Clip Report for May 28

Budget Coverage

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 27, 2009
Trustees address widening deficit | 7 schools among new possible cuts
The projected deficit in the San Diego school district's budget has soared past $180 million, prompting a fresh look at several cost-cutting measures, including shuttering seven elementary schools and eliminating a popular Balboa Park program.

 

KNSD-TV

May 27, 2009
Cutting Deep
Struggling to balance its budget, the San Diego Unified School District is pouring over what more to cut.

It has already cut $46 million from its budget, but in light of the worsening state budget crisis, it must find another $134 million.

• More from KGTV, City News Service via San Diego 6, KPBS-FM (May 26 and May 23),

Voice of San Diego
May 27, 2009
'It's a Nightmare'
San Diego Unified has foregone layoffs, avoided furloughs, and even reversed some unpopular cuts such as making schools share principals or eliminating magnet busing. Now, as the July deadline looms for the budget to be completed, board members are turning to different, sometimes dramatic options in their quest to close the gap.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 27, 2009
School board OKs Prop. S labor pact | Campus-project jobs would go mostly to local union workers
SAN DIEGO — Local union workers would get the bulk of jobs to come from the $2.1 billion Proposition S bond measure that will renovate campuses throughout the San Diego Unified School District, under a labor agreement the Board of Education approved last night.

 

Voice of San Diego
May 27, 2009
Human Resources Chief Leaving with Golden Handshake
Sam Wong, who oversees the human resources office at San Diego Unified, is taking the golden handshake, Superintendent Terry Grier announced at the school board meeting last night.

Other Coverage

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 28, 2009
Wells knocked out of National Spelling Bee
Alex Wells was knocked out of the National Spelling Bee Thursday in the second semifinal round.
Alex, an eighth grader from Standley Middle School in University City, was felled by the word "dansant," which means an informal or small dance.
He gave its spelling as "daissant."

• Video coverage from KFMB-TV,

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 28, 2009
Single-minded pursuit | Crawford High's Shao Yang hopes to capture the boys singles badminton championship
Crawford High senior Shao Yang wants to complete a badminton trifecta. Two years ago, Yang teamed with Ricky Huynh to win the boys doubles title. Last year, Yang and Hong Le captured the mixed doubles crown.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 24, 2009
Hoover Student Featured in Union-Tribune Profile of Graduates
Road to graduation: Four students, four stories of hardships and successes

 

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 23, 2009
Students get second chance to make grade
Anthony Mendoza sacrificed his sophomore year of high school to deal with family problems – a decision he knew could cost him a diploma and ultimately make him a statistic in the nation's dropout crisis.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 23, 2009
Teens train for careers in medicine | Program with hospital attempts to attract diverse young people
CITY HEIGHTS — Young men and women tended to nearly a dozen babies, checking for pulses. Finding none, they pressed two fingers urgently into the little chests.

Peninsula Beacon
May 23, 2009
Duo hopes wristband sales bond community, aid stricken student
Life is made special by friendship — those in-depth relationships that offer unique opportunities to know love in a prickly world. Friendships fill hearts with joys of endless childhood memories, sun-kissed summer days and cozy holiday fun. Friendship lifts people up when life gets them down.
Point Loma residents Matt Alcantara, Wendy Eifert and Will Herrin know the power of friendship. They began elementary school together and are now freshmen at Point Loma High School (PLHS). They’ve known each other for more than a decade now.

 

Opinion

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 24, 2009

Division Test: Should the San Diego Unified School District be split in two? Would such a move diminish the power of special interests and give communities more control over their schools, or would it be a tortuous and polarizing waste of effort?

 

PRO: John De Beck

After years on the San Diego Unified School District board, I have concluded that the district is irreparable.

CON: Carl Cohn
H.L. Mencken once said that "for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong."

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 28, 2009

Editorial: The kids? Bah! | District deteriorates into union jobs program
We have raised many red flags about the growing influence of organized labor on local governments. But what's going on right now in the San Diego Unified School District is union-friendly politics run amok, and it should alarm everyone.  

 

SDNN.com

May 27, 2009
Ruth Braun: Making sense of school test scores

Here are Such A Smart Mom's suggestions for gauging how your child's school is performing.

