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Editor’s note: This article includes hyperlinks to a variety of source documents, some of which contain expletives.
Jon Vranesh left his office at Walnut Grove Elementary School so quietly on Oct. 25, 2013, that not even the people closest to him on staff knew he had been asked to leave. It wasn’t until parents started asking about his whereabouts that people came to learn Vranesh had been put on paid administrative leave from his position at Walnut Grove, where he’d been principal since August 2011.
On Nov. 5, in response to the inquiries, Pleasanton Unified School District superintendent Parvin Ahmadi sent an email to parents, but it never mentioned Vranesh by name. “Mr. Rich Puppione is serving as an interim administrator of Walnut Grove Elementary School. Mr. Puppione served the District for over thirty years as a teacher, principal and district administrator,” the email read. “We are confident our programs at Walnut Grove are in very good hands. Mr. Muniz will continue as the vice principal at Walnut Grove.”
Actions in the early morning hours of Dec. 18 only added to the questions and frustration over lack of information.
After a school board meeting that lasted until 3 a.m., Ahmadi said in a statement, “In a 4-1 vote, the board found merit to complaints against an administrator. The board instructed the superintendent to issue a written decision to the parties in this matter, and directed that a future meeting include an item on appointing a new principal of Walnut Grove Elementary School.”
“There were teachers, parents and members of the community that came forward in strong support of Jon Vranesh,” said Sharrell Michelotti, one of Vranesh’s supporters and a family friend. “Their strong support for him was not taken into consideration by the board or the administration while they were making a decision on his fate.”
In addition to not naming the “administrator,” Ahmadi and the members of the school board, including then-president Jeff Bowser, refused to comment on the complaints and who made them, citing privacy concerns.
Ahmadi addressed the speculation around Vranesh’s departure in an email to parents after the Dec. 18 decision, stating the district is limited in what information it could release.
“I respect your right to know whether the recent appointment of an interim administrator at Walnut Grove involves questions of student safety,” Ahmadi’s email said. “While I am not legally permitted to discuss any personnel issues, I can assure you that these changes are not related to the safety of any of our students.”
Documents provided to the Pleasanton Weekly by the district in response to a Public Records Act request shed light on the allegation, but also revealed that Vranesh had his own set of grievances against the school district.
One document was a Nov. 7, 2013, letter from the district’s attorney — Kim Kingsley Bogard of the Folsom law firm Kingsley Bogard — to Vranesh’s attorney, Paul Kondrick, in which Bogard states, “As previously stated, the allegations are that (Vranesh) created a hostile work environment at Walnut Grove through, among other things, the use of vulgar/derogatory terms to describe female employees of the district.”
The letter also claims these allegations were made by “several women” and that Vranesh also “made statements to subordinate employees which were interpreted as threatening and intimidating in nature.”
Through his attorney, Vranesh has denied the allegations, both in person at closed sessions of the school board and in written documents, including a statement he submitted to the district that he signed under “penalty of perjury” on Dec. 17 denying using the derogatory terms or threatening and “violent” language.
The search for a new principal at Walnut Grove left Vranesh, still a district employee, on paid administrative leave. That changed Jan. 28 when the school board approved moving Vranesh into an “itinerant principal” position.
The change in title and responsibilities might have gone unnoticed if not noticed by Michelotti. The new status was in a summary of personnel changes included as part of the board’s consent agenda, in which a list of items is voted on as a whole and without discussion. Vranesh’s name was listed in the document as a personnel change from K-5 principal to “itinerant principal.”
Assistant superintendent Bill Faraghan sent a letter to Vranesh on Feb. 20 that said, “It is the District’s practice to notify employees prior to Board action to allow them the opportunity to resign from administration in lieu of release. Consistent with that practice, the District is willing to accept a letter of resignation any time prior to commencement of the Board meeting.”
In a Feb. 21 letter to Bogard, Kondrick responded to Faraghan’s letter by stating, “Under the not so veiled threat of his ‘release’ or indeed termination as an administrator within the school district, Dr. Faraghan magnanimously presents Jon Vranesh with the ‘opportunity to resign’ rather than to be fired from the position.
“Jon Vranesh will not be resigning as an administrator within the district,” Kondrick’s letter continued. “Moreover, there is no objective reason for him to be released, removed or terminated as a PUSD administrator. Moreover, he will not allow himself to be beaten into submission by continued retaliatory, arbitrary actions by the District, including Superintendent Ahmadi and Dr. Faraghan. In other words, Mr. Vranesh has no intention whatsoever to go ‘quietly into the night.'”
Many sides
The events and circumstances prior to Vranesh’s removal as principal are not completely clear.
After Ahmadi’s first email to parents and the resulting story in the Pleasanton Weekly, Vranesh left a voicemail at the Pleasanton Weekly stating, “I put the Pleasanton Unified School District on notice months ago regarding situations that negatively affect staff safety, working conditions and a conducive environment for instruction and student learning,” he said. “Rather than taking effective action to eliminate those conditions, they put me on administrative leave.”
Ahmadi responded to the Weekly, “It is true that Mr. Vranesh has been placed on administrative leave. The reasons for this leave, however, are not those listed by Mr. Vranesh in his statement. We have explained the reasons for this personnel action to both Mr. Vranesh and his attorney. The rules covering employee privacy do not allow us to comment on them publicly at this time.
“Our district can, however, comment on the typical administrative leave process. In situations where employees are placed on leave, a thorough investigation is conducted. Information shared during the investigation may be limited. This is done both to maintain the integrity of the investigative process and to respect the privacy rights of all parties involved. The district’s goal in this and all such cases is to achieve a fair and appropriate outcome.”
The investigation was done by Shon Davidsen, an investigator paid by the district. Among the documents obtained in a second Public Records Act request by the Pleasanton Weekly — which were placed on the district’s website in response to the request — were a number of witness statements taken by Davidsen during the investigation.
These statements offered a mix of criticism and praise. Vranesh is described as “a very honorable man” by one, and a “pathological liar” who hates strong women by another interviewee.
Some staff members mentioned in witness statements were taken aback to learn they were part of the statements at all, since they said they had never been interviewed by Davidsen. Linda Pipe, Amador Valley High School registrar, and Mary Snell, Walnut Grove health clerk, addressed the school board March 11 to make public that they had never been interviewed.
“Imagine my shock, confusion and anxiety to discover myself named as a participant in acts of retaliation by two teachers (redacted) and (redacted), as a result of Jon’s removal,” Snell wrote in a letter addressed to board members.
“I am very angry that words, actions and intentions supposedly attributed to me were included in the printed ‘investigation’ of Mr. Vranesh without ever contacting me to ascertain the veracity of these words, actions or intentions,” Pipe wrote in her letter.
Vranesh started his tenure as principal at a time of change at Walnut Grove. Class sizes were about to rise to 30 and a popular Walnut Grove effort, the Discovery Program, was on the chopping block.
The Discovery Program, in which teachers stayed with students for two years — in kindergarten and first grade, for example — was ended in 2012. In March 2013, Vranesh was called to a meeting where he was told some teachers of non-Discovery classes at Walnut Grove complained they hadn’t been consulted about plans to end the program.
According to a timeline presented at the Dec. 17 school board meeting by Vranesh and Kondrick, “Discovery teachers themselves approached Jon Vranesh and voted to close the program,” noting those teachers said they couldn’t do the same work with bigger classes.
The timeline notes other occurrences and conflicts after the cancellation of the Discovery Program, including an anonymous note left in Vranesh’s office in the fall 2012 hinting Vranesh and another person at the school may have been involved in an intimate relationship (an allegation Vranesh denies).
Also that autumn, a conflict reportedly arose between Vranesh and a custodian whose performance was being questioned. Vranesh also said that teachers told him they were becoming overwhelmed with additional duties, including the impending implementation of the Common Core State Standards, a new district-mandated grading system and additional training requirements.
According to Vranesh’s timeline, the conflict between Vranesh and some teachers seemed to escalate in May 2013. At that time, at least one teacher tried to “undermine his authority” and “personally attack and defame” him.
In mid-June 2013, amid ongoing complaints that teachers’ rooms weren’t being cleaned, Vranesh alleged an unnamed district official ordered him to “surreptitiously stake out” the custodian responsible for the duties in question to see if that person was leaving early, according to the timeline.
Capping off the school year was a request for Vranesh to prepare a “summary of understanding” with the custodian. The summary stated the worker was “expected to come every assigned work day … and work the entire shift according to the specified cleaning schedule.”
The timeline shows that, in Vranesh’s opinion, communication between Vranesh and some of the teachers remained tense when school resumed in the fall of 2013. In addition to continuing dismay about the elimination of the Discovery Program, a conflict arose on Aug. 27 with a staff member concerning the placement of a student, and there was angst among some teachers regarding the restructuring of a special education program.
Complaints of falsifying time cards by the custodian whose performance was being monitored the previous school year were verified through Vranesh’s “district ordered ‘stakeouts,'” he said, and were reported to the district in fall 2013. However, according to Vranesh, the district declined to fire the custodian, which reportedly caused more resentment from the teaching staff who felt their concerns were not being addressed.
Fall 2013
Between Oct. 1 and 16, Vranesh said he met with other site administrators either one-on-one or in small groups. On Oct. 8, according to Vranesh’s timeline, the district’s elementary school principals met informally off-site to “discuss the lack of support from the district, lack of trust, lack of forum within the district to present ideas, and fear of retaliation from (redacted).”
On Oct. 16, Vranesh had what he described in the timeline as a “courageous conversation” with a few Walnut Grove visitors who appear to be district employees about the “health of our district,” specifically the site administrators’ inability to “effectively discipline and even remove unsatisfactory teachers and classified staff.”
Vranesh said he told the visitors that “teachers and classified unions get ‘worked up’ on any adverse personnel affecting their members, and the ‘downtown’ abandons administrators.” When he was asked by one of the visitors to explain that statement, Vranesh said, “Well, my school is filthy; students sat in filth during the entire last school year.” He continued that there were refusals to follow direction and the official cleaning schedule and that someone or something was causing “fear,” but “still (redacted) is not fired.”
This, according to Vranesh, was “just the most recent example of unions running the district, and the administrators system wide in the district had no confidence that any teacher or classified employee reprimand or discipline would be supported…” He told the visitors that the Walnut Grove teachers were “extremely angry at him for being ineffective and not even able to get basic services at WGE.”
On Oct. 17, the timeline notes, Vranesh met with someone presumed to be a teacher who described an interaction earlier in the month. The teacher reported that he or she was in the classroom after school and another district employee said a third employee had been insulted when the teacher called the third employee “my trash fairy.” The employee also brought up other actions the teacher had made that were perceived as disrespectful.
According to the teacher, the employee who confronted him or her got very emotional and “told me that there was stuff going on at our school and (redacted) was documenting everything and (redacted) had already called into a labor person to notify them about what I did and said. I suggested that perhaps I should notify my union rep,” the teacher reportedly told Vranesh. The interaction left the teacher feeling “uncomfortable,” “targeted” and intimidated.
On Oct. 18, the first allegations of inappropriate language emerged. According to Vranesh’s timeline, he was told in a phone conversation that someone had “claimed that Jon Vranesh used ‘B’ and ‘C’ words with someone in the workplace,” to which Vranesh responded, “WHAT!?! That is crazy! That is outrageous!”
At a meeting on Oct. 21, Vranesh was informed about accusations he used expletives about teachers, and Vranesh said he responded that the accusations were false and “outrageous.”
According to Vranesh, on Oct. 24 a site meeting was held with Walnut Grove teachers who were asked to “raise their hand as a group if they ever disagreed with Jon Vranesh, or if Jon Vranesh said anything that they did not like, or if Jon Vranesh have ever said anything bad about anyone.” The group or individual that called the meeting was redacted from the document.
On Oct. 30, Vranesh filed a complaint of his own, alleging, among other things, that the district failed to act on safety issues including the intimidation of Walnut Grove teachers, retaliation for reporting safety concerns, failure to conduct an investigation, defamation of character, harassment, intimidation and discrimination. Vranesh filed an official complaint alleging “discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on gender” with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on Nov. 5.
Throughout November and December, supporters attended school board meetings, asking that Vranesh be returned to the school and questioning his being placed on paid leave.
Richard Puppione, who took the helm at Walnut Grove when Vranesh was placed on leave, stepped down Nov. 21 due to health issues. Steve Maher came out of retirement as the school’s interim principal until a new principal was named May 13.
