| Report from Castle Park Elementary teacher JoEllen Hamilton |
Every day, kids in many schools are sacrificed to petty politics.
| "I have loved Castle Park Elementary since I was six years old," says Maura Larkins. "The school board sent it into a tailspin." |
| To some extent, what happened at Castle Park Elementary was a fluke. But it would not have happened if the teachers and administrators involved had possessed a belief in, and understanding of, the principles of American justice, and a culture of open communication and respect for people who are different from them. |
| Questions for the future: |
| If problems were actually fixed, school attorneys wouldn't have as many billable hours, would they? |
| Is something more serious than a crime being covered up? Such as incompetence? |
| If this is how they treat adults, how safe are the kids in the classrooms controlled by these teachers? |
| J. H. screamed over and over (in front of children playing at recess) as Maura Larkins walked away, repeating: "I did not do anything inappropriate to you!"* |
| J. H. admitted UNDER OATH that she confronted Maura Larkins on February 6, 2001 because she feared that she might get in trouble for harassing Maura Larkins. She admitted that this was the reason she contacted Asst Superintendent Richard Werlin. |
| February 6, 2001 |
| Maura Larkins' complaint was never investigated, making it easier for Jo Ellen Hamilton and Linda Watson to pull off their hoax. The complaint in this Jan 23, 2001 letter by Maura Larkins was NEVER INVESTIGATED by Rick Werlin or Chula Vista Elementary School District. |
| This type of behavior is surprisingly common among administrators. Maura Larkins did not belong to a protected class, but many administrators do not bother to protect victims of racial or sexual harassment, either. |
| February 10, 2001 |
| Some lazy administrators prefer to let bullies, both adults and students, run schools while those administrators look the other way. If victims complain, the administrators solve the problem simply by silencing them, using smear tactics and intimidation, rather than fixing the problem. |
| Two teachers, J. H. and L. W., called Asst Superintendent Rick Werlin's home within minutes of each other on a Saturday night. Rick Werlin testified under oath that this alarmed him deeply because it was so unusual for a teacher to contact him at home. This was a false statement (perjury). Teacher J. H. testified that MR. WERLIN SUGGESTED to her that she call him at his home! |
| In her deposition, L. W. said she never feared for her life, nor called Asst Superintendent Rick Werlin on February 10, 2001. But she changed her story when Maura Larkins asked her if she would mind if her telephone records were subpoenaed. She said she had called Mr. Werlin, but she couldn't remember when or why. |
January 23, 2001
Dr. Donndelinger:
One year ago I first tried to report to you a
problem with inappropriate behavior toward me on
the part of a staff member. You dismissed the
matter as insignificant. I have endured in silence.
During the past few weeks, the problem has
escalated into constant harassment. Please set up
a meeting time to discuss the problem.
Sincerely,
Maura Larkins
| It's never too late to fix CVESD's and SDCOE's mistakes! It's time to end the culture of secrecy at Castle Park Elementary, CVESD and SDCOE. Nothing good can come of it. (UPDATE Jan 2007: Rick Werlin caused similar problems in Richmond, California, where a teacher was handcuffed in front of her second graders and led away by police for demanding that the school put an end to bullying. Rick Werlin, I'm afraid, has no appreciation for the perfect irony of the situation. |
| Saturday Night Phone Calls |
| Teacher J. H. told Richard Werlin that she feared for her life. Or did she? She swore under oath that she didn't. Richard Werlin swore that she did. Who is lying? EITHER J. H. NEVER CLAIMED TO FEAR FOR HER LIFE, OR SHE COMMITTED PERJURY. Either way, it is clear that her allegations should never have caused Maura Larkins to be removed from her classroom AND DISMISSED. Did Chula Vista Elementary School District apologize to Maura Larkins or her students? No. |
