it doesn't make sense to cut him loose until the contract ends, right? Check out the website for "Special meeting" Board Agendas! You'll see that they are forcing him to resign this coming Tuesday at a "Special Board Meeting" at 6pm at the Del Mar Hills School. They are doing all of this under cover, since no one ever goes to the website to browse about what the Board might be up to....Get the word out if you care! EMAIL THE BOARD MEMBERS IF YOU CAN'T ATTEND THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT MEETING! THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES CAN BE FOUND AT DMUSD.ORG

We need our boundaries, and we need the transfer policy to be kept on a "space available" "one year at a time" basis.

Thanks so much!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

U-T: School district superintendent might be leaving

By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Source: http://signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080223-9999-1mc23supe.html

February 23, 2008

Tom Bishop, superintendent of the Del Mar School District since 1998, is poised to resign.

Late yesterday, the school board scheduled a meeting for 5 p.m. Tuesday to approve a resignation agreement between Bishop and the district. The meeting is scheduled at Del Mar Hills Academy, 14085 Mango Drive. A closed session is scheduled first, followed by a public session anticipated for 6 p.m.

The school district announced the meeting at about 5 p.m. yesterday.

Bishop has had a rocky relationship with the school board since late 2006, when trustees Katherine White and Steven McDowell joined Annette Easton to form a board majority.

The three trustees have been highly critical of Bishop's leadership on a number of issues. Their chief complaint after taking office in late 2006 was that the previous school board had handed Bishop too much power and wasn't aggressive enough in exercising its own responsibilities in governing the district.

White, who did not return telephone calls late yesterday, hinted from the get-go that the new board majority might force Bishop out.

“We want a return of power to the board,” she said in an interview for a Dec. 27, 2006 news story. If Bishop could make the transition, he would be “comfortable,” she said. “If he doesn't, we always have the option of buying out his contract.”

The terms of the resignation agreement were not made public, and none of the board members or Bishop returned telephone calls yesterday.

The past year has been a tumultuous one on the board. Several meetings were tense with discussions over the district's parent foundation, which had been criticized in the past for not being transparent enough and paying its former executive director too much money.

The board majority criticized Bishop's involvement in helping the foundation raise money, and last spring voted on measures to sever several ties between the district and the foundation. Its director has since left and hasn't been replaced.

White, Easton and McDowell have all said in the past that the district should have sought more community input on the sale of the Del Mar Shores school property, which is in escrow with the city of Del Mar. An agreement between the city and district would preserve open space for public use.

Despite the controversies, the eight-campus Del Mar School District is one of the highest performing public school districts in the state.

Home to about 3,800 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, Del Mar scored 947 last year on the state's Academic Performance Index, a measure of academic performance that includes scores on state standardized exams and several other measures. An API score ranges between 200 and 1,000, and the state encourages districts to shoot for a score of 800.

In 2001, the district's school board at that time nominated Bishop as the California superintendent of the year.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Closed Meeting - Superintendent Discipline/Dismissal/Release

Official Agenda, Special School Board Meeting • February 20, 2008

Call To Order - Open Session - 3:30pm

Business To Be Transacted Will Be Limited To The Following:

  1. Approval of Agenda
  2. Public Comment

Adjourn To Closed Session

Closed Session Agenda:

  1. Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release Pursuant To Government Code 54957

Adjourn To Open Session

Reconvene To Open Session

  1. Report Of Action Taken In Closed Session
  2. Adjournment Of Special Board Meeting Of February 20, 2008.

More information:

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Voice of SD: Del Mar’s Missing Money, Mysterious Politics

Source: http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/02/19/opinion/01merge021908.txt

By Ian S. Port

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008

Sometime in the middle of January, an envelope containing about $8,000 in cash and personal checks disappeared from a drawer at Del Mar Heights Elementary School.

