Fleming and McGill Indicted - Statement of the DA

Following up on fellow blog pen member Mark Bucher's post below, here is the official word on the indictments he mentioned, as articulated in the words of District Attorney Tony Rackauckas at a press conference this morning:

Statement by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
Indictment of James Fleming and Susan McGill

May 24, 2007

There are persons who hold certain respected positions of trust in our community.  We entrust our taxpayer funds with elected officials, our safety with law enforcement officers, our spiritual well-being with religious leaders, and our children’s future with educators.

This morning, the court unsealed the indictment against two defendants which marks the prosecution of the highest ranking school officials in Orange County’s history. 

Ten days ago, the Orange County Grand Jury indicted James Fleming, who was the Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent from 1991 to 2006, and Assistant Superintendent Susan McGill, who worked for Capistrano Unified for 25 years in various positions.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office began our official investigation of CUSD in February, 2006. 

Some of the subject matters we examined were allegations against the 7-member Board of Trustees engaging in conflicts of interest and holding non-public meetings, and school officials conducting election and political activities using taxpayer funds and taking away resources from the students at Capistrano Unified.   

This indictment covers the last part of the inquiries.  The Grand Jury heard from 14 witnesses, on 14 days from August 16, 2006 to May 9, 2007, and examined 22 documents. 

Former Superintendent James Fleming has been charged with three felonies: 

Count 1 – misappropriation of public funds;
Count 2 – use of school funds to defeat a recall effort of his political allies;
Count 3 – conspiracy. 

If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.   

Former Assistant Susan McGill has been charged with two felony counts: conspiracy and perjury.  If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. 

The Capistrano Unified School District covers the citizens of seven cities and five unincorporated communities in South Orange County, 50,000 students, 56 campuses, 4,750 teachers and staff, and a $563 million annual budget. 

That is a lot of money, all of it should be spent on educating our children. 

In early 2005, concerned citizens and parents organized a recall movement because they believed Fleming and the Trustees had been mismanaging the District for many years. 

One of the driving issues was the belief that a beautiful, new palatial administrative building was being constructed while their children were being taught in dilapidated portables and having to use filthy bathrooms. 

Shortly before the recall group announced their efforts, the head of the recall group sent an organizing email to multiple people including a PTA member, who forwarded the email to a school principal, who forwarded the email to Fleming. 

On March 21, 2005, Fleming is accused of drafting a confidential memo to the Trustees outlining the names of the recall proponents and their strategies and instructing the Trustees and staff to continue gathering information and prepare for the pending recall. 

Two days later, Fleming is accused of emailing a similar memo to a large group of District staff and administrators.

On April 25, 2005, the recall committee announced their recall petition efforts. 

Shortly after the announcement, Fleming is accused of instructing his assistant, Kate McIntyre, to create an “enemies” list spreadsheet. 

McIntyre had the District’s computer department access the confidential student database and she provided Fleming with a spreadsheet including the recall proponents’ names, spouses’ names, email addresses, schools and whether the children of the recall proponents were included in the school district database.

Fleming is accused of ordering McIntyre to modify the spread sheet and expand the information to include schools attended by the children and other notes explaining individual, specific problems. 

In December 2005, the recall proponents did not succeed in their efforts.

From January 1, 2006 to August 1, 2006, Fleming and McGill are accused of conspiring together to access, review, and use confidential pupil files without a legitimate educational purpose, parental consent or a court order. 

Fleming is accused of directing McGill to drive to the Registrar of Voter’s office and review signature petitions from the recall efforts. 

During school hours while being paid out of taxpayer funds, McGill and another school employee are accused of gathering information from the Registrar, Neal Kelley, who mistakenly provided the information. 

At the direction of Fleming, there were multiple versions of a political “enemies” list spreadsheet created during District work hours, using District resources, using District employees, accessing confidential District information. 

The information gathered included first and last names of the petition gatherers, spouse’s names, children’s names, the children’s schools, the children’s grades, their addresses and phone numbers. 

On January 12, 2006, McGill is accused and creating a memo addressed to Fleming which confirmed the conspiracy between the two. 

The subject line in bold and all capital letters stated, “LIST OF SIGNATURES ON PETITIONS.”  The rest of the memo read, “Per your request, attached are the lists of individuals who were listed as petition signature-gatherers along with the information on whether they have children in CUSD and which schools those children attend …”

On August 16th and 21st, Susan McGill was called before the Grand Jury to testify about her involvement on the matter.  McGill is accused of lying under oath about a material matter which she knew was false, trying to hide what she and Fleming did. 

The investigation and the Grand Jury inquiry found no legitimate educational purpose for any of the multiple versions of the “enemies” lists that were created.

We do not know at this time if any of the children were penalized in any way for their parents’ political activities. 

We are bombarded with complaints from educators and parents that our schools are strapped for cash and children have to do with less.  It’s a shame that resources were shifted away from students to create an unlawful list of political “enemies.”

As to any of the other matters regarding the Capistrano Unified School District not addressed in this press conference, we are not finished with our work and we are not ready to make news on that today.

Comments

[Hats off to Tony Rackauckas]

Today's indictment of James Fleming is a watershed moment in Orange County history and it will have ripple effects across the country. Fleming was one of the most prominent and highly paid public school administrators in the country. Now that he is being held accountable, administrators all across the country will need to reassess how they are doing business. Hats of to Rackauckas for this bold indictment -- I hope there are more to come as he suggested!

[Kelly in Aliso Viejo]

My son is in Special Education in the Capistrano School District. I was just informed it was announced to the school principal and the Special Ed Teachers last week that the special ed classes at his school are being cut and he will be moved to another school with a class size DOUBLE of what it is now with only ONE AIDE. These special needs children suffer from Autism, Physical and Learning Disablities, Depression and ADHD just to mention a few. They cannot function in a classroom of that size. They will continue to fall further and further behind academically. These children should not have to suffer because of the gross misconduct of Mr. Fleming and Ms McGill. South Orange County is now listed one of the wealthiest communities in the world and we do not have enough funds to help these children who so desparately need help. I truly hope that their punishment will fit their crime. However; unfortunately, their jail time will not help my son.