 

 

 

Jack Brandais

Communications Department

San Diego Unified School District

(619) 607-0477 (cell)

(619) 725-5570 (desk)

 

Clip Report for May 22

Voice of San Diego

May 22, 2009
Charters Seek to Run Their Own Ship on Special Education
Ten local charter schools want to turn to an office more than 500 miles away in El Dorado County to help them educate children with disabilities using the schools' own staff and strategies, instead of paying San Diego Unified to help meet those needs.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 21, 2009
31% of S.D. schools rated academic high-performers
Nearly a third of San Diego Unified School District campuses ranked as high-performing in the 2007-08 year, according to the annual Academic Performance Index released by the state yesterday.

• Opinion

SDNN.com
May 21, 2009
Vince Vasquez: South Bay’s Latino dropout crisis
Education administrators at the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) are now taking the limelight for achieving what new preliminary state statistics indicate is a dramatic cut in the number of high school dropouts.

 

Jack Brandais

Communications Department

San Diego Unified School District

(619) 607-0477 (cell)

(619) 725-5570 (desk)

 

Clip Report for May 21

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 21, 2009
Patrick Henry swimmer sets lofty goals after graduation
SAN CARLOS — Some schools offered Brandon Lowe a full scholarship. Others gave the Patrick Henry High senior a chance to be closer to home. Some even provided him with the opportunity to be their No.1 swimmer as a freshman.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 21, 2009
Seasoned players impart tips, sense of tradition to team
POINT LOMA — Most high school baseball players know about David Wells, who retired two years ago after pitching 21 seasons in the big leagues. Fewer are aware of Don Larsen, who tossed the only perfect game in World Series history in 1956.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 21, 2009
San Diego school calendar
Tonight: San Diego Cooperative Charter School's Art Night, 5 to 8 p.m., 7260 Linda Vista Road. Free and open to the public. Information: (858) 496.1613.Tonight: Pershing band fundraising dinner and concert, 5 p.m. dinner, 6:30 p.m. concert, Pershing Middle School, 8204 San Carlos Drive. Information: (619) 465-3234.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 21, 2009
New parks still in play for San Diego despite deep cutbacks | Recreation projects include amenities at Liberty Station
San Diego's city Park and Recreation budget is shrinking by more than $5 million, and its staffing level is dropping, too. But even amid such cuts, the department is expanding its territory.

KPBS-FM
May 20, 2009
Donated Prom Dresses Create New Memories For Homeless, Disadvantaged Girls
Most people consider a high school prom as a rite of passage. But that experience of glitz and glamour is often denied to students whose families are living in poverty.

Voice of San Diego
May 21, 2009
Principals Union Presses Supe to 'Cease and Desist'
A nascent union for principals and managers is pushing back against San Diego Unified plans to change or add different jobs for managers as part of its planned reorganization.

Voice of San Diego
May 21, 2009
New Scores Released for Schools
Data junkies: New test scores are out today. The numbers are derived from a battery of tests last spring and are used to rank schools against each other and against similar schools.

Voice of San Diego
May 20, 2009
An Exit Bonus for Someone Who Already Exited
I found out one more notable name who is taking the golden handshake to leave San Diego Unified -- and this one made me do a double take. Glenn Hillegas, the former principal of one of the most successful schools-within-a-school at Kearny High, is leaving the school district with the deal. The weird part is that he has been working at the local chapter of the Associated General Contractors since last summer.

Voice of San Diego
May 20, 2009
Labor Agreement Slated for School Board Tuesday
A potential project labor agreement between San Diego Unified and construction unions for work on its $2.1 billion facilities bond is slated to be discussed by the school board Tuesday. The meeting agenda lists it as a first reading and does not include a copy of the planned agreement.

Voice of San Diego
May 20, 2009
More Golden Handshakers
The names keep rolling in. Here are more of the folks who will be taking off from San Diego Unified with the golden handshake.

SDNN.com
May 20, 2009
Propositions failed – what now, California?
Five of the six propositions on Tuesday’s special election tanked, as many expected. Whether "Plan B" - laid out by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week - will be adopted is still unknown.

• Region

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 21, 2009
ACLU threatens suit over restriction on school project
RAMONA — The ACLU of San Diego is threatening legal action against Ramona school district officials who told a sixth-grade student she could present a report on gay rights advocate and former San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk only to students whose parents had signed a permission slip.

• Opinion

SDNN.com
May 16, 2009
John de Beck: Answers to your questions
Question: In the current budget crisis, why aren’t there any cuts from Special Education?
Answer: People ask me about why we can’t use the high costs of special education to help solve the Current California Educational Funding Crisis often. The answer is simple: Special Education is a civil right.

