Racial Struggles at Orinda Schools / Superintendent Joe Jaconette Denies Free Lunch To Little Girl
The buck stops with the superintendent…
We know that the Orinda Union School District Superintendent Joe Jaconette has been in a lot of hot water before in light of making sure a complaint filed by one of their own teachers via Kristen Nielson never got heard. Nielson wrote the reason for leaving was exhaustion. She was tired of a superintendent who does not put teachers first.
But Superintendent Joe Jaconette is in hot water again for his utter disregard for the concern and safety of a 7 year old little girl. According to the Mercury News:
Days before kicking a second grader out of the district for living outside its boundaries, the Orinda Union School District twice denied the Latina girl access to its free lunch program while recognizing that she lived in the city. … The school district hired a private investigator who instead determined last month that Vivian lived in her grandmother’s Bay Point house. School officials sent a letter kicking her out but reversed their stance a day after the Bay Area News Group ran an article about her situation.
The absolute worst part of this story involves the mother of this precious seven year old little girl where her mother was hiding their address in light of filing a domestic violence restraining order against her ex.
Adding salt to injury, we were disgusted in learning that Lozano Smith’s attorney via Harold Frieman essentially justified the schools’ position denying the little girl a free lunch when he said:
“In general, free and reduced lunch applications are considered on their own merits, not directly related to any residency issues,” attorney Harold Freiman said.
If that were the case, why didn’t the domestic violence restraining order render any merit with Harold Frieman of Lozano Smith? We would like to see Lozano Smith’s Attorneys at Law reprimand Harold Frieman else stop with their pride in representing a fair educational setting in public schools.
But the icing on this cake has to do with a woman by the name of Loreen Farrell who prides herself on 30 years of experience. This is Orinda’s tax payers as work, folks, where Farrell should have conducted her due diligence involving a domestic violence abuse victim and her daughter.
According to the San Jose Mercury News:
The district first refused Vivian’s free lunch in an Oct. 6 letter written by Loreen Farrell, the district’s business services director, who also wrote the girl’s residency dismissal letter.
That is your tax dollars at work, people. Harold Freiman of Lozano Smith, Loreen Farrell, Superintendent Joe Jaconnette and the private investigator they hired to chase a little girl around should all belong in the Hall of Shame.
If you are disgusted in with this school wasting tax payer dollars with a private investigator to chase the child to her address but denied this young 7 year old little girl the free lunch program, please send the Fiscal Advisory Committee a note expressing your disgust. Some of the emails can be found here. Members include of the Fiscal Advisory Committee include: Nathan Anthony, Nolan Hornbuckle, Jan Coe, Shauna Simmonds, Bobby Glasser, Julie Rossiter, Denise Tuemmler, Colleen Sullivan, Ron Langer, Loreen Farrell, and Ken Gallegos.
Sin verguenza.
C/S
Vivian, 7, hugs a big stuffed bear in her Orinda bedroom Nov. 25, 2014.
Photo credit: Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group
