Monday night, November 25, 2014, the first day of the Thanksgiving week vacation for all San Diego Unified School District students, families who have students attending schools in the SDUSD received an odd robocall survey from the SDUSD Communications Propaganda Department regarding the change of start and stop dates for the SDUSD School year.

The proposal, as advertised by the SDUSD Communications Propaganda Department is as follows:

 “The Committee’s final recommendation was to move both calendars to a pre-Labor Day start since the holiday occurs during the second week of September both years.” 

The one sided argument with no consideration for the impacts on families can be found here: http://www.sandi.net/calendarchanges

And apparently there is a sentiment among “the majority of the committee” that MOST parents are too “ignorant” to vote or determine the best School Calendar Change FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN!

Earlier in the day, through a contact in the SDUSD Stakeholder Community, District Deeds received quite a bit of information regarding the newest manipulation scam being hatched by Elementary School Superintendent Cindy Marten.

We are not sure why Marten is so in favor of this change…maybe it has to do with the secretive SDEA negotiations (secretive on the SDUSD side…the SDEA has been pretty transparent through its updates)…maybe it is a favor she owes someone in La Jolla or some other benefactor she caters to…maybe a Board member has demanded it (like the improper Principal removals) or maybe it is just another one of her boneheaded decisions...with Marten, incompetence and cronyism work “hand in hand”. 

Like many of her recent scams that Marten, through her Propaganda Department, falsely proclaim transparency, shared decision making and community collaboration…the REAL TRUTH is more of  the same fauxlaboration (fake collaboration – http://wp.me/p4LD0L-bN), strategic timing to skew and misrepresent public input and stacking the “advisory committee” with her sympathetic or intimidated boosters  to achieve her predetermined outcome.

Marten is following the same model as she does with the fake Principal Selection Process.

The Classic 5 Step Marten Manipulation Process template is as follows:

1. Make a poor decision within her inner circle to impose a command that will negatively impact scores of SDUSD Stakeholders.
2. Convince the Board of Education to back her scam. In some cases it is a Board initiative fueled by favors or debts owed to political supporters so backing is guaranteed.
3. Create a fake collaboration “Committee” that:
   1. Is stacked with a majority of individuals that will “vote” the way Marten has convinced them to vote, either through favors, promises of special access to her office or vague fear of retribution. Allocate Committee representation that DOES NOT match the Stakeholder community they represent but that will vote the way Marten can predict.
   2. Does not allow attendance/ participation by any individual or group that will not “cooperate” passively or might call out the scam publicly.
   3. MUST be a collaborator that has some degree of trust in the SDUSD hierarchy…those are the easiest for Marten to trick into acceptance of her predetermined result.
4. Run fake meetings and come up with fake conclusions supported by District “advisors” that report to Marten and use the District Communication Propaganda Department (also controlled by Marten) to advance the SDUSD myth of real transparency and collaboration…but make sure not ANY damaging information is shared.
5. Roll out the scam and have the Board approve it within the shortest time frame and when the stakeholders are least likely to notice it (around Holiday breaks, during Graduation/end of school year (ELST removal) or summer break (Principal replacement)

Before SDUSD Stakeholders even notice, because of the calendar placement and limited promoting of the predetermined decision, the approved initiative is already 2 or 3 months old and too late to reverse.

We looked at the School Calendar Change and it exactly matches the Classic Marten Manipulation Process template!

Step 1 – Come up with a poor decision through the Marten Inner Circle

Although there are surely pro’s and con’s for the School Calendar Change, the history of Marten’s management incompetence indicates that her decision to change the Calendar DID NOT consider ALL the ramifications…just like she and her band of inner circle crony appointments DID NOT on her other recent blunders and debacles including:

The ELST Swindle:  http://wp.me/p4LD0L-dJ

The Principal Replacement Scam: http://wp.me/p4LD0L-eu

The MRAP Debacle:  http://wp.me/p4LD0L-9Y

The Lincoln Photo Op/Knifing Scandal:  http://wp.me/p4LD0L-bX

The Pot Sniffing Dog Violation of Student Rights Blunder:  http://wp.me/p4LD0L-dB

The $10,000 (and counting) Marten Scholarship Lie:  http://wp.me/p4LD0L-bl

After these example of betrayals of the SDUSD Stakeholder trust through her incompetence, inexperience and total lack of Large School District credentials and managerial ability, District Deeds thinks that the odds are that this is another ill conceived decision….and that it needs MUCH more OPEN oversight and review by ALL SDUSD Stakeholders before it is approved by the SDUSD Board of Education.

Step 2 – Convince the Board of Education to back her Scam

IF the School Calendar Change is on the agenda for the next Board of Education Meeting on December 9, 2014, there is a good chance that the Board of Education is colluding with Elementary School Marten to ram through the change.  If it is not, on the agenda, it could still be discussed during the BOE closed session on that day without any knowledge by ANY of the SDUSD Stakeholders.  Stay Tuned and we will provide updates.

Step 3 – Create a fake collaboration “Committee”

This School Calendar Committee fits the profile perfectly.

This School Calendar Committee:

• Is stacked with a majority of individuals that will “vote” the way Marten has convinced them to vote, either through favors, promises of special access to her office or vague fear of retribution.

The key concept: Allocate Committee representation that DOES NOT match the Stakeholder community they represent but that will vote the way Marten can predict.