Clip Report for May 18

KPBS-FM
May 18, 2009
Battle Over School Bond Projects Continues
The San Diego Unified school board is considering how to move forward with a labor agreement that could give unions most of the jobs under a school bond measure.
Project Labor Agreements or PLAs often give unions preference in hiring. In exchange, the unions give up their right to strike.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 17, 2009
District seeks fingerprint screening of volunteers
SAN DIEGO — Volunteers who want to coach a team, chaperone a field trip or work independently with students in the San Diego Unified School District next year may need to clear a fingerprint screening for criminal convictions.

Voice of San Diego
May 17, 2009
A School Windfall That Set Off a Whirlwind of Controversy
A windfall of stimulus dollars might seem like a godsend for San Diego Unified schools right now. But the way that the school district is soliciting plans for the new funds has set off a whirlwind of controversy, even as schools rush to bid for up to $17 million a year.

Voice of San Diego
May 15, 2009
New Revisions Could Cost Schools Between $46M and $88M More
San Diego Unified officials are tentatively estimating that the recent revisions announced by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the state budget will cost the school district an additional $13.9 million this school year and nearly $32 million more next school year if all propositions pass at the ballot box next week.

Jack Brandais
Media Relations
San Diego Unified School District
(619) 725-5570 (desk)
(619) 607-0477 (cell)

 

Clip Report for May 15

KGTV-10
May 14, 2009
Parents Worry Over School Stimulus Spending
    SAN DIEGO -- San Diego city schools will receive millions of dollars in federal stimulus money, but some parents are concerned the money won't be spent correctly.

 

San Diego Chargers Website
May 14, 2009
A hero of their own
    Darren Sproles spent Thursday morning encouraging approximately 30 youngsters who, like the star running back, battle stuttering issues.
When Alex Scharnitzky, a sixth grader at San Diego’s De Portola Middle School, shook hands with Darren Sproles Thursday morning, it wasn’t just about meeting his favorite athlete. It was about finding common ground with someone who has faced and overcome similar obstacles.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 14, 2009
For the record
    In a story in Saturday's Our San Diego section about the San Diego Unified School District's Teacher of the Year awards, the first name of the high school teacher of the year, Philippe Poncey, was misspelled. Also, the name of Bill Freeman, the elementary school teacher of the year, was on second and third reference, replaced with the name of his school, Porter Elementary.

 

Voice of San Diego

May 15, 2009
SacBee: Teacher Layoffs Still Possible
    I nearly spit out my orange juice this morning when I read that California schools might still be able to lay off teachers -- even if they did not warn them of layoffs earlier this year as is typically required under the law. The Sacramento Bee reports:

 

Sacramento Bee

May 15, 2009
Sacramento area school districts consider second round of layoffs
Most local teachers who received layoff notices earlier this year have had them rescinded. But they can't relax just yet.
    School officials will be watching state budget revisions and the May 19 special election to decide whether to take advantage of a unique situation that allows them to issue more pink slips.

 

 

Clip Report for May 13

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 13, 2009
School employee furlough plan rejected
Custodians, cafeteria workers, classroom assistants and other nonteaching employees of the San Diego Unified School District will not lose work or pay to help offset a $146.7 million budget deficit.

suchasmartmom.com
May 13, 2009
How to turn a struggling reader into a strong reader
Sometimes all it takes for a young, struggling reader to become a successful reader is a reading buddy, a patient adult who listens to her read. That’s exactly what Marilyn Schmeling and hundreds of other volunteers do through Everyone A Reader, a terrific volunteer program that trains them in just three hours to work with young readers who need a little help bringing out their inner reader.

Homework Success Network
May 13, 2009
Lowering dropout rate -- success stories in progress
"The high school dropout rate in the San Diego Unified School District plummeted last year to the point where fewer than 1 student in 10 is giving up on school, according to data released yesterday by the California Department of Education"-- according to an article at SignOnSanDiego.com If they can do it, can you institute some of their ideas and procedures in your school?

americanindiansource.com
May 13, 2009
Soaring Eagles: 2009 Culture Days
This Balboa Park location, within close proximity of a former Kumeyaay Village site, is a comfortable place in today’s urban world for many of our Tribal friends and visitors. The Southern California American Indian Resource, SCAIR, sponsored Soaring Eagles were in prominent, constant and beautiful support of the San Diego Unified School District Indian Education Title VII and the Indian Human Resource Center organized this May 9-10, 2009 culture days program.