A 17-page letter dated April 16 informed the school board members and the superintendent of Vranesh’s “claims for money damages and injunctive and other relief against your local public or other entity, for amounts totaling significantly in excess of $10,000.”
Claims are generally required before a lawsuit for money damages can be brought against a public entity.
The letter states that “PUSD and its agents and employees defamed Jon Vranesh” by “making or publishing false statement(s),” and by “making statements to third persons that disparaged Jon Vranesh’s skills and services, especially to the public.” It also claims Vranesh’s right to privacy was violated.
In addition to naming the district, Ahmadi and assistant superintendent Luz Cazares, the claim also names the president of the Association of Pleasanton Teachers, Peggy Carpenter, as allegedly conspiring to “intentionally interfere” with the employment contract and the economic relationship between Vranesh and the district.
Meanwhile, Vranesh is still acting as “itinerant principal” and doing data entry work at the district office at his administrator’s salary of $125,000 a year, according to his attorney, and his fate is unclear. His contract as an administrator will not be renewed for the 2014-15 school year, but Ahmadi would not comment about whether Vranesh will be an employee of the district next school year and, if he is, what his role will be.
“He was one of the best administrators in the district,” said Michelotti who, like many others, still follows the school board for information about this situation. “The parents and community members were not happy with the outcome of this decision.”
JV was and still IS one of the best administrators in town!
Justice WILL prevail! A district HAS to be run fairly and union less principals HAVE to have back up for the welfare of our citizenry
Thank you Gina for the very detailed timeline and story. I applaud you for doing the research and for posting the article. JV is an amazing administrator and what happened to him is a disgrace to our community. The fact that the teachers union can bully an administrator out of his position is absurd and the union needs to be stopped. I hope that JV will be compensated well for what the district and teachers union put him through. Don’t worry JV, there are MANY people supporting you!
Why is there no mention in the article about Vranesh’s claim that he received “unwanted sexual advances” from the district superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and other district supervisors? (See p.10 in Vranesh’s 17-page April 16 letter.) Or his claim of “widespread sexual favoritism” in the district (p.11)?
I am going to repeat my comment from the previous PW article when Vranesh’s April 16 letter was first posted last month:
I too followed the Pleasanton Weekly link and read Jon Vranesh’s formal claim against the district. I think that his allegations about “unwanted sexual advances” are completely bizarre.
Vranesh is accusing the superintendent, assistant superintendent, and other “District supervisors” of making “unwanted sexual advances” and making employment decisions about him based on “his acceptance or rejection of their sexual advances and conduct.” Vranesh is also claiming that there is “widespread sexual favoritism” in PUSD, resulting in “preferential treatment” for employees who have sexual relationships with those in the district with the power to grant these preferences.
Really?
Others may choose to dispute the district investigator’s report — but there were multiple people who witnessed Vranesh’s use of derogatory and vulgar terms about his female subordinates. If Vranesh’s claims of a “widespread sexual favoritism” in PUSD are true, shouldn’t other people be coming forward with similar claims? Or is Vranesh living in a bizarro world of his own mind?
And for those who are judging support for Vranesh from what you read on the blogs…there are _many_ at Walnut Grove who believe and support our teachers and have long since moved on.
If that is true, Bizarro World, about people moving on, then why are you posting on this blog. People support JV because of the character that they know of him. Being a supporter of JV doesn’t mean that we don’t support the Teachers, but it does mean that we don’t support the way the district has handled this. I know there are people who have moved on, but there are also many parents who have not moved on, but fear being retaliated by teachers if they show any support for JV. Look at what some of the teachers did to the PTA board. They didn’t want any people on the board who spoke openly about their support of JV and their disdain for the way the district handled this situation. Perfect example of teachers who obviously haven’t moved on and are looking for vindication.
Excellent article. I’m sure all this will play out in a court of law, hopefully, that is. My one question, though I have many, Which District Administrator has the constant use of the F word in conversation? If true, that person should not be in position of authority over the education of children.
Excellent article. I appreciate being able to access the links to all the documentation and statements concerning Mr. Vranesh and the way this was handled by the District. I also understand that Mrs. Snell has left WG due to the toxic atmosphere she experienced as a result of disputing the accusations against her. That is unacceptable, to lose someone so dedicated to the students. There are laws against that. After reading all the statements and those of Linda Pipe and Mary Snell, I don’t know how Bizzaro World can say everything in the investigator’s report is a fact. It is anything but factual. I also heard Paige Wright-Henry speak at a recent Board meeting of being “black-listed” as a substitute teacher due to the fact that she simply questioned the teachers’ motives. The whole thing stinks and Mr. Vranesh will have his day in court. I look forward to that day. We’ll see how the new principal plays out… hope she’s not just another of the Superintendent’s toadies.
Little in the ‘investigator’s’ report is fact. Now that the truth has come out, the majority of the school board no longer believe it either.
No one at Foothill High or Pleasanton Middle School ever made accusations like that even though Mr. Vranesh as an administrator at those schools.
The truth is that the ringleaders and the union had significant motivations to retaliate against Mr. Vranesh and make up lie after lie. The depositions should be quite interesting.
Bowser (since he came in 3rd for county superintendent) and Laursen and both up for re-election in Novemeber. They have ignored concerns from the community. Check out their web sites to see who endorsed them. They should not be re-elected.
This entire school district is a joke. Mr. Hansen was a lousy principal at Amador. Just ask his staff and teachers. Now the new one no one really knows and spends all day tweeting about sports. No wonder the AP tests were a major screwup. Lots of lies and secrets in this school district. So disappointed in Pleasanton.
Very well written article that’s backed up by source documentation. There’s no doubt this whole situation is an HR nightmare. More importantly, lessons need to be learned from this so it won’t happen again, and peoples personal reputations won’t be wrongfully damaged by a small, yet powerful few bullies. The politics should be removed from the PUSD, and just make kids the real priority.
If you want bizzaro world lets how about 2 teachers claiming he said the C word at school and they waited years before reporting it only after the union came calling? How about the one other who said JV said the B word that kept saying through out her interview that she had a hard time remembering events of more than a 1 1/2 years previous? What about the fact not one person said he called them a foul name directly but said he said it about others?
Or how come the questions posed at the site meeting didn’t ask the teachers the same questions they asked about Jon Vranesh such as ” if they ever disagreed with another teacher, or if another teacher said anything that they did not like, or if another teacher had ever said anything bad about anyone”
How come the district hired investigator didn’t ask one teacher if she ever used foul language at work?
Thank you Pleasanton Weekly for this comprehensive article. May Jon Vranesh find the justice he deserves.
Shame on the people who turned a disagreement and gossip into a witch hunt.
One other bizzaro world fact to mention is that Jon Vranesh wasn’t the only person targeted at Walnut Grove. Just ask the school health officer, the school secretary, the day time custodian and on and on and on.
The PUSD Administration has put our schools in financial harms way. I would love to see the Superintendent and the board gone.
Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom exists not to do what you like, but having the right to do what you ought.
At the end of the day, this story, biased in that it relies upon opinions of Vranesh supporters but without having full access to all of the institutional communications that questioned his competence and ultimate dismissal, doesn’t offer much of substance. What is clear, however, is that Vranesh as an administrator was becoming increasingly out of control. Specifically, he was doing a poor job of ensuring his staff and teachers were living in a stress-free environment. Indeed, he only added to the stress. Bad news for everyone.
Vranesh’s lawyer comes across as a 12 year-old with a law degree. His language is childishly hyperbolic when, in legal discourse, there should be restraint and proportion. As to Vranesh’s counter claims, they are indeed quite bizarre and indicate a throw-everything-at-the-wall strategy meant to deflect from the kinds of behavior for which he is being held accountable.
People can claim Vranesh is a great guy all they want to. They may not have been privy to his sporadic outbreaks. Such outbreaks seem highly probable, especially in light of his bizarre counter claims which are indicative of a guy who is very immature about sex and gender in the workplace, clueless even.
All in all, I think Vranesh is going to have to pay very steep legal fees, and he’ll have nothing to show for it. He gone!
I am coming to realize that I drank the Pleasanton Kool-Aid. My family recently moved here, specifically, for the schools. I am a teacher in another district, so I am familiar with the public education landscape in the Bay Area. Teachers in my district of employment speak of the Pleasanton School District as the Holy Grail. Supportive parents, low transiency rates, more funding, prepared students, etc., are all tantalizing little morsels that entice teachers on the outside. Securing a teaching job in Pleasanton is like winning the lottery. This, of course, is not true for ALL teachers. Obviously, there are those that prefer a more urban population. There are those that are intimidated by the parents here. But, there is, without a doubt, a large segment of my colleagues that would love to teach in Pleasanton. While I am not among this group, we moved here so our child could take advantage of all of the wonderful things Pleasanton has to offer.
After following this story about Walnut Grove, I have to say that I came crashing down to Earth. I am realizing that all that glitters isn’t gold. You have the same problems we all do. I feel like the dirty laundry of our profession is being displayed for the world to see. There are school sites that play nice together and there are those that don’t. I was naive to think that these things don’t happen here. Of course they do. I am disturbed by the finger pointing, blame, hostility and vitriol from the community. There are good and bad teachers. There are good and bad administrators. These blanket statements that I’m reading are absurd. I know there are extremists on both sides, but I’m really hoping they are the outliers. My post is not intended for the “I hate unions” contingent. Nor is it intended for the “I hate Vranesh” club. They will respond with the same hateful things they have posted over and over again. This is for anyone that wants to move forward.
Our little one is registered to start Kindergarten next year at Walnut Grove. I am hoping the Walnut Grove community is more than what I am reading on these pages. I hope that our little one will be able to go to school and not feel any of this. I hope that this staff can heal from this. These are the matters that divide communities for years to come. Please, Walnut Grove community, let’s move forward together. Our efforts should be in doing what’s best for our children. They deserve more than this.
If the aforementioned comments were really true and jvs accusers were telling the real story, I would have expected them to make statements under penalty of perjury as well.
They did not
If JV was doing such a bad job I would expect teachers and parents to come out of the woodwork at board meetings to voice their support of his removal
They did not
Instead , countless supporters consisting of teachers who worked under him, parents of children he administrated and fellow principals showed up at board meetings many times.
If a person is telling the truth he never has to worry about his story. Justice will be served
When you compare the people on the side of Jon Vranesh — Sharrell Michelotti, Mary Snell, Laura Pipe, thousands of parents, hundreds of teachers, it is clear that the accusers never thought their transcripts would become public, could not be corroborated and could be easily refuted.
Kondrick will prevail and the District’s attorney, Louis Leone, will be laughed out of each and every courtroom he enters. In November 2012, Louis Leone filed a court brief blaming children for teachers molesting them…he blames children when union-protected teachers molest children as in this snippet from the Contra Costa Times – the child “was herself careless and negligent in and about the matters alleged in the complaint, and that said carelessness and negligence on (Jane Doe’s) part proximately contributed to the happenings of the incident and to the injuries, loss and damages.” http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21917396/lafayette-school-district-says-14-year-old-child
Who exactly were the teachers and fellow principals that showed up at board meetings to support JV ,”many times”? I attended several board meetings and never saw teachers or principals. I believe that at the beginning there were a few former teachers from another school who signed a petition of support but as soon as those documents were released their support seemed to wane. The truth is that he did not act professionally, there were 6+ witnesses and as a leader of an elementary school his actions are unacceptable. I do not agree with how this whole thing was handled but it’s good that he is gone. At best, he was a nice guy with poor judgement, at worst, well, there is a lot worse. I am also surprised his strange sexual charges against several people were not mentioned in this article. Maybe the article can be changed to reflect that? The common denominator in all of these, sexual harrassment type of charges is one man. Hmmmm
Dear Calling it like it is,
If you were truly calling it like it is, you will know that ” a throw-everything-at-the-wall strategy” is exactly what the complaining teachers and district investigator did to Jon Vranesh. Funny how you too have to resort to personal attacks of Vranesh’s lawyer, just like some of the teachers did to Vranesh in the 100’s of pages of FIOA documents that were released by the district In those documents Jon Vranesh was accused of everything from not allowing teachers to ask questions until the end of a meeting (one teacher testified to the investigator that waiting to ask a question at the end of a meeting made her feel UNSAFE) to accusing Vranesh of not having any friends. It was a witch hunt, plain and simple. Some of the accusations such as saying he had violent tenancies because he said his hands were tied are just plain ridiculous.
