Capistrano Unified Schools Will Be Closed Friday Due to Power Outage

This just in from the Capistrano Unified School District:

Schools are closed on Friday, Sept. 7 due to power outage. More information will be available at www.capousd.org or at 949.234.9427.

UPDATE:

All schools in the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) will be closed on Friday, Sept. 9, 2011, due to the power outage affecting Southern Orange and San Diego counties.
The District, like many school districts serviced by San Diego Gas and Electric, has decided to cancel classes for its students. A decision regarding Friday evening sporting events has not yet been made.
“We have no assurance that power will be restored by the time school begins tomorrow morning, and local emergency jurisdictions have advised the District to suspend classes until power is restored,” Superintendent Joe Farley said. “We are sorry for the obvious inconvenience to our working families, but it is clearly not proper to have students in school without electricity to power key systems including lights, refrigeration, and computers.”
The decision to close schools was made for a number of reasons, including the lack of power at school sites and the difficulty many staff members will have commuting to work from their homes in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. Only the CUSD staff members who have been specifically notified should report to work on Friday, Sept. 9.
Power is expected to be restored in time for school on Monday. For more information, please call the District’s Hotline at (949) 234-5575, which will be open at 7 a.m. or visit the District website at www.capousd.org.

CUSD Teacher's Strike Ends

As is usually the case the strikers claim victory but I don't think they really won much.  It sounds more to me like they realized they had put themselves in a bad spot and needed to find a way out:

A five-day standoff between the Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers union ended late Monday, with the two sides coming to a tentative agreement that ends teacher picketing.

Teachers will all return to their classrooms Tuesday morning.

“We are really, really happy for our teachers and our schools, to have our family back together again,” school board President Anna Bryson said of the agreement that was reached about 11:30 p.m. “It’s a really wonderful feeling to know our kids will have their teachers.”

Union leaders said in a statement that Capistrano teachers had been “victorious in their struggle to achieve a negotiated settlement” and lauded the educators for taking a “courageous stand” on the picket lines for three days.

“It is the courage and determination of CUEA (Capistrano Unified Education Association) members on the picket lines and the thousands of supportive district parents and community members that resulted in the tentative contract agreement with the CUSD board of education,” union President Vicki Soderberg said in a statement.

Bryson said the school board also was pleased with the outcome and that it was a mutual agreement.

The three-year deal maintains the 10.1 percent pay cut that was unilaterally imposed on teachers in March, but offers some “restoration language” that will allow teachers’ pay to be restored “as revenues increase,” according to the union.

Now comes the ugly part, the conflict between the teachers that struck and those that didn't or who went back yesterday. There will be festering problems between those groups for at least the rest of this year, not to mention the conflicts with administration.  The gloating language of the teacher's union president isn't going to help.

Since the news broke so late I'm guessing that attendance will still be way down today since most parents won't find out the strike is over until later today.

Strike Three

Or should I say Strike Day Three, which will hit the Capistrano Unified School District on Monday:

Teachers say they will be returning to the picket lines Monday after no compromise was reached in negotiations between the Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers after a weekend of negotiations.

After 9:00 p.m. Sunday, talks between the teachers and the district had ended for the night, solidifying the teachers resolution to continue the strike, says California Teachers Association spokesperson Bill Guy.

Negotiations are set to resume at 11 a.m. Monday, but the teachers plan to continue their strike until a resolution is reached, Guy said.

Attendance on Day 1 (Thursday) was about 50% of usual, 30% on Friday, and with it heading into a third day I have to wonder if anyone will show up?

From what I heard the schools were definitely better organized on Friday, but with fewer students the job had to be a little easier. Parents don't want their students to be babysat all day, they want them taught, especially those students who have AP and Star testing coming up. Students are also missing sports, theater, and other activities due to the strike.

And this strike isn't just affecting CUSD schools.  When the leagues were realigned by the CIF a few years ago Mission Viejo High, a Saddleback district school, was put in a league with five CUSD high schools.  Mission has now had all league games canceled until the strike is over, and that could have an effect on young athletes who might be scouted by colleges.

