| July 17, 2006 Ex-student to pay Guajome Park Academy $11K By: SCOTT MARSHALL North County Times A former Guajome Park Academy student who was accused in a civil lawsuit of accessing the charter school's computer system without authorization has agreed to pay more than $11,000 to the school and to "fully and unconditionally cooperate" with the school's investigation of the alleged computer breach, court documents stated. Download The Injunction Download The Judgment Declaration of Patricia Quan Declaration of Mark Leonard Former student Beau Duperry agreed to accept a civil judgment against him and in favor of Guajome Park Academy. Duperry waived his rights to appeal or challenge the judgment, court documents stated. The judgment also permanently prohibits Duperry from disclosing to others any information taken from the school's computer system and from accessing or helping others access the school's computer network. Guajome Park Academy filed a lawsuit March 24 in federal court in San Diego against Duperry and former school employee Dave McCulloch, alleging that they inappropriately accessed the school's computer system to try to prove an allegation that a student's grade had been changed improperly. In documents filed with the court, the school calls the grade-changing allegation false. The lawsuit alleged that data about one student's grades were posted on the Web site guajomeunderground.org , a popular forum for critics of the school's administrators. Although the judgment to which Duperry agreed is final, the case against McCulloch still is pending. However, McCulloch, who is representing himself without an attorney, has agreed to be bound by a preliminary court order prohibiting him from accessing the school's computer network or disclosing any information alleged to have been taken from the computer network until his case goes to trial. The agreement between McCulloch and the school stated that it is not an admission by McCulloch of any action or of any liability to the school. It also stated that neither the school nor McCulloch can disclose to any "third party" any information about the agreement, except to refer to the agreement in documents filed with the court in the future. The separate agreements Guajome Park Academy reached with Duperry and McCulloch were filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in San Diego. A hearing in the case had been scheduled to occur Monday, but the agreements made it unnecessary. Neither Duperry nor McCulloch could be reached Monday for comment. Arthur Sloane, Duperry's attorney, and Mark Leonard, the school's attorney, also could not be reached for comment. Carla Skaggs, the chief business officer at Guajome Park Academy, said Monday afternoon that she could not comment on ongoing litigation but that the documents in the case "speak for themselves." Guajome Park Academy's lawsuit alleged that school officials learned in July 2005 that two people had posted messages on guajomeunderground.org that discussed accessing the school's database without authorization to retrieve grade information about a student who had graduated. The school then launched an investigation of two employees who "could potentially be involved" in the unauthorized computer access discussed in the messages on the Web site, the lawsuit alleged. The school learned in the investigation that the database had been accessed without permission about 18 times between June 17, 2005, and July 6, 2005, and that the confidential grades of a student had been posted on the guajomeunderground.org , the lawsuit alleged. A computer forensics investigation found that the unauthorized computer access originated from a computer owned by McCulloch, who was Duperry's roommate, the lawsuit alleged. The lawsuit alleged Duperry's login identification and password were used 10 times to access the database without authorization between June 17, 2005, and July 6, 2005. All of those incidents originated from McCulloch's computer, the lawsuit alleged. The lawsuit alleged the school's database was accessed from McCulloch's computer three more times with McCulloch's login identification and password. On the Net: www.gpa-inc.com/default. aspx www.guajomeundergroun d.org |
| Guajome Park Academy in San Diego County sues former student and former employee |
Judge lets Guajome Park
Academy lawsuit continue
North County Times
By: SCOTT MARSHALL
August 16, 2007
SAN DIEGO ---- A federal judge
on Thursday denied a former
Guajome Park Academy
employee's request for a
judgment in his favor without a
trial in a lawsuit the Vista school
filed against him.
Judge Marilyn Huff ruled in a
16-page decision that Guajome
Park Academy had shown that
disputes about "material facts"
exist in the case. A request for
summary judgment without a trial
can be granted only if a judge
decides that "there is no genuine
issue as to any material fact," Huff
wrote.
Originally filed March 24, 2006,
the school's lawsuit alleged that
David McCulloch, a former
employee, and Beau Duperry, a
former student, wrongly obtained
grade information from the
school's computer database to try
to prove an allegation that a
student's grade was changed
improperly. The school has called
the grade-change allegation false.
Duperry has accepted a civil
judgment against him and agreed
to pay the school $11,000. In
court documents, McCulloch has
described the allegations against
him as "groundless" and has
argued that Duperry acted alone
in accessing the database without
authorization.
