When the District Attorney indicted several school officials in the South Bay in 2012 during a wide-ranging corruption scandal, unfortunately most of those officials were Latinos, leaving a negative perception of our community in the eyes of many.
Untimely, every one of the 17 officials pled guilty to some offense, with the most severe sentences going to Sweetwater Superintendent Jesus Gandara who 60 days in jail, Sweetwater Board member Greg Sandoval who served 45 days in jail, and San Ysidro Superintendent Manuel Paul who was sentenced to 60 days in federal prison.
The public got the impression that the crimes were common for Latinos in the South Bay, and many said it was a cultural problem of corruption to be expected among Latinos.
Of course, those characterizations were wrong, and Latinos were even more offended by the corruption, not only for its impropriety, but also because it cast Latinos in a bad light.
Last Sunday, Poway School District Superintendent John Collins was fired for taking at least $345,000 in excess payouts from his district. Emails have revealed that, although he was making more than $450,000 a year, he was dead broke and in desperate need of cash. Apparently he thought the District was his personal ATM and just he helped himself to taxpayer money. Collins was the second-highest paid school administrator in California.
This Friday, the San Diego County Board of Education placed County Schools Superintendent Randy Ward on administrative leave after
a taxpayer group sued him for self-dealing in negotiating his own pay raises. Ward’s most recent raise on July 1st took him to a base salary of over $331,000, plus many cash and fringe benefits. Ward has been the county schools chief since 2006.
Collins, who is white, and Ward, who is African-American, were two of the most highly-regarded educators in the county. They both ran their respective districts for many years. They each held considerable weight with their boards, and enjoyed very little pushback from elected boardmembers.
In the Sweetwater case, the board members and the superintendent were only guilty of taking gifts of free meals, travel, and perks from contractors without reporting them. In total, it was only a few thousand dollars in freebees. In the case of San Ysidro, the Superintendent took $2,500 in cash from a contractor.
But Poway’s Collins is accused of taking over $345,000 in payouts from the District. And Ward is accused of giving himself pay raises of over $50,000 per year, and spiking his pension for the rest of his life.
These two latest examples of corruption among school officials are worse than anything the Sweetwater and San Ysidro officials did in that both Collins and Ward took money directly from the schools and put it into their own pockets.
In December 2011, District Attorney investigators and police officers raided the homes of the Sweetwater school officials, seizing computers and documents. School board members and administrators were later paraded into court to face misdemeanor and felony charges. For more than two years, the cases dragged on until they all cut deals and pled guilty to lesser charges.
All of the cases were conveniently wrapped up just in time for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to claim re-election victory in a quick primary election win.
Now, District Attorney Dumanis has an opportunity, and a duty, to show that government corruption is wrong, no matter who is doing it, and especially, no matter what color their skin may be.
Superintendents John Collins and Randy Ward should be investigated as rigorously as the Sweetwater and San Ysidro officials were. And if the DA finds illegal activity, they too should be indicted.
Unfortunately, corruption seems to be rampant in our local school districts, and it must be stopped.
We call on District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to launch an investigation immediately and help protect taxpayers from corrupt school officials that may have taken money intended for our students.
The Latino community will watch to make sure justice is served.