The teachers seem to have the sympathy of many of the parents and students at this point, but that could turn very quickly as people get frustrated with the whole thing and the opportunities lost.

No Settlement in CUSD Strike

UPDATE:  Strike will continue into Monday.

They're still talking, but nothing's been settled in the Capistrano Unified School District:

The Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers union failed to reach a settlement Saturday on Day 3 of a strike standoff that has crippled programs and activities across the 52,000-student district and pushed classroom attendance rates down to about 30 percent.

District and union bargaining teams have already met for the past three consecutive days – about 15 hours in all – even as hundreds of Capistrano teachers walked the picket lines in front of their schools Thursday and Friday. The 5-1/2 hours of talks Saturday ended about 7:30 p.m.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume Sunday afternoon; if an agreement can’t be hashed out, the district’s teachers union says teachers will return to the picket lines Monday.

“We are prepared to go back tomorrow and we’re encouraged the talks are going to go on,” union spokesman Bill Guy said Saturday. “There is some progress being made.”

I have a feeling we'll still see striking teachers on Monday.

Attendance Drops to 30% on Day 2 of CUSD Strike

I predicted 25%, so they did a little better than I thought they would:

Capistrano Unified schools are refining their operations and adjusting their lesson plans for students on Day 2 of a teacher strike that has crippled many programs and pushed attendance rates below even Thursday’s levels.

Overall student attendance hovered at 30 percent Friday, although all 56 schools in Orange County’s second-largest school district remained open Friday and some students were reporting that the substitute teaching staff seemed to be more organized.

Both my nieces stayed home today. Yesterday was just too chaotic to take a chance on another day like that.

CUSD Strike Will Continue Friday

Just in from the MV Dispatch Twitter Feed:

CAPO TEACHERS STRIKE will continue Friday.

Attendance was less than 50% in the district today. I bet they don't hit 25% on Friday.

Here's why there will be far fewer students there tomorrow - this report from my nieces who both attend CUSD schools

(at the Junior High) They saw some movie that a man was on fire and there were a lot of swear words. A substitute with a strong accent gave, what sounded like, a lesson in psychology. They had a two-hour block with nothing to do. The teacher's blocked the drop off zone of the school with their cars and there was no place to let the children off in the usual place. All day, kids were called to the office and were evidently picked up by their parents. She thought that kids were texting their parents and asking them to come get them.

(at the Elementary School) they were given coloring pages to do. They also watched a Sesame Street movie. Her teacher, along with two others, came to school. They are all near retirement and if they stay out, their last three years are what their retirement will be based on. She was very bored.

I think that both girls will be staying home tomorrow.

And I can't blame them.

Attendance Tanks During CUSD Strike

Not unexpected:

Student attendance plunged well below 50 percent across the Capistrano Unified School District on Thursday as hundreds of teachers picketed outside schools, according to preliminary attendance estimates, but there still weren’t enough substitute teachers and at least one high school was reportedly vandalized by unsupervised students.

Several classrooms at San Clemente High School were trashed in the morning, with desks thrown to the ground and papers scattered around.

Student witnesses said about a dozen students were responsible for the damage, the result of students reporting to classrooms that weren’t staffed by a substitute teacher.

"They did it because they could, because no one was supervising them," San Clemente High junior Anthony Saccone said. "… We were supposed to do work, but there were no teachers around to tell us what to do.”

This is Day 1 of a teacher strike in Orange County’s second-largest school district, the county’s first in a decade.

The teachers union says it is protesting the district's failure to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to settle a bitter, months-long pay cut dispute.

Initial attendance figures released Thursday afternoon indicate about 52 percent of elementary students were absent, plus about 59 percent of middle school students and about 76 percent of high school students. The district cautioned, however, that the figures were preliminary and subject to change.

