Grossmont quid pro quo notion is ludicrous
Shameful continuous attacks
In response to
I was surprised at The Watchdog’s story focusing on Priscilla Schreiber and the allegation of soliciting Boys & Girls Clubs donations from Gafcon’s Yehudi Gaffen (“Grossmont trustee, contractor, say charity unsolicited,” July 17). Ms. Schreiber has been the voice, many times the only voice, of constant, predictable integrity and concern for the Grossmont district’s taxpayers and for the district’s students getting the best possible outcome of the many millions from the Prop. H and Prop. U ballot bond measures. For that, for her independence of thought and action, Ms. Schreiber has been under shameful continuous attack by her peers on the Grossmont board, Jim Kelly, Rob Shield and Gary Woods — all efforts to marginalize her. When checking the source of the “public complaint” that stirred The Watchdog to investigative action, I was stunned to find its origin was from an acolyte of this peer group that considers Ms. Schreiber a political opponent. The U-T has a long, deliberate experience in investigation and reporting on the mismanagement and political maneuverings of the “Jim Kelly faction,” and I was surprised that perhaps The Watchdog did not avail itself of that institutional memory when investigating this story. When I read all the information, there is no evidence of any irregular doings on Ms. Schreiber’s part – and the Watchdog itself implies there has been no illegality. Considering that the charges are brought about by Ms. Schreiber’s political opponents, and the long history of such attacks all recorded in the past by the U-T, I don’t see that the stories have had a public benefit. Indeed, they have served to damage the Grossmont trustee having the greatest amount of integrity and that has worked tirelessly in the students’ and taxpayers interests. The Kelly faction attacks all predictably come just in time for the build-up of the November elections.
A person of integrity
I would just like to say Priscilla Schreiber has long had a reputation of being a person of integrity. I have attended many of the Grossmont board meetings and have found Ms. Schreiber a breath of fresh air. It is obvious she does her homework, is knowledgeable, weighs the information garnered and makes decisions based on the facts. If anyone is worthy of sitting on the Grossmont board, it would be Ms. Schreiber. Attacks on her at this time (before the elections) are to be expected, but are obviously only a feeble attempt to try to discredit her. Were these accusations based on fact? I think not. We need Ms. Schreiber to remain on the Grossmont board to add much needed honesty and clear thinking.
See the forest, not the trees
This Watchdog article was akin to reading an article that focused on groundskeeping at the Penn State football field instead of Jerry Sandusky. Talk about missing the forest for the trees!
First, the article did not in any way explore the history behind the original selection of Gafcon Inc as the manager for the Grossmont Union High School District bond program. The real story was how the first bond (Prop H) was incompetently and grossly mismanaged before Gafcon was retained. Before Gafcon, the program was chaotically managed by staff and was replete with cost overruns and change orders. The Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC), charged with being the citizen watchdog for Prop H, was packed with political cronies of certain board members (not Priscilla Schreiber) and essentially looked the other way at the Prop H mess. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association, the public, and the press (including the U-T) was highly critical of the situation which led to board members Schreiber, Urdahl and Hoy demanding the creation of an independent commission to review how the bond program was handled.
The Bond Advisory Commission (BAC), chaired by Mark Price, was established in February 2007 and came forward with a comprehensive report that called for a complete overhaul of the Prop H program and made over 150 specific recommendations for reform. At the top of the list was the hiring of a professional program manager. This recommendation was adopted and after an exhaustive, competitive search the Grossmont board selected Gafcon. Many other recommendations, however, were opposed by certain board members and were not adopted. One such rejected recommendation (at p. 70 of the BAC report) was an organization chart that had Gafcon reporting directly to the superintendent rather than staff. The BAC wanted the program manager to have a high degree of independence and did not want it reporting to the very folks that created the Prop H mess in the first place. The passage of a 2nd $400+M bond (Prop U) amplified this concern.
The result of all this has been a bond program that has been very professionally and efficiently managed by Gafcon, but the overall budget process remains politicized and under the control of staff and the Board members they are beholden to. Consequently, millions in bond dollars have been spent on various “pork barrel projects” such as aquatic centers and artificial turf fields rather than projects originally designated as “must do” (the Alpine high school) or those that would reduce operating expenses (solar panel installation).
Board member Schreiber has repeatedly pointed out the importance of implementing that key BAC recommendation but now that board majority control has shifted, her calls for this reform have been repeatedly ignored. The inference in your article that she supports this reform because of a friendly relationship with Gafcon is utter nonsense that is completely unsupported by the fact that this recommendation was made by the BAC in 2007. Had the U-T done its homework this conclusion would have been obvious. Also what is obvious is that the entire board, and not just Ms. Schreiber, voted unanimously to renew the Gafcon contract without competitive bidding, in recognition of the quality job it has done.
The notion that Gafcon provided a quid pro quo to Ms. Schreiber through its contribution to the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County is also ludicrous. This is a club that helps kids, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and Gafcon did the right civic minded thing by its contribution to a needy East County organization. As to Ms. Schreiber, anyone who knows her knows that she tirelessly dedicates herself to the cause of education and the children of our community and volunteers endless hours of her time. At a time when our governments and school districts are in financial crisis we want our elected officials and our private sector companies such as Gafcon to do exactly what they did to help worthy charitable organizations.
Finally, it is high time the U-T Watchdog starts looking at the whole Grossmont forest. Pick up the phone and call your former editor Don Sevrens. He’ll give you an earful about the real shenanigans that have taken place over the years with Grossmont, that he and Leonel Sanchez reported on — the disgraceful, sordid attempt to revoke the Helix charter and the political cronyism of the CBOC. Or call Mark Price, the chair of BAC, who has a long history with Grossmont and can regale you with the lies and deception that has repeatedly come from Grossmont board members to the communities of Alpine and Blossom Valley regarding their broken promises to build a high school in Alpine, resulting in the current unification effort in Alpine. Or ask about how the recommendations of the Boundary Committee were manipulated to kill the Alpine school and shift students to “favored” and politically connected high schools. Or dig into the unholy alliance between certain board members, the East County Republican Party and various East County megachurches. The list goes on and on.