Why not Jim Miller Jr. for School Board?
- East County Guardian
- Mar 20, 2024
- 12 min read
9 Reasons not to endorse or vote based on actual votes:
Jim Miller Jr. is the school board President of the Cajon Valley Union School District (CVUSD). He is a Republican incumbent and has served on the board since 2016. Miller’s top financial supporter is the California School Employees Association (per most recent 460 filing). It is clear his allegiance is to the unions above students, families, and citizens of the district. His voting history has many informed parents, taxpayers, and other school board members looking for new leadership and representation. His callous lack of consideration for student well being, parent concerns and engagement, fiscal responsibility (i.e…funding an at-risk venture over the District’s needs) and having a total disregard for an ethical and transparent governance team has seriously compromised his ability to serve this District effectively. He has relinquished the Board's authority to the superintendent providing no accountability or oversight, as he was elected to do, and should step down immediately.
Under this type of leadership he puts the District at risk and creates division between parents, community, and staff. Rubber stamping anything the superintendent wants makes the board symbolic, not a governing entity. .
Student and Social Causes:
YMCA Votes:
After attending YMCA’s Camp Marston, 9 Students from a CVUSD Middle School reported allegations which prompted an internal investigation. Allegations included camp counselors explaining their gender and sexual preferences, demanding students call them by their preferred pronouns, making statements like “You should try being gay. It is fun.”, asking student’s their pronouns and informing them they could choose to sleep in the boys or girls cabin, based on how they identify, not their biological gender. One student even reported being patted down while in bed over a suspected cell phone. The student later recanted the statement which happened after the superintendent had coached the principal on interrogating this student further. After the investigation, students and parents advocated for the board to contract with non YMCA camps. Miller has since voted twice to send 6th graders back to YMCA camps even though YMCA refuses to provide names of the adults who will be sleeping in the cabins to parents (a stipulation Miller agreed with fellow Board Member Carnevale on, but abandoned as soon as the superintendent said “no”). The superintendent, staff, and board president have been asked to bring other camp options and they refuse. Miller’s rationale mirror’s the superintendent’s claim that the board should trust the staff to pick the camps and that asking staff to consider other options shows the board doesn’t trust staff.
These votes not only put students in harm's way, they create division between parents and staff. Rubber stamping anything the staff wants makes the board symbolic, not a governing entity.
Vote can be found in the Meeting Minutes from June 13th, 2023 Board Meeting (attached to June 27 agenda) Item # 11H Outdoor Education Program 2023-2024 School Year
● Youtube: Discussion at 1 hour 4 min https://youtu.be/BhOs5IYehE8
Sex Ed Curriculum:
Jim voted to adopt the Positive Prevention Plus CA State Approved Sex Ed curriculum. This curriculum does not reflect the values of many parents in the school district and is not medically accurate, it tells 7th graders that “Abortion is a very safe procedure”. It also contained outside links to GLSEN (Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network) & HRC (Human Rights Campaign). These links provided the establishment of a connection to adults in these organizations, encouraged children to become activists in the “#QueerArmy” and showed students how to hide their browsing history from their parents. These organizations also solicited private information from 12 year olds, including their private medical experience (for which they offered 12 year olds a $20 e gift card), sexual preferences, home and “safe” address, explaining to students that “home may not be safe”. Luckily, the board majority voted against this curriculum. Miller was in the minority and the rationale he gave once again was to trust staff and that he feared legal issues.
These votes not only put students in harm's way, they create division between parents and staff. Rubber stamping anything the staff wants makes the board symbolic, not a governing entity.
● Vote can be found in the meeting minutes from March 14, 2023 Board Meeting Item 9E (attached to March 28 agenda)
● YouTube: Discussion at 44 minutes https://youtu.be/7kcSNXjMlWg
Get Your Teach On:
Jim Miller voted to send teachers and principals to Get Your Teach On, a convention for staff to learn new ideas to bring to the classroom. Their website and keynote speaker websites are filled with radical gender & racist propaganda. The attached links were all pulled from these sites and provided to the board. Again, Jim made the argument that a “no vote” would mean the board does not trust teachers.
