There are three seats available on the SAUSD School Board in the upcoming November General Election. Two of the SAUSD Trustees, Rob Richardson and Jose Hernandez, are retiring from the School Board. Another incumbent, Ceci Iglesias, is up for reelection – and she has been targeted for removal by the Santa Ana Educators Association.
There are quite a few candidates vying for these School Board seats including: Continue reading
SAUSD School Board candidate Shuntele Andrews, a retired teacher, has been endorsed by SAUSD School Board Trustee Rob Richardson, according to her Facebook page.
In February 2003, Richardson was elected to the Board of Education following a recall election and receiving 65% of the votes cast. He was re-elected in 2004 and 2008 to full four year terms. Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 12th, 2014
Contact: Eric Hogensen, 323-761-9514
Santa Ana School Board Clerk Rob Richardson Endorses Rigo Rodríguez for School Board
(Santa Ana) – Santa Ana School Board Clerk Rob Richardson announced his endorsement of Dr. Rigo Rodríguez for Santa Ana School Board today.
Richardson stated: “As an educator and active community member, Rigo Rodríguez has dedicated his career to strengthening the Santa Ana community through education. As a School Board member, Dr. Rodríguez will continue to lead efforts to improve schools for our children. He will fight for what is best for our students, I have confidence in him to lead our District forward.”
Rob Richardson has been a longtime leader in the Santa Ana community. He served on the Santa Ana School Board from 1987-1990, after which he served as a Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem for eight years. In 2003, Richardson returned to the School Board where he served another five years as President working to improve the quality of education in Santa Ana and he continues on the Board. He currently serves as an administrator for the County of Orange. Continue reading
The Santa Ana Unified School District Police Department has launched an investigation into video footage apparently showing a school police officer restraining a sobbing 14-year-old boy with a headlock, according to the OC Register.
We broke this story – and it has since been reported in New York, in Philadelphia, and in Riverside. But where has it not been reported? That’s right – there is NO MENTION of this on the SAUSD’s website nor on their Facebook page.
SAUSD School Board Member Rob Richardson has not mentioned any of this on his Facebook Page. SAUSD School Board Member Cecilia Iglesias has not mentioned it on her Facebook Page either. What about the other SAUSD School Board Members? I don’t think John Palacio and Audrey Noji have Facebook Pages. Jose Alfredo Hernandez does but it is just used to hype his law firm. Continue reading
Two investment groups and a developer connected to Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido were involved in a real estate flip in 2003 that resulted in the Santa Ana Unified School District paying nearly twice as much for a piece of land slated for an elementary school than it had previously offered. And in the process, the developer realized a more than $600,000 profit, according to the Voice of OC.
I wrote about that deal years ago on another blog. I am pretty sure that if someone tipped off the developer who flipped that land, Kris Kakkar, it was SAUSD Board Member Rob Richardson, who joined the SAUSD School Board in 2003, according to his bio. Richardson may have leaked details about the land transaction to a friend, such as Mayor Pulido, who in turn may very well have shared that info with Kakkar. Continue reading
The very best elementary school in the Santa Ana Unified School District, according to the O.C. Register’s latest rankings, is John Muir Fundamental Elementary, which was ranked #25 in the county. The only other SAUSD elementary school to rank over #50 was Jim Thorpe Fundamental Elementary, which was ranke84d #32. The other fundamental school in town, Greenville Elementary, was ranked #72.
The rest of the SAUSD Schools, with the exception of Carl Harvey Elementary at #84, are ranked below the top 100, with 13 of them ranked below the top 300 and six ranked in the 200’s.
This is terrible news as the failure to educate kids in our elementary schools bodes ill for their advancement to middle schools and high schools. Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2013
Contacts: Josie Amador, 714-558-5555
Media Advisory – Friday, March 22 Event
Business and Community Leaders Experience a Day in the life of a Principal in celebration of ‘Principal for a Day’
Event: Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) will host its annual “Principal for a Day” event. During the half-day event, more than 50 community leaders, business partners, supporters and elected officials will visit SAUSD campuses to experience the daily operation of a school. Following their morning assignments, the guest principals and their counterparts will gather at a luncheon, at Santa Ana High School, to share their experiences with each other and District administration. Continue reading
Funny how history has a habit of repeating itself. A few years ago a Santa Ana Councilman got a job as an Orange County middle manager. He proceeded to get promoted repeatedly, despite an obvious lack of talent. And eventually he was arrested for allegations of sexual harassment and sex crimes, as well as public theft. His name was Carlos Bustamante.
Bustamante was recruited to the County of Orange, reportedly, by Assistant OC CEO Rob Richardson, who is a Trustee on the Santa Ana School Board. Both are Republicans as well.
Now we come to find out that Councilman Roman Reyna, who has even less education than Bustamante did, with naught but a high school diploma, has scored a job as a Case Manager at the Orange County Department of Education, according to Reyna’s city bio. Continue reading
As has been our tradition, it is time to vote for the Santa Ana Man and Woman of the Year, for 2012. And we have quite a few great choices to choose from, in our poll below. You can vote for up to three nominees. Voting will close on January 8, 2013.