KPBS-FM
May 13, 2009
San Diego Unified's Early Retirement Deal OK'd, Deadline Extended
The deadline was extended for veteran teachers in the San Diego Unified School District to take a financial buyout plan in exchange for retiring early. The San Diego school board voted to give them two more weeks yesterday.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 13, 2009
Kearny turns things around
It's been 28 years since Kearny High won a league championship in baseball, but it appears the dry spell is about to end. The Komets are closing in on the Central League title with four games to go in the regular season.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 13, 2009
La Jolla runner winning with cerebral kick
It remains to be seen whether La Jolla High's Nihal Kayali is the fastest runner in the section at whatever event she chooses. Just don't try to outsmart her. Kayali leads the San Diego Section in the 800 meters, is No. 3 in the 1,600 and No. 4 in the 3,200, but the number that really stands out is her 4.44 grade-point average.

Clip Report for May 12

KPBS-FM
May 12, 2009
Education Officials Pinpoint High School Dropout Rates
The high school dropout problem in the San Diego Unified School District is not as bad as previously reported. New data shows the county's rate also improved slightly.

• Also covered by City News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, KGTV-10, Voice of San Diego

KGTV-10
May 12, 2009
San Diego School District's Budget Gap Now $48.4 Million | More Spending Cuts Might Be Needed
The massive budget deficit hanging over the San Diego Unified School District in the next academic year has been narrowed by two-thirds, meaning the school board will need to make further spending cuts in coming months, district officials said Tuesday.

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 12, 2009
Federal stimulus money buoys schools | But some districts fear losing state funds because of deficit
County schools are getting an infusion of $126 million in federal stimulus money, enabling a South Bay district to rescind layoff notices to 48 teachers and counselors. So much for the good news.

Voice of San Diego
May 12, 2009
The Golden Handshake Is a Go
The San Diego Unified school board voted unanimously this morning to accept a "golden handshake" for employees that it now projects that it will save nearly $9 million next school year and more than $19 million over the next five years. The bonus is meant to encourage veteran employees to leave the district so that they can be replaced with less expensive, less experienced workers -- or not replaced at all.

'We Can't Afford to Have This Happen'
I just caught up with Dan McAllister, the chairman of the San Diego Unified audit and finance committee, about the settlement on its misuse of federal education money on the last "golden handshake" for employees in 2003 under then-Superintendent Alan Bersin. (Confused? Here is a quick refresher.) The school district must repay nearly $700,000 into its own federally funded programs for disadvantaged students over the next two years because of the error. That can be difficult because schools get funding from numerous sources, each with their own requirements and limitations. Putting more money into the federally funded programs means taking it from another fund in the school district.

 

Clip Report for May 11

KUSI-TV

May 11, 2009
Marshall Elementary, International Rescue Committee on TV

Bridget Naso was down at Marshall Elementary School, where the International Rescue Committee is hosting their "First Things First" program, which provides a unique educational opportunity for the most vulnerable group of refugees: preliterate parents and their preschool children.

KUSI-TV

May 11, 2009

FACES for the Future Live from Hoover 
Mike Castellucci was down at Hoover High School where they've partnered with Rady Children's Hospital to start a program called "FACES for the Future," a program that allows students to work with professionals as they prepare for a career in the health industry.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 11, 2009
Classrooms benefit directly from donors
All Patricia Craig had to do was ask. Within a week, an anonymous $120 donation gave her 20 second-graders Weekly Reader subscriptions.
Over the next two years, Craig posted about nearly $6,000 worth of wishes on the Web. Big ones, for a projector and a document camera. Wee ones, for colored chalk. All of them came true.

 

Voice of San Diego

May 11, 2009

Schools Pushed to Make Stimulus Plans -- And Fast

San Diego Unified is asking schools in areas where test scores have dragged to craft innovative plans to boost achievement using federal stimulus money. And they want them to do it fast.

 

SDNN.com
May 11, 2009
San Diego County schools to receive aid
School districts can celebrate after Saturday’s announcement by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell that $2.56 billion in federal stimulus money is being released to California’s local education agencies.

Voice of San Diego

Sunday, May 10, 2009
Reading, Writing and Unruliness: A New Focus on Student Behavior
Alexis Ramirez missed most of kindergarten to sobbing fits. First grade at Edison Elementary was little better. She would cling to the school gates or run from the classroom. Her flustered parents enlisted a police officer to tell Alexis that school was mandatory. Nothing worked.
Missing so much class dragged down her grades. It took heavy cajoling and rewards from her mother and her teachers to coax Alexis, now 8, to the classroom, but slowly she came around to the idea. Now she clamors for books and primps in the mirror each morning before school.

