Santa Ana School Police Department Advisory
The “lock out” at Carr Intermediate and Diamond Elementary has been lifted. The investigation is ongoing by SAPD as the incident occurred off campus. School Police Officers will remain in the area and available to students and staff. Continue reading
The annual SAUSD marching band and pep band showcase is scheduled for Friday, November 30, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at Segerstrom High School, located at 2301 W. MacArthur Blvd., in Santa Ana.
This event features bands from Saddleback H.S., Santa Ana H.S., Valley H.S., Segerstrom H.S. and Godinez Fundamental H.S. 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
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: David Valentin, Chief of School Police, 714-558-5829 and Deidra Powell, Chief Communications Officer, 714-558-5555
SAUSD’s Davis and Diamond Elementary School GRIP Program Celebrates Student Success in School and Staying Out of Gangs
At-Risk Students in GRIP Program Selected for Thanksgiving Holiday Incentives
SANTA ANA, CA — November 14, 2012 – Santa Ana Unified School District’s Davis and Diamond Elementary Schools will be two of multiple school sites in Orange County to host turkey dinner giveaways as part of the Orange County Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership (OC GRIP) Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. Turkey dinners will be distributed to students who succeeded in a challenge to improve their attendance, behavior, and grades in time for Thanksgiving, while continuing their pledge not to get involved with gangs. 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
Two winners – Mayor Miguel Pulido and President Barack Obama
As expected, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is winning handily tonight. The O.C. Voter Registrar has posted the early returns, which are absentee ballots. Here are some of the evening’s highlights:
Santa Ana Mayoral challenger David Benavides wasn’t on the ballot two years ago, as he had no opponent for his City Council seat. The last time he appeared on the ballot was six years ago, back when he still mentioned his wife and family on his fliers and websites.
So it was a daunting task for Benavides to ramp up his name I.D. this year in a few short weeks, having announced his mayoral campaign rather late in the game.
As such I think he is going to be toast on Tuesday, Nov. 6. But what about the other races? Who will win? Comment here with your picks, including estimated vote percentages and whoever gets the closest will win a free banner ad on our blog for one month, for the business or non-profit of their choice.
Here are my predictions: Continue reading
Sheila E
SAUSD Media Advisory: Arturo Sandoval & Shelia E. Headline Benefit Concert
Hope Alive! Keeping Music Alive in the Schools
Student Rehearsal – November 4, 2012, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at Santa Ana High School
When concerned citizens of an Orange County neighborhood church saw the impact significant budget cuts in the State of California would have on the music program at Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana, they knew they could not sit idle. “We needed to let these youth know that they matter. We decided to create a first-rate benefit concert to help bridge the gap in funding,” said Reverend Chineta Goodjoin, pastor of the New Hope Presbyterian Church in Orange. Continue reading
Another scandal has erupted at the Santa Ana Unified School District as evidence has come to light indicating that the SAUSD has spent thousands of dollars on scanners for their warehouse – and the scanners don’t work!
Apparently SAUSD employees have been told to carry the scanners in the warehouse even though this equipment still doesn’t work. Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 23, 2012
Contact: Deidra Powell Chief Communications Officer, 714-558-5555 – Office, 714-673-4995 – Cell
CITY OF SANTA ANA AND SANTA ANA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY TO COMMEMORATE THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW JOINT-USE COMMUNITY CENTER/MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM AND SCHOOL CLASSROOM PROJECT AT GARFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Continue reading
The OC Weekly has posted a very disturbing new post about the widening food safety scandal at the Santa Ana Unified School District. This time an insider at the SAUSD has alleged that food that should have been recalled, due to the threat of salmonella, was possibly served to our kids! We previously posted about the SAUSD’s disposal of hundreds of pounds of food here.
Here are a few excerpts from the new OC Weekly article:
On October 10, school districts across the country (including Santa Ana Unified) received a letter from David Thomas, vice president of quality assurance at J.M. Smuckers. In it, he warned customers that the company was pulling packages of the company’s Unscrutables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made specifically for public-school lunches due to possible salmonella contamination, and urged districts who had already received such packages to do the same immediately. Continue reading
Announcement: Santa Ana Youth & Government presents:
Announcement: Santa Ana Youth & Government presents: FORUM FOR SANTA ANA SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES for Rancho Santiago College Community District & Santa Ana Unified School District Board Candidates. Thurs., Oct.18, 2012, 6:30-8:30 pm at 1532 E Chestnut St, Santa Ana, CA 92701 (Across the street from the SAUSD office). Continue reading
Picture courtesy of the OC Weekly
NEW UPDATE: SAUSD Superintendent Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana just sent me an email indicating that:
“The Santa Ana Unified School District is looking into programs that will allow us to donate excessive food that we are not able to use because of over ordering or food that was not used in production. We are in communication with other districts such as Los Angeles Unified that have similar donation programs.”
The District is committed to continuing best practices that ensure that the investments made to our schools are utilized in an efficient and effective manner that best serves our students.” Continue reading
I asked SAUSD School Board candidate Cecilia Iglesias to clarify her position on the Dream Act. You may recall that her fellow Republicans, Robert Hammond and Charles Hart, brow beat her at a meeting of the OC GOP Endorsement Committee into disavowing the Dream Act.
But now Iglesias says she is not against it at all although she does not refer to the Dream Act by name in her statement. Here then is her statement clarifying her position on the Dream Act:
Continue reading