Was Vranesh able to control the entitled divas at Walnut Grove? Obviously not, but how does an administrator intent on being their for the children, control staff that leave anonymous notes on his desk accusing him of having an affair with another teacher? Seems to me they have to much free time if they are leaving nasty notes on the principal’s desk.
Vranesh told the teachers they had to follow the rules, told them they couldn’t have accounts with 1000’s and 1000’s of dollars and still have their hands out to parents asking for more cash. They were obviously intent on making him pay because he told them to follow the rules. They thought they were above the rules.
I was like the poster using the name “no dog in this fight” in the beginning of all this mess. Once the real story came out right on the district’s website I was appalled at what had been done in this incident.
I predict Vranesh will be vindicated.
Any bad behavior on the part of Jon Vranesh is alledged. You can see the bad behavior of the teachers in their own words that were recorded and the transcribed and then released to the public through the freedom of information act. Those same documents show many more teachers saying they never saw or heard JV say anything close to what a few alledged.
To nervous roadrunner, please do not believe what you read on here! Honestly, most of walnut grove has moved past this and are excited about the new year. The teachers and community of the school are mostly wonderful and your little one will be very happy there. I think that the people who write into this blog are the same people who just write under different names. If you read under some if the other unrelated topics it’s the same crazy people. It really is not at all a reflection of the mood of the school. I really do not think that the newspaper was doing the community any favors by re-igniting this either.
AP, the kinds of “reasoning” you’re bringing to bear here is distinctive and resembles that of more than a dozen other posters here, though all with different monikers. Here, you want to compare Vranesh’s accusers allegations with Vranesh’s own. But they are not even remotely similar as anyone with competent reasoning faculties would acknowledge.
Among the half-dozen or so complainants’ complaints (and probably more — we haven’t seen all the official documents, nor the file(s) kept by Vranesh’s superiors) we see a pattern of an administrator who is out of control and is bringing out the worst among staff and teachers.
The complainants’ claims share no similarity to Vranesh’s. His, very tellingly, are from an individual who would have to be more than a little half-cocked to think any rational person would believe him. Both his own immature (and obviously groundless) claims, combined with his attorney whose maturity level seems to be that of a 12 year-old, add up to a rather sadly amusing defense that will go nowhere. I do hope Vranesh is independently wealthy, as his defense and the lawyer he has working for him shall go nowhere.
Do you think for just a second that perhaps some of us sound similar because we read the documents and came up with the same conclusion?
There are only a couple of people posting against JV and using your own argument both posters sound remarkably alike so perhaps you two are the same person? I have no clue.
Funny again how you resort to a personal attacks and not even a new personal attack but a rehash of a personal attack you just did in you last post. Try to debate the issues and leave the personal attacks at the door. You say Vranesh wasn’t professional? Why not try being professional yourself? Why didn’t the teachers have to adhere to your rules of professionalism? Why do they get a pass on bad behavior that is documented throughout the FIOA papers?
Jen -Walnut Grove will not move on by sweeping the problems under the carpet, we will move on by addressing the issues and fixing them.
PS – there are less than a half dozen complainants and every one of is a part of the same social circle at the school Any one who can read can see that. I am starting to think you are just blindly backing the allegations and you haven’t actually read the accusations made in the FIOA papers or you would acknowledge that many more teachers said they never experienced what some were claiming.
What the very few said about Vranesh is alleged and probably tainted by the very leading questions of both the union at the group meeting and later by the investigator. The teacher’s own bad behavior is clearly documented in their own words.
The few teachers statements show pettiness, gossip and just plain mean spirited behavior. Not the sort of person I would like teaching my children.
Luckily for the kids the teachers making the complaints are a very small minority who made a very difficult work environment for their hard working colleagues.
See what happens in California when the teachers union gets you in the cross hairs?
Best of luck to my sweet Republic.
What’s a bit comical about the Jon Vranesh supporter (supporters?), is that he is silent about the sad counter claims Vranesh is making, and how those claims reduce the former principal’s credibility to zero. In short, his claims about numerous women sexually harassing him and discriminating against his age and maleness indicate that he is operating a bit outside the bounds of reality, a place we don’t want our principals to occupy.
What is also a bit funny is that his supporter (supporters?) continually stresses the role of the teachers’ union in this very straightforward case of an incompetent administrator being fired. It is ironic that these anti-union fetishists are quick to bemoan how it is difficult to dismiss an incompetent teacher, yet when confronted with the dismissal of an incompetent administrator they come to his defense in a knee-jerk, uncritical way.
Vranesh clearly had mounting difficulty dealing with the diverse individuals and groups under his administration. So it is not surprising that those who defend him also seem to have difficulty accepting diverse individuals and groups. It’s the Super! It’s the unions! It’s catty women! As suggested by Vranesh as well as his narrowly and selectively opinionated supporter (supporters?), some individuals just aren’t equipped to fit in and work collaboratively with other people. We see in stomach-wrenching manner how this played out for Vranesh. Some similar kind of trauma was likely experienced by his zealous, union-hating and woman-hating supporter (supporters?). His likely personality disorder has him leaping from the dismissal of an incompetent administrator to a chicken little’s sky is falling criticism of the entire school district.
Fortunately this has been settled by competent administrators, and will be further settled in a legal manner. Both processes keep those with personality and behavioral disorders out of the mix.
@ Calling it
I can appreciate the zeal you have for your opinion, but here’s a question for you. If this does go to court, and it can be shown that the allegations against JV were false, and his complaints were true, what will your opinion be at that point?
Dear Tell it like it isn’t,
You seem very unaware. It is erroneous to say that Jon Vranesh was fired. He is still an employee of the Pleasanton Unified School district. He was never fired or even charged with any offense.
Again you go with the personal attacks. You seem very angry and unable to handle yourself in a professional matter even on a internet comment board. What are you credentials for diagnosing behavioral and personality disorders?
In your mind a group of employees can act completely unprofessional as documented in their own words and if the lone person in the office can’t control them, he should be ousted with allegations he was violent for saying his hands were tied? What about accountability on the part of the teachers for there own actions? Even after the initial complaints the few teachers behaved badly by lying about other staff members, demanding certain parents not be on the PTA and even cases of the fiance of one of the teachers sending threatening text messages to parents and any one else who simply said what the claims against Jon Vranesh was not their experience. Where is the accountability for those bad actions?
You also seem unaware that it wasn’t even a unanimous decision on the part of the board to find merit in the claims. Two competent board members voted against the claims having merit.
Yes the courts will now decide, but I am sure the district will fold and make Vranesh yet another settlement offer. Which begs the question: if the district was so certain they handled the situation correctly why were they making settlement offers in February? Seems I just hope Vranesh gets a public apology as a part of any settlement if he chooses to accept one. That’s the very least the administrators who completely bungled this matter can do.
AP, maybe “Tell It…” is a person who claims ‘personality and behavioral disorder’ expertise. I wonder who on the Walnut Grove teaching staff https://sites.google.com/site/wgeschool/home/teachers-2012-2013-1 and specialist staff https://sites.google.com/site/wgeschool/specialist/specialists-2012-2013 has such delusions that they believe they are a medical doctor?
If the Board has any brains, they’d reinstate him in another position quickly. They won’t.
Dear Fiction,
Since we are apparently the same person I think it’s best if we not address each other since talking to one’s self is an indication of serious personality disorder.
Wait. If you are me, and I am you, then I just answered myself and apparently answering one’s self is even a worst offense then just talking to one’s self.
I think we should talk to an internet psychiatrist for clarification on the matter, stat!
AP, sorry but Walnut Grove has moved on. Sorry you are so stuck, along with the other cray-cray’s that continuously write into this. Go outside and get some fresh air, it’s a beautiful day out and a beautiful Hawaiian day at the grove with the kiddos eating outside on beach towels!
Jen
Jen. I realize that burying your head in the HawIian sand makes your kids and your families life happy
Someone else needs to look out for our kids future to make sure you can continue to surf happily along. I am happy that people like you are happy. You deserve to be.
Unfortunately, unlawful handling at the district level snowballs into bigger problems and unsustainable happiness.
All the best…
Jen, If you have moved on, why are you posting on this blog. Makes you just as “cray-cray”, in fact most adults use the term crazy, not cray-cray. Is it because you are one of the people that help to get JV removed. Hmm, makes one wonder.
@ Calling it or whatever pseudonym you are posting under today, let me know where you got your degree in psychology. Last time I checked you needed to by an MD, PHD, or LCSW to accurately diagnose a person with a personality disorder. Once you get your degree, I suggest you look at the personality behaviors of Teacher “A” and Teacher “B”, because if anyone has a personality disorder, they might be it.
Jen, your name calling would indicate that you have not moved on. And your name calling is just another indication of the on going issues we have at Walnut Grove. I have a different opinion then you so you decide to call me names? I just don’t agree with that. And I will continue to speak out and work for healing instead of trying to brush serious issues that still exist under the carpet.
Are you aware that a staff member left the school after 14 years being involved with the school because of what she called a “toxic environment”? That’s not a school that has healed.
It is a beautiful day! I hope you enjoy it and find another way to disagree with people then to resort to name calling.
PS – I am still shaking my head at the thought someone who claims to be a parent at WG is name calling on at internet blog – then claims the school has moved on.
What’s the message? If someone doesn’t agree with you, then prepare to be called names? Not the sort of environment I want my kids in.
Wow, this does not look good for the unions. A union employee is caught falsifying her time cards. That employee is purportedly the daughter of the union chapter president. Instead of her getting fired, the administrator that caught her is removed after a shoddy investigation into claims of name calling that included statements that were publicly denied! I think we need to call in the feds and have them start a racketeering investigation!
Like I stated, personality and behavioral disorder. When one reads Vranesh’s counter claims, it is clear that he is suffering serious delusion. That his supporter (supporters?) is unable to recognize this is indicative of that supporter’s own delusional state — as each of his posts is directed at anything associated with an educational system that clearly let him down. We have a dysfunctional poster, beset by serious personality and behavioral disorder, who is using Vranesh as an excuse to lash out at everyone and everything the dysfunctional one blames for his own unhappiness. He isn’t doing Vranesh any favors.
If you read the statements and interviews I don’t know how you could consider any of the claims credible. Who knows what the heck went on there, but whatever it was, it was a whole heaping of dysfunction!
Mary Snell and Linda Pipe are an indication of the falsehoods included in this “investigation”. I still can’t get over the whistle (gogurt smeared or not) incident or the fact that one of those teachers has a bionic woman hearing implant that allows her to hear from several feet away over the din of noisy kids parents and music (Halloween parade) someone muttering disparaging remarks about her. Credible? NO. You can not tell what did or didn’t happen by the investigation when you have the same people spewing this nonsense with their claims!
The teachers at that school need to be moved around. It wouldn’t be a bad idea of ALL teachers in the district were every so often. It might help to avoid blatant UNHEALTHY crossing of boundaries that occurred at WG as well as share the positives most of the staff bring to ALL the schools.
When you see Mean girls in power, and references to it being like Disneyland or family; How can you not realize what dysfunctional place it had become? I’m all for liking your job and the people you work with, but WHOA!
To Nervous Roadrunner, my hope some sense of normalcy will be found at the school as this incident is further and further behind it. The District will have to deal with the consequences of it now.
I was just reading over the links and on page 10 of Mr. Vranesh’s claim against the district it states, “That job benefits were conditioned, by words or conduct, on sexual advances or conduct by P. Ahmadi, L. Cazares, and other persons who were district supervisors and employment decisions affecting Jon Vranesh were made based on his acceptance or rejection of their sexual advances or conduct.” It also says “P. Ahmadi, L. Cazares and other employees who were district supervisors made unwanted sexual advances to Jon Vranesh” Not only has he had 6+ employees hear him use inappropriate language he also has at least 2 of his female supervisors making unwanted sexual advances! Really?? Can some of you please explain this? He is this attractive that all of these women can’t help themselves? Do you actually believe this? Please read the link, it on the 17 page link dated April 16. I’m really curious how some of you will spin this. Again, who is the common denominator here?
As far as delusion and dysfunction, I am wondering about the “rubber chicken therapy” that at least one staff member appears to practice at Walnut Grove. According to the website that is called socialthinking.com and other web locations, children are taught to “bonk themselves on the head” or each other on the head with a rubber chicken when they make an error.
Looking at the school site web page, the school counselor https://www.socialthinking.com/professionals/clinical-training-directory/Level-1-Assessment/swanson-mascioli-marissa is a practioner of this.