San Diego Union-Tribune
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Over 1,000 take district's early-out offer
Leanne Lynn has agreed to retire from teaching at Birney Elementary School next month for an extra year's pay and a chance to help save the San Diego Unified School District millions of dollars.
Lynn, who has taught for 36 years, is among the 592 teachers to accept the golden-handshake offer by yesterday's 5 p.m. deadline. 

• Also covered by Voice of San Diego

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 9, 2009
Three are named teachers of the year for school district
Three men who teach in the city's urban core have been honored as top educators in the San Diego Unified School District.
Bill Freeman, a fourth-grade teacher at Porter Elementary School in Lincoln Park; Michael Crawford, a science teacher at Clark Middle School in City Heights; and Phillippe Poncey, a drama and French teacher at San Diego High's School of International Studies downtown have been named the district's teachers of the year.

Opinion

SDNN.com
May 11, 2009
John de Beck: If the school district is broken, fix it!
By John de Beck, SDNN
There are problems that keep recurring in the San Diego Unified School District. One is the periodic takeover by special interests groups that are completely destabilizing and are functions of the election process for board members. The second is the lack of attention paid to community needs by whoever is elected to the board.

 

Clip Report for April 27-May 7

Here is the clip report for the period April 27 through May 7.

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San Diego Union-Tribune

May 7, 2009

Life after outbreak resuming regular pace

The feverish campaign to prevent swine flu from becoming a global pandemic has died down, replaced yesterday by a return to normalcy and even small acts of celebration.

 

Voice of San Diego

May 6, 2009

First School Bonds Projects Roll Out, Minus Labor Agreements

Billboards and protests are roaring back and forth on a controversial project labor agreement for building and renovating San Diego Unified schools. But while unions and the school district hash out the plan behind closed doors, millions of dollars of work is already up for grabs on the $2.1 billion facilities bond, minus any restrictions from a labor agreement.

 

Voice of San Diego

May 6, 2009

Golden Handshake Watch

I just got some updated numbers on how many teachers are taking the golden handshake, a bonus for employees who leave San Diego Unified this year. This is a key part of the schools’ budget-cutting strategy: The idea is to prod workers to leave so that jobs can be cut without layoffs. While the exit bonus is available to all kinds of San Diego Unified employees, teachers are the biggest group and whether they bite -- or not -- will be the key to whether the strategy works.

 

Business Wire via SOA World Magazine website

May 6, 2009

California Virtual Education Partners Launches Two Online Public Charter Schools with Kaplan Virtual Education

California secondary students will benefit from a new education option this fall with the launch of two tuition-free online charter schools: Kaplan Academy of California, San Diego and Kaplan Academy of California, Central California. The schools will offer students in grades 6-12 a full suite of core, advanced placement and honors courses; one-on-one instruction from California-certified teachers, and an opportunity to customize their education to fit their individual needs.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 6, 2009

Officials Agree Flu Seems Mild; Closures Eased

In San Diego County, school administrators said three campuses closed because of infections will reopen this morning. 

 

KGTV-10

May 5, 2009

Are Local Charter Schools In Danger Of Closing?

SAN DIEGO -- Several charter schools in San Diego were created to fix the public school system, but many of them are failing.

 

Voice of San Diego

May 5, 2009

What Happens When You Close a School for Swine Flu?

Swine flu has shuttered several schools in the area, including the Kearny High complex and the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts in San Diego Unified. So what actually happens when you shut down schools for two weeks? And how will schools recover from losing all that time?

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 5, 2009

Exercising their options | Plenty of choices for student-athletes at Scripps Ranch High 

On a sun-kissed, 72-degree afternoon, with students walking about in sun dresses, shorts and flip-flops, an extraordinary number of athletic events unfolded simultaneously at Scripps Ranch. It's a scene repeated throughout the spring on dozens of high school campuses across the county. 

 

KNSD-TV

May 5, 2009

Teachers Get a Gold Star

SDUSD’s 2009 Teachers of the Year and will be celebrated at Sherman Elementary School, Tuesday May 5 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fourth grade teacher Bill Freeman, middle school science teacher Michael Crawford and French and Drama teacher Philippe Poncey are the recipients of the prestigious award.

 

Voice of San Diego

May 5, 2009

Making Conflicts Law Apply to Charters

A proposed California law would tighten rules around conflicts of interest and public information at charter schools, a change that would settle disputes over what public school rules apply to charters.

