Subject: James Fleming

• The worst kind of Supe

  What kind of guy can go from being state superintendent of the year to an indicted fellow who may be facing four years in the slammer? Try former Capistrano Unified Superintendent James Fleming. Last August, Fleming (once the highest-paid education chief in all the Orange land), retired amid accusations he'd created "enemies lists" of his political foes and used public funds to meddle in an election. The charges, filed under seal mid-May, were unsealed just yesterday. Check out the indictme

  May 25, 2007

• Friday's Headlines

  More meat on our story, please? There are dirty details to be had in the ongoing Great Park tale. But instead, the Register gives us stuff like this. And this. Tolls to rise: Starting July 2, they'll be taking a little more of your money at selected onramps on the Foothill/Eastern and San Joaquin toll roads. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker? Yesterday, reports revolved around the "goofy hat bandit." Before that, it was the "irreconcilable differences bandit." Now it's the "landscape bandit" t

  June 15, 2007

• Day In Court for Indicted Ex-Sup Delayed

  An Orange County judge granted a new pretrial hearing date for ex-superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District, James Fleming and ex-assistant superintendent, Susan McGill. The pretrial hearing was scheduled for this morning, with a jury trial set to begin Oct. 29, but lawyers for both McGill and Fleming requested the new date of Dec. 7. A new jury trial date will not be set until after the Dec. 7 pretrial. Both Fleming and McGill were indicted in late May for conspiring to commit act

  October 5, 2007

• Showdown in South County School District

  News of a damning District Attorney report that found four current and three former trustees who served on the board of the 51,000-student Capistrano Unified School District repeatedly violated open meeting laws by holding illegal closed meetings (See, "Brown Act Blues," Oct. 18), culminated today with a break between newly elected trustees and the so-called "old guard." The district and the board have been tightlipped since the report was released last week. The board's silence was broken toda

  October 19, 2007

• No Pretrial (Yet) for Indicted Ex-School Superintendent

  Indicted Capistrano Unified School District ex-superintendent James Fleming, and his old cohort, former assistant superintendent Susan McGill had the chance to breathe sighs of relief this morning. Lawyers for the two were granted a motion to reschedule a pretrial hearing which was scheduled for this morning at the Orange County District Court. The new date is now Feb. 8, 2008. Both Fleming and McGill were indicted in late May for conspiring to commit acts injurious to the public and misappropri

  December 7, 2007

• Holy Christmas! Embattled CUSD Trustees and Ex-Sup Join Santa!

  We couldn't believe it ourselves, but proof arrived in our offices today and it appears that embattled Capistrano Unified School District trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper have joined indicted ex-superintendent James Fleming in the North Pole! Although the two trustees -- who are the subject of a recall campaign -- have not formally resigned, it appears they will be skipping town over the holidays and putting in a little extra volunteer time with Santa. See the crew at work here!

  December 21, 2007

• Please Quit Now, Pretty Please!

  Guys, either you go or you're going to cost everyone a lot of money -- that's roughly the sentiment delivered to longstanding Capistrano Unified School District trustees Marlene Draper and Sheila Benecke Tuesday by three of the seven members on the tense and divided board. The three newest trustees -- Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry Christensen -- who were elected in late 2006 as part of a joint "reform" ticket following the indictment of the district's ex-superintendent James Fleming,

  January 9, 2008

• How to Avoid a Total Recall

  So, this has nothing to do with Heath Ledger's overdose, but it's news that broke today and we've been with this story for a while now, so what the hell. Last September we spent some time with the CUSD Recall Committee, a feisty, frustrated group of parents and South County residents who pledged to collect enough signatures (read: 60,000) to recall two long-serving trustees on the beleaguered Capistrano Unified School District board. They've done it, they announced today. But they're hoping

  January 22, 2008

• School Board Awarded...For Violating the Law!

  The Capistrano Unified School Board was honored with a coveted "Darkness Award" by the California First Amendment Coalition this past weekend. Winners who earn the award usually, among other things, lie, thwart freedom of speech and subvert the public's right to know. The old Capo board (which predates the current board and its newly elected "reform" trustees) had it nailed in at least two of those categories and the First Amendment Coalition agreed, citing a continued inability to abide by ope

  October 20, 2008

• Is The New Capistrano Unified Board As Creepy As The Old One?

