The Great VUSD Wars ending?

Have the Great VUSD Wars come to an end? There are only two candidates for two openings on the VUSD school board and both are the incumbents--Carol Herrera and Jim Gibson.

What happened to Jim Gibson's fellow traveler waiting in the parking lot until the last minute to file? Why isn't the Gibson Group on the attack trying to unseat Carol Herrera? Hey I don't know. I can make some guesses, but the only thing certain is that the unrelenting war on FACT public based education in our fine Vista Unified School District will have at least a temporary cease fire.

I feel a sense of relief. Yet there remains that bad taste in my mouth that we won't have a chance to get Gibson off our school board. He has cost our district so much money in waste (nearly fifty million dollars) and five years in delays in starting our new third high school Mission Meadows. He has repeatedly done all he can to make our district a laughing stock while trying to gain political glory for himself, Carrie Prejean Day. To have such this self promoter on our board for four more years is really quite sad.

At least he is neutered by the four other board members. None of his self promoting resolutions can pass. He cannot block the acquisition of any new pieces of land or anything else as a minority of one. Only with the help of fellow traveler in educational crimes against our children, Dr. Stephen Guffanti, could he and Guffanti use their votes and obscure California law to stop progress in our district. With Guffanti safely off the board and no chance for a Gibson stoooge taking Carol's seat, we no longer have to worry about Gibson pointless obstructionism.

As to why Gibson did not run one of the stooges he regularly found and ran with in the past, perhaps it is because his support has so dwindled. There were fewer and fewer of folks blogging for him at the North County Times. When they did I was able to show that most of what Jim had told them were lies. To some like Vista Watchdog 1 and Roxy, Jim's lies did not matter; but for many others, they did. Jim also seems to have lost Republican support. As a three time loser in attempts for higher office including a scorched earth take-no-prisoners attack on the eventual winner in the State Assembly seat he ran for, I think his support was growing very thin. I cannot believe that Assembly person, Diane Harkey will soon forgive what he wrote about her, a fellow Republican, on his website of deceit during his campaign for the seat that she eventually won. Being on the Republican State Committee only gets you so far, and Gibson seems to have gone as far as position will ever take him, maybe farther.

I know the Madison Miracle last Spring had a major contribution towards bringing about this cease fire in the Great VUSD Wars. The North County Times stopped their out right support of Jim afterwards. For the first time since the North County Times was created from the wreckage of the Blade Citizen and the Times Advocate, the editorial board stopped their one sided attacks on the teachers and others in VUSD who favored FACT based public education. Again kudos to the Madison Middle School teachers who invited Jim Trageser to their site and who some how made a very positive impression on him. I still have not found out who it was who created the Madison Miracle, but our school district and all the children and parents it serves owes those Madison folk a great deal of thanks. I should acknowledge that Jim Trageser's willingness to visit the site and to listen. He is a bigger man than I thought.

I hope too that my willingness to research, disprove, and publicly correct the lies of the Gibson Group were part of the reason that they faded away. I hope this blog site helped as well.

Wow, I do not have to call a hundreds of voters. I do not have to read the paper each morning with a sense of battle readiness. I do not have to fight the daily blog wars, at least not for a while, perhaps not ever again. Suddenly I have so much free time stretching out in front of me. I have started the process of creating a garden in my back yard. I have broccoli, sugar snap peas, carrot and lettuce seeds ready to go. It's fall planting time in Vista and this year I can plant that garden I have wanted to for so long. Maybe I can get the trim on the house painted. With so much free time stretching out in front of me, the possibilities are endless. Whoopee!

Sorry about the delay in posting this denouement to the Great VUSD Wars. We had our house tented for termites a little over a week ago. If you have never had the pleasure, it takes about a week to ten days to get ready, two more days out of the house in a motel, and then a week to put everything back. Not fun, but let's hope the termites are now as dead as our agapanthus plants next to the garage (from the gas). I also had a medical procedure this week and survive the general anesthesia with no adverse events--which is a bit rare for my immune system. Consequently have had little time for posting over last three weeks.

Of course for those of you who will be back to teaching next week, I do not have to tell you how busy life can suddenly become. The start of the school year, the busiest time for our dedicated public school teachers and the most nerve racking. When will the class lists be in? Will I get enough text books? What new programs will admin spring on us? Lesson plans to prepare, seating charts, etc. Endless jobs, endless frustrations, and yet endless possibilities for new accomplishments with your students this year.

So many of you have been back in the classroom working for free for the last two weeks. It may seem like no one appreciates it, but they do. Even if your students and parents are unaware of all the time you have spent, they are fully aware of how well prepared you are. Yes, I know, no one ever seems to thank you for the time it took to get prepared. They do see that you are ready to go and that must in some deep part of their minds realize it must have taken time to get that way. Just not every one realizes it would be nice to acknowledge your work and dedication. So let me say it for them. Thank you teachers for all your hard work, all the hours and hours and hours you put in above and beyond your duty hours. You are great people, you are public school teachers. I will always be proud that I was once numbered as one among you. Good luck this year.


Here is the story in the North County Times about the 'non-election' this year in VUSD:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_60848c31-7426-5817-b9a3-3b36b77bec30.html