Google “rubber chicken therapy” and see what comes up on the internet.
Odd that the so-called interviews of the District ‘investigator’ referred to hitting someone over the head, but in fact the ‘hitting over the head’ seems to closely resemble the rubber chicken hitting over the head reference on the socialthinking website.
Also, it looks like there are “unthinkables” and “thinkables” (82 new Unthinkables and 14 new Thinkables according to this https://www.socialthinking.com/books-products/products-by-age-range/grades-3-5/social-town-citizens-discover-82-new-unthinkables-for-superflex-to-outsmart-detail .
How much taxpayer money do you think the District has spent on rubber chickens and goodies and training from socialthinking? Someone should do a FOIA definitely.
I think (or is it unthink) that there are serious problems at Walnut Grove and the District, and none of it involves the former principal.
Nothing wrong with the rubber chicken therapy as far as I can tell, with the exception of its misrepresentation by the supporter (supporters?) of Vranesh.
Note what has happened. I claim that a poster has a personality and behavioral disorder, his delusion being such that he is unable to work through his own problems but instead hangs out on a web site like this one shooting blunt and crooked arrows at public education, teachers, unions — all those institutions that he blames for his own unhappiness and failures.
He immediately changes his name (hoping to deflect the issue from himself), and then takes the very terms I offered and casts them at another individual. He’s essentially saying, “It’s not me! It’s not me! I’m not the dysfunctional one!” And then he goes on to lie about the rubber chicken therapy. All deflection; all denial; all lies.
Poor Jon Vranesh, who has his own considerable problems. With friends like his supporter (supporters?) who’s obsessed with rubber chicken therapy, who needs enemies?
I cringe every time I drop my child off at school. The moral is horrible and the teachers are disgusted (rightfully so). Most everyone, myself included are very fond of JV and a couple of self centered, lazy, “diva” teachers who would rather sit back and socialize amongst themselves than do what they’re paid and expected to do ruined it all!!! I’ve never liked the idea of home schooling but am seriously considering it now. So many teachers are using up their sick leave this year, not even bothering to show up. I don’t know of one school performance that happened this year. The only “activities” were those that benefit the 4th graders field trip. It’s just aweful…at this point I feel like it’s a waste of time to even send my kid to school. There’s all this bickering and legal talk going on but stop and look! It’s our children who are suffering!!! Get the poisonous bad teachers out! Looks like one of them is gone already yay! There’s at least 4 job openings now! Reinstate JV if he would even accept and right the wrong! Everyone knows the truth at this point, the people in charge just need to admit their mistakes and put it all back as it was and do the right thing! Union people can be terminated, there’s enough evidence and support now to do so!!!
And here it continues, with the same telling disjointed grammar, the same deflections and denials. What’s the gist of “Horrible’s” message? Why, it’s the same as every other message he’s offered. Fire everybody! They’re all prima donnas! We can fire union people! There’s enough evidence! The school is so dysfunctional! (It’s not me! It’s not me! It’s them! They use rubber chickens! They flirt with Vranesh, all of them! They’re lazy! The Divas are coming! The Divas are coming!)
Home schooling. … Indeed.
I am a woman not a man. I have not changed my name once on this thread. I am posting from the same computer with the same IP address. Are you using many different names and that’s why you think everyone else is using many different names?
Name calling and suggesting that all people who are appalled at how badly mishandled the whole situation was is just one person is just a misguided and desperate attempt to deflect from the real issues.
You make many factual errors in you comments such as saying that Vranesh was fired. He was not fired. You completely ignore the fact that the complaining teachers went after several people and not just Jon Vranesh. When they got Vranesh removed they went after other staff members suggesting they were guilty of criminal extortion. They even comment how they discussed the alleged illegal activities of a school secretary with a therapist paid for by the district. This small group was out for blood.
Sad thing is our district will be paying out huge dollars to Vranesh for the mistakes that were made.
So not only are you a psychologist able to diagnosis people on the internet but you are also able to expertly analyze if comments are made by the same person by looking at the grammar and spelling.
You should check your own grammar and spelling first but of course that is just a suggestion.
Multiple computers? Software that disguises IP numbers? Who knows? But AP is not fooling anyone except himself.
Now we have moral huff and puff tendered as yet another deflection, but still no effort to deal with Vranesh’s bizarre claims. They are so bizarre, so far removed from reality, that no judge or jury could possibly believe them. Only someone who is himself (herself) similarly psychologically dysfunctional could believe them.
@ Calling it as it is
You sound mad.
You mad?
It is apparent that you are a teacher given the fact that as soon as someone mentions anything about teachers, you go ballistic. Are you teacher “A” or “B”? I suggest you go look in the mirror to see what a true delusional person looks like. Maybe you should go back to teaching rather then posting on these blogs. Contrary to your statement about JV having a “supporter”, you are quite wrong in your assumption. There are MANY people out their that see through the fabricated lies and support JV.
Regardless of what Mr. Vranesh did or did not do, one thing is eminently clear — the Superintendent and the Vice Superintendent have got to go. They are ruthless, intimidating, and incompetent. If the school board doesn’t realize that, then they also need to go as well. It’s looking like we’ve reached the point that a recall of the board is necessary. Right now the district is resembling its initials – PU.
Different computers (IP numbers), same message. Yes, an educated linguist, philosopher or rhetorician, among others, can tell quite a bit from one’s grammatical structure, punctuation, spelling. These factors, combined with the fact that the supporter of Vranesh here has a paucity of substantive claims, makes the deduction really quite elementary.
Notice how this Vranesh supporter does not deal with Vranesh’s own delusional claims. He rants at public education — not only teachers, but supervisors, administrators, unions — but when someone attempts to engage him, because he has limited cognitive ability (exacerbated by psychological noise) and a shortage of things to think about and say, all he can come back with is: Well! You must be a teacher! You must be a union sock puppet! You must be mad! Look at the rubber chicken!!! Look at the lazy teachers!!! Look at the Divas! Fire them all!!!
Because the objective of his posts is always the institution he believes failed him (maybe it did, I don’t know), and which remains the apparent source of his extreme unhappiness, he cannot really engage any claim or set of claims in a give and take dialogic manner.
Oh yes, the teachers must go. The unions must go. The Super must go. The ViceSuper must go. Rubber chickens must go. Lazy Divas must go. Oh, and of course, the Board must go! He hasn’t mentioned Obama yet, but if he holds true to form he will.
Everyone must go except Mr. Vranesh, who becomes the rationale for every dysfunctional hatred this supporter feels he must unleash toward the institution which he believes is the source of his lack of happiness.
@ calling it as it is, you truly are delusional if you believe that all the people posting on this blog are 1 person. Hate to distort your delusion but it isn’t. Took you a while for you to respond to the previous post. Must be because your class was done with recess. I suggest that you stay off the blogs and teach.
More denial, more bluster, more hatred vented at others — now at me because, you see, he has figured out that I must be a teacher. His reasons for thinking such? He doesn’t have any. And really it doesn’t matter. What remains important to him is that there is an other at whom he may deflect his own self loathing. Because he so hates teachers, he accuses me of being a teacher, that way he doesn’t have to deal with me as an individual. This Vranesh supporter is profoundly lost, rudderless, shooting always at an other, as he has no apparent ability to self reflect.
Hey calling it,
You didn’t answer my question above. Well
This Vranesh supporter seems to be insisting that I entertain a preposterous hypothetical (counter factual) that emanates from his own delusionary. No can do. Deflections, distractions, changing his name repeatedly, anything to stave off any self reflection on this supporter’s own part.
I am a woman and not a man. I believe I have stated that before. You seem rather paranoid. That’s just not healthy. I am not sure why you are hell bent on calling me a man but go head if that floats your boat. Are you calling me a man because you hate men?
You want to discuss “delusional claims” how about we start with the several that I have quoted in my comments that you keep wanting to ignore.
Why is a delusional for a man to say he felt sexually harassed but it’s not delusional for a woman to say she felt “unsafe” because she had to wait until the end of one of JV’s meetings before she asked a question?
And another thing, its very sexist to say a man could or could not be sexually harassed based on his appearance. It’s no different than saying a woman couldn’t be sexually harassed if she wasn’t attractive.
Why the outrage over a lawyers letter but no outrage at the outlandish things stated to a district employed investigator?
How come you don’t respond to the fact you erroneously stated Jon Vranesh was fired?
Go ahead think we are one just one person with a bunch of names if that makes you sleep better at night.
Okay, so here we have this:
– It’s clear that both Vranesh was railroaded by the District and its Teachers Union, yet he became too much of a distraction, so moving on was the best thing for both sides.
– The Board received some interesting karma when Bowser fell short of the Top 2 in the race for County Superintendent. Alameda County voters saw that something is very wrong at PUSD.
– The Superintendent’s ego seems to have run very amok. Time to hold her accountable for all her actions on this issue.
– And speaking of accountability, no matter how powerful teacher unions are in the State, County, and even City, the PUSD Union clearly committed misconduct in how they dealt with Vranesh. May city parents and the rest of the Pleasanton community stand up courageously and expose whatever wrongdoing the teachers union did. Heads must roll there, too.
Accountability is not a disease, people. We should all try that some time. Too many people got away with figurative backstabbing in the Vranesh scandal – some of them should be fired or demoted; unfortunately, they are still in the same position or worse yet, probably got rewarded. Good luck to P-Town in getting justice served to all sides where needed.
@ calling it
I mearly asked you directly, a simple question earlier on what your opinion would be if the findings ended up to be in favor of JV and his claims. I find it rather suspect that you won’t answer the question, and your reason why quite perplexing.
Wow, so great to see this article when I received the PW in the mail today. Thank you PW for shedding light on this tumultuous situation. It has been a very trying time for everyone that has been affected by this. I look forward to watching this all play out in court. Good Luck JV, I hope they pay you a ton of money and your name gets cleared.
If half of Mr. Vranish’s comments are true, then the superintendent needs to go.
A big thank you to Gina, for compiling all of that information. Far better than the Chronicle does for San Francisco. Well done.
To Here’s Jonny and Calling it: I don’t think JVs name will be necessarily be “cleared”. The investigation proved WG was a VERY troubled workplace but beyond that, nothing concrete. JV stepped into that messy situation. The statements and interviews in the report read like a bunch of spoiled teenagers trying to get someone in trouble. Immature ramblings frequent the report, including the hearsay Ms Pipe and Ms Snell brought to light as well as passages about “feeling like Ghandi” and what JV was like as a school child. I began to wonder if some of the interviewees were under the influence.
The aftermath of passing around an un-redacted report, making threatening calls to members of the WG community at home and working to ban a sub, further prove that IF JV was guilty of harassment, he sure wasn’t the only one!
Good Luck JV!!! I believe in karma and I hope you get a ton of money and your name cleared! I also hope you legally go after teacher “A” and “B” personally! Those teachers are a total disgrace! They need to do a lot of self reflection! You did so much for WG and are missed very much! Pulling my kids out after this year! I’m done! See ya!
@ wow
I’ was trying to see what telling it would say if or should I say when JV wins his case. Will he ie she change their opinion or still remain angry and bitter with an ax to grind. But since they won’t answer the question , we’ll never know
Dear Administrator,
Time to shut down this ridiculous and inane comment thread.
I’m still wondering about what you people have to say about how on page 10 of the link in this article, (the 17 page letter from his attorney’s dated April 16 ) it says
“That job benefits were conditioned, by words or conduct, on sexual advances or conduct by P. Ahmadi, L. Cazares, and other persons who were district supervisors and employment decisions affecting Jon Vranesh were made based on his acceptance or rejection of their sexual advances or conduct.”
It also says “P. Ahmadi, L. Cazares and other employees who were district supervisors made unwanted sexual advances to Jon Vranesh”
So I guess you all believe that JV was fighting off the sexual advances of both Ahmadi and Cazares..and “other persons” who were district supervisors! Do you actually believe he was fending off these sexual advances in addition to everything else here, please explain, I’d love to understand! He also talks quite a bit about sexual favortism.
To Calling it as it is,
I’m impressed with how you’ve been responding to one or more troubled individuals who post here on a regular basis using multiple names. When I read your responses it’s like watching a young lad use a stick to toy with a bug stuck on its back.
To Mark,
Good question to ask. Vranish in the letter from his attorney comes off like a sexist megalomaniacal fool. I would never want a man like this as my boss. I’m glad he’ll not be returning to Walnut Grove. If I may echo earlier posters. Time to move on.