  Even with June's final ousting of the remaining trustees who served under Nixon-wannabe superintendent James Fleming, the South-County shitshow that is Capistrano Unified School District hasn't been showing any less shit lately. In fact, the newly monolithic slate of "reform" trustees (the final two were elected in November) seems just as clueless as their hit-list-writing predecessors when it comes to not seeming like an anti-democratic cabal of soccer moms with secret agendas. Last

  January 7, 2009

• James Fleming Gets An Extension on His Homework

  FlemingTwo-and-a-half years since resigning as superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District, 21 months since being first arraigned, and more than three hours after showing up for trial on the second floor of the Santa Ana courthouse this morning, James Fleming -- along with ex-assistant-superintendent Susan McGill and both of their attorneys -- got up in front of a judge and asked for more time.This would be the fourth time that Fleming and McGill's trial has been delayed since it wa

  February 10, 2009

• Woodrow Carter, In Your Facial

  The Temecula Creek Inn--with its views of miles of verdant, vine-covered hills, a golf course, sumptuous spa treatments and nearby wine tastings--is a splendid spot for a decadent weekend getaway. In late 2007, about a month after beginning his post as Capistrano Unified School District's newest superintendent, A. Woodrow Carter accepted an invitation to spend a weekend at the Inn for the "California Superintendent's Health and Wellness Institute." Carter didn't give many details about the retre

  March 3, 2009

• Indicted Ex-Superintendent Flies Back to Never Neverland

  Fleming aka Peter Pan?Almost two years after making headlines for being the highest public official to ever be indicted in Orange County (this was pre-Carona), ex-superintendent James Fleming, and indicted ex-assistant superintendent Susan McGill, walked out of the Orange County Courthouse today unfazed by the court trial that never was. For the fifth time in two years today, when a jury trial was (finally) set to begin, Judge Thomas Goethals allowed the case against Fleming and McGill to be del

  April 7, 2009

• Capistrano Unified Recall Leader Weighs In On Film, Is Mum About Excluded Journalist

  City of Rancho Santa MargaritaTony BeallAs if to demonstrate why anyone would be interested in a movie about school districts, Capistrano Unified delivered some of its trademark drama at last night's premier of Not As Good As You Think (which we previewed here). Capistrano Dispatch editor Jonathan Volzke apparently wasn't invited to the event -- though the Weekly and the Register were -- and he was told that space was full when he tried to register for a seat at the screening. That's strange on

  May 21, 2009

• Have the Problems of the Capo Unified School Board Been Solved After the Recall/Reform Movement Won?

  January 22, 2009

• Letters From OC Weekly Readers

  May 29, 2008

• The Real Portables of South County

  2007: A year to remember

  December 27, 2007

• Letters

  "There is a huge difference between the FBI and the media."

  November 1, 2007

• OC's Scariest People

  Our Congressional delegation tops this year’s list of 33 villains (31 for October, plus two more to get to the Dia de los Muertos, ese)

  October 25, 2007

• Brown Act Blues

  The DA doesn’t file criminal charges against CAPO Unified School trustees, but their violations of the state open-meeting law will go on their permanent records

  October 18, 2007

• Caught in Violation of the Act

  WEB EXCLUSIVE! DAs report finds Capistrano Unified held illegal closed meetings

  October 11, 2007

• Total Recall

  A timeline
  

  October 4, 2007

• Hard Knocks

  October 4, 2007

• Recall Madness!

  August 23, 2007

• Capistrano Unified Is Cinematic Posterchild For Dysfunctional Schools [Updated]

  Hey, look! The fresh faces you normally see at the average Capistrano Unified School District board meeting have been picked up and plopped into a professional-looking documentary trailer: NOT AS GOOD AS YOU THINK - Official Trailer from Lucas Abel on Vimeo.The movie, sponsored by the pro-"school choice" Pacific Research Institute, chronicles the "Myth of the Middle Class School" -- the idea that by living in affluent areas, your kids are guaranteed an at-or-above-par public education. To make

  May 19, 2009

• Diary of a Mad County

  July 27, 2006

• Diary of a Mad County

  July 13, 2006

• Capo Unified's Fleming Delays His Day in Court, Again

  Anna, James, Maya: All reminders of a simpler time.​Remember 2007? M.I.A. released a really good album, the surge in Iraq was all the talk, Anna Nicole Smith laid to rest her gentle head and everyone assumed Hillary Clinton was going to be the next President.It was also the year in which James Fleming, the former superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District, was indicted for allegedly creating an "enemies" list of parents and students and then lying about it.He still hasn't stood trial

  October 30, 2009