Five years ago today....(perennial suckage)

Plagiarism is a form of theft, Glenn
(May 30, 2012)

Chris Mars: "Community Pillars"

     Here’s a story we’ve held back for a week and a half, not wishing to spoil students’ big day:

     You’ll recall that we’ve offered some, um, perspective on IVC President Glenn Roquemore’s curious approach to choosing commencement speakers. (See Too political and That’s some leadership!)
     This year, as usual, the Commencement Speaker Committee, comprising wide representation, selected three speaker candidates from a master list that they had assembled. They sent those names forward to the President for consideration.

     But, for whatever reason, Roquemore didn’t secure any of those three. Without conferring with the committee, he went back to the Committee’s master list and chose Mr. Keith Rhodes, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County—a “safe” choice, I guess, among the embracers of the GOP world view (according to which, essentially, all is well and patriotism—combined with cheerful "getalongitude"—are the chief moral virtues).
     Well, whatever. Process Schmocess, I guess.
     Rhodes was entertaining, if manifestly unoriginal. (I barely listened to him, occupied as I was by my photographic efforts. I do remember his bit about marrying somebody smarter.) But, immediately after the ceremony, I started hearing from faculty who found Mr. Rhodes’ address—oh, kinda familiar.
     Since that day, several faculty have sent us a link to a recent article in which NPR lists advice from the book The 10 Things You Won't Hear At Commencement by Charles Wheelan.
     Gosh, that advice does seem awfully familiar.
     Oh my.
     Draw your own conclusions....

Maybe it’s Jolene
(May 30, 2012)

     At last week’s board meeting (or, rather, the special meeting held immediately after), the board voted to go forward with an interim appointment to replace the recently departed Tom Fuentes, who represented Area 6. The discussion over whether to appoint someone or to leave the vacancy until November was mighty strange. The trustees seemed to lurch awkwardly from motion to motion, and I suspect that some of 'em remain unclear concerning their decision. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the district didn’t videotape that special meeting, and so you’ll have to take my word for it.
     The district has posted a Notice of Trustee Vacancy, visible at the district website. The notice says that ... candidate interviews (conducted by the board, I believe) will start on the 18th.
     At last Monday's meeting, Board Prez Nancy Padberg revealed that a “relative” of Tom’s had expressed an interest in this vacancy. At first, I assumed that the interested party was Tom’s son, TJ, whose political career Tom promoted during the last six months or so of his life (see).
     But TJ is 25 years old. And I suspect that he does not live at home—which means that he likely doesn’t live in Lake Forest or Trustee Area 6.
     That would disqualify him.
. . .
     But, of course, there’s one further family member: Tom’s widow, Jolene.
     I don’t know much about Jolene. She seems not to take an active role in politics or the party, although she certainly accompanied Tom to many party events.

The happy couple c. 1990

     I know people who have met her and who say she’s “very nice.”
     Such information causes cognitive dissonance. How can she be nice? I mean, Tom was among the few people on Earth who was routinely referred to as “the Prince of Darkness.” The two other Ps of D that I can think of—Mike Schroeder and the late Robert Novak—were close friends of Tom’s.
     So Jolene is nice. Near as I can tell, daughter Michelle is nice, too. Even her politics are nice!
     But, obviously, such moral prodigies are actually fairly common in our world. Hell, I’m even beginning to think that Tom himself had a strong decent side to him. He was careful always to hide it from the outside world, it seems.
     So maybe it’s Jolene. I guess we’ll find out soon enough....

     See also Whatever happened to Jolene Fuentes?

What fresh hell is this? Some clown to replace Habermehl 
(May 30, 2012)

     Our pal Gustavo "no IVC commencement speech for you!" Arellano reports this morning that former SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur is one clown among several applying for the chair of OC Clown College—er, OC Department of Education:

Earlier this month, Superintendent of Schools at Orange County Department of Education Bill Habermehl resigned after a decade of doing shit other than promoting the Republican view of history by brainwashing kiddies. His departure from the elected position means the Orange County Board of Education must now appoint someone to fill the role, which means a cast of clowns will inevitably put forth their resume, cover letter, and letters of recommendation.

But never in a million years did I expect two disgraced former education officials in Orange County—Al Mijares, former superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD), and Raghu Mathur, former chancellor of the South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD)—to apply for the job. And they have a cast of morons writing letters of recommendation for them, according to documents obtained by the Weekly.

Mijares: the Clowniest

     Well, at least Steve Rocco hasn’t applied. I think.
     Gustavo quotes Raghu’s cover letter, which proclaims that the Gooster “strongly believe[s] that every student is a beautiful and important human being and he/she deserves the opportunity and needed encouragement and support to succeed in his/her education and chosen career, vision and goals.”
     That’s Raghu all right. Blecchh.
     According to Gustavo, the GOP establishment is lining up behind a clown even clownier than Raghu—namely, Mr. Mijares, who, writes Gustavo, once allegedly “organized Bible-study meetings [for students] during school hours….”