The silence is deafening here. Someone please tell me about the poor man who not only had at least 6 teachers accuse HIM of using inappropriate language, sometimes sexual. He then goes on to accuse BOTH P. Ahmadi and L. Cazares, and other district administrators of unwanted sexual advances and of sexual favortism! Apparently I lead a very dull life here. Someone please fill me in about the sordid life of this wonderful man who apparently drives the women of our school district crazy. It must be really hard for him, but I would love to hear some explanation and have you all explain away how both Ahmadi and Cazares really did have the hots for him and of course it is true because he said so…and well, he’s a really nice guy.
Liliana, you are correct! I would never want this man as my boss either. Thank you at least reading what he is accusing them of. It is this blind faith in him, that he could do no wrong from some of these people on here that drives me crazy. Yes, the teachers were not speaking maturely in their statements about him, but again, he is the common denominator in all of this. This blind faith that he is innocent and will be vindicated is scary.
So what are you saying Mark is just because he doesn’t look like movie star, you think he couldn’t have been sexually harassed? Wow, way to stereotype. What makes you think people are supporting him blindly? Did you ever stop to think that people support him based on what they have read in the reports, not just what has been in the weekly or on these blogs. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at everything that has happened and know that there are issues with the district and some teachers and they used JV as there scapegoat. I can’t wait to watch all of this play out in court.
Mark, you want us to answer questions? Yet you won’t answer even one of the questions I have posed? You love to say common denominator over and over. A small group of tightly knit teachers that are in the same social group and have children of the same age were the common denominators that started this mess. What you read was Vranesh’s lawyers response, I guess you you are intent on giving the outlandish remarks made by the very few teachers a pass? Mark ask your self this question. Why wasn’t there even one complaint about Jon Vranesh by his fellow teachers and staff in the previous 10 years prior to being principal at WG. Not one complaint then suddenly he becomes a name calling violent man at WG? If you feel there were complaints against him prior to being promoted to principal at WG then your beef should be with the district to promoted him.
Liliana when you congratulate someone for naming calling and and nothing but bad behavior, then insinuate anyone that disagrees with “calling” is a bug it just shows that you are part of the on going problem with Walnut Grove. Please tell me you don’t volunteer or interact with the children with that sort of attitude. You are a prime example of how people have been targeted (including other teachers at WG) because they didn’t fall in line behind the few complaining teachers.
It is shocking how people who say they are taking the high moral ground start personal attacks and name calling by the second sentence of a post on a blog.
I am with you “Justice” I can’t get over how “Mark” thinks it is find to make very sexiest remarks basically saying a man isn’t attractive enough to be sexually harassed. I’ll say it again. It’s no different than saying a woman couldn’t be sexually harassed if she wasn’t attractive. He/She sounds like a misandrist.
Perhaps I should cut and paste some of the more outlandish comments made by the few teachers to the “investigator” but of course we are supposed to ignore what the teachers said and move on.
The logic of the Vranesh supporters is as transparent as it is moronic. Their argument is basically “I really, really like Vranesh, therefore he MUST be innocent.” They don’t know all the facts but they just know this great man is beyond reproach. My heart goes out to Ahmadi. She has to put up with a constant stream of right-wing idiocy, whether it is the anti-parcel tax mob or this latest pitchfork yokel issue. These people are hell bent on bad mouthing and destroying a highly performing district. Sickening! Get a life!
I volunteer a lot, AP. And I interact with the kids a lot. But with Jon’s account, I must be the only woman at Walnut Grove who hasn’t come on to him. Or maybe he thinks I have. (Blech!!!) How could he say such things? And how can anyone defend him after reading what he’s claiming? Your attempt to defend Jon is best explained by reading all of the postings by Calling ItAs It Is.
Dale, I’ll ask you the same question that Calling it wouldn’t answer. If it can be shown the JV was wrongfully accused in court or otherwise, what will your opinion be?
Now that I’ve heard about the massive amount of erotica and graphic sexual content that was reported to the police and removed from the PUSD computer system, I believe Vranesh.
For those persons or people posting under the “calling” moniker, it would be difficult to post all of these comments and have a classroom position with children so I suppose it would be a specialist at Walnut Grove. Another idea is that it could be someone on leave for some sort of mental health or disability claim or workers comp claim. For that, maybe the Pleasanton Weekly can do a FOIA request to find out all persons who meet this criteria.
Dale, I don’t know how you could get that from what’s been said here. I know a huge group of people that thought the district was doing their jobs and didn’t say anything on subject until they read the transcripts of the interviews that no more than 5 the teachers (including one who kept saying she was having a difficult time remembering) gave to a very biased investigator. They made outlandish claims that made many of us worry who exactly was teaching our children. The statements by the very teachers just weren’t credible.
I’ll say it again, there were many more teachers who said they never saw the behaviors being alleged by a few.
Then when people very calmly came forward and said their experience with Vranesh was not what was being alleged they were banned from the school, they were told they couldn’t serve on the PTA and a fiance of one of the complaining teachers sent threatening text and made phone calls to people who simply said what was being reported about Vranesh was not their experience.
We can’t forget several other staff members have come forward publicly to say they were lied about in the statements made by the few complaining teachers. Vranesh was not the only target.
What kind of country are we living in when one can’t voice an opinion with out being attacked on line, or harassed off line?
Vranesh isn’t my friend. I hardly know the guy. I just know after reading the statement of the teachers we have more problems at WG one man. The statements just aren’t credible and certainly didn’t warrant his removal from his job. That is abundantly clear in reading the statements made by the teachers.
Liliana I really hope you are lying about volunteering at WG. It would be sad that someone so crass and full of vitriol is interacting with the kids.
Here’s Jonny,
Sure, if Vranesh is found innocent I’ll gladly eat my words but the likelihood of his innocence is slim to none. His cartoonish accusations of sexual harassment are laughable. I have a question for you, AP, and all his supporters: How are you 100% sure he is innocent? What makes you so sure? Why such blind faith in this man?
How are you 100% sure Vranesh is innocent?…crickets, crickets, crickets
@ Dale, highly performing district?? Your heart goes out to Parvin! What a joke. If we have such a high performing district, it certainly isn’t a reflection of our district leadership. Your heart should go out to Parvin because she will need it with this lawsuit. It is ironic that all the non supporters feel the need to name call and say that supporters are moronic yet those of us who support don’t feel the need to do that. Reason being that you feel the need to make comments as such is because you know that there were lies that were made up and you are trying to defend those lies. If JV truly said all the things that he is being accused of, then there would be no reason that you would need to comment and you would just watch it play out in court
@AP
You say I am crass and full of vitriol? Pot, meet kettle.
I’m defending a number of highly respectable women from (in Dale’s words) Vranesh’s cartoonish accusations of sexual harassment. If you were familiar with Walnut Grove you’d realize how funny Jon’s accusations are. And you’re supporting him? You don’t even hardly know Jon (your words) yet your defending his cartoonish claims. I think Calling It As It Is has you figured out.
I must leave now and prepare meal for my huband and children.
I dont’ have blind faith. I have stated over and over that my issue is the statements made by the teachers just aren’t credible. For heavens sake the same people who said he swore at work are the same people who said he had violent tenancies because they claimed he said his hands were tied. These women knew very well how damaging it would be to a principal to say he had violent tendencies.
Even if very teenage-esqe piece of gossip in the statements of a few teachers were true, the punishment did not fit the crime
I have voiced my opinions. I have not resorted to name calling, yet I have been called a man, a bug, accused of being behind every name commenting on this blog.
The message is clear, if you don’t blindly support 5 teachers, including one who said over and over she had a difficult time remembering, you will be labeled as scum on the internet and blacklisted at the school.
I’ll ask you this: WHy do you blindly support max of 5 teachers who spent pages and pages name calling, back stabbing and lying about other staff members?
As I asked, how are you 100% sure Vranesh is innocent? Don’t have the guts to answer?…crickets, crickets, crickets, BENGHAZI!
I have not said one crass word, nor has one word been full of vitriol. That would be your friend “calling” perhaps you have us mixed up.
Have you even read the teachers statements or are you just blindly going on their reputations? I don’t know how you can support them lying about staff members as well.
Have a nice dinner.
Dale are you reading? I have answered you more than once.
I think AP has so many identities going on that he cannot keep track of himself.
He says I am crass and full of vitriol. Then he cliams minutes later that he doesn’t resort to name calling.
I never said AP is a bug. I said reading Calling It Like It Is is like watching a child playfully poking a big black bug stuck on its back.
Too many names for AP. He does not know who he is.
Thank you for the fun.
Just like I thought. Not one person can answer the question “How are you 100% sure Vranesh is innocent?” Pathetic. The supporters have been found out.
And yes, I am 100% sure JV is innocent. I have known and work with him for several years and never witnessed any of the characteristics that these women are claiming. I have witnessed a man who passionately cared about his staff and kids. He always put the staff and kids first and never did I hear him use foul language or a hostile work environment and that is why I support him 100%. Any more questions??
I now must call AP a liar. He says he has not used crass word or vitriol. But that is what he called me. I quote AP “Liliana I really hope you are lying about volunteering at WG. It would be sad that someone so crass and full of vitriol is interacting with the kids.”
My son’s idol Abraham Lincoln once said “No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” You are a liar AP. And you are exposed. What in this world is wrong with you?
Good Bye
Lillian are you sure you aren’t “Calling” you sound exactly like him. First the insult that I am posting with more than one name then calling me a man, like being a man is some kind of insult when I have stated over and over I am a woman
You congratulated “calling” for his name calling and if you say watching him was like watching a kid poke a bug I am assuming you were saying he is the kid and the people posting here were the bug? Or did you mean we were the kid and he is the bug? I’m confused.
Please provide quotes of any vitriolic statements or name calling I have used in my posts. Just because you say it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
I have used only this name for the entire thread of this post. I am a woman. There are many many of us that thing the few complaining teachers were out of line and that the punishment didn’t fit the so called crime. I guess if it gives you peace to think that there is only one of us, so be it.
I said my posts have not been crass or full of vitriol.
You said I said: “He says he has not used crass word or vitriol”
What is exactly is “crass word”
The word “crass” is not in itself a crass word. That’s like saying “swear word” is in itself a swear word.
I said and I quote:
“I have not said one crass word, nor has one word been full of vitriol.
Saying the word crass and vitriol does not make one crass and vitriolic. However congratulating someone on name calling and comparing the people is is calling names can easily be considered both crass and vitriolic.
By your own definition you must also be a liar because you said that you were leaving to make dinner and you never left.
Don’t worry AP, those that throw sticks and stones have to because they are finding it hard to believe that people actually support JV. @lilana, please explain to me how you are defending a number of highly respectable women at WG? I am very familiar with WG and yet, your name doesn’t ring a bell. Makes me wonder if your name is really who you say it is.
Dale,
I very much appreciate your honesty in answering my question. I’d do the same if the shoe were on the other foot. In regards to your question, I believe he’s innocent because none of the claims against him were witnessed by anyone. The report the district had done was a mess. Along with the fact that the lies that were put into the report by the two that went on record saying so. I’ve worked side by side with JV, and never saw any bit of the character that a couple claim him to be. Also his long outstanding work history within the district with other teachers and staff. Two and two aren’t adding up to four within the way this situation was handled. So, we’ll have to wait and see. Something is either true, or it’s not.
This is my first post on this thread. I am 110% behind JV on this. My children were both lucky enough to have him as an administrator. I got to know JV very well and when my child got to foothill the year JV was moved to WG, I was pretty devastated because it meant his leadership and guidance he had given my children would be gone.
JV did nothing wrong. He has more supporters than he needs. Just like when he was guiding my oldest and set high expectations of her, I’m sure he did the same at WG to improve all aspects of the school and a few of the teachers probably didn’t want to comply. And then in comes the union….
JV: the negative comments on here are clearly by one person with too much time on their hands. Please fight this to the end as my hope is that it will result in a board and district shake up to get rid of the garbage and to reinstate administrators like you. There’s a reason we have a revolving principal door at most Pleasanton schools. Thank you for not abandoning your students when so many other principals bailed when Ahmadi came in.
Keep up the fight. Those in the community that know you have your back.
“Liliana Cruz” and “Dale” is a trolls. He/she posts all over the place on these forums.
You would do well to ignore these posts or simply respond that you won’t respond.
Thanks John, words of wisdom for sure.
