SANTA ANA – An indictment was unsealed this morning against the former Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) for using public and school funds to create an “enemies list” of citizens supporting a 2005 recall election against the School District Board of Trustees.
Former CUSD Superintendent James Fleming, 64, is charged with three felony counts for the misappropriation of public funds, the use of school funds to urge support or defeat of a ballot measure, and conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public. The court released the defendant on his own recognizance. He faces a maximum of four years if convicted of all charges. He is scheduled to be arraigned June 15, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Susan McGill, 64, is charged with one felony count of conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public and one felony count of perjury. A warrant was issued and held until June 15, 2007 in the amount of $20,000. She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted. Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Hess of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.
“There are persons who hold certain respected positions of trust in our community. We entrust our…children’s future with educators,” said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. “It is a shame that resources were shifted away from students to create an unlawful list of political ‘enemies’.”
Background
The CUSD administers public education in seven cities and five unincorporated communities in South Orange County for students in kindergarten through high school. The District has approximately 50,000 students on 56 campuses, and employs approximately 4,750 teachers and staff. The CUSD has an approximate annual budget of $563 million.
The CUSD Board of Trustees consists of seven elected Board members (Trustees), who represent different geographic areas within the District. The Trustees have the power to hire a Superintendent to manage the District. Fleming was hired as Superintendent in 1991 and held the position until September 2006. He retired after these matters became public.
In 2005, a group of parents and citizens began organizing a recall movement in hopes of forcing a recall election of all seven Trustees. The movement was based on several issues, including the construction of a new District Administration building, the condition of existing schools and portable classrooms, and redistricting issues.
In December 2005, after proponents had spent several months gathering signatures for the recall, Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley tabulated the signatures and ruled that there were not enough valid signatures to force the recall election.
Fleming
In March of 2005, shortly before the recall group announced their petition, Fleming is accused of receiving a copy of an e-mail that had been intended for supporters of the recall and sharing that e-mail with the Trustees and instructing them to prepare for the pending recall. On April 25, 2005 the recall committee formally announced its recall election petition at a CUSD Board meeting.
Fleming is accused of receiving information, such as the names of recall proponents and their issues and strategies, from his Director of Security. He is accused of instructing his assistant, Kate McIntyre, to take the names of people who had been addressees on the original recall email, and to create a spreadsheet list of recall proponents.
Fleming is accused of instructing McIntyre to give the list to the District’s Technical and Informational Services (TIS) department, who accessed the confidential pupil records database. This database was used to enhance the list by providing the proponents’ names, spouses’ names, email addresses, schools, and whether the proponents were included in the school district database. Fleming is accused of maintaining the list and adding notes to each name with specific problems or issues, as well as information on the schools attended by the recall proponent’s children.
After the movement for a recall was unsuccessful, Fleming is accused of conspiring with McGill by instructing her to go to the Registrar’s office to review the recall petitions.
He is accused of using District equipment, resources, staff, and time to further his agenda and create the recall proponent list, which had no legitimate education purpose.
McGill
In July of 2005, Fleming appointed McGill, a 25-year District employee, to be CUSD’s liaison with the Registrar during the recall campaign. After the Registrar had tabulated the petition signatures and determined that there were not enough signatures to require a recall election, McGill is accused conspiring with Fleming by going to the Registrar’s office at his instruction to review the recall petitions.
On January 6, 2006, McGill is accused of driving with David Smollar, CUSD’s Public Information Director, to the Registrar’s office to review the recall petition and spending approximately an hour and a half reviewing the petitions and writing down names of people who collected petition signatures.
The list was typed out and provided to Fleming, who is accused of conspiring with McGill to create a spreadsheet of personal information for each of the petition-gatherers. McGill is accused of ordering her secretary to access the confidential pupil database for information on each petition-gatherer, and having her complete a spreadsheet which included first names, last names, spouse’s names, children’s names, children’s schools, children’s grades, addresses, cities, zip codes, and phone numbers.
She is accused of lying under oath about material facts, knowing they were false, to the Grand Jury about her involvement and denying and trying to hide the existence of the second recall proponents list.
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