Academy lawsuit continue
North County Times
By: SCOTT MARSHALL
August 16, 2007
SAN DIEGO ---- A federal judge
on Thursday denied a former
Guajome Park Academy
employee's request for a
judgment in his favor without a
trial in a lawsuit the Vista school
filed against him.
Judge Marilyn Huff ruled in a
16-page decision that Guajome
Park Academy had shown that
disputes about "material facts"
exist in the case. A request for
summary judgment without a trial
can be granted only if a judge
decides that "there is no genuine
issue as to any material fact," Huff
wrote.
Originally filed March 24, 2006,
the school's lawsuit alleged that
David McCulloch, a former
employee, and Beau Duperry, a
former student, wrongly obtained
grade information from the
school's computer database to try
to prove an allegation that a
student's grade was changed
improperly. The school has called
the grade-change allegation false.
Duperry has accepted a civil
judgment against him and agreed
to pay the school $11,000. In
court documents, McCulloch has
described the allegations against
him as "groundless" and has
argued that Duperry acted alone
in accessing the database without
authorization.
| Guajome Park Academy seeks to expand lawsuit North County Times By: SCOTT MARSHALL The Guajome Park Academy charter school is asking a federal judge for permission to expand a lawsuit in which the school alleges that a student's grades were accessed improperly through the school's judge for permission to expand a lawsuit in which the school alleges that a student's grades were accessed improperly through the school's computer system and were posted on a Web site that is critical of the school. school. Download Leonard Declaration Originally filed March 24, the school's lawsuit alleged that grade information was wrongly obtained by Beau Duperry, a former student, and David McCulloch, a former school employee, to try to prove an allegation that a student's grade was changed improperly. In the lawsuit, the school called the grade- change allegation false. In documents filed Friday, the school asks to amend its lawsuit to add four people alleged to have been involved with the Web site, www. guajomeunderground.org, as defendants in the case, in which the school is seeking an unspecified amount of money in damages. The proposed amended lawsuit would add allegations that Craig and Lisa James of Escondido, Teri Gerent of Vista, and Ed Brown of Oceanside conspired with Duperry to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Duperry and McCulloch were alleged to have violated that law in the original lawsuit. Echoing statements the school's chief business officer, Carla Skaggs, has made in response to previous inquiries about the lawsuit, Mark Leonard, the school's attorney, said Monday that the school and its officials will not comment on pending litigation and that the documents filed on behalf of the school "speak for themselves." Duperry agreed in July to accept a civil judgment against him, to pay the school $11,000, and to "fully and unconditionally cooperate" with the school's investigation of the alleged computer breach, court documents stated. McCulloch filed a document in July in which he described the allegations against him as groundless and alleged that a person could infer that Guajome Park Academy filed the lawsuit as a " 'red herring' designed to distract public attention from criticism" of the school, including the grade-change allegation. Craig James provided a written statement Monday in response to questions about the school trying to add he and his wife to the lawsuit. "My only 'crime' was to exercise my first- amendment rights by publicizing opinions about (school Superintendent) Penny Harrison's poor leadership, strikingly high teacher turnover, and student dissatisfaction at Guajome Park Academy," Craig James wrote. "I'm sadly looking forward to my day in court, when I hope these allegations will be shown as nothing more than an attempt to silence whistleblowers using the taxpayer's money." Attempts Monday to reach Gerent and Brown were unsuccessful. The proposed amended lawsuit alleges that Duperry said in a deposition that he used a server owned by McCulloch to access the school's computer database without authorization, reviewed confidential grade information, and posted a student's grade information on a restricted portion of the guajomeunderground.org site. The proposed amended lawsuit alleges that it can be inferred that Craig and Lisa James, Gerent, and Brown agreed with Duperry's "unlawful actions and intended that such actions be committed" based on messages posted on a "restricted forum" section of the web site and other statements attributed to them. On the Net: http://www.gpa-inc.com/default.aspx http://www.guajomeunderground.org/phpBB/ . Comments Katy G. wrote on Nov 7, 2006 9:10 AM: I find it interesting that Guajome has the time and money to file so many lawsuits. What purpose does this serve? And since when has whistleblowing become a crime? exGPA wrote on Nov 7, 2006 10:07 AM: This is nothing more than a pay back from GPA Superintendent Penny Harrison for people trying to expose her inept and crony- based leadership style. "Guest" wrote on Nov 7, 2006 10:16 AM:The crime here is the frivilous use of even more taxpayer money to fund a ridiculous lawsuit, which is based on the desperate attempts of GPA administration to cover up and/or attempt to deny their own wrongdoings. GPA administration