Having notes left in your office with accusations of affairs is sexual harassment. A few months ago after one of the male principals from another city was hired in the summer of 2013, someone posting on this Town Square forum wrote a note talking about a sexual relationship with the principal and someone else.
This is so similar a tactic you’d have to wonder if the same person is posting these types of accusations, posting accusations of ‘personality disorders’ and ‘behavioral disorders,’ as part of a planned scheme and strategy.
Back to one of the original points of the article – an employee was caught falsifying a time card. This is a Federal offense and everyone downtown knows it. She is the daughter of the President of the classified (non teaching staff) union. Moral may be recovering at WG but the downtown staff are sick of it. Any other person would have been fired yet this woman continues to get special treatment due to her “dad”.
Don’t mean to speak for Liliana, but she quotes AP calling her names. That AP doesn’t realize what he wrote, or doesn’t have the honesty to own up to his own yo-yo remarks, confirms what Liliana wrote. AP is either a liar or rather deluded; my bet is he’s both, which has been my thesis all along.
Jon Vranesh’s accusations really boil down to this. On the one hand, IF he is lying, he is a liar. And it’s as simple as that. On the other hand, IF he believes the accusations that he’s leveled at highly respected and professional women – that they’re all throwing themselves at him (when they’re not discriminating against his gender and age, that is)- then he really is a damaged piece of work who has no business being principal in a public school.
What remains funny to me is that after making such fatal accusations, he still has any supporters — or should I say supporter — left. That supporter would either have to be extremely gullible or as damaged as Vranesh is.
By the way, about the “five” different purported supporters of JV here? Each of you has misspelled morale. It is not moral, as each of you has written, it is morale. As in: The morale of the staff was low.
What an amazing coincidence, eh? All of JV’s supporters don’t know how to spell morale. Who woulda thunk it? Like I say, seriously damaged goods. He’s here every day, every night. Readily identifiable by his tortured syntax, lack of intellectual range, repetitive charges, and inability to engage in meaningful dialogue.
What’s funny to me is that after making false accusations, Teacher A and Teacher B have very few supporters. Too bad for you since your probably one of them. Good luck to you because the crap has hit the fan!
CIAIS
Moral and morale are two often confused words. Your argument is weak. At best youhave two people using moral instead or morale. Big deal
I have been waiting for a few years for the unethical actions of Alex Sutton to come to light. He has placed his daughter and a few of his friends/buddies with a Classified job at our schools without following the policy of the seniority ladder (those already a Classified employee and was losing their position due to budget). To have him the President of the Classified union is a joke. Like father like daughter when it comes to the timecard issue, meaning getting paid for doing nothing. He often leaves school during the day when he is supposed to be doing janitorial duties there.
Also, nothing is ever said about the lack of support from the Human Resource Director to the two Classified employees who were mentioned in the suit but had never been interviewed. The job of Human Resources is to protect the workers not the administration. He appears to me to just hold the position of Director and does not actually do the work he is paid to do. I am tired of people getting paid to do nothing!
Nice try, “No Name.” You’ve only convinced yourself. Squish.
I am a Walnut Grove parent of 9 years. Thank goodness this is my last. I have been a member of the PTA Board for years as well. I personally like Jon Vranesh as well as Teachers A and B.
The situation at Walnut Grove is sad, sad, sad. It is sad not because of the accusations of individuals. That happens all the time all around the country.
It is sad because of the reaction of the superintendent. The knee-jerk, reactionary extraction of JV out of Walnut Grove was unnecessary and only served to fuel an unnecessary fire.
I have talked to friends who are administrators from several school districts. Unanimously, they agree that the only reason to immediately pull an administrator from a school site is because he harmed a child. That did not happen here. That fact is unequivocal.
The administration is at fault. Its out-sized reaction made a mountain out of a molehill. The Walnut Grove community may disagree on many things, but that the administration reacted inappropriately is something upon which the entire community agrees.
It has been a sad, sad, year for a once fine school. It is not surprising that Teacher A, as well as several other teachers, is not returning next year.
Oh, Julie. I read your post and I can hardly stop from crying.
Yes, definitively, it is the superintendent’s knee-jerk reaction. Everyone knows this. You’re so right.
The facts you point to are unequivocal. So unequivocal that the entire community supports everything you’re saying.
Thank you for your passionate telling of the truth. We’re all convinced now and so we can all go to bed and sleep tight, knowing that Julie and the entire community now knows the truth.
Oh Jon, oh Jon, we love you so much. And we hope the super gets fried.
Teacher A is NOT leaving. Teacher A is firmly planted in her grade level, absolutely smug in her temporary victory. The teacher who is leaving cracked under pressure due to her own actions. She is Teacher C. Teacher B is someone else.
I looked at the staff link. My daughter goes to hart and the same psychologist works there works at Walnut Grove. Hart has many of these same problems with the union and meetings about removing the principal. Personally, I like the Hart principal and people I know who had their kids at schools when JV was there pretty much all say he was a good administrator too. There was so much conversation on this topic thread about mental illness and personality disorders, I think the psychologist who is at Hart and Walnut Grove must be a common coincidence.
Seems like the HR department has a lot of explaining to do.
This is a very well written article. Good journalism with original sources cited. I doubt anyone who reads it can doubt that there were politics involved in this removal and that this involves a whole lot more than whether JV said bad words around staff members. It is hard to dismiss public employees. JV would have had to do far far worse than call someone a “B” word before a normal school district would remove him from his job. The District went way beyond. It is also arrogance on the part of the Superintendent that she would get away with it. Most employees just go away when they are demoted or punished and because of that, it never come to light what really happened. JV for right or wrong has taught the community what really goes on inside a school District. Yes the same district you entrust your children with, volunteer at, and raise money for. It is not pretty or fun and has been terribly hard on countless people, but thank you JV for the education. I am sure voters will remember what they have learned at the next school board election. Knowledge is power
Given the support of JV and that the majority believe he has been unfairly treated, let me suggest to JV the following.
This may be the best time for you, JV, to consider going private. Establish a private school to compete with the PUSD. You’d be the headmaster. There is a need for this in Pleasanton and surrounding area.
I met you, JV, once when you were at PMS and found you to be most gracious, respectful, and competent. We were considering to place our child in PMS vs. a private school at the time. While we opted for the private school, you made it a tough decision because we liked you a great deal.
Consider establishing a private school (without unions)…and you’d have many many supporters.
Yes, Jon, since there is one person here who has gone out of his way to post under dozens of monikers, you owe it to him to go private. It would be good for moral. You can always find subservient, masochistic women, raised in Republican-authoritarian families, who will work for you and think they deserve to be called names like B***** and C****.
A private school, without a union, would of course make it easier to get rid of foul-mouthed jerks than it is in public schools. But you’d be the head jerk. You would have nothing to worry about except fending off all the women throwing themselves at you, you know, with all your virility and sex appeal.
I’m making this recommendation not because I know much about the facts of how you’ve been definitively intimidated and victimized by man-hating women, but because I met you once and you pretended to be nice to me. Well, that was good enough for me. Because, admittedly, not many people like me. I’ve lost many a job, and I’ve been kicked out of unions because I don’t tolerate socialism and all its political correctness. And my kids did miserably in public school, for which I blame no one except the school and everyone associated with it. We need more accountability for our actions, don’t you think Jon?
@ calling it
Your hatred is quite apprent from all if your rambeling. We’re all so impressed by your ability to correct spelling as well as your colorful vocabulary. I think you’re just trying to irritate people, and nothing more. Your belligerent, blind opinions expressed here have displayed you need some help. For your sake I hope you find it. Take your meds, and relax.
I’m still wondering about his claims of sexual advances by both Ahmadi and Cazares. If they are doing sexual favoritism and promoting people based on if they go along with their unwanted sexual advances, which is in page 10 of his 17 page letter on April 16, then they must be doing it to other people too right? Please people, read his claims, it’s important stuff. Are they teaming up together to make these passes at him? Or is it separately and they just can’t help himself when they are in the same room? The claim does not state sexual harrassment by both of them, it states, “unwanted sexual advances” by both of them.
Teacher A is not only firmly planted in her position at school, she is also firmly planted on these blogs using the moniker “calling it like it is”. You should probably save your battle for the courtroom. Your starting to act like a 12 yr old child which is coincidentally the same age you quoted JV’s attorney to be. So gald that your true personality is starting to shine. Keep it up so people can really get to know the true you! It also helps to prove why people have questioned the validity of your accusations.
Did anyone else from the Grove notice there were 4 open positions at the school in the recent email sent out to families? I don’t recall there being so many open positions, or is the number normal?
By the same logic JV Supporter and AP are obviously family members of JV, why else the unrelenting blind support. I worked along side JV and for those who claim to know him, you seem to be leaving out one of his strongest personality traits- he is def the most sarcastic and snarky person I have ever met. He mocked the very people who now support him. I heard it myself and was shocked. When the teacher’s reports came out, I wasn’t surprised at all. Good for them for standing up against this unprofessional admin. And good for our district admin to do the right thing and get him out of our school.
Also interesting that Gina chose to leave out the claims JV is making against the district- desperate, and people here claim this was a good article! Members of this community sound just like those who rail against victims of abuse- “they asked for it” mentality is so disturbing here.
If you had read one of my previous post, you would know that I have worked with JV for several years. No I am not related to him. So sad that you think the only people that support him are people related to him. News flash, there are MANY people who support him. By the way, Just because someone is sarcastic doesn’t mean they call people the b word or c word. He was always very professional and never made “snarky” comments about anything. I would think if he was so unprofessional that somewhere along the line, other people would have come forward that worked with him in the past claiming to be witnesses to this so called behavior and guess what, no one has. I would also think that if this was a true reflection of his character, it would have reared it’s ugly head somewhere during his 10+ years in the district and yet, it never has. Need to get it through your head that there are many people who support JV and who don’t believe the accusations.
The people commenting on this need to grow up. Pleasanton is no different than any other city. You don’t control it. It’s so funny to see how irrational some of you are . Amazing!
“So sad that you think the only people that support him are people related to him.”
Guess you missed your own logic when you assume that anyone posts in support of the teachers is one of the victims.
Posted by you—“Teacher A is not only firmly planted in her position at school, she is also firmly planted on these blogs using the moniker “calling it like it is” ”
Yes Daveg- read all the links- I find it interesting that for such a thorough and unbiased piece, that little detail would remain buried in a 17 page letter. Especially since it doesnt show JV the way she wanted it to. Classic.
AP- the reason there are so many open positions is because the ratio is going to be 25 to 1, rather than 30 in K-3. Therefore next year there will be 5 separate classes in K-3 while this year there are only 4.. Only 1 teacher is leaving and 1 is retiring. If you are really part of the school I’m surprised you don’t know this information.
Sorry WG Volunteer, the only person I have assumed is a “victim” is the person who posts under the name Calling it like it is. Reason being is the words that she uses and how angry she comes across reminds me of the same person who is called Teacher A in the original redacted report. Call it coincidence but I highly doubt it.
The custodian in question who allegedly wasn’t doing her work is Alexis Sutton, daughter of Alex Sutton, the head of the classified employees’ union.
Interesting.
I’m a teacher at Foothill. I was there when Jon Vranesh was a VP. I am not a friend of Jon’s but I did work closely with him at Foothill and he was the best administrator on campus, very organized, bright, accessible, and competent. A lot of Foothill teachers were hoping JV would become our principal after Kevin Johnson moved on.
I never saw any of the behavior of which JV is now accused. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen at Walnut Grove, but trust me, gossip travels very fast on school campuses, and if JV had cursed at a female staff member on our campus, we would have known about it. A school campus is a lot like Mayberry (or maybe Peyton Place?).
There’s a lot of bizarre accusations all around in this case and I can’t begin to untangle them all and present any kind of “truth”. I will just put a few observations out there:
1. Peggy Carpenter is not a good leader of our union. Peggy definitely has some teachers she protects and other she hangs out to dry. Yes, the majority of the teachers who voted elected Peggy–but she ran without opposition and only one out of three teachers even bothered to cast ballots. Why so few teachers participate in union activities is another matter that I won’t discuss here, but let’s just say that those of us who have try to become involved have been not so politely “discouraged” from doing so by Carpenter and Company.
2. Everybody *knows* you don’t try to make the custodians work if they don’t want to. This has been an issue at Foothill for as long as I’ve worked there! The custodians do what they want and any teacher or administrator who tries to reign them in suffers retaliation. JV was brave but very foolish to try and make a custodian actually clean the school if she didn’t want to. Some custodians work very hard and do their jobs; many of them don’t. That is the truth of the matter in our district.