The profile of this School Calendar committee is as follows:

	Number of Voting Members	Gross Number of Individuals represented (Approximate)	Number of Individuals Represented Per Member
Cindy Marten Employees	19	13,000	684
Parents/Community Members	4	360,000	90,000
Non-Profit Community Organization*	1	300	300
* Non-Profit Community Organizations working with SDUSD Students, 300 Organizations

If the Parents/Community Members were represented by the same “Number of Individuals Represented per Member” as the Cindy Marten Employees, the REAL committee would be made up of the following “Voting Members”:

	Number of Voting Members	Gross Number of Individuals represented (Approximate)	Number of Individuals Represented Per Member
Cindy Marten Employees	19	13,000	684
Parents/Community Members	526	360,000	684
Non-Profit Community Organization*	0.44	300	300

In other words, FAIR representation would be 526 PARENTS/COMMUNITY MEMBERS making the decision!

An additional “twist” is that Marten has empowered the PTA to run the parent/community Member strategy…an organization Marten has used previously to stack other Fake Committees/Groups PTA’s ARE NOT in every school (which is not generally true of DAC, DELAC, CAC or Special ED) and are NOT a Board Sanctioned Committee…although they are a District sanctioned Non Profit…just like hundreds of other groups from ALL SDUSD communities.

Why should the PTA get any preferential treatment over other non-profits from EVERY community that serve students including religious and school foundations?

We believe the reason is that it is much less difficult for Marten to manipulate one non-profit with a history of being her “friend” than a widely diverse demographic mix of non-profits she cannot control.

It also “buys” her at least one “community” vote!

• Does not allow attendance/ participation by any individual or group that will not “cooperate” passively or might call out the scam publicly.

19 out of the 24 Voting Members are dependent upon Monarch Marten to keep their job.  Any doubt how they will be voting?  Looks like a guaranteed majority to us.

• MUST be a collaborator that has some degree of trust in the SDUSD hierarchy…those are the easiest for Marten to trick into acceptance of her predetermined result.

Nothing against ANY of the Parents/Community Members that are on the School Calendar Committee, but I know from being in the DAC for over 10 years, you MUST have some degree of trust in the SDUSD hierarchy and must cooperate with it for fear of being cut out of ALL advance warning in SDUSD decisions.  The leadership position is one that forces you to be cooperative on behalf of your group members…despite any personal doubts you may have regarding transparency or truthfulness of the incompetent Superintendent Marten.

Marten has, in the past, used honest commitment by these selfless leaders of Parents and Students to her advantage when she treats BOE sanctioned “advisory” committees as an afterthought and generally ignores their votes and counsel on key issues like ELST’s and the $1.5 Million Grant program .

Step 4 – Run Fake Meetings with Fake Conclusions with Fake District “advisors” and use the Fake District Communication Propaganda Department for a misinformation campaign.

The  School Calendar Committee, by the sheer force of the overwhelming number of voting members controlled by Marten employment…that represent only 1/27^th of the SDUSD Stakeholders…that must cater to the whims of Elementary School Superintendent Marten…that are provided with guidelines and talking points by SDUSD “Advisors” also reporting to Marten…make it impossible to resist the inevitable conclusion of approving the  predetermined result formulated by Marten and her inner circle prior to the launch of this Fake Committee.

An added feature provided by the SDUSD Communication Propaganda Department is the non-statistically valid, poorly worded, confusing robocall survey during Thanksgiving Vacation week when many families are travelling and will miss the call…a perfectly manipulative strategy formulated by a perfectly incompetent Marten.

Step 5 – Roll out the scam and have the Board approve it when the stakeholders are least likely to notice it (around Holiday breaks).

Let’s see…confusing robocalls during Thanksgiving, Board approval before Christmas with time for the furor to die down by the time school starts up again nearly a month later.

Perfect timing…like ELST removal during Graduation Week when families are welcoming guests and arranging celebrations …like Principal removals with Community meetings in the middle of the summer at 4 or 5 in the afternoon before work is over or families are on vacation.

Yes…The Classic 5 Step Marten Manipulation Process!

Proof of Marten’s progress on this unvetted schedule proposal and fauxlaboration scam can be summarized by a statement in a letter to the Board by one of the members of the School Calendar Committee:

 “Parents, unfortunately, have not had the privilege to all of the great information that I have learned from the hard work of the others on the Calendar Committee. I, and a majority of the committee, feel that without all of this valuable information parents would either not participate in a survey at all, or would simply stick to status quo, as that is what they are used to. I was taught long ago when learning about our responsibilities as voters that an uninformed vote is an ignorant vote.”

Obviously this is an individual the truly shares the “values” and “opinions” of Cindy Marten…who hand picked this individual to be on the Committee.

We are used to having Marten regard and treat us as “ignorant” Stakeholders.

Based on the analysis just provided, is it any wonder that the “great information” (provided by SDUSD resources that report to Marten), led to a conclusion supported by Marten and the “majority of the committee” that also report to Marten?

We would call that a pretty uninformed and ignorant vote!

The most disturbing implication from the comment is that manipulated employees of Marten and willing collaborators of the incompetent Superintendent are somehow MORE qualified to come up with educational directions for our own children because we are “ignorant” voters.

WOW!

Could this Committee be more condescending or insulting to the over 200,000 parents and guardians that work every day to do everything they can for their children’s educational success?

And is THAT is the type of individuals – the majority of the committee – we want to make ANY educational decisions for our kids?

Apparently they meet the perfect model for the incompetent Cindy Marten…who handpicked the members of this committee herself and is supporting their recommendations.

WOW!

Can we start a Marten Removal Committee? 

We’re in!

BLOG POST UPDATE:  See update to the Calendar Committee Blog Post here: http://wp.me/p4LD0L-gL