Meanwhile, about one in eight district teachers crossed the picket line and reported for work, according to the district. They were joined by about 600 substitute teachers.

If you think today had low attendance, just wait until tomorrow. After the stories today about kids sitting around with basically nothing to do, even if the strike is ended fewer students will show up tomorrow than did today. Looks like a long weekend for most of the Capo students.

CUSD Strike Photos

UPDATE:  Strike will continue on Friday.
UPDATE:  Strike will continue into Monday.

A week ago today I was taking pictures of protesting Tea Partiers in Lake Forest and Mission Viejo.  Those people were mad at their government, but overall were pretty happy to be there.  Different story today.

Today I went out and did a couple of "drive-by shootings" of CUSD Teachers protesting at a couple of schools I'm familiar with.  First, Newhart Middle School, which is located about 1/4 mile from the location of the Mission Viejo Tea Party.  Most of the protest activity was away from the school itself.  These folks were headed away from the school toward the La Paz/Marguerite intersection.

In front of the school itself was a smaller group.  Because of the trees and plants the school itself is almost invisible from the street.

This quartet apparently wanted to be heard.  They were standing on tip-toes, peering over the bushes, and yelling stuff at the school.

Most of the group had decided to go down to the corner where the Mission Viejo Tea Party was held and march around that busy intersection.

I also ran down to Laguna Niguel Elementary School where my niece attends to check out the scene there.  I noticed a security guard posted in the school's parking lot, and all the protest activity was confined to the corner away from the parking lot entrances.

From what I'm hearing from various sources the activities planned for the kids who did show up at school today ranged from learning how to buy a new or used car, personality tests, and watching "The Office".  Not a lot of actual education going on (though you can learn a lot of life lessons from "The Office").

I also heard that a one high school at least two teachers showed up for work, defying the union.  That's a gutsy move on their part, and unfortunately they're going to pay a social penalty at the very least from both fellow teachers and possibly students who are supporting the teachers.  Mission Viejo Dispatch has a letter from a parent praising the teachers who dared to cross the picket lines.

This could all end today, depending on how the meeting goes between the sides.  However, none of the posturing on either side will change the reality that there is limited taxpayer money available to keep pumping into education, and that unless the school systems learn a thing or two about economy and eliminating waste and excess, and the unions learn something about the reality of the money that's available, they will be in a constant state of turmoil.  Taxpayers are not going to vote themselves a tax increase just to fund teacher's salaries, and the legislature isn't going to get the votes to do it on their own.  With taxes being jacked up on all sides, the days of voters passing bond issues or other property tax surcharges to support education are over.

We spend far more per student than we did when I was in school, and yet students today have to provide most of their own supplies.  When I attended in the 60's and 70's you showed up with your lunch and that was about it.  Everything else was provided.  Today, parents get a list from the school district prior to the start of the year with all the stuff the kid has to provide, including pens, pencils, paper, glue, staples, markers, paints...and on and on.  It cost us well over $100 every year to equip our kids with all the stuff they were going to need.  Where's the money gone that used to pay for all that stuff?

This is the first teacher's strike in Orange County in 10 years, but I predict it won't be the last unless some folks wake up to some hard financial reality.

Strike Preparations Underway in Capistrano Unified

I've been hearing various things today as the Capistrano Unified School District teachers prepare to go on strike tomorrow.  At one high school they shut the school down at 3:30 pm today and all the door locks were being plugged to prevent vandalism overnight.  Teachers were taking home all of their personal belongings, and according to one report, had been told by the union to also take "anything that might help a substitute".

Here's some of what can be expected tomorrow:

While all 56 district campuses will remain open Thursday, bell schedules will be altered at many schools, and some classes will be canceled entirely, including zero period. At the district's six high schools, the school day will be shortened, with dismissal at 1:35 p.m.

Also, all bus transportation in the district will be canceled Thursday, except for special-education students.