3. I don’t know very many teachers or classified staff who have a lot of trust or faith in Superintendent Ahmadi or in Luz Cazares. To be honest (and I know this sounds unkind), we see them as problems to be worked around, rather than partners in solving problems.
4. This is not the first time a clique of teachers and/or classified staff have taken revenge on someone (another teacher, classified staff, or administrator) who has crossed them; it’s just a case that wasn’t swept under the rug. This kind of stuff goes on all the time on all our campuses, including Foothill. For example, the teachers who form the Cool Kids clique at Foothill are feared by the administration and are backed by Peggy Carpenter. They do as they please, including showing up late for first period class (often), taking extended lunches off-campus (often) and leaving before their last class has ended. All of this is illegal and unsafe, but nobody can do anything about it.
I do like teaching at Foothill but there is something wrong with the way our schools and our district are run. There’s no strong leadership from the administration at either the district or the site level, which means the campuses are run by a few teachers for their benefit, at the expense of staff morale and the good of the students.
I hope the truth in JV’s case comes out, one way or the other. I’m sorry so many innocent people, like Mary Snell and Linda Pipe, are getting hurt in this process. I don’t know if a court case will ever allow us to know what really happened, but I don’t think we know “the truth” right now, at least not all of it. Somebody is lying, that’s for sure.
And by the way, as a history teacher, I can tell you this wouldn’t be the first time someone’s life was ruined by false accusations. See: Salem Witch Trials for more information!
As far as the B word and derogatory references to women (ie., referring to women as a letter starting with W and a slang name for a prostitute, references to slang names to reproductive organs), there is no concrete evidence that JV ever said those things.
What is also concrete evidence that there were 886 references to slang names of reproductive organs on the PUSD’s website. What is also concrete evidence is the B and W word were referenced on the school counselors’ social media account in explicit song lyrics (Pandora).
I’m wondering if any of the anti-union folks that are outraged by JV’s removal are connecting any dots here. Unions are in place to protect employees from exactly this type of arbitrary and political discipline imposed by management. The anti-union crowd that is crying foul over JV’s removal are sounding the very same alarms of unfair discipline that have been sounded by employees for eons. JV’s removal happened exactly as it should have according to the anti-union playbook. Management saw a problem and they removed it. Isn’t that what they want? Oh…what? That should only apply to teachers? Of course! So, when a student doesn’t like their grade, their mommy or daddy can go to the board or to management and insist on the removal of the teacher. But that shouldn’t be a problem because management NEVER caves to political pressure.
If there weren’t a need for unions, there wouldn’t be unions.
Karma makes its way to everyone. The Elektra Complex rarely has a happy outcome…look at Sylvia Plath. The accusing teacher I’m referring to needs to retract her own claws, lest the truth be revealed about her relationship with the WG administrator before JV, and other accessible males……
Thank you Foothill Teacher for your comments . you made great points
And the winner for the stupidest argument of the thread goes to Unionize.
Quote: “If there weren’t a need for unions, there wouldn’t be unions.”
Got it. So, if there weren’t a need for obnoxious parents there wouldn’t be obnoxious parents? And, if there weren’t a need for slacker employees there wouldn’t be slacker employees?
It is almost impossible to tell what really happened here. I hope that this matter results in public proceedings where the various players are put under oath. It would be wrong for the district to just settle out and leave all of these accusations unresolved.
Foothill Teacher – Thank you for summing up what’s wrong with the District. Salem Witch Trials, indeed.
@ Foothill teacher, thank you for posting your observations. It was a good summary of some of the issues in our district.
Thank you Unionize @Birdland for stating the obvious. Lots of goofballs find their way into management wherever you go, and unions have always performed the function of protecting workers from arbitrary decisions. Vranesh could have used union support. Those who deny this probably haven’t been out of their homes for the past few decades. They don’t know what they’re talking about.
I want my kids teachers protected from the goofball parents who lean on weak administrators. Thank God for Unions!
Quote: “If there weren’t a need for unions, there wouldn’t be unions.”
So with that logic, I suppose if there weren’t a need for parasites, there wouldn’t be parasites. Correct?
Hey Suggestion, you seem to have missed Logic 101. “That logic” you’re talking about? It isn’t. With your version of “logic”, life must be something of a struggle for you. Why do you violate the rules by posting under so many different names? Is it because you get swatted down, lose face, and feel you must then violate the rules? Is that your “logic?”
Not this first time I have heard this situation referred to as a “Witch Hunt” by teachers in the district.
It’s a strategy as old as time. To get someone you don’t like, just create false accusations and set up weak, troubled people to lead the charge. Thank you Foothill teacher, that was a good summary.
Teacher A, the Former Counselor and the other accusers are also victims. They are being used. If you read your history, they probably won’t wind up much better off than the adolescent girls in the real Salem witch trials. When the Super (Ahmadi), HR Director (Farraghan), Business Director (Cezares),the Union President (Carpenter) and all the ones pulling the strings sail off for other jobs and retirement, the accusers will be left to face their colleagues and community for the rest of their careers.
Thanks Diane, of course that makes sense. That’s why I asked.
Most of the students at Hart Middle School believe that this entire scheme that they made up about Jon Vranesh is in order for the supposed ‘victims’ to collect fraudulent workers compensation benefits. Fairlands students attend Hart and are very aware of the situation at Hart with the staff attempting to remove the principal at Hart as well as all of the allegations at Walnut Grove.
Lennie Olbrycht, the former Fairlands counselor, retired last June and the school brought in the counselor at Walnut Grove part time supposedly. This counselor wasn’t there much starting at the beginning of the year. Given the Fairlands’ neighborhood with past frauds and cheats and felony convictions, we tend to Google everyone that the school brings in.
Worker’s compensation fraud occurs when someone claims an on the job injury, then claims to be disabled and takes a leave and is paid a salary by disability insurance so that they can stay home and get paid for doing nothing.
We believe that it is quite possible that the accusers purposely made the false allegations so that they could stay home, get paid, and not work. The same thing happened in a school custodian case in Hayward last year that was in all the newspapers.
Since Vranesh has been removed, the school counselor brought into replace Olbrycht has set up a number of business-related websites by purchasing them on namecheap.com. Some are her name with the .com and .me extension and others are variations of the name ‘smartandcrafty.’ They all point to a Danville CA address. Obviously, someone who is out on leave and setting up various business websites is not really unable to work. Also, if they are posting on this Town Square forum all hours of the day or night, they are not really unable to work.
This is a scam where the motivation is the same as most scams – greed.
I don’t agree with Witchhunt that only the counselor and other in on the conspiracy will go to jail. California workers’ compensation fraud laws apply to everyone involved in an illegal transaction. This includes those who
•directly and actively participate in the alleged scheme,
•aid and abet others,
•solicit others to participate, and
•conspire with others
I hope the Pleasanton Weekly will do a complete story on this.
If teachers are protected by unions, then the principals should be protected as well. It’s my understanding that 4 or 5 principals were targeted by the teachers union this year alone in Pleasanton. The two we heard about publicly are JV and the Hart Principal.
Seems our district is really horrible at hiring principals and or a certain union likes to protect it’s own members by projecting their own problems onto the principals.
Either way, we’ve got trouble in River City.
Wow! What a bombshell. Just how many side businesses do Walnut Grove and Hart staff own and operate so that they can double dip (or work while out on PUSD ‘leave’)? I’m going through the Bay Area News Group salary list and have already found 5; however, none of these appear on any Business License list for the city of Pleasanton, city of San Ramon, etc.
No wonder the newspaper has not found any of these. They don’t have business licenses.
And if these staff were coming and going to the school site all the time, no wonder these staff protested the swinging locking gates that Vranesh requested installed. They could not sneak off campus and then come back to campus without going through the office gate entrance.
I really appreciate the comments by the Foothill Teacher. I have a child at FHS that came from PMS with another before him ANC came to know JV quite well. I too was so bummed that he didn’t end up being the new FHS principal. Also, I’ve had children in PUSD schools for 16 years at this point and I concur he is the single best administrator I’ve come across over all this time.
I will hope and pray trust JV will be paid the damages he deserves so he and his family can move on. I don’t know the value of ruining the career of a rather young and rising school administrator, but certainly it will be a multimillion dollar settlement. There are enough people in this community that know the truth about JV for some small settlement to quietly make this go away. Whatever settlement he receives, it doesnt matter because our children are now being cheated out of such a dynamic leader.
ENOUGH TALK….. LETS ACT!!!!
I say we petition the school district to bring back Vranesh….
If you are with me, please simply post “Bring Vranesh back”. Then we can see if/how we can get a movement going…
I see lots of comments and lots of support for the man who is about to be screwed beyond recognition by the district and the unions… so now, let’s all ACT.
If you want him back, please make the post…..
Bring Vranesh back.
Bring Vranesh back.
Hire him back to fill the Walnut Grove position or this K-5 principal position posted at Edjoin at https://www.edjoin.org/viewPosting.aspx?postingID=537035&countyID=1&onlineApp=0
Employer: Pleasanton Unified School District
Date Posted: 5/28/2014
Application Deadline: Until Filled
Length of Work Year: 210 DAYS
Contact:
Ellen Gould
925-426-4346
Employment Type: Full Time Number Openings:
(At time of posting) 1
Salary: $117,729-$129,984 PER 2013/14 MANAGEMENT SALARY SCHEDULE Job Description / Essential Elements:
Additional Information:
•Requirements for Applying
•Links Related to this Job
•Comments and Other Info
•View Other Job Desc. / Ess. Elem.
Requirements for Applying
Materials
VALID CA ADMINISTRATIVE CREDENTIAL, MASTERS DEGREE
Their are several disturbing things going on in the school district. They have been going on for some time. Why did the school board try to hide the fact they were reassigning The WG principle. They did not tell the parents untill they were confronted and then they tried to hide his new assignment and bury it in other items on the agenda. I have read several posts that calling it as it is is a teacher. I hope to god not. As for unions I worked as a union member and my wife currently does. Unions treat everyone the same whether you show up to work on time and are productive or whether you show up late all the time and are not productive. If you are lazy and non productive unions are for you. If you want to work hard and be productive you will make the same as the lazy guy who is habitually late and is not very productive. Falsified time cards and still has a job. I rest my case
Dale How can you be 100% sure he is guilty?
to others. How can anyone be a resident of a school?
calling it like it is
did you mean morale not moral on your June 7th 7:44 am post
oops!
Pleasanton sucked forty years ago.
I just looked at the link to the staff members at the school It seams all but 2 are women… hmmmmm can you say good old girls network. On the face it seams like hiring discrimination. Maybe the accusations are not that far fetched. Laura and Mary seem like honest people the accusers come across as dishonest and vindictive. They kinda remind me of the mean girl cliques when I was at Amador. I guess they never grew up.
Thank you Foothill Teacher for your thoughtful and concise summary. I never saw that behavior either.
Thank you Foothill Teacher for providing us with a reference frame for reflecting on the metamorphosis that can occur in a person when power is given to the weak.
Thank you Superintendant, cabinet and school Board for showing us how NOT to follow the rules.
Thankfully a judge and/ or jury will sort out this bungled mess
PWeekly, please have mercy on us all and end this thread……
Set-aside your biases and consider this: Six separate teachers went on record and collectively reported that an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL principal:
(1) called teachers bit@hes, crazy-bit@hes, f*ing bit@hes
(2) called female teachers the “c-word”
(3) dropped ‘f-bombs’ when referring to teachers
(4) said he wanted to “bludgeon” teachers
(5) created an atmosphere where teachers were afraid of him,
Should any employer be concerned about this type of alleged workplace conduct? (Yes) Should the charges be investigated? (Yes) And if the investigation finds the charges corroborated, should the employer remove the alleged perpetrator? (Yes)
This isn’t difficult. If there is some sort of grand conspiracy going on –which seems unlikely given the large number of similar complaints — then we will eventually find out. In the meantime, I tend to believe that: (a) smoke leads to fire, and (b) if someone is guilty and caught red-handed, they may still have a lot of supportive friends.
Dear PWeekly,
Please close this thread……
Why should PW close this thread? Is it because there are many people speaking up about how they believe that the district handled this situation incorrectly and how JV was treated unfairly? I don’t find any reason why PW should close this thread except that people are afraid of hearing the truth.