| What if L. W.'s claim that she feared Maura Larkins might kill her HAD BEEN BASED ON REALITY? The district never investigated! The district did not make sure to prevent either: 1) a tragedy; or 2) the descent of an entire school into a frenzy of hysteria. To this day, the district has never investigated this case. Maura Larkins was dismissed for NOT COMING TO WORK because she eventually stopped returning to work after the district demanded on three separate occasions that she leave without ever documenting or investigating the allegations against her! Maura Larkins demanded an investigation before she would return to work a fourth time. The district refused to investigate. But the district did not take action to dismiss Maura Larkins until a year later, AFTER Maura Larkins sued the district. Dismissing someone for filing a lawsuit is a violation of Labor Code 1102.5. School attorneys advised the district to violate two separate sections of the labor code. SDCOE JPA lawyers also advised the district to obstruct justice and commit perjury, each of which is a felony. A lawsuit for subornation of perjury has been filed. |
| The claims of these teachers were never investigated by the district. They were simply acted upon in an extreme and irresponsible fashion by lazy administrator Rick Werlin. |
| Copyright © 2006 San Diego Education Report. All Rights Reserved. |
| Exhibit R-25 from Maura Larkins Administrative Hearing |
| Text of note at right: "Maura and I were both in the lounge doorway and I said, "Gretchen told me that you submitted a written complaint about me." "Maura said, "Gretchen lied. Would you like to see the letter that I wrote?" "I've already seen it." "You saw the letter that I gave to Gretchen?" she asked. "Yes, I saw the letter." "Then she said, "You are part of the problem." [Side insert] I said, "What is the problem?" and "That's your perspective." [Maura] "You have done many inappropriate things." "When I started to respond, she turned and walked away." |
| Note to Reader from Maura Larkins: Yes, this is a story about small-minded people and petty behavior. Unfortunately, this happens to be the situation out of which felony obstruction of justice and other violations of law arose in San Diego County. Anyone who wants to address the problem of the felonies needs to deal with the situation from which they arose. |
| Clearly, this letter does not mention any names, but teacher J. H. stated in her deposition that she was afraid it might go into her personnel file. Why on earth would she think that? A guilty conscience? |
| The principal NEVER scheduled a meeting with Maura Larkins about this problem. Instead, she picked up the letter Maura Larkins placed on her desk, and went straight to J.H.'s classroom during instruction time, to get instructions on how to deal with the complaint! |
| Castle Park Elementary was NOT controlled by its principal. It was controlled by J. H. and other powerful teachers, including former Castle Park teacher Gina Boyd, the President of CVE. |
| Did lawyers Daniel Shinoff and Mark Bresee advise CVESD to keep lying so that the attorneys COULD KEEP MAKING MONEY? |
| Four days after the above incident, according to Asst. Superintendent Richard Werlin, Jo Ellen Hamilton called him at his home and said she feared for her life because Maura Larkins walked away from her. (At first Werlin also said that another teacher also called him that night, but a month later he changed the story, saying that only Mrs. Hamilton called.) The following Monday, Mr. Werlin placed Maura Larkins on administrative leave, but did not tell her that this incident was the reason. The district NEVER MADE ANY written record of the reasons Maura Larkins was placed on leave on February 12, 2001 until November 21, 2001. Barbara Abeyta, Terry Olson, and James Ahler at the Office of Administrative Hearings found that the district was right to place Maura Larkins on administrative leave because of the above-described incident. |
| Teacher union president Gina Boyd said to Maura Larkins, when Larkins was placed on administrative leave on Feb 12, 2001, "He (Werlin) has no choice." Later Larkins learned that Boyd wanted the truth hidden to protect her close friend Robin Donlan. |
| Why did CVESD put Maura Larkins on administrative leave? It was because the district believed Robin Donlan's false allegations that Maura Larkins was violent and had a gun. Robin Donlan reported (as fact) the allegations that a mentally-ill, substance-abusing woman had made to police in an effort to deprive Maura Larkins of her inheritance from her father. (Yes, it sounds like a soap opera. Truth is just as strange as fiction.) Donlan was guilty of a crime for illegally obtaining that allegation from police files with the help of her brother, Michael Carlson. The district and CTA violated a different subsection of the same statute that Donlan violated. |
| This problem doesn't just concern Castle Park Elementary. The entire California education establishment is involved. |