School officials are telling parents that students will not necessarily report to their regular classrooms, and most after-school activities – from sports to tutoring to club meetings – will be canceled, at least on the first day of the strike.

Student drama and music productions, however, will continue as scheduled, as will after-school care programs and food services, according to the district.

"The district is arranging for substitute teachers and putting necessary plans in place to continue to keep schools open and provide a safe and operational educational program for our students and employees," the district said in a statement on its website. "Schools will send site-specific information to their communities. ... We appreciate your patience and understanding."

The district also is hiring unarmed security guards for all of its campuses to ensure picketers do not disrupt pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

It's going to get ugly.

Capistrano Unified School District Teacher's Plan to Strike Tomorrow

UPDATE:  More info on strike preparations.
UPDATE 2:  Strike photos.

It's getting uglier in South Orange County:

Accusing Capistrano Unified of fostering “chaos instead of communication,” the district's teachers union says educators will begin striking Thursday to show they’re fed up with the district's failure to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to settle their bitter pay cut dispute.

It will mark the first teacher strike in Orange County in a decade.

 Union leaders said the final straw prompting a strike in Orange County’s second largest school district was a letter Tuesday in which district officials indicated they were willing to discuss a compromise related to the 10.1 percent cut, but that the district could not agree upfront to demands made by the union.

“We don’t believe they are serious about negotiating,” teachers union President Vicki Soderberg said. “We think they are using this as a stalling tactic, and we can see right through it.”

The strike will begin Thursday morning, the union said, giving parents and students less than 48 hours’ notice.

It will end when union leaders “determine that they (district officials) are serious about reaching a settlement,” according to a statement released late Tuesday.

The teachers union said there was nothing in state law requiring it to give advance notice to students and parents in the 52,000-student district.

The teacher's demanded the district agree to certain provisions before they sat down to negotiate, and the district responded with a letter that called that move an "unfair labor practice". There is no love lost on either side of this fight.  Looks like they're going to insult each other into a full-on strike.

The Register has an article that will be useful to Capo parents with information about the strike and what to expect.  You can read it here.

CUSD Teachers Cave

After all the tough talk and big votes threatening a strike it looks like the teachers have folded like a cheap suit:

Seeking to avert a strike with an 11th-hour offer to the school board, Capistrano Unified's teachers union has offered to stop fighting a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers in exchange for a written agreement stating salaries will be restored if the district receives additional, "unforeseen" funding.

The compromise, which comes just three days after teachers resoundingly authorized going on strike, represents a significant reversal of the union's position. Union leaders previously said teachers would walk off the job unless trustees were willing to renegotiate all elements of the 10.1 percent pay cut imposed in March.

"We've moved a whole bunch to avert a strike," Capistrano Unified Education Association President Vicki Soderberg said Monday from the union's offices in Aliso Viejo. "That should say volumes to the public and to the school board."

The union's letter gives Capistrano Unified until 5 p.m. Tuesday to formally notify the union it will return to the bargaining table.

Perhaps a little sanity has returned to the process.  I'd like to think that somebody talked some sense into the union leaders and explained that lots of people are taking cuts these days and there isn't any more taxpayer money to throw their way.

I had a conversation with the mother of a high school junior taking five AP classes who was quite worried that with AP tests coming up a strike could really hurt her student.  Bottom line - the students will win because school  won't be disrupted (except for the drones who were looking forward to staying home during a strike).

Teacher's Strike Looming in Capistrano Unified

Update:  Teachers cave.

Looks like things are about to get interesting in the Capistrano Unified School District which serves much of South Orange County:

Trustees in the Capistrano Unified School District have affirmed that they will not back off their decision to impose a 10.1 percent pay cut on the district's 2,200 teachers, even as union leaders could decide as early as Monday what day teachers will begin striking.

School board President Anna Bryson released a statement Saturday saying trustees were "very disappointed" by Friday's vote authorizing a teacher strike, but that the district "simply cannot" return to the bargaining table, as the Capistrano Unified Education Association union is demanding.