This year’s mayoral race produced three of our nominees – Mayor Miguel Pulido, and candidates David Benavides and George Collins. But we also delved into our city’s non-profit sector to find stellar nominees Dwight Smith, of the OC Catholic Worker; Armando De La Libertad, the Director of the Delhi Center; Scott Overpeck, of the awesome community project Laundry Love; Scott Glaab, the head of the Santa Ana Athletic Foundation and a local high school wrestling coach; and Benjamín Vázquez, of El Centro Cultural de Mexico.
Please let us know if we missed anyone and we can add them to our poll right away. Here is the poll – note that you may vote for up to three candidates at once: Continue reading
Re-elected and Newly elected Board Members Officially Installed
Mr. Rob Richardson and Mr. Jose Hernandez will serve another term on the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education after being re-elected by the voters of the Santa Ana community. They will be joined by newly elected Board Member, Ms. Cecilia Iglesias, and current Board Members, Dr. Audrey Yamagata-Noji and Mr. John Palacio. Mr. Richardson, Mr. Hernandez, and Mrs. Iglesias were installed during the December 11, 2012 meeting of the Board of Education. Continue reading
Who is Santa Ana’s most powerful politician? U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez certainly made her case this year by helping to elect Anaheim Council Candidate Jordan Brandman and Assembly Candidate Sharon Quirk-Silva. But Assemblyman Jose Solorio also was a key factor in the successful re-election of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and the victory of Assembly Candidate Tom Daly.
But what about Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez? Has there ever been a more powerful termed out local politician? She beat out two candidates who were incumbents, for the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Trustees. And she helped elect unknown and unfunded Santa Ana Council Candidate Angelica Amezcua, in Ward 3, while giving Santa Ana Councilman Vince Sarmiento a scare in Ward 1 with Amezcua’s sister, Estela. Continue reading
Former State Senator John Lewis has such a hold on the Republican Party of Orange County that he was able to force the withdrawal of Robert Hammond, their candidate for the 69th Assembly District, so as to pave the way for his Democratic pal Tom Daly. And Lewis also ran the failed campaign of Chris Norby, for the 65th Assembly District. With the loss of Norby’s seat, and the 69th, the California Republican Party ceded a supermajority in the State Assembly to the California Democratic Party.
But Lewis is not the only one to blame. OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh (a political consultant) and OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen were personally involved in pulling Hammond out of the race for the 69th. And neither of them helped Jose “Joe” Moreno, the Anaheim Republican who, at the last minute, filed for the 69th rather than concede the victory to Daly. Moreno was however undone by allegations that he violated an obscure Federal law – the Hatch Act. Moreno, an employee of the O.C. Health Agency, was accused of this by labor, even though he is a longtime union member. Continue reading
Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is currently leading his closes challenger, Santa Ana Council Member David Benavides, by over 12,000 votes. Pulido has 27,068 votes, or 48.2% of the ballots versus 14,982 votes, or 26.7% of the ballots for Benavides. There were four other mayoral candidates this year, including George Collins, Roy Alvarado, Lupe Moreno and Miguel Angel Briseno.
Pulido beat Alfredo “Al” Amezcua two years ago, in 2010, by just under ten thousand votes. Pulido got 21,588 votes, or 49.5% of the ballots, in 2010, versus 11,689 votes, or 26.8% of the ballots, for Amezcua, according to Smart Voter. There were three other mayoral candidates in 2010 – Alvarado, Collins and Charles Hart. Continue reading
Valerie Amezcua
Regardless of whether or not you are a supporter of Valerie Amezcua, the daughter of failed Santa Ana mayoral candidate Alfredo Amezcua, you have to feel bad for her. She almost won a seat on the SAUSD School Board four years ago, barely losing to Roman Reyna, who vacated that seat this year and is now moving on to Ward 5 on the Santa Ana City Council.
Two years ago Amezcua had a chance to run again, and to build on her success in the 2008 election. But SAUSD Trustee John Palacio, who now considers himself to be a political consultant, got in the way. He prevented her from running out of fear that she might beat him. There were only two seats up in 2010, Palacio’s and that of his fellow incumbent, Audrey Noji. Palacio ended up keeping everyone out of that race, except for me. I was sickened to see that no Latinos were challenging Noji so I ran and lost by only 1,400 votes, with no campaign budget. Palacio ended up endorsing Noji. Continue reading
The Team Benavides consultant, John Palacio, lost his tug of war with Mayor Pulido
What a night. To sum it up, Mayor Miguel Pulido won easily. Over in the RSCCD Area 5 race his longtime ally, Claudia Alvarez, also won.
What about Team Benavides? Well, David Benavides got beat, badly. So did Eric Alderete, in Ward 3, by an unknown candidate, Angelica Amezcua, who barely campaigned. And while Vince Sarmiento won in Ward 1, he did so barely over another unknown candidate, Estela Amezcua. The one guy in the Benavides cabal who won with a big margin was Roman Reyna, in Ward 5. Continue reading