Let there be wooage!

This morning's OC Register (School district kept tabs on parents) includes a story about alleged Nixonian shenanigans by the superintendent of the Capistrano School District.

Did I say "Nixonian"? Sorry, I meant Mathurian.

Here are some excerpts:

School district kept tabs on parents

Capistrano Unified compiled list of recall proponents. Parents are upset – one calls it 'Nixonish' – and a trustee vows an inquiry.

By SAM MILLER and TONY SAAVEDRA

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The Capistrano Unified School District kept lists of 150 families who supported last year's board recall campaign, detailing such personal information as where their children went to school, according to documents obtained by The Orange County Register.

The district also received inside information on the effort to oust board members from an informant with access to the recall campaign, documents show.

Three spreadsheets list the names of parents, teachers and activists who were in contact with the recall campaign as well as the neighborhoods in which they live, the schools where they teach and their community affiliations. One couple is described in the spreadsheets as "NIMBY." Another woman is described as "outspoken."

David Smollar, the district's former chief of communications, said he saw copies of the spreadsheets stored in the office of Superintendent James Fleming, who he says directed him to keep them secret last spring despite a public-records request by recall supporters.

"He ordered me not to include those," said Smollar, who resigned in May. "He just said, 'I can't do it, it would be too embarrassing.' "

Fleming, in an interview, said he had not seen or heard of the lists.

"It doesn't sound familiar, like anything I know about at all," said Fleming, describing Smollar as a "disgruntled" ex-employee who "left not on the best of circumstances."

This brings back memories, boy. Like the time that then-IVC President Raghu Mathur was deposed (Mathur's deposition, September 28, 1999), compelling him to reveal that he kept a special secret file on yours truly in his office, in violation of district policies and the Ed Code. There is supposed to be one personnel file per employee, and it is kept at the district, where it is available for viewing.

But, as we all know by now, the rules don't apply to Raghu.

Or the time Mathur offered the newly-appointed President of IVC (Dan Larios: this was back in 1994) a list of faculty trouble-makers to keep tabs on. (Mathur's "enemies list")

Or the time (summer '97) Mathur assured IVC faculty that there would be no move to eliminate the college's "chair" model over the summer. In fact, as he was offering assurances, he had already instructed his VPI to begin work on designing the replacement "dean" model. The re-org, which followed the VPI's design exactly, occurred within weeks of the assurances.

Maybe we could encourage the Capistrano people to try to woo Mathur away from us! He seems to be their kinda guy.

Let there by wooage!