“It’s amazing that it took so long for this to be settled. It seemed pretty clear from the beginning that the Ed Code was being violated.” —Romero Maratea, Escondido Elementary Educators Association president What’s in a name? Escondido Union School District officials had an interesting, albeit illegal, solution to a lack of resource specialists and a state-mandated caseload limit of 28 students per educator: Just…
Dam it, Lake Hodges ESCONDIDO, CA. — San Diego County has 54 dams, including the venerable Lake Hodges Dam at Del Dios. State officials judge them all to be safe — an impressive feat considering that the average dam is 62 years old Inewsource filed Public Records Act requests with the California Division of Safety of Dams and 19 dam-owning public agencies, such as water districts, requesting the…
Facing 13 counts of election and voting fraud, Escondido Union School District (EUSD) trustee Jose Fragozo Monday pleaded guilty to one of the lesser felony counts in a plea bargain agreement. The remaining 12 charges were dismissed. Fragozo entered his guilty plea mere hours after a 55-member jury pool was brought into court. They were being interviewed about participating in a trial expected to last…
Recall Escondido Union School District Board president Joan Gardner? That’s the battle cry of a newly formed association of retired educators and Escondido progressives committed to education for English Learners calling itself “The Saturday Group.” The group launched its recall effort at the June 23 EUSD Board meeting in response to Vista Superior Court Judge Richard Whitney’s refusal to agree to a request for a…
Another day, another day in court has been set for Escondido Union School District Trustee Jose Fragozo. Judge Carlos Armour called for a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, June 22 following Fragozo pleading not guilty to 13 felony charges related to allegedly misrepresenting his place of residence to run for school board. Fragozo’s attorney Victor Torres entered the plea. A preliminary hearing last month found enough…
May 18 has been set as arraignment day for Escondido Unified School District Trustee Jose Fragozo’s next journey through the legal system. Fragozo was exonerated last month during a hearing sought by EUSD superintendent Juan Rankins-Ibarra and other administrators to make a temporary restraining order stick permanently. San Diego Superior Court Judge Richard Whitey refused to bar Fragozo from attending school board meetings and visiting…
Two items drew me to Thursday’s Escondido Union School District Board of Education meeting. Firstly, I was curious to see the reception Jose Fragozo would get after the restraining order against him was lifted. This was covered in the Escondido Grapevine: https://escondidograpevine.com/2016/03/25/eusd-denied-restraining-order-against-trustee-jose-fragozo-breaking/. Secondly, Agenda Item 301 “Conduct a public hearing on a request for a material revision to the Heritage K-8 Charter School petition…” caught my attention….
(Editor’s Note: Vista Superior Court Judge Richard S. Whitney last month denied Escondido Union School District officials’ attempt to place a restraining order on EUSD Trustee Jose Fragozo. For more on that, visit http://bit.ly/1NqVxNs. Tonight, Mr. Fragozo returns to the board room for the first time for a school board meeting. He issued this statement today…) It’s good to be back in the EUSD boardroom this evening…
Escondido Union School District (EUSD) administrators were rebuffed Friday in their attempt to get a permanent workplace violence restraining order against EUSD Trustee Jose Fragozo. Delivering a one-hour verdict, Vista Superior Court judge Richard Whitney said it was a tough call, but, in the end, he decided that granting a restraining order would effectively end Fragozo’s term as a school board member. While urging Fragozo…
Nobody knows how Superior Court judge Richard Whitney will rule on a permanent workplace violence restraining order filed against Escondido Union School District (EUSD) Trustee Jose Fragozo. However, a final decision on the order was expected to come sometime after 1 p.m. Friday, March 25. Meanwhile, Fragozo’s supporters plan to have a rally outside the Vista Courthouse, 325 South Melrose Dr., at 1 p.m. Friday…