has been fishing for something (anything!) to use to go after those who have spoken out against them. I guess long shot attempts such as this newest legal stunt are the best they could do. what is up why are you hiding this article wrote on Nov 7, 2006 11:55 AM:Why is this article not on the front page of the nctimes web. I had to do a search to find it and then the PDF file does not open. I called the North County Times several times and nobody is home. get over it wrote on Nov 7, 2006 1:41 PM:This article isn't on the front page because NO ONE CARES about it! Stories about the GPA administration's desperation to cover their tracks and throw the spotlight off their own questionable actions are so old and predictable that the only people that seem to care anymore is GPA's own administration, along with the unfortunate people that are being harrassed with these frivilous lawsuits. Dave wrote on Nov 7, 2006 2:43 PM:Get Over it-you are really nasty, your blogs are always confrontational what do get out of it? to- get over it wrote on Nov 7, 2006 7:06 PM: If NO ONE CARES then why you did you read it? It was not in the front page or under the Vista section so obviously you had to do a search to find it. This must have taken some time and effort on your part. Your rudeness hummm what’s up with that? ex-GPA wrote on Nov 7, 2006 10:11 PM:and to those thinking these are suits and a waste of money and time, what should guajome do when they discover people are cracking into the student data base? look the other way? to Ex-GPA wrote on Nov 8, 2006 1:41 PM: Relax, this whole thing is bogus and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out!! Bill wrote on Nov 8, 2006 1:45 PM:Some questions to consider first whose running the court it has been months since GPA filed the lawsuit and was granted the persecution of this student. It usually allowed about 20 days to amend complaints and in this case it has been longer then 20 days. Second the deposition starts in page 71 what happened to the other pages. Was there a declaration for the unanimous informant? Did anyone notice that the font is in RED what is that? I hope this is not the final doc. that was submitted to the court my God it is awful it is almost assuming that the reader is stupid. flyingfrog wrote on Nov 8, 2006 2:44 PM:To ex- GPA - A punishment (in this case court case) is meant to either (a) rehabilitate (b) punish and/or (c) prevent future crime. GPA is obviously not trying to rehabilitate the defendants unless they possess an altruism I am not aware of. If they are concerned about preventing future hacking, their money would be better spent on beefing up their technical security. That leaves (b) punish. Do you want your childrens' educational funds spent on punishing a group of people who were (are) trying to expose a grade-changing scandal? Sounds like obfuscation to me. kathy wrote on Nov 8, 2006 3:08 PM:Well, it looks like Penny oops...GPA Admin are off the wagon again! I wonder if it's public record how much money we tax payers are spending for the suits being brought up? p.s. what's wrong with explosing a school that is not looking out for our children when it comes to their education? Mimi wrote on Nov 8, 2006 8:01 PM: I notice that the PDF is in bold RED I think that there are rules of the court that they have to comply with. Crossing out things is tacky and the RED is tacky. I wonder if the court accepted this brief? Ha, probably the courts don't usually care about rules they just case about who is paying for their next trip to the Bahamas or who is taking them golfing. Danny wrote on Nov 8, 2006 8:03 PM:Billable hours is the name of the game, it is not about the kids just keep our meters running. alexa wrote on Nov 10, 2006 3:19 PM:if there was an actual "grade change scandal" this group of people was trying to expose and that is the reason they have for illegally tapping into GPA's database, then why haven't they come out in the open to the media with their information about these grade changes? Perhaps there wasn't anything to expose? Or perhaps they are the ones that changing the records of GPA students? Has anyone wondered why this group of people and internet bulletin board has made so many allegations but has not come forward with any proof? The real Alexa here wrote on Nov 10, 2006 9: 33 PM:It sounds like Dadofboy is at it again. Maybe these teachers are very analytical and cannot put together the who, what, when and where. However there are and have been many questions and allegations with this charter school. I think Guajome has more Teflon then Michael Jackson. It also has some political allies that have sworn to protect charter schools no matter how sleaze and cheese they are. Charter schools are all about making money and not about the kids. It is a fast $$$ gig. If you don’t believe it look into the people behind these charter schools and their management Co. and their affiliation with local politicians……. |
| Related Sites |
| Daniel Shinoff is counsel for this school district, as well as for Poway Unified School District, where grades were also changed. |
| Boy must pay $11,000; District protects teachers who changed grades |
| Guajome Park Academy (part of VUSD) sues student who exposed teachers who changed grades |
