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San Diego Unified School District, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten, San Diego Unified Trustee Marne Foster Scandal, SDUSD, SDUSD Trustee Marne Foster, Superintendent Marten
District Deeds Community Dialogue
When District Deeds attended the Public Comment section of the Trustee Foster/Supt. Marten Scandal-SDUSD Special Closed Session, we heard MANY good points by the District E Community and other Foster supporters regarding the reasons why Foster should not be penalized for her actions…especially for the College Tuition Fundraiser.
One of the more eloquent speakers mentioned how the College Tuition Fundraiser was part of the fabric of their community and that Foster was just following in a long tradition of the community helping each other to get their children to college. He invited the listeners to come to his community to witness this support so they could better understand Foster’s REAL intent.
District Deeds absolutely believes in the sincerity of that speaker and understood the reasons why Foster’s supporters would be insulted that she might be penalized for trying to help her sons.
With that, District Deeds decided to research Non-Profit Fundraising in relationship to elected officials and found an article in Non-Profit Quarterly that actually describes the LEGAL issues surrounding the Foster Fundraiser specifically.
Non-Profit Quarterly describes itself in the following way:
The Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ) is an independent, nonprofit news organization that has been serving nonprofit leaders, charitable foundations, educators, independent activists, and others involved in the civil sector for more than fifteen years. NPQ’s guiding philosophy is that an active, engaged, and sometimes disruptive civil sector is critical to a healthy democracy in the same way that a free and independent press is.NPQ is striving to be the authoritative independent news source for civil society, and we will only get there with your involvement.
The article titled “Bad Fundraising Lands School Board President and Nonprofit in Ugly Mess” by Michael Wyland, a highly regarded expert with ” more than thirty years of experience in corporate and government public policy, management, and administration” had the following to say about the Foster Fundraiser:
Improper influence by a public official is an important aspect to the story, but those familiar with the nonprofit world will see a variety of other serious ethical and potentially legal issues illustrated here. Foster represented the event as charitable and deductible, even though she organized it to support two particular individuals. The IRS does not allow gifts to benefit an individual to be deductible. Running the event through a local 501(c)(3), the C. Anthony Cole Repertory Dance Theatre, doesn’t make the gifts any more deductible.
We urge ALL SDUSD Stakeholders to read the article IN FULL and provide feedback in a District Deeds Comment of your observations.
Hopefully through the article and continued dialogue with ALL SDUSD Stakeholders, we can try to provide some answers to the “Why should Marne Foster be investigated for a common community event?” question.
That honest dialogue will help us ALL better understand WHY the administration of the responsibilities and authority of an elected official office also comes with a MUCH WIDER RANGE of LEGAL scrutiny and review.
We will REPEAT what we said in the Trustee Foster/Supt. Marten Scandal-SDUSD Special Closed Session Recap:
REAL DUE PROCESS!!!
The District E Community, the SCPA, Lincoln and other Victims…and even MARNE FOSTER AND CINDY MARTEN deserve NO LESS!
District Deeds welcomes that dialogue with ALL SDUSD Stakeholders.
To stay up on ALL the NEWS and get ALL the REAL information about the SDUSD…scroll to the bottom of this page and “Follow” the District Deeds Blog right now!
District Deeds 
As a Latina mother of two students attending SDUSD, I can understand how those who see nothing wrong with the actions of Marne Foster may instead attribute racial bias to those who are demanding an impartial, immediate, and complete investigation of her actions.
I believe that an elected official should not be shielded from the natural consequences of their mistakes, he or she must be held accountable regardless of race or social standing. ALL our communities, including low income and minority ones, deserve nothing less from those WE THE PEOPLE elect to REPRESENT ALL OF US.
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Well said, Francisca Salcedo. I have lambasted the local chapter of the NAACP and sincerely hope they don’t attempt to continue their BLIND loyalty to Foster despite the glaring evidence in the public eye. Many of them will continue supporting her because they benefitted in one way or the other from some of Foster’s abuses of power and overreach. I have also said repeatedly that Foster CANNOT and SHOULD not go down alone! He fellow trustees are also complicit in whatever Foster is accused of.
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Because the school board, controlled by Richard Barrera, wants to be rid of Marne Foster, the one voice of dissent, they have tried in several ways to reign her in.
Long before this, Barrera lectured her on “speaking with one voice” as president of the school board…Barrera’s voice.
How much of what’s reported is true, I’m not sure, the report of her writing the lawsuit, making her ex-husband sign it, pretty damning, if true. But how that story was made public, I’d like to know more about that. Doesn’t seem the husband would have leaked it, doesn’t benefit him in any way.
Cindy Marten, unlike Marne Foster, had many lawyers, advising her, carefully crafting her statements, Cindy a lady well known for blaming others…the counselors, the principals, the ed center staff…
Very unfair and a picture of justice, when one side has all the money and power.
