(Craig) Mann is this an interesting story...

Well, there is more to the East Side Union stuff reported here last week...

In that Watch Dog story, there was a very brief mention of (former Terry Gregory Chief of Staff/former East Side Union High School District Board Member/former San Jose City Council Candidate) County Board of Education Member Craig Mann. Well, that Mann-mention opened the floodgates...soon after the post, a flurry of tips came rushing into Watch Dog -- so thank you. Mann seems to generate a lot of interest...

Thanks to one Watch Dog tipster we first learned that Craig Mann was elected as president of the Santa Clara County Board of Education (Anna Song was made vice-president.)

A separate tipster sent something a bit more Watch Doggie...

In Mann's biography and in campaign information last year, he lists his job as a "teacher" in the (embattled) Ravenswood School District in East Palo Alto. But Mann doesn't appear to be a full-fledged teacher in Ravenswood (or anywhere else for that matter)....

According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Mann has an "Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit". (Click on the snippet at left to see a 'screen capture' of the Commission's website with Mann's credential status.)

With teacher credentialing an important issue affecting schools -- Watch Dog finds it a bit ironic that Mann calls himself a "teacher" but doesn't have a credential. In fact, the "Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit" doesn't appear to allow him to teach in the same classroom more than 30 days in a given year...

Don't get me wrong -- I love substitute teachers -- and teachers (often) love substitute teachers...but, substitute teachers calling themselves teachers usually doesn't fly, especially when the substitute teacher calling himself a teacher is the new President of the Santa Clara County Board of Education...

And just for fun...this isn't Mann's first run-in with controversy...

(the image below is a cut-out from columnist Scott Herhold's piece about local elections...click to see the entire anti-Mann mailer courtesy of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce)