Chaos at Santa Ana Unified: Superintendent Retires Abruptly, School Employees' Union Head Faces Recall

Who the hell sends out a press release at 11:37 p.m.? Only fools who want to lessen the news, of course. But that's how business goes in the Santa Ana Unified School District, and that's how I found out that superintendent Thelma Melendez de SanTana is abruptly retiring after a little more than two years on the job.

She'll have company in the army of the dispossessed: Yesterday, a source revealed that the prez of the school employees' union, Duane Lundquist, faces a recall from the folks he represents.

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I had heard rumblings about Melendez, whom I know informally, for a while. She says it's a family decision, but I'm also sure she's glad to leave the Machiavellian politics that defines life in the Banana Republic. Lundquist, on the other hand, is facing accusations of making sexually disparaging remarks and palling around with Melendez too much, per the recall petition circulating around.

More to come . . . I gotta go yell at my sources for leaking some info to other, lesser news services.

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