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Thank you Erin for your insights. I know of no one that I have spoken to about these misdeeds at SCPA by Foster and Marten have been in communication with Richard Barrera. I do agree that every effort has been to parse the charges against both Marten and Foster to be sure that Marten is not included in any independent investigation…except the one they have given her to investigate herself by charging her with pulling “pertinent” personnel record at SCPA. In other words have Marten the accused investigate herself…what a joke.
The information about Marne’s improper intervention and intimidation is accurate through sworn Grand Jury testimony directly from the victims and Marten’s operational involvement should cost Marten her job. Whatever source came up with the Fraudulent Claim did a service to all Stakeholders to potentially uncover a criminal act by an elected official no matter what the motivation. The illegal fundraiser for her sons and the election fundraiser using the SDUSD website is wrong and is proven…and is prosecutable. Barrera didn’t make her do that.
Everything you say about Barrera being the prime driver in the Board is absolutely true…and he has gotten what he wants. The Board is finally “speaking in one voice”… through their lawyers advice.
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Well said . . . Barrera will have to GO too! It is obvious that the other four trustees KNEW that it was Foster’s writing on the $250,000 claim form that came before all of them. I wonder HOW that REALLY played out that day. The four of them went home that day, after denying the claim form and laughed at the sloppiness of foster in her attempt to heist $250,000? Share stories of their own foolproof heists that they got away with? AND Barrera is now saying that “With the legal claim, we need to be thoughtful about what is in the district’s interest considering that this claim was already dismissed, and no money was paid,” Barrera said. “From the district’s standpoint, the matter is settled.” OMG . . . I CANNOT believe that he actually said that! THAT right their is an admission of complicity and willingness of all four of the remaining trustees, to BURY Foster’s CRIME!
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Frank,
I didn’t mean to say that Barrera had something to do with SCPA.
I base some of my criticism of Barrera’s role in bringing in Marne, Cindy and Jennifer Carbuccia…three less than qualified individuals for the jobs he put them in.
But more than any single charge against Marne, SCPA aside, Barrera wanted consensus of opinion, expressed by the board and Marne resisted. .
Barrera has expressed his concern about Scott Barnett, expressing his individual views while Scott was on the school board.
But I disagree with him, the board should exercise oversight more directly, as Zimmerman and DeBeck did, even if they don’t always agree. Especially with a very inexperienced superintendent, like Ms. Marten, giving her a dictators power makes no sense. It caused the debacle at SCPA.
On Sandi.net, or what’s left of it, if you listen to the July 21 audio, scroll to 55:00 and listen for less than 5 minutes to Barrera push for one voice…you’ll hear Marne say, “Not gonna happen” then Evans break in, referring to the choice of Cindy Marten being 2 for and 3 against…stop at 59…just 4 minutes, tells the whole tale.
After this came the other justification to say good-bye to Ms. Foster.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think Marne will go away quietly.
On Tuesday’s agenda, the board will vote on an item to investigate Foster.
The next item, sponsored by Barrera, is to honor her for all her good deeds.
I could be wrong. He may love having her on the board…Quien sabe.?
Keep up the good work. You have a lot of followers who don’t dare comment, but read all that you write.
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Thank you Erin for your follow-up comments. I agree with you completely about Foster, Marten and Carbuccia. I think you have something with the Barerra likes Foster premise…I think that having Foster as damaged goods politically is a better thing for Barerra than a healthy replacement that he cannot easily politically control. I appreciate your kind words and all those folks that want to comment but cannot due to risk of retribution by the District, send me your comments anonymously to districtdeeds@gmail.com and I will make a blog post of all of them…in unity there is strength and protection.
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Well, Frank, my hunch is that Barrera would love to have Marne resign.
Cindy, over the last two plus years has had trouble saying no to her about anything.
New Office of Equity, Restorative Justice, others, all probably good ideas, but strike me as Cindy Marten’s efforts to appease Marne Foster…
Other superintendents spent their time education children, not pandering to one school board members demands.
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Barrera is a clown . . . very conniving and he thinks he is smart, when he really is not. This whole Board should just resign. ENOUGH of all the blunders and cover-ups!
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Frank, I think it is TIME for everyone at SDUSD that KNOWS what has been going on to come out of the woodworks and say what they know without any fear of RETRIBUTION. I went against the grain with my principal and his area superintendent, Lamont Jackson and inundated the Board with emails seemingly directed at my principal BUT actually directed at the Board . . . I paid dearly for it BUT I am glad I did NOT compromise myself by keeping silent and allowing myself to be fearful of losing my job. I lost the job and still have a fighting chance because I have an ongoing Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) administrative proceeding against SDUSD. PERB has also issued a Complaint against SDUSD on my behalf. the TRUTH will ALWAYS come out in the end!
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