Former L.A. Community College Trustee and Teacher, Pat Owens, is mad as hell and he is not going to take it any more. In a seven minute preview of a Full Disclosure Network™ (FDN) two-part series Owens describes what made him so mad and why he says, I recruited a non-controlled slate of candidates to take on the good old boys of the powerful Berman-Waxman political machine in an attempt to return accountability to the taxpayers of the District.
The former L.A. Trade Tech Teacher Pat Owens, told Full Disclosure Network™ (FDN) the well entrenched LACCD incumbents are hand picked to keep the American Federation of Teachers Guild (union) in control of LACCD, the largest Community College District in the United States with a budget of $640 million and recent bond revenues of over a billion dollars. Available now for viewing on the Internet are a seven minute preview and the complete two-part series, free, on demand as a FDN public service at URL: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Programs/preview_488-489.php . The programs will also be featured on 43 cable sytems.
Full Disclosure Network™ was notified by the LACCD Secretary of the Board of Trustees that the incumbent Trustees had been informed of our invitation to them to participate in interviews for this program. However, to date there has been no response from any of them even though we also sent an Email request to the Chancellor&#s office asking for contact phone numbers. Our invitation will remain open and we hope they will respond before the election in order to provide their perspective.
The following individuals were interviewed for this program by the Full Disclosure Network™
* Pat Owens, Former LACCD Trustee and L.A. Trade Tech teacher
* Roy Burns, Police Science Instuctor (LACCD) Retired L.A. Sheriff&#s Deputy
* Jozeph Essavi, Board Member, Neighborhood Council, Former LACCD student
* Hector Gurule, Computer Businessman
* Guy Mato, Real Estate,Insurance, Deputy Sheriff (ret), Former GM Water Board
Here are some the issues and concerns discussed in the programs regarding the conduct of the LACCD Board of Trustees:
*Questionable timing of the resignation of Board President Michael Waxman.
* Wasteful spending on three administration buildings, diverting money from education programs
* Need for audit of district financials due to questionable spending of bond funds on parking, etc.
* Union-operated student book stores use questionable 50% + mark-up prices
* Cuts in vocational training programs
* Reducing units per class, downgrading value of the traditional degree, requiring more than 2 years.
*Trustees meetings too frequently held in closed sessions, lack of community input/participation.
Hosted by Leslie Dutton, the Full Disclosure Network™ the programs are billed as The News Behind the News on the Internet website www.fulldisclosure.net and on 43 cable television systems. In 2004-5 FDN featured a series entitled Belmont the World&#s Most Expensive High School covering the Los Angeles Unified School District. In 2006 FDN produced a special series on the Orange County, California Capistrano Unified School District Recall Campaign resulting with the resignation of CUSD Superintendent, and defeat of three elected Board Trustees. Channels and airtimes can be found on the website.