● Vote can be found in the meeting minutes from November 14, 2023 Board Meeting Item 9H (attached to December 12 agenda)
● Youtube: Public Comment & Discussion 1 hour 57 minutes
Getting Smart:
Jim voted for the district to contract with Getting Smart to build a system to “measure the happiness of students”. Getting Smart believes that the American education system is built on white supremacy, is overpoliced and that
American Education needs to be “decolonized.” Getting Smart proudly supports and helps fund Planned Parenthood and Sacramento Punks with Lunch, a communist organization whose core value is “all cops are bastards, no exceptions”.
● Vote can be found in the meeting minutes from January 10, 2024 Board Meeting Item #9F9 (attached to February 20 agenda)
These votes not only put students in harm's way, they create division between parents and staff. Rubber stamping anything the staff wants makes the board symbolic, not a governing entity. .
Financial:
WOW Conference (Brown Act/Conflict of Interest Violations and lack of District fiduciary Oversight):
Jim Miller voted to loan/“advance” $300,000+ of taxpayer money to the World of Work (WOW) foundation. A foundation operated by the cabinet/staff of the District without public oversight. The conference was to promote the World of Work/Beable, Inc. partnership/royalty agreement for curriculum owned by the district. The conference benefitted Beable, Inc. the royalty payer to the district which receives only 2.9% or $0.84 for every $30 subscription of Beable’s software sold to other school districts. Jim voted to advance district money to fund the WOW foundation conference which was an abject financial failure that did not bring money to the district or foundation, the repayment agreement became severely delinquent and grants to the district were misappropriated to “repay” the loan, this “repayment” with grant monies was a unilateral decision of the superintendent, without board approval. WOW, the business is also a financial failure being a 7 year old business that spends millions more money than it brings in revenue, year in, year out.
This vote takes money away from students and classroom resources. There is no evidence of these financial losses having a benefit for students.
● Vote can be found: Item 10E on February 28, 2023 Agenda, Meeting minutes attached to March 14th regular meeting.
● YouTube: Discussion at 36 minutes
WOW Repayment Plan (Not properly adjudicated. Conflict of Interest & Ethics Violations.)
Public school districts should not be loaning money to private foundations. The Board president allowed it to become delinquent and would not bring it back for Board oversight. The WOW repayment plan was insisted upon by Member Carnevale after hundreds of thousands had already been pledged by the district. The initial plan which was written by district legal counsel, an expense that was not approved by the board. The original repayment agreement included forgiving the WOW foundation if the foundation could not repay the advanced funds within 2 years, Member Carnevale pushed for a shorter repayment term. Please note, that the members of the WOW foundation, are also the CVUSD cabinet, there are no members of the public nor board members on the foundation, the WOW foundation’s meetings are private. The signature lines on the contracts featured the same people, like Dr. Miyashiro signed as the Secretary for both the foundation and the district. The Board hired legal counsel to craft the repayment plan but what they got was a sloppy, unenforceable, and biased agreement in favor of the WOW Foundation and at the district's loss. When the repayment agreement became extremely delinquent, Jim Miller lied in open session at the October 10th, 2023 regular board meeting that “WoW has been repaid” when, in fact, it had not. A fact, which the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Scott Buxbaum, confirmed on October 11th, 2023 when claimed the funds had not been repaid and that they would be repaid with Conrad Prebys Foundation grant monies which Buxbaum said would be forthcoming in the “next month or so.”
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_kCt_gbmx4 “WoW has been repaid” Jim Miller, Jr. October 10, 2023 (WoW had not been repaid)
Not only did the district loan general funds to a private foundation (WoW), but the advanced funds were “repaid” with grant monies from the Conrad Prebys Foundation & Grant Monies from the California Department of Education which makes it virtually impossible to determine exactly how much money has been siphoned from the District. The elected board members have no fiduciary oversight over the (WoW) foundation. The (WoW) foundation stands between the district and grantors and lays claim to millions in grant monies which should come under board and citizen oversight and be spent for the benefit of the district and students. At the end of the day, the (WoW) repayment plan was not followed, it was repaid with monies that were not identified in the original agreement and without board direction or approval.
