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When the Tail Wags the Dog: How Tiny Districts Like Dehesa Are Raking in Millions While Educating Almost No One
A small East County school district with under 100 students authorizes more than 13,000 charter enrollments across Southern California. As oversight fees rise and land deals expand, questions emerge about governance, priorities, and whether this model echoes past controversies in California’s charter school history.
If I Weren’t a Responsible Journalist I Would Name-Drop
A reporter’s reflection on restraint, ethics, and the stories I chose not to publish—yet.
Inside the Arena: A Reporter’s Reflection
From the floor, I did a slow 360 and felt chills rip through me. The crowd rose, sang, embraced, and the emotion hit like a tidal wave—love, admiration, mourning, resolve. Whatever your side, everyone agreed on one thing: to honor a life that changed theirs. It was humbling. It was beautiful. It was a turning point.
The Tone Zone: Where Adjectives Get a 23-Point Traffic Stop
welcome to the Tone Zone: audits on the left, a taxpayer-funded tone check on the right. equal prominence, extra sunlight. Facts > Feelings.
What the Law Allows, What the Record Shows, and the Most Honest Answer We Can Give
What weighs on me is knowing how much this community invested and still having to say: it’s over, legally. The records are sealed, and because we aren’t a party, there’s no court order to be had. That disappointment sits with me.
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Latest Updates from Our Community
Method Musical Chairs: How Dehesa’s Enrollment Shuffle Fueled ADA Funding, Charter Growth, and Audit Flags
Dehesa’s enrollment skyrocketed—on paper. But the math doesn’t track. Resident students were displaced. Outsiders were brought in. Funding followed the fiction. At the center: inflated ADA, a $253K superintendent, and a board bound by family ties. Call it creative governance. Or call it what it looks like: Method Musical Chairs.
Adjacent, Apparently: How Dehesas Definition Could Cost Taxpayers Millions
Let’s talk about the word “adjacent.” It’s simple, right? You’d think so. But in the world of charter authorizing loopholes, definitions get stretched—then warped—until they snap.
The Tale of the Three Whites and the Two Phams — A one-school district. Five board members. Two families. And a growing rebellion.
In the rural hills outside El Cajon, where wildfire season sparks fear each summer, another kind of fire has begun to smolder. But this time, it wasn’t fireworks that started it — it was the slow burn of unchecked power, financial collapse, and a board so tightly held by two families that Dehesa parents have now sent up a smoke signal of their own.
Superintendent in One-School District Paid $2,522 Per Student Without Required Credential
A tiny school district in rural East San Diego County is paying a $252,000 salary to a superintendent overseeing fewer than 100 students — without a valid administrative credential. A closer look reveals a pattern of unchecked power, family-run governance, and public funds under questionable management.
“The power of the press is the power to hold the powerful accountable — and we hold that power fiercely.”