The money was proceeds from a book fair the school held in December to raise money for new library books — and no one knows what happened to it. The locked drawer where it was kept showed no signs of forced entry. The money didn’t turn up in a massive search of the school office.

Days after the envelope was discovered missing, the police were called. They have no leads.

The incident is obviously embarrassing for the staff of the school, members of which admit that they broke with district policy by not keeping the money in the school safe when it wasn’t being counted.

"Mistakes were made," said Heights Principal Wendy Wardlow. "There should have been better oversight."

The errors were magnified by a news story about the missing money appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune. In a short Feb. 8 piece, Wardlow was quoted as being regretful and Superintendent Tom Bishop as disappointed -- with him also noting the amount of the loss as unprecedented.

Everyone acknowledges that losing track of over $8,000 is a pretty big bungle.

But the appearance of a story about the missing funds in the Union-Tribune has raised the suspicions of many in the Del Mar Heights community, who wonder if the story was pushed to the Union-Tribune by someone in the district who might not mind seeing the school embarrassed in the region’s biggest paper.

True or not, such paranoia is commonplace in the district these days. While schools in Del Mar manage to produce some of the highest test scores in San Diego County -- and absolute adoration from many parents -- the politics of education in this affluent and successful community are frequently vicious, vindictive and sometimes nearly violent.

The U-T story raised eyebrows partly because the paper writes barely at all about mid-coastal elementary schools. Besides fluffy features, the only hard news that makes it to print is truly major: bond measures, board elections and major curricular crisis.

Moreover, the story was published before many in the district -- even many of those on staff at Del Mar Heights School -- had heard about the missing money, leaving a very limited pool of potential leakers.

After Superintendent Tom Bishop was informed of the missing funds on Jan. 24, he issued a gag order for everyone who knew of the incident, including staff and the school board.

Two weeks later, the story appeared.

Burglaries, thefts, narcotics violations, vandalism and other crimes are regularly reported at schools in the area, so it’s hard to see why this report would stand out. According to the crime-mapping website Arjis.org, at least five similar crimes were reported at DMUSD schools between November and January. Does the U-T check them all out, or did something else draw the paper’s attention to that January incident at Del Mar Heights?

School board member Katherine White said the circumstances -- the leak of an embarrassing story when only a few knew about it -- "are something."

"I didn’t read about it in the paper when there was a principal drunk in a school event," White said. "And I didn’t read in the paper when a school employee was using drugs on campus. And I don’t read about the principal that screams at his employees. And I don’t read about the other thefts that have happened in the schools this year ... I don’t understand what makes this such a reportable event when those other things I’ve never even been officially told about."

The view of the Heights School as a target of the district administration -- specifically Superintendent Tom Bishop -- is widely (though not universally) held among the school’s parents and staff.

None that I contacted would speak for attribution on the subject, but the story they tell is the same. Critics from all over the district have long said that Bishop does not tolerate disagreement from employees. And Wardlow, the Heights principal, has earned a reputation as a straight-talker.

"He hates Wendy and he hates the Heights and he’s been trying to get rid of her for years," one parent said. "And why is that? Because Wendy speaks what she thinks. She’s not diplomatic."

Bishop told me he was "disappointed" about the missing money. He did not return calls Friday seeking further comment.

The spat between Bishop at the Heights has old origins, according to those who describe it, but the conflict has heightened recently. In 2006, a brand new, three-person school board majority was elected on a message of reform, implicitly criticizing the superintendent and a school board that they said had long given him everything he wanted. Their election came amid a mass evaporation of faith in various divisions of the district, especially in the nonprofit foundation that supports Del Mar classes with private money. Many of the most vocal supporters of the "slate of three" reformers were Heights parents. Two of the new school board members sent their kids to the school.

Since the election, the Superintendent’s professional life has been significantly less predictable. Board meetings are no longer smile-a-thons held to ratify Bishop’s desires. When oddities occur -- and there have been too many to list here -- Bishop is brought into line by his board.