 "A teacher walkout will be a political statement by the union that will not change the fiscal reality we face as a school district or the need to move forward with the level of concessions required in the CUEA contract," Bryson said in the statement. "Individual teachers will be asked to pay the price in lost wages for that union decision."

Teachers in the district – Orange County's second largest – resoundingly authorized a plan Friday to go on strike in the coming weeks if the school district isn't willing to renegotiate the terms of the pay cut imposed on them.

Nearly 87 percent of teachers in the 52,000-student district voted in favor of striking, with an 85 percent turnout during the two-day voting period, according to the union. Union leaders will meet Monday to discuss when, or if, teachers will walk off the job.

Teachers say they are willing to accept pay cuts that are negotiated at the bargaining table, but that the school board has been disrespectful and hostile toward them throughout the nearly year-long negotiations impasse, especially when it imposed the pay cut in March.

As I understand it the union has to give 48 hours notice before it can start a strike, so I think that will hold things off until Wednesday or Thursday. Given the feelings on both sides, I'm guessing there will be a strike and it may go for awhile.

UPDATE:  The Mission Viejo Dispatch has some strike facts for parents and students.

Capistrano District Will Hire Guards if Teachers Strike

Things are heating up in the Capistrano Valley Unified School District:

The Capistrano Unified School District is planning to hire private security guards for all of its campuses if teachers in the district go on strike in the coming weeks.

The school district – Orange County's second largest, with 56 campuses – last month placed open purchase orders totaling $100,000 with two private security firms for an estimated 250 guards.

Capistrano Unified teachers and their supporters protest unilaterally imposed 10.1 percent pay cuts outside a school board meeting last month. About 300 more demonstrators were inside the board room, but those who couldn't fit watched from outside. Capistrano teachers could vote to authorize a strike as early as next week.

In the event of a teacher strike, Capistrano Unified would employ only unarmed guards, not any armed guards, district spokeswoman Julie Hatchel said. Because of incorrect information provided to the Register, this information was incorrect when the article was initially published online.

Copies of the purchase orders have been circulating via e-mail in the Capistrano community, rankling parents, students and teachers already on edge over the possible strike. Capistrano officials, however, have stressed that the district has not spent any money yet, that the guards would be unarmed, and that the guards would be deployed on an as-needed basis.

"We all heartily hope we do not need them," school board President Anna Bryson said. "But we cannot be caught unprepared. We owe our students a calm and functioning campus."

The security guards are part of a comprehensive plan being developed by Capistrano district officials in anticipation of a possible strike by teachers. For the past several weeks, the district also has been hiring substitute teachers and developing generic lesson plans.

"The fact that they are paying for the security guards makes me so mad because that money could be going toward something else," said Kathryn Gullickson, 18, a senior at Dana Point's Dana Hills High School, where students have already staged a protest and walkout over the teacher pay issue. "We're not in danger. The whole idea of them protecting us from the picketing teachers is far-fetched and ridiculous."

It's interesting that the comment in that last paragraph came from a Dana Hills student. I've been hearing a lot of stories from staff members down there that they've been having problems with groups of activist kids that have decided to cause problems with class walkouts and the like in "support of the teachers". According to one report I got the teachers just sat there and did nothing while kids were leaving their classrooms and trying to rally others to join them. There were even text messages going to students with threats of riots at various school events. One girl reported to school staff that she got 30 such messages.

If there are going to be problems Dana Hills is where they're going to have them. They seem to have lost control down there.

Teacher's Strike?

It could be coming to the Capistrano Unified School District:

Chanting "Do the right thing!" while clapping in unison, about 400 educators and their supporters rallied Wednesday at Capistrano Unified School District headquarters to protest a 10.1 percent pay cut that the school board is imposing on all teachers.

Many held up signs demanding that Capistrano's school board "respect our teachers" by returning to the negotiating table to try to work out a compromise with the district's 2,300-member teachers union.