 

La Jolla Light

May 4, 2009

Muirlands Middle School attempts world record

Muirlands Middle School students, parents and friends gathered Sunday for Muirlands Rocks, a fundraiser to support the school's mission. Besides a barbecue and lots of music, the festivities included an attempt to set a new world record for largest three-legged race. Read more from the La Jolla Light.

 

Voice of San Diego

May 4, 2009

LAT on Teacher Firings

The Los Angeles Times did a fascinating investigation on the process for firing California teachers this weekend. They reviewed 159 recorded firings of teachers statewide in the past 15 years, along with court and school district records, and did scores of interviews.

 

San Diego Business Journal

May 4, 2009

Opponents Still Laboring Against Proposed Pact

Nonunion building contractors are continuing their efforts to stop the San Diego Unified School District board from enacting a project labor agreement, or PLA, with a local trades union. The school board is expecting to adopt the pact in late May.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 2, 2009

Flu closes three local schools | 5,000 students affected; shutdowns likely to last until mid-May, health officials say

Swine flu hit home in a big way yesterday when county health officials announced that three schools serving about 5,000 students probably will be closed until mid-May, throwing into chaos classes, sporting events and the prom.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 1, 2009

School budget meeting dwells on ballot measures | Voters are urged to pass initiatives

The 7 p.m. meeting – hosted by the San Diego Unified School District board and billed as a town hall for those troubled about how the district will weather the crisis – drew more than 200 people. But many of them had begun to head for the exits an hour later, frustrated by the extended commentaries by the elected officials, who included the board's five members, Kehoe and Assemblyman Marty Block, D-San Diego.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

April 30, 2009

Peer tutoring seen as a success | Upperclassmen help youths from inner city

For the past five months, Scripps Ranch High School students classmates have started turning around their grades under the new “Falcon Incentive Program” that has paired struggling students with top-performing upperclassmen for after-school tutorials up to four days a week

 

East Valley Tribune (Phoenix, AZ)

April 29, 2009

3 named to Mesa school administration posts

Delfino Aleman will take over as the district's associate superintendent on July 1.

 

Voice of San Diego

April 29, 2009

Magnet Busing is Back, Sharing Principals is Out

The San Diego Unified board voted unanimously to reverse two of the most controversial cuts it had planned to cope with a nearly $147 million budget cuts tonight, restoring busing to magnet schools and canceling a plan to make small elementary schools share principals. Parents and children cheered loudly as the decisions were announced.

 

MSNBC.com

April 29, 2009

Schools walk delicate line in swine flu response

Terry B. Grier, superintendent of the San Diego County Unified School District, put the system to work Monday, sending a note home with students alerting parents to the county’s swine flu hotline and asking them to be on the lookout for illness in their children. 

 

La Jolla Light

April 29, 2009

Bird Rock group celebrates reversal on shared principals

"Grateful" is the word used Wednesday morning by a group of Bird Rock Elementary School parents who had lobbied school Trustee John deBeck and Superintendent Terry Grier to eliminate a plan for 22 schools to share 11 prinicipals.

 

San Diego 6

April 29, 2009

School Board Restores Bus Service to Magnet Schools

SAN DIEGO - Under pressure from parents and campus administrators, the Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District Tuesnight restored funding for buses for students who attend magnet schools and dropped plans to have some principals oversee two small schools.

 

KGTV-10

April 28, 2009

City Schools to Replace Books with Computers?

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Unified School District is discussing the possibility of educators teaching without textbooks, 10News reported.

 

Opinion

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 7, 2009

Union-Tribune Editorial | Protection racket | Bad teachers need not fear in California

The three trustees for the San Diego Unified School District who wouldn't lay off a single teacher are hardly likely to fire a tenured one. It is encouraging, though, that a trustee of the Los Angeles Unified School District wants to replace the state's years-long and ineffective process for firing bad teachers who have tenure.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

May 3, 2009

Prioritizing spending on our schools

By John Lee Evans

San Diego public schools once again face an economic crisis. Is public education woefully underfunded, or are we spending our money the wrong way? Both are true. California ranks a shameful 47th in per-pupil spending, but increasing the funding would not automatically raise achievement. We need to get our fair share of tax dollars, but we also need to spend them wisely.

 

La Jolla Light

Apr 29, 2009

Community View: Sharing principals an unacceptable option

By Steven Gal

Budget cuts for our San Diego Unified Schools have become an annual rite of passage. In our local community schools larger class sizes and principal sharing are among the most contentious issues this year that directly impact the quality of education and health and safety on our campuses.