August 2, 2013 – Daily Brief

By Jeff Wilson

Could the Einstein saga get any more bizarre? Who's left that they haven't run afoul of? The Postal Service? DMV? I ask because now the City of Santa Clarita has ordered the charter school to halt construction at its location in the industrial center, citing incomplete forms, a failure to follow processes, and actually violations of state building codes. Einstein's response? "Any time you go through this type of application process, you're looking at documents that are part of a process that's in progress," says Jeffrey Shapiro, director of the project. See if you can make any sense out of that statement, because I sure can't. Great reporting from KHTS' Smith and the SIGNAL's Luke Money
UPDATE: Jeff Shapiro, the CEO of Einstein is apparently undeterred. They announced yesterday that due to this setback, they'll postpone the first day of school until September 9, and offer child care to those parents whose plans are disrupted by the change of the school's starting date. He concludes his lettter by accusing our public school districts of "demonizing" Einstein, its supporters and "choice" in education. EINSTEIN SITE
No one is sure how that Castaic 8 year old boy ended up drowning inside a washing machine as it was running, but Detectives don't think there was foul play involved. The dad was outside doing yard work, mom was away from the house and dad came into check on the kid and saw his legs sticking up out of the washing machine. The boy is still in critical condition. SIGNAL
Shenkman, hot off his win against the City of Palmdale, ups the pressure, saying his case against the City and the districts could be heard & decided in court within 12-18 months. "I think this does, or at least it should, send a message to other jurisdictions, including Santa Clarita." Money at the SIGNAL
Santa Clarita Water Company -another retailer owned by CLWA- plans to increase its water rates on customers several dollars a year for the next few years. This follows CLWA's purchase of Valencia Water Company and that company's announcement that it will raise rates too. SIGNAL
The LAUSD teacher who got off with a misdemeanor despite being in possession of what the media (including me) were calling "child porn" actually didn't have images of children involved in sexual activity; rather, the DA says, "the videos were of nudist/naturist activities." And that's the SCV Daily Brief; I think I've heard it all now. SIGNAL
City Manager Striplin says Santa Clarita is "thriving" as demand increases for homes while crime & unemployment rates have fallen. And then he outlines building projects underway in each part of the city, from Newhall's Roundabout, to the parking spaces at Valencia Library and a new sports field at Central Park, and he asks you to email him if you think there are areas of town that could use beautification. I just want to know why there are New Jersey Transit trains along Rail Road Avenue. KHTS
It reads like a paid ad, but there's a glowing report on the City's success in attracting film productions to town at California Economy.org. The report mentions the incentive programs we offer, the return those incentives give us, and the number of people employed in the industry locally. Speaking of film & TV production, I love the fact that there's a man who works at the City's film office named Sypowicz. CAECONOMY.ORG
Local Vietnam Vet very upset that Jane Fonda will play Nancy Reagan in a movie, and his outrage has sparked a Facebook group that's grown to 20,000+ people. SIGNAL

Comments (21)