This vote takes money away from students and classroom resources and gives it away to a foundation. There is no evidence of these financial losses having a positive impact for students. Nor is there evidence of the foundation benefiting students.
● Vote can be found: Item 10E on February 28, 2023 Agenda, Meeting minutes attached to March 14th regular meeting.
● YouTube Discussion at 36 min 30 sec: https://youtu.be/HFgBxI-b4tA
Tamara Otero Consult Agreement: (Brown Act & Conflict of Interest Violations)
Jim Miller voted to keep the contract with Tamara Otero’s company that Otero added to the agenda (without attaching the actual contract). Tamara was the outgoing board president. She hid her golden parachute agreement to be the “face” of our district on travel. Jim Miller fought to keep her contract against the public’s demands for transparency. This isn’t the first time Otero had been sneaky about a contract. You google her name and can find another instance in CVUSD where she hid the fact that the board granted her son a contract. And her husband went to prison for defrauding the government by pretending to be a business owned by a disabled veteran. The contract she had obtained on her way out as president is a clear Government code 1090 violation. It is still under investigation with the FPPC.
This vote takes money away from students and classroom resources. This shows a pattern of systemic financial misappropriation of funds and a clear conflict of interest and ethics violation. Promises and travel trade offs in exchange for votes equals a rubber stamp board for the benefit of WOW and not the District. Did Otero actually fulfill that contract obligation or just cash out for her obedience to the superintendent?
● Vote can be found: Item 6A on January 31, 2023 Special Meeting, Meeting minutes attached to February 14th, 2023 Regular Meeting
● YouTube Part 1 https://youtu.be/twyO_vXbfHw
YouTube Part 2 https://youtu.be/sxjNji6kW7E
Governance:
Robert’s Rules of Order: (The board president is confused as to what Parliamentary Procedures are, and who is to make determinations on parliamentary procedure):
Jim Miller has stated “we do not follow Robert’s Rules of Order.” Even though it is clearly stated in the board policy, on each and every consent agenda of the board, and is common practice in school boards. He has even said in prior meetings that CVUSD follows Rober’s Rules of Order. He changes the rules when it benefits him. Regardless of protocol, he often enters into conversations with the public during public comment.
This tyrannical governance is dangerous and deceptive, lacking accountability and transparency.
● Example can be found:
● Any consent agenda shows Robert’s Rules of Order is used by the board.
Tyranny and Unilateral Harassment (Brown Act/Procedural & Ethics Violations as detailed above and discussed further below):
As Board president, Miller takes liberties beyond the limits and scope outlined in Board Policy. He uses district letterhead without the knowledge of the board, he asks for forensic audits of other board members personal devices, he tells them if and when they can visit school sites, he hides legal counsel opinions from fellow board members and provides his own misrepresentations of those opinions, he hides communications from other board members, and creates ad hoc committees on his own, in the dark, without the required vote of the Board. He chooses to operate in the shadows and not in the sunshine. Many of his deeds done in the dark have been a form of harassment to other board members and parents.
This tyrannical governance is dangerous and deceptive, lacking accountability and transparency. The retaliatory behavior is rampant throughout the district. Resulting in staff and parents fleeing the district.
● Example can be found: https://www.facebook.com/recosd/posts/pfbid0muDqt1fKSJbcCKBRj8obdxhF M727X9cNib2A cC2E4bzZKXBZQnJZKN6RrF9E5gLTl
● https://youtu.be/AcG4V0FwfpM?si=-ruPPvnLQJeRHZll at the 3:43:00 mark.
Brown Act Violations:
Several Brown Act violations have occurred under Jim Miller’s leadership, ranging from timely and properly posted agendas, absence of contracts and/or insufficient information provided, misleading the public by not posting a proper action, not properly responding to cure and correct citizen demands, evaluating the superintendent without public notice and also establishing the ill-advised method of polling the Board outside of deliberating at a public meeting on the revisions of 500+ board bylaws & policies, while working to cover up the superintendent’s extreme negligence of not bringing board policy updates for 6+ years.