The board room in San Juan Capistrano was packed to capacity with about 300 teachers and their supporters, while about 100 more demonstrated outside.

"All the other districts have the same problems we do, but they are asking so much more of us than other districts," said demonstrator Julia Ferguson, a fourth-grade teacher at San Juan Capistrano's Kinoshita Elementary School and a 20-year educator. "It just doesn't seem fair."

The 10.1 percent pay cut, formally enacted at Wednesday's school board meeting, will end months of bitter negotiations over how to achieve pay concessions intended to help the district close its gaping $34 million budget deficit.

The pay cut was approved in a 6-1 school board vote, with trustee Jack Brick dissenting.

"There is not one single person who rejoices in what we may do tonight," school board President Anna Bryson said just before the vote. "We understand it is painful. It is not a process we have enjoyed, and it has been extremely difficult for every one of us."

As the meeting concluded, demonstrators in the audience shouted, "Strike! Strike! Strike!" in unison.

They may know about teaching but they know nothing about protest signs. I was driving by a local high school and some of the teachers were out marching around with their signs and unless you're standing right next to them they're unreadable (you can see a photo at the link). They have big bold red borders, but the print is too small to be read from more than a few feet away.

It's pretty hard to sell your cause if nobody can figure out why you're protesting.

New School Movement - Give Your Kids a Sick Day September 8th

UPDATE: Text of speech here.

I noticed a new Facebook group that encourages parents who have concerns about Obama's planned September 8th speech to school children to keep their kids home that day. Call in sick.

Out here that could be a problem because for some school districts, like the Capistrano Valley Unified School District, that's the first day of school. Other districts like the Saddleback Valley Unified School District don't start until September 10th, but as I said in the previous post it wouldn't surprise me if they replay the speech.

I don't have kids in elementary school anymore, so I guess I don't have a dog in this fight. Each parent will have to judge for themselves the downside of missing a school day versus the downside of missing Obama's speech.

Vinnie at the Jawa Report has this advice:

Oh, come on. Are you that insecure as a parent that you don't feel capable of countering Obama's message with your own? Do you think that your kid is that stupid, or that you failed so bad that you made your kid that stupid, that you think he or she will just suck up Obama's speech and turn into a Ohitler Youth overnight?

Sorry, but my kids are going to school on September 8th. And I will be sending them there with a reminder that to the best way to tell if President Obama is lying is if his lips are moving.

Works for me.

Religion-Hating Teacher Found Guilty of First Amendment Violations

I have to say that this decision surprises me. Not because it's wrong, but because I just couldn't imagine a court in today's politically correct environment going this direction:

SANTA ANA – A Mission Viejo high school history teacher violated the First Amendment by disparaging Christians during a classroom lecture, a federal judge ruled today.

James Corbett, a 20-year teacher at Capistrano Valley High School, was found guilty of referring to Creationism as “religious, superstitious nonsense” during a 2007 classroom lecture, denigrating his former Advanced Placement European history student, Chad Farnan.

The decision is the culmination of a 16-month legal battle between Corbett and Farnan – a conflict the judge said should remind teachers of their legal “boundaries” as public school employees.

"Corbett states an unequivocal belief that Creationism is 'superstitious nonsense,'" U.S. District Court Judge James Selna said in a 37-page ruling released from his Santa Ana courtroom. "The court cannot discern a legitimate secular purpose in this statement, even when considered in context."

In a December 2007 lawsuit, Farnan, then a sophomore, accused Corbett of repeatedly promoting hostility toward Christians in class and advocating "irreligion over religion" in violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause.

The establishment clause prohibits the government from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion" and has been interpreted by U.S. courts to also prohibit government employees from displaying religious hostility.

There's more information about the case in the article.

This guy is typical of the wacky left. They're so sure in their own self-righteousness that they can't even tolerate being in the presence of a belief system different than their own. They must mock it and mock those who believe in it.

Well, mocking doesn't always come free, as this guys is now finding out.