Coastal SageFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 12:59 pm

Before the fracas over the Einstein schools started, several of my friends, including one who is a trusted confidante of a City Council member, told me how wonderful the Einstein school's curriculum is. My informants, none of them Jewish, all said they wanted their children and grandchildren to attend. It's my belief that the reality of the school systems-wide opposition to any Einstein schools is because the school districts do not want to see a penny of State education funding lost to any charter school. Of course, those public policies established by local school district boards and superintendents is patently illegal in terms of their goals. I wish that the lawyers who are bringing Santa Clarita the lawsuits to force the dividing of the community into 5 separate council districts would find it in possible, using their massive store of form pleadings, to sue the local school districts for violating state law in their repeated denials and attacks on Einstein. Of course, that sort of case would be far more work for those lawyers than using form pleadings to sue on the "districts" issue. As to the City's actions against Einstein, the Santa Clarita city staff rarely does anything which is not politically motivated, so I am not surprised that Einstein finds itself having problems because the City staff members have learned that the local education bureaucrats consider Einstein a threat economically. Again, if I were running Einstein, I'd be running off to the Writs Department at L.A. Superior Court, which has the power to force local government agencies to behave, or filing a lawsuit in Federal Court under 42 USC 1983, which used to be called 'the anti-Klu Klux Klan act'. Despite things being "business as usual" in corrupt Santa Clarita politics, with respect to how the Einstein school, its students, parents and leaders are treated by Santa Clarita Valley elected officials and high level bureaucrats, the smell of anti-Semitism is much too strong. As we approach the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Santa Clarita's Jews need to take a strong stand against this bigotry, jealousy and green which flows under the surface in Santa Clarita politics. My adult son has less than fond memories of fundamentalist-Christian-wackos' kids, living on Podd Court, who used to scream "Dirt Jew" or "Jewish Pig" at him coming to and from the bus to Valencia High School. There was also a woman assistant principal at Valencia, who had an Eastern European accent, who was unnecessarily very nasty to my son, his girlfriend and her friend, an Iranian Jew. My adult son also constantly reported that the "jocks" at Valencia High School were profoundly racist and rude in what they said to black students from Val Verde. When my daughter was about 10 years old, two girls who lived on the next street attacked my daughter while she was riding her bike, pushed her off and started punching her, spitting on her, and calling her an "Ugly Jew". Those little darlings were the daughters of an experienced cop. My neighbor Jackie, who is British, saw the whole event and broke up the fight. For her trouble, one of the little darlings punched Jackie in the jaw. Of course the girls' dad refused to believe what his daughters said and did...until he talked to Jackie. In my opinion, the Jewish and Black communities in Santa Clarita have taken this crap from the "blonde" people in Santa Clarita for far too long. As you might imagine, in my childrens' view hell would freeze over before they would subject their children to Santa Clarita's public school environment.

ToddFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 1:21 pm

And now the race/ethnicity/heritage card has been played. Well done. Jennifer is back, and with a vengeance.

Coastal SageSaturday, August 3rd, 2013 at 6:03 pm

Todd, you may not have noticed but with respect to the Einstein charter schools the "race card" was played by others, in comments on this website, several months ago. From your point of view, the truth obviously hurts. How would you like to meet my 2 adult kids, so they could tell you about their personal experiences as students in the idyllic Santa Clarita public schools? My family's personal score: 2 dead grandparents, 11 dead aunts and uncles, 4 dead great grandparents. We take anti-Semitism seriously and identifying its existence is not "playing the race card".

MikeFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 1:49 pm

Wow. Yeah, totally. Because any other upstart can just convert an old office/warehouse shell into an elementary school in a matter of weeks. Must be anti-Semitism. Invoking Goodwin's law, too. Awesome. What does this make Marc Winger? Also, did I miss something? Since when is this a Jewish school? And since when can't Jews be blonde?

Angelo CandelabraSaturday, August 3rd, 2013 at 7:09 am

Ms. Kilpatrick makes her return by spewing vile, hateful nonsense.

Coastal SageSaturday, August 3rd, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Angelo, from your point of view, the truth obviously hurts. How would you like to meet my 2 adult kids, so they could tell you about their personal experiences as students in the idyllic Santa Clarita public schools? My family's personal score: 2 dead grandparents, 11 dead aunts and uncles, 4 dead great grandparents. We take anti-Semitism seriously and telling the truth about it is not vile, hateful nonsense.

JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 1:33 pm

But who SHOULD play Nancy Reagan? Who is the very upset vet fonda (#seewhatididthere) seeing in the role? The people need to know!

BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 2:11 pm

Any patriotic American woman who is also a great actress, and that disqualifies Hanoi Jane!

JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 2:27 pm

Oh, so certain roles require an actor not only be talented but also a “patriot”. I didn’t realize that.

BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 2:31 pm

Yes Josh IMHO when you are portraying a former First Lady, wife of one of the most believed American Presidents, Ronald Reagan, yes she needs to be a patriot and great actress and not a traitor and overrated has been.

JackHererFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 3:15 pm

So Jane Fonda is responsible for everything bad in VietNam but the President who forbade our missions from going downtown bears no responsibility? Missions also weren't green lit until the AAA and Sam sites were operational to shoot down our planes. I suggest some of you, including the big bitcher, do a little study on just what the hell happened in IndoChina. Jane Fonda was a tool who was used. Naive yes but not as close to evil as Johnson, McNamara or Westmoreland. Let's get our facts straight, shall we?

BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 3:30 pm

Jane Fonda is responsible for amongst other things, taking POW hand written messages given to her to pass on to their families which she instead placed right into the hands of their Viet Cong torturers who used them as an excuse to commit further atrocities. Some of us who had brothers, cousins, friends, classmates, etc who served will never forget or forgive her for the added pain they endured because of her traitorous actions. You are free to believe whatever you want, those of us who lived it will never forget.

JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 3:42 pm

Berta, you realize that note-passing story has been debunked, right?

BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 4:07 pm

Josh according to Snopes, which I do not trust much, but in any event I have too many family members who suffered because of her “visit” to Hanoi and her Viet Cong propaganda radio broadcasts to ever forget or forgive her. She has done nothing to redeem herself in the many years since then and I have too many other better choices for my entertainment. I will never support Jane Fonda in any way.

JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 4:16 pm

Do you trust Col. Larry Carrigan, who was one of the POWs named in that story, who has said it's not true? If you don't want to support Jane Fonda don't go see her movie. Why does there need to be a loud public boycott?

JulieFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:35 pm

Very disappointing to see you spreading false information about such a serious accusation. I don't care whether you believe snopes or not, it is well known that this is patently false and I find it distressing that you, a candidate for elected office in our city, would spread such nonsense. By the way, my father is a vietnam war veteran who doesn't even use the internet and even he knew this claim was total BS. By all means, don't support her, but don't knowingly spread false information. That is just wrong and you would be outraged if someone was doing that to you.

JackHererFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 5:36 pm

Don't let the facts get in the way of your self righteous rant Berta! I suggest you study real history and not the BS and populist propaganda. What was the point of inflating Jane Fondas visit? Who REALLY caused our casualties? Show me one order signed by Jane Fonda ordering Hanoi off limits. Anyone get sent in country on her orders? Continuing to hate Fonda does not make anyone more patriotic. Time to move on, as we all did in 1975 when the Vietnamese bacame our neighbors in Orange County.

BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:02 pm

Self righteous rant, wow you are a piece of work! You are welcome to believe whatever you want but I continue to believe the first person accounts of my older brother, several cousins, my friends and classmates who all served in Vietnam and my own observant teenage eyes during the Vietnam War years. Rant that jackass…

JulieFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:37 pm

So uncalled for.

BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:54 pm

Julie, uncalled for? Right, so his opinion is fine to express but my opinion is labeled a self-righteous rant according to this guy, and you are fine with that. You sound like a very fair person… Incorrect information, maybe, depending on who you believe but it does not change the fact that I have no respect for Ms. Fonda’s actions during the course of the Viet Nam War and I did not ask for nor need your approval to express my displeasure. As a candidate I do not give up my right to my own opinions, especially those based upon my life experiences and if that means you do not vote for me, I am fine with that.

VictoriaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 9:03 pm

With 4 (I believe) school campuses underway, does Einstein have any staff with school administration and development experience? If not, it's not surprising they would be having problems with paperwork and procedures. And Mr Shapiro must be one very busy man!