| "This is so bogus" Post from Guajome Park Underground Poison Dart Frog Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Total posts: 119 Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:11 am I swore I'd never participate in this forum again, because of my disgust at the GPA parents and students who let this BS go unchallenged. Why is there even a single student still attending GPA? Why do parents support such behavior from Carla Skaggs and Penny Harrison? Are you people really so clueless and without a moral compass? Let's look at the facts. I obtained all of the Court documents and read them today. The case against Beau DuPerry is so laughable it would be a great joke, except that the poor boy got scared sh**less by Penny, Karla and their lawyers. I can't even imagine how DuPerry's attorney let this happen. Now the kid is out $11,000 -- can any of you imagine paying off such a debt at his age? There are two things that jump out of the declarations and court filings. First, Karla's declaration as to the "facts" is almost complete hearsay, based on an anonymous source she won't reveal. If DuPerry's attorney had taken this case forward, he could have ripped Karla's declaration apart. She had nothing substantive. The "unauthorized access" charges are bogus, because even GPA admits DuPerry and McColloch's access "should have been terminated" but wasn't, and they give NO evidence that DuPerry and McColloch were told not to access the system any more. So they both may have believed they had *legitimate* access to the system. Furthermore, all teachers have a right to review grades. If DuPerry or McColloch had accessed the system at the request of a teacher -- and of course the F.R.O.G. private group on this forum has MANY teachers who may have done exactly that -- then the access may have been authorized. Especially if the teacher had been improperly denied access. Next, they cite evidence from the *private* Guajome underground conversation, discussing grade changes. But there is no evidence AT ALL that DuPerry is the one who did this, or even if he did, they cite no policy or law showing that even if he did, it was "unauthorized" or illegal. In fact, based on the very same text that they quote, I decided a long time ago that it was someone else at SIATech who had done it. I'm pretty sure that several other participants in this form work at SIATech and hate Penny Harrison and had plenty of motivation to help out. I don't know, maybe DuPerry admitted being the one who accessed the system, but I sure don't see any proof anywhere. As analyst Weldon Sims evidence of "unauthorized access", it's irrelevant. McColloch worked for SIATech, he hadn't been told not to access the system, and he may have had every reason to think his access was legitimate. He -- and any other SIATech or GPA employee -- were authorized to view student records. My understanding is that it's only a problem if they *divulge* the information and thereby violate the student's privacy. And finally, there's a principle in law called, "no harm, no foul." That is, if someone commits a minor transgression, but causes no harm, then who cares? In fact, in this instance, if GPA spent $10,000 to improve their security, then GPA had lousy security and should have fixed it anyway. So the $10,000 was well spent, and DuPerry and McColloch didn't cost the school one cent. The harm came not from the unauthorized access, but from the school's pursuit of this absurd lawsuit. In fact, I would argue in a court of law, as an expert Computer Scientist, that the school was negligent, and if any student's privacy was violated, the school is about 90% responsible, because first, they ran a defective computer system, and second, they failed to revoke DuPerry and McColloch's access, and failed to inform them that they shouldn't access the system, in a timely manner. That's a cardinal sin of security, and no competent security administrator would make either mistake. So let's review. 1) GPA's case is so full of holes you could drive a truck through it. 2) It looks to me like DuPerry and McColloch caused no actual damage. 3) DuPerry and McColloch's accounts were not disabled in a timely manner, which in my professional opinion is negligence on GPA's part. 4) The $10,000 spent on improving computer security was long overdue and in my professional opinion constituted negligence on the school's part. 5) The school probably spent over $10,000 in attorney fees pursuing this, with no plausible benifit to anyone. DuPerry got railroaded, scared by a bunch of mean-talking lawyers. He probably couldn't afford to put on a proper defense, so his attorney told him to settle. GPA has plenty of money, so they could pay their lawyers to pursue this, however absurd the case. My guess is it would have cost DuPerry $30,000 to $50,000 to fight this case, and right or wrong, he was forced to settle for $11,000, which probably seemed like a bargain. So Penny Harrison and her minions win again, by virtue of strong-arm tactics and using the school's money. DuPerry becomes just another victim, like all of the fired teachers, the teachers who left in disgust, and the students who left in disgust. And let's not forget the real losers here, the students who have to stay in the morally vacuous environment of GPA. That's my opinion for today. And I hope it's the last time I ever get suckered into posting here again. You people who defend PH are so clueless I can't believe I waste my time writing this stuff. And those of you who sit by and do nothing, shame on you. _________________ -- Interested Observe |
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