● No notice of superintendent evaluation on the May 23rd, 2023 regular board meeting agenda.
● Notice of the January 30th, 2024 Special board meeting was not posted in a physical location, Superintendent acknowledged that it had not been physically posted, Miller said we would continue with “substantial compliance” with Brown Act posting requirements.
Board Bylaws - (Policies that lead to good governance, IGNORED!)
Miller has demonstrated time and again his deliberate effort to cause havoc by not simply following the rules and laws of good governance. By these actions, he has no respect for his Board to function as a team. If you try to follow the bylaws you are publicly ridiculed. Under Miller’s leadership and the prior leadership members are not independent thinkers, but seem to be coerced into being mindless puppets for the Board president as he does the bidding for the superintendent. It should be noted that the Superintendent makes over $500,000 while test scores in reading and math have plummeted.
The lack of sub-committees which are called for in the Board Bylaws were removed when the superintendent came to the district. Why? Wanting no eyes and accountability from parent and community participation! After numerous calls to reinstate sub-committees i.e.) audit & finance, facilities, policy and governance, curriculum etc.) and continually being ignored is more evidence for concern.
The lack of respect for good governance by the superintendent and Mr. Miller came shining through when it was exposed that the superintendent was negligible in bringing six years (600+ policies) of California School Boards Association (CSBA) Board Bylaw updates and revisions. Because of the enormity of this task the community and Board member Carnevale stressed the need for a parent advisory committee. Instead, Mr. Miller doubled down, refusing to form a committee despite board direction, public comment and board bylaws which clearly calls for the formation of a citizen advisory committee. His rationale, he had a committee, made up only of staff as if it’s an appropriate substitute for citizen advisory. None of this was noticed to the public according to board policy. The Board president directed such gimmicks as polling the Board on each policy outside of an opening meeting, a clear Brown Act violation!!!
Another significant Brown Act Violation was the Superintendent Contract. The public was not given proper notice of the superintendent’s evaluation. Miller ignored the Cure and Correct demand of over 20 members of the public and instead claimed Anthony Carnevale wrote them for the public and demanded to know if he “had anything to do with it”.
This tyrannical governance is dangerous and deceptive. Lacking accountability and transparency. Allegiance to the Superintendent over the needs of students is deplorable.
○ As of March 19th, 2024 the minutes for the October 10th meeting can not be accessed on the district’s website.
○ Cure and correct demand (various versions of which were sent by over 20 members of the public) over the improper notice of the superintendent’s evaluation is included at the end of this document. Cure and correct demands have been ignored.
○ Improper posting of 500+ board policy revisions a vote at a special meeting is shown on the recording of January 30th special board meeting Agenda Item 6A, the item was re-voted on at the February 20th regular board meeting Item 10N.
The concerns listed above are a prioritized partial list of reasons why support of Jim Miller should be suspended indefinitely. Further examples include: voting for another tax raising bond, not prioritizing parental rights or engagement, and allowing the superintendent to travel across the nation and world on district money to promote a failed business venture. We have a symbolic board that yields its power to the Superintendent and the unions. Our children deserve a board that will act as a shield and a fiduciary. What we have now is symbolism to grant our Superintendent the luxury of socialite status. We just want our kids to be safe, provided age appropriate instruction, and to excel in reading, writing, and math. Right now, our district is below the state average in all categories. We demand transparency and accountability. Jim Miller Jr. no longer serves the students. He serves everyone and everything but the well-being of our kids. This is evident in the protections given to the Superintendent, friends and former board members, and protecting all aspects of WOW. What about our kids? The classrooms? The academics? We ask on behalf of the students, parents, and taxpayers please do not endorse Jim Miller Jr. for the CVUSD school board. Can you help the kids of Cajon Valley today?
In Unity,
The East County Guardians