Coastal SageFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Before the fracas over the Einstein schools started, several of my friends, including one who is a trusted confidante of a City Council member, told me how wonderful the Einstein school's curriculum is. My informants, none of them Jewish, all said they wanted their children and grandchildren to attend. It's my belief that the reality of the school systems-wide opposition to any Einstein schools is because the school districts do not want to see a penny of State education funding lost to any charter school. Of course, those public policies established by local school district boards and superintendents is patently illegal in terms of their goals. I wish that the lawyers who are bringing Santa Clarita the lawsuits to force the dividing of the community into 5 separate council districts would find it in possible, using their massive store of form pleadings, to sue the local school districts for violating state law in their repeated denials and attacks on Einstein. Of course, that sort of case would be far more work for those lawyers than using form pleadings to sue on the "districts" issue. As to the City's actions against Einstein, the Santa Clarita city staff rarely does anything which is not politically motivated, so I am not surprised that Einstein finds itself having problems because the City staff members have learned that the local education bureaucrats consider Einstein a threat economically. Again, if I were running Einstein, I'd be running off to the Writs Department at L.A. Superior Court, which has the power to force local government agencies to behave, or filing a lawsuit in Federal Court under 42 USC 1983, which used to be called 'the anti-Klu Klux Klan act'. Despite things being "business as usual" in corrupt Santa Clarita politics, with respect to how the Einstein school, its students, parents and leaders are treated by Santa Clarita Valley elected officials and high level bureaucrats, the smell of anti-Semitism is much too strong. As we approach the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Santa Clarita's Jews need to take a strong stand against this bigotry, jealousy and green which flows under the surface in Santa Clarita politics. My adult son has less than fond memories of fundamentalist-Christian-wackos' kids, living on Podd Court, who used to scream "Dirt Jew" or "Jewish Pig" at him coming to and from the bus to Valencia High School. There was also a woman assistant principal at Valencia, who had an Eastern European accent, who was unnecessarily very nasty to my son, his girlfriend and her friend, an Iranian Jew. My adult son also constantly reported that the "jocks" at Valencia High School were profoundly racist and rude in what they said to black students from Val Verde. When my daughter was about 10 years old, two girls who lived on the next street attacked my daughter while she was riding her bike, pushed her off and started punching her, spitting on her, and calling her an "Ugly Jew". Those little darlings were the daughters of an experienced cop. My neighbor Jackie, who is British, saw the whole event and broke up the fight. For her trouble, one of the little darlings punched Jackie in the jaw. Of course the girls' dad refused to believe what his daughters said and did...until he talked to Jackie. In my opinion, the Jewish and Black communities in Santa Clarita have taken this crap from the "blonde" people in Santa Clarita for far too long. As you might imagine, in my childrens' view hell would freeze over before they would subject their children to Santa Clarita's public school environment.
ToddFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 1:21 pm
And now the race/ethnicity/heritage card has been played. Well done. Jennifer is back, and with a vengeance.
Coastal SageSaturday, August 3rd, 2013 at 6:03 pm
Todd, you may not have noticed but with respect to the Einstein charter schools the "race card" was played by others, in comments on this website, several months ago. From your point of view, the truth obviously hurts. How would you like to meet my 2 adult kids, so they could tell you about their personal experiences as students in the idyllic Santa Clarita public schools? My family's personal score: 2 dead grandparents, 11 dead aunts and uncles, 4 dead great grandparents. We take anti-Semitism seriously and identifying its existence is not "playing the race card".
MikeFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Wow. Yeah, totally. Because any other upstart can just convert an old office/warehouse shell into an elementary school in a matter of weeks. Must be anti-Semitism. Invoking Goodwin's law, too. Awesome. What does this make Marc Winger? Also, did I miss something? Since when is this a Jewish school? And since when can't Jews be blonde?
Angelo CandelabraSaturday, August 3rd, 2013 at 7:09 am
Ms. Kilpatrick makes her return by spewing vile, hateful nonsense.
Coastal SageSaturday, August 3rd, 2013 at 6:00 pm
Angelo, from your point of view, the truth obviously hurts. How would you like to meet my 2 adult kids, so they could tell you about their personal experiences as students in the idyllic Santa Clarita public schools? My family's personal score: 2 dead grandparents, 11 dead aunts and uncles, 4 dead great grandparents. We take anti-Semitism seriously and telling the truth about it is not vile, hateful nonsense.
JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 1:33 pm
But who SHOULD play Nancy Reagan? Who is the very upset vet fonda (#seewhatididthere) seeing in the role? The people need to know!
BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Any patriotic American woman who is also a great actress, and that disqualifies Hanoi Jane!
JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 2:27 pm
Oh, so certain roles require an actor not only be talented but also a “patriot”. I didn’t realize that.
BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Yes Josh IMHO when you are portraying a former First Lady, wife of one of the most believed American Presidents, Ronald Reagan, yes she needs to be a patriot and great actress and not a traitor and overrated has been.
JackHererFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 3:15 pm
So Jane Fonda is responsible for everything bad in VietNam but the President who forbade our missions from going downtown bears no responsibility? Missions also weren't green lit until the AAA and Sam sites were operational to shoot down our planes. I suggest some of you, including the big bitcher, do a little study on just what the hell happened in IndoChina. Jane Fonda was a tool who was used. Naive yes but not as close to evil as Johnson, McNamara or Westmoreland. Let's get our facts straight, shall we?
BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Jane Fonda is responsible for amongst other things, taking POW hand written messages given to her to pass on to their families which she instead placed right into the hands of their Viet Cong torturers who used them as an excuse to commit further atrocities. Some of us who had brothers, cousins, friends, classmates, etc who served will never forget or forgive her for the added pain they endured because of her traitorous actions. You are free to believe whatever you want, those of us who lived it will never forget.
JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Berta, you realize that note-passing story has been debunked, right?
BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Josh according to Snopes, which I do not trust much, but in any event I have too many family members who suffered because of her “visit” to Hanoi and her Viet Cong propaganda radio broadcasts to ever forget or forgive her. She has done nothing to redeem herself in the many years since then and I have too many other better choices for my entertainment. I will never support Jane Fonda in any way.
JoshPremakoFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 4:16 pm
Do you trust Col. Larry Carrigan, who was one of the POWs named in that story, who has said it's not true? If you don't want to support Jane Fonda don't go see her movie. Why does there need to be a loud public boycott?
JulieFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Very disappointing to see you spreading false information about such a serious accusation. I don't care whether you believe snopes or not, it is well known that this is patently false and I find it distressing that you, a candidate for elected office in our city, would spread such nonsense. By the way, my father is a vietnam war veteran who doesn't even use the internet and even he knew this claim was total BS. By all means, don't support her, but don't knowingly spread false information. That is just wrong and you would be outraged if someone was doing that to you.
JackHererFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 5:36 pm
Don't let the facts get in the way of your self righteous rant Berta! I suggest you study real history and not the BS and populist propaganda. What was the point of inflating Jane Fondas visit? Who REALLY caused our casualties? Show me one order signed by Jane Fonda ordering Hanoi off limits. Anyone get sent in country on her orders? Continuing to hate Fonda does not make anyone more patriotic. Time to move on, as we all did in 1975 when the Vietnamese bacame our neighbors in Orange County.
BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:02 pm
Self righteous rant, wow you are a piece of work! You are welcome to believe whatever you want but I continue to believe the first person accounts of my older brother, several cousins, my friends and classmates who all served in Vietnam and my own observant teenage eyes during the Vietnam War years. Rant that jackass…
JulieFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:37 pm
So uncalled for.
BertaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 7:54 pm
Julie, uncalled for? Right, so his opinion is fine to express but my opinion is labeled a self-righteous rant according to this guy, and you are fine with that. You sound like a very fair person… Incorrect information, maybe, depending on who you believe but it does not change the fact that I have no respect for Ms. Fonda’s actions during the course of the Viet Nam War and I did not ask for nor need your approval to express my displeasure. As a candidate I do not give up my right to my own opinions, especially those based upon my life experiences and if that means you do not vote for me, I am fine with that.
VictoriaFriday, August 2nd, 2013 at 9:03 pm
With 4 (I believe) school campuses underway, does Einstein have any staff with school administration and development experience? If not, it's not surprising they would be having problems with paperwork and procedures. And Mr Shapiro must be one very busy man!