| I am happy to be out of Castle Park Elementary's sick culture. If you worked at Castle Park Elementary, with people like these, and these, once you got over the initial shock, you wouldn't really be sad to be out of there! But I want this school, which I loved since I was a first-grade student there, to become a law-abiding and education-centered place again. |
| People who probably would not have been hired as teachers in the old days. |
| These candidates can take teacher education classes while they are on the job. |
| Many readers might not care about Maura Larkins personally, but they care about their kids. Her students were treated with shocking disregard by the principal and the school district. They fared so poorly that a very large number of them were urged to opt out of state-wide standardized testing at the end of the 2000-2001 school year. The following fall, the district tested them off the record. What were the results? |
| Castle Park Elementary School culture was dysfunctional and lawless, and the last thing Shinoff wanted was to allow it to be fixed. |
| Many people believe it is important that people who are successful in other fields should be allowed to go into teaching without FIRST going through a teaching program. |
| Every school that I know of has some excellent teachers, and some who need more education to help them understand what their job is and how to do it. |
| Student test scores have gone down. But is the drop in teacher ability even more precipitous? Many women, who in the old days would have become dedicated teachers, today become doctors, CPA's and CEO's. Who has replaced them? |
| I suggest better evaluation of teachers, including non-subjective testing, and using master teachers to guide beginning teachers until they have mastered their job. |
| A Few Bad Apples-- Or Normal Human Behavior? Concluded Massachusetts therapist and author Lauren Slater: "We have to judge the individuals who committed the horrible deeds, but we can't judge them through the lens of saying, 'I would never have done that,' ... because the Millgram experiments show that under orders, most of us will do that." |
| The deposition of the Castle Park principal was kept under wraps by Elizabeth Schulman, the lawyer Maura Larkins had the bad fortune to hire. It is, however, a exhibit in a current subornation of perjury case. |
| *"Everything I said was totally appropriate...[and] totally legal." Enron founder Ken Lay, regarding the $66 million in profits he made by selling stocks secretly as his company collapsed. He was convicted of fraud. |
(Exhibit R-25 is below)
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Teacher JoEllen Hamilton waited outside the teacher work room at Castle Park
Elementary for Maura Larkins on February 6, 2001. When Maura Larkins tried to
leave the building,
Hamilton blocked her exit,
and verbally confronted
Maura Larkins about the
letter at the top of this page.
Elementary for Maura Larkins on February 6, 2001. When Maura Larkins tried to
leave the building,
Hamilton blocked her exit,
and verbally confronted
Maura Larkins about the
letter at the top of this page.
| Home Why This Website SDCOE CVESD Castle Park Elem Law Enforcement CTA CVE Stutz Artiano Shinoff Silence is Golden Schools and Violence Office Admin Hearings Larkins OAH Hearing |
| Exhibit R-19 from Maura Larkins Administrative Hearing |
| The balloon boy hoax Balloon saga parents emotional during [hoax] 911 calls Dispatchers were calm while Heenes explained son, 6, was ‘in the air’ Sheriff calls balloon saga a ‘hoax’ Oct. 18: Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden tells reporters that the ordeal was staged to generate publicity for a reality TV show and that the parents could face multiple charges. NBC’s Lee Cowan reports. By Mike Celizic TODAYShow.com contributor Oct . 21, 2009 The voices on the 911 tapes sound distressed, and sincere. First a man, then a woman, in near hysteria telling a dispatcher about their 6-year-old son, who has taken flight on a homemade helium balloon shaped like a flying saucer. The tapes, released by the Larimer County (Colo.) Sheriff’s Office, show that the boy’s parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, repeatedly mentioned the age of their son, Falcon, and are heavily larded with emotional and dramatic pauses and repetitions. If it sounds like an act, law enforcement officials say that should come as no surprise. They believe the whole incident was a staged publicity stunt... |
| Why did teacher Jo Ellen Hamilton plan a hoax at Chula Vista Elementary School District? She wanted Maura Larkins to be fired for writing this letter. > > > |
| How hard is it to pull off a hoax? |