Last year, parents from another DMUSD school nearly erupted into a fistfight over the district’s plan to start a pilot Spanish immersion program, partly because the district didn’t bother to tell parents of its plans until after the decision to go ahead was made. The principal of the school herself learned of the immersion program minutes before the school board voted to approve it. But after parents revolted -- complaining that no one told them what was going on -- the plan had to be canceled.

Two months later, Heights Principal Wardlow appeared in front of the school board asking to start a different Spanish language program at the school. Her proposal for a smaller program was developed entirely by the school staff and had its support.

Despite that adding foreign language education has been a longtime stated goal of the district -- and that the Heights curriculum was an obvious chance to atone for the blundering of the earlier immersion program -- Bishop and an ally on the board rode Wardlow through a two-hour hearing on the proposal, bringing to bear their full arsenal of nitpicking on the principal.

The message was clear: the district can do what it wants, and it might mess things up horribly. But even an obviously competent and heavily supported proposal from the Heights is going to get the toughest scrutiny from the district.

One wound between the Heights and the district goes to the very existence of the school itself. Rumors have persisted for years -- heard by teachers and school board members -- that Bishop has plans to close the Heights, sell the extremely valuable land it sits on, and use the money to build a new district office.

The superintendent always denies this. Of course, Heights parents and staff still find such talk incredibly disturbing. And in other matters, not a lot of love rains down from the district to dissuade parents and staff of the notion that their school is looked upon less than favorably by it.

The very thing that allegedly pits Wardlow against Bishop -- her forthrightness -- is what many parents say they like most about her.

"Wendy Wardlow has all of my tremendous support, as well as everybody in the community that I’ve ever talked to," said parent Ralph DeMarco, who sent five kids through various Del Mar schools, and says he likes Wardlow the best of any principal. When DeMarco heard about the missing $8,107.18 in book fair funds, "I went over there and I said I want to write you a check right now."

With a tone of suspicion that has become all-too-common around Del Mar schools lately, he admitted finding the U-T piece a bit weird.

"Is that somebody’s PR plan there? Why this article like that? Is somebody feeding that for the purpose of their overall agenda?" he asked.

It could be nothing. But in Del Mar these days, you just never know.

Ian S. Port is assistant editor of the Rancho Santa Fe Review, Carmel Valley News and Del Mar Village Voice. Contact him at iansmithport@gmail.com. Or send a letter to the editor.


Ian S. Port

Thursday, February 14, 2008

CV News Article: Police investigating possible embezzlement in Del Mar Heights funds’ disappearance

Source: http://sdranchcoastnews.com/CMV%20Pages/CMV_TP2.html

By Ian S. Port
Assistant Editor

More than $8,000 in proceeds from a book fair went missing at Del Mar Heights School last month — an incident that San Diego Police are investigating as possible embezzlement or theft.

An envelope containing the missing funds — $8,701.18 in personal checks and cash — disappeared from the desk drawer of an office assistant the week of Jan. 23, according to Heights Principal Wendy Wardlow. The envelope contained proceeds from a book sale, including about $5,400 that the school still owes to Scholastic, Inc. There was no sign of forced access to the drawer.

“There should have been better oversight, and mistakes were made,” Wardlow said. “We just can’t imagine that anyone would take something like this.”

After a district investigation failed to recover the missing envelope, San Diego Police were notified and are now investigating the matter, according to spokesperson Monica Munoz. She said the detective working the case has “no leads.”

“We truly aren't sure what this is: theft, loss or embezzlement,” Munoz stated in an e-mail. “All we know is there was several thousand dollars in a desk, and when the secretary went to retrieve the money it was gone. We know it was not a burglary.”

Del Mar Union School District Superintendent Tom Bishop said he was “disappointed” at the loss.

“It’s kind of a sad story for us,” Bishop said.

He said administrators are trying to file insurance claims for some of the lost money, but said it would be a month before they would be answered.

