By Robin N. Kendall

Photo: Board President Tamara Otero, the only candidate who returned ECM’s questionnaire of five candidates running in three districts.

October 27, 2022 (El Cajon) -- This election year, voters in the Cajon Valley Union School District may or may not see candidates on the ballot for school board trustees, depending on which area they live in. Unlike school districts with “at large” trustees, this big district is divided into five areas, with a balanced number of residents in each area. Trustees represent the area they live in and serve terms of four years. To ensure stability, not all seats are up for reelection the same year. In the last election (2020), trustees for areas 4 and 5 were chosen.

CVUSD provides multi-lingual updates

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

Photo: Superintendent David Miyashiro, EdD, screenshot off video

March 15, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) -- In line with worldwide concern over the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, Cajon Valley Union School District Superintendent David Miyashiro, EdD outlined a policy Tuesday night on plans to cope with the growing health crisis.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor, East County Magazine

May 6, 2019 (El Cajon) – Cajon Valley Union School District Superintendent David Miyashiro, Ed.D., sent a blistering editorial in an e-mail to East County Magazine, board members and others blasting our article on board President Tamara Otero’s failure to disclose that her son owned a company that received a $665,000 contract.   He did not list any actions planned to address Otero’s lack of disclosure and transparency.

By Miriam Raftery 

February 5, 2019 (El Cajon) -- Modern Teacher has named Cajon Valley Union School District the 2019 Digital Convergence National Showcase District. 

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

Photo: Yusef Miller, CAIR-California 

October 3, 2018 (El Cajon) – Members of CAIR , the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on Cajon Valley Union School District members  at the September 25th board meeting to  fire former Greenfield Middle School’s principal, Gregory Calvert over his handling of the alleged bullying of a Syrian student.  Calvert has since taken a position as assistant principal at Chase Avenue Elementary in the same school district. 

By Jonathan Goetz and Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Standing room only crowd included dozens of gun control supporters as well as gun rights advocates

April 17, 2018 (El Cajon) – Actions of the Cajon Valley Union School District have become targets for both sides in the gun violence debate. At the April 10^th board meeting, members came under fire over:

• Hillsdale Middle School students put on lunch detention for participating in an on-campus walk out during the nationwide March for Our Lives, an event aiming to to prevent gun violence on campuses;
•  Termination of a contract for counseling intern Margaret Katchur Morghen, who sat with students during detention as a “learning exercise on the First Amendment” and also spoke with media about the walk-out;
• School board member Jim Miller firing off a derisive letter to a retired teacher who had written to the Superintendent asking for actions to reduce gun violence at schools. Miller responded on behalf of the San Diego Gun Owners Political Action Committee, and wore a National Rifle Association (NRA) hat during the school board’s April 10, 2018 public meeting.

Those actions got the public up in arms, figuratively speaking. Gun rights advocates and people concerned about gun violence packed the hearing room at the April 10^th school board meeting.  Eight people testified during public comments, split evenly with four rounds on each side.

By Miriam Raftery

June 1, 2015 (El Cajon)—Last week, we reported that parents in El Cajon have filed a lawsuit Ametek Aerospace & Defense, alleging that the company’s underground toxic waste dumping  is causing illness among children at Magnolia Elementary School next door. 

Now the Cajon Valley School District Board has voted unanimously to close down the school for the current school year.  All students and staff will be relocated to Bostonia Elementary School.