@Reality Check, keep in mind that those 6 teachers are very close friends and hang out together frequently, so yes it is possible it was a conspiracy. I agree that there should have been an investigation, what I don’t believe is the investigation was one-sided and that there were discrepancies that were found in the investigation that were never reinvestigated. Hard to believe the situation when there are so many discrepancies. Like the article states, this is far from over
JV Supporter, you have hit the nail on the head when you ask as to why the PW should close this thread…Why should they? Is it because Reality Check, Calling It Like It Is, Even Stephen, etc. are starting to feel the heat? Were they completely taken aback that questions were raised about the credibility of the investigation? That District hired investigator knew perfectly well in his “follow up report” that details pertaining to acts of retaliation against Teachers A and B were unfounded because his “thorough investigation” was anything but. Those accused were never interviewed. They were thrown under the bus to strengthen the claims against Vranesh. Many other teachers at WG were interviewed but were left completely out of the report because they DID NOT corroborate the paranoid lies of a few teachers and a counselor who were bent on “putting JV in his place”. The District’s public statement to the release of report said that “the accusations were found to have merit.” Nothing about it has merit. It’s an embarrassment, plain and simple. The CTA aided and abetted the teachers in question and in some cases coaxed them into delusional thinking that they were being abused. It’s all in their own words, as reported to the investigator. It’s all out there. The depositions should be interesting.
“Posted by Reality Check, a resident of another community
15 hours ago
Set-aside your biases and consider this: Six separate teachers went on record and collectively reported that an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL principal:
(1) called teachers bit@hes, crazy-bit@hes, f*ing bit@hes
(2) called female teachers the “c-word”
(3) dropped ‘f-bombs’ when referring to teachers
(4) said he wanted to “bludgeon” teachers
(5) created an atmosphere where teachers were afraid of him,
Should any employer be concerned about this type of alleged workplace conduct? (Yes) Should the charges be investigated? (Yes) And if the investigation finds the charges corroborated, should the employer remove the alleged perpetrator? (Yes)
This isn’t difficult. If there is some sort of grand conspiracy going on –which seems unlikely given the large number of similar complaints — then we will eventually find out. In the meantime, I tend to believe that: (a) smoke leads to fire, and (b) if someone is guilty and caught red-handed, they may still have a lot of supportive friends.”
Why do you believe you’re judge & jury? Have you even considered the possibility the teachers union is guilty of wrong doing? If not, why? Have you considered the recent court ruling regarding Tenure and the unions/CTA response? It seems clear that the CTA is willing to go to extreme levels to get their desired result. Why is it so hard to believe this is anything different?
Reality Check, you’ve claimed that, “Six separate teachers went on record and collectively reported that an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL principal…” what if your/their allegations are wrong? I’ll bet if these allegations are incorrect nothing will happen to these teachers. The union will not only defend them but also make sure the district and the PUSD School Board protect them. That is how things work. As far as the school district and the teachers unions are concerned you are either for us or against us. The School Board majority serves the Teachers Union. The Unions support teachers. The students… the teachers love the students but even they’re powerless when it comes to the CTA.
Guillermo Durgin, a CTA ‘advisor’ is running the Pleasanton Unified School District. Peggy Carpenter obviously can’t stand the heat due to the controversy (she probably doesn’t believe it now) and just announced her retirement from PUSD.
A certificated staff member claims the ‘c’ word was used in relation to the polite, mild mannered former curriculum director, then went around spreading rumors. Vranesh denies this word was used under penalty of perjury. The teachers were angry with the curriculum director about staggered reading. It would be more likely they used the word than Vranesh given the certificated staff’s disdain of staggered reading and instructional coaches. If Vranesh used this type of language, someone would have reported it to HR over a decade ago. One of the accusers lived across the street from a current board member for years. Nothing was reported to HR or the board member, therefore, these are most likely lies.
Certificated staff members last year made jokes and references in front of students about the masking tape hand tying incident at Centerpointe church where the teacher took a photo of a child ‘hog tied.’ This wasn’t Vranesh.
The affidavit sworn under penalty of perjury by another site administrator other than Vranesh says the person referring to teachers as a “b****” and using the word “f***” is a cabinet level administrator whose name ends in ‘s’. The ‘s’ can be found in the poorly redacted documents.
Obviously the union has some catch up reading to do and continues to spread lies and misinformation.
I don’t know Vranesh….I don’t know the Board….and I don’t know the Superintendent. But…my kids go to Ptown schools (VHS and PMS respectively), and there are issues everywhere. What amazes me….always….about instances like this is the absolutle self-righteousness that people possess. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, has said things they regret….both in their jobs and in their personal life. EVERYONE has made mistakes, both in their job, and in their personal life. This is not the point.
Point is….WHO knows what REALLY happened in this case? No one on this blog…I can tell you that. Vranesh knows. And the people are alleging malfeasance against him know. Other than that…no one knows…it is all conjecture, hearsay, and otherwise not something I care to listen to.
Let the courts and lawyers handle it. Remember, we do have a judicial system in America, and apparently it is run by the credo of “innocent until proven guilty”, something like that. So…all of you haters who want Vranesh to die, or go away, or made to feel “less than”…what are your motives for doing so? If he is found guilty of the accusations made against him, trust me, that alone will haunt the man for the rest of his life.
Peace out.
This has been handled so poorly by PUSD
1. If he did what a few say then he should of been dismissed.
2. If not then the Superintendent and board need to get a backbone and stand-up to the unions.
3. A Board members wife who is a Union rep in PUSD should remove him self union issues.
4. The Superintendent should be dismissed for how poorly this has been handled.
5. Time for all to move on
6. Show up and vote for a new school board next election.
It is not time to move on. If District employees and management have resorted to malevolent, seemingly vindictive and retaliatory behavior to attempt to unjustly and irrationally destroy Vranesh’s reputation and humiliate him, it is time that these people be brought to justice.
This was a rash decision lacking due process and at the discretion of one woman (the Superintendent).
And if she and the Board can get away with this, they won’t stop there.
At some point you need to decide who to believe. Is it the 6 separate witnesses with consistent complaints (plus the investigator who found their complaints credible)?…or is it the 1 accused person who denies everything? Hmmmm. I’m leaning towards believing the 7. After all, in my experience conspiracy theories usually end up being just that — theories. How about you?
There was one accuser that then told the other accusers the supposed ‘allegations’ and that accuser has never signed any document indicating attesting to the fact under the laws of perjury. That is called ‘hearsay’ which last I heard can’t be used in a court of law.
Among the Caucasian female accusers, one was also afraid of an individual with a power leaf sweeping device, one was afraid of a whistle, and multiple of them were disturbed and afraid of non-Caucasian public address loudspeaker announcements concerning black people.
The school’s case should go over really well with a jury in Alameda County….not.
Reality Check, you state that there are 6 separate witnesses with consistent complaints and an investigator who found their complaints credible…. Have you forgotten Linda Pipe and Mary Snell who faced the Board twice to publicly deny their inclusion in the investigator’s report? They were never interviewed despite being included without their knowledge. What about them? Are they credible? Absolutely. They probably would have hidden in the shadows if the accusations against them were actually true. Or are they all part of the plot against Teachers A and B and the others? The accusations against the school secretary and the daytime custodian are equally ridiculous. Were they interviewed? Doubtful. Teachers A, B and the others made up stories about decent people to bolster their claims against Vranesh. I guess the teachers were so wrapped up in their victory dance they didn’t expect anyone to come forward and challenge them. Maybe they could face a Board meeting or two with public statements of their own. Oh, but that would take courage. Of that, they are sadly lacking.
Valerie Arkin even asked for “a fresh set of eyes” to review the investigation. Why? Because she has courage. She knows what’s been presented is full of holes. The rest of the Board and Ahmadi don’t have a clue what to do. They know they’re in deep and have no graceful way out.
Reality Check is just grasping at straws. First off, the investigator never found their complaints to be credible because the investigation was biased. Their were comments in the report about the PTA and how JV caused problems with board members, did the investigator ever meet with any of the PTA board to see if that was true. No, the investigator did not. There were comments made about Mary Snell and Linda Pipe, were those comments every confirmed, No, they were not as we all know from hearing it at a previous school board meeting where the 2 spoke up. Had they actually done a complete investigation, they would have found no merit in the complaints and this would never have gone any further then an he said, she said situation, end of story. The district screwed up, the union strong armed them and they removed JV because of it.
Unless “reality Check” has some copies of the complaints that aren’t redacted, I think the count is wrong. I counted 4 maybe 5 including one who said over and over she had a hard time remembering things from years ago.
Since when is an investigator a judge and jury? It was obvious by his extremely biased questions he was not looking for the truth but was trying find enough “evidence” to justify the ouster of Vranesh. Questions like “Has he ever made you uncomfortable even with a look?” Are hardly questions one would ask if they were looking for the truth and not statements to back up a story. If people should get removed from their jobs because they give someone a dirty look then we should all probably be removed from our jobs. This investigator also failed to ask any of the complaining teachers if they ever used foul language at work. Why would he fail to ask that question if he was looking for the truth? The district hastily removed Vranesh from his job when a hysterical union leader threatened to go to the press, instead of admitting they had made the wrong move they hired the investigator to try and find some justification. If the district wasn’t worried about the validity of their investigation they wouldn’t have have offered Vranesh a settlement as early as February.
What about the many people, way more than the 5 with memory problems, who were interviewed and said they did not have the experience with Vranesh that was being alleged. Are they lying? Some of the accusers said Vranesh spent all his time in his office plotting. If that is true, one would think that the office staff in a very small office would the first see the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that the complaining teachers spoke of, yet it seems every member of the office staff is firmly behind Vranesh. I also thought it was interesting in the follow up investigation that the complaining teachers tried very hard to undermine anyone who supported Vranesh by saying “you should have heard what he said about you”. What kind of infantile mentality is that? It sounds like teenage gossip instead of the words of a professional entrusted with the education of children.
Why gloss over the fact that both a complaining teacher, plus the investigator discussed at length the possible “crime” (a felony I believe) committed by a person in the office because she returned a whistle to a teacher? The teacher when on for pages in the interview on how she was sure the whistle wasn’t hers because it wasn’t covered in gogurt (BTW gogurt is full of fat dont you know? it’s in the interview an interview paid for with PUSD dollars I might remind you). The complaining teacher also said in her follow up interview that she discussed this “crime” with her therapist that was paid for by the district and the therapist agreed it was a crime. Obviously both the investigator, who wrote a report on this sinister plot to return a whistle, and the district’s lawyer who was copied on the report didn’t find any merit to the claim made by the complaining teacher because it was never turned over to the police and they didn’t even follow up by interviewing the dastardly whistle returner. The whistle returning plot was obviously not found to be credible, yet we are to believe that the other allegations this person made were completely credible and not embellished or made up? I wonder how much money was taken out of the PUSD coffers to conduct this investigation into the “whistle” alone? Remember this was a separate interview from the interview the investigator had already conducted with the teacher. A Therapist plus an investigator plus a,lawyer? My guess would be ten to twenty thousand just for the investigation into the whistle. An allegation that was obviously deemed not to have merit because it went no where. Can you say frivolous boys and girls?
Every time I get an email from PPIE or the PTA or someone else begging me to donate my money to the schools I shake my head and think about how the district has probably spent upwards of five hundred thousand or more, so far on this farce. A farce that was started by a small group of closely knit complainers because they had a personality conflict with their boss. Welcome to the real world.
Dear PUSD, Please learn to spend your money on education and maybe I will donate again.
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@ WG volunteer: Did you read the article in it’s entirety? Gina has done an excellent job of providing documentation for this article, however she can’t force you to actually read it. Trying reviewing the “17-page letter dated April 16”. That letter covers your concern that claims were left out by Gina. One has to actually read an article in it’s entirety!
Guess it was too much for you to read; rather just have certain points that you deemed important highlighted for you.
From a post early in this thread:
>> Fortunately this has been settled by competent administrators <<
I beg to differ. In my opinion, the degree of incompetence in the district’s handling of this issue has been staggering.
If a disaster with potential legal, financial and PR consequences of this magnitude were to occur in industry, I’m certain that the person at the top would be expected to resign, or be summarily fired.
Wow!
Thank you Gina for providing a very detailed report on the happenings at WG.
I’d like to comment that I wish this type of reporting was done more often on the goings-on at city hall and the various public/private entities involved in politics in our town.
Investigative journalism works!
Dan