Wardlow said the envelope with the money went into the locked drawer Dec. 20, the last day before the school’s winter break. It was removed, partially counted and returned to the drawer by an office assistant Jan. 7.

District policy dictates that the money be stored in a safe. But Wardlow said the Del Mar Heights safe was not in a place where the assistant could count it, so she temporarily kept it in a desk drawer.

Bishop said he was told of the missing funds after Heights staff spent days searching for the envelope. He called San Diego Police to the incident Jan. 25.

So far, none of the missing checks have been cashed. Wardlow said she hopes the money may simply turn up missing. But if it doesn’t, she said, students won’t feel the error.

“It will not come out of anything that will go to our children,” she said.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Closed Meeting - Superintendent Discipline/Dismissal/Release

Official Agenda, Special School Board Meeting • February 13, 2008

Call To Order - Open Session - 6:00

Business To Be Transacted Will Be Limited To The Following:

  1. Approval of Agenda
  2. Public Comment

Adjourn To Closed Session

Closed Session Agenda:

  1. Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release Pursuant To Government Code 54957

Adjourn To Open Session

Reconvene To Open Session

  1. Report Of Action Taken In Closed Session
  2. Adjournment Of Special Board Meeting Of February 13, 2008.

More information:

Friday, February 8, 2008

U-T: School's book fair proceeds missing

Police are looking for more than $8,000

By Bruce Lieberman

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Source: http://signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080208-9999-1mi8theft.html

February 8, 2008

DEL MAR – More than $8,000 raised from a book fair in late December at Del Mar Heights Elementary School is missing, and police are investigating the incident as a possible embezzlement.

School officials discovered the money was missing Jan. 18 after checking a locked drawer in the school office, where an employee had stored the money in an envelope, Principal Wendy Wardlow said.

Nothing indicated the drawer had been forced open, she said.

The money should have been placed in a safe at the school, Wardlow said.

“I think in the busyness of things that a mistake was made,” she said.

The lost money totaled $8,107 – mostly in cash but also personal checks, Del Mar Union School District Superintendent Tom Bishop said. As of yesterday afternoon, neither the school nor the district office had notified parents of the theft.

“At first the (school) site had a hard time believing the money was gone, and then as we finally concluded that it was gone, this was on our list of things to do and we're finally getting around to it,” Bishop said.

The district planned to notify parents today, he said.

The case is being investigated by the San Diego Police Department's northwest division, said Gary Hassen, a department spokesman.

The school hosted the book fair in late December to raise money for new library books, Wardlow said. The educational company Scholastic sold books at the fair, and was to split money raised with the school. Wardlow said the school owed Scholastic about $5,000 of the $8,107 raised.

The school district has contacted its insurance company to cover the loss, but a settlement was still uncertain yesterday, Bishop said.

The loss of so much money from a school fundraiser is unprecedented in the district, he said.

To safeguard valuables at each school, the district installed safes on every campus about a year and a half ago, Bishop said.

“The safes are there to prevent episodes like this, so it's disappointing that this money is gone,” Bishop said.

Wardlow said she has reviewed with her staff the procedures for handling money.

“It's a very, very marvelous school, and every single person at this school is ethical and honorable,” Wardlow said.

“I certainly don't have a lack of confidence in any person at this school, (and) I don't think that there was ever any intent to be negligent.”


Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Closed Meeting - Superintendent Discipline/Dismissal/Release

Official Agenda, Special School Board Meeting • February 6, 2008

Call To Order - Open Session - 5:00 pm

Business To Be Transacted Will Be Limited To The Following:

  1. Approval of Agenda
  2. Public Comment

Adjourn To Closed Session

Closed Session Agenda:

  1. Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release Pursuant To Government Code 54957

Adjourn To Open Session

Reconvene To Open Session

  1. Report Of Action Taken In Closed Session
  2. Adjournment Of Special Board Meeting Of February 6, 2008.

More information: