Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Clip Report for June 30

 
Company News Release via PRWeb.com
June 29, 2009
The Gomez Lawfirm Wins $1.25 Million for Student Who was Sexually Abused by Teacher at School for Creative and Performing Arts
A San Diego Superior Court jury returned a verdict against the San Diego Unified School District for its role in allowing one of its teachers to engage in a sexual relationship with a student from the time she was 16 years old until she graduated in 2006. (Case No. 37-2007-00076087-CU-NP-CTL, Wieder v. San Diego Unified School District, et al.)
 
Beach&Bay Press
June 21, 2009
So long, high school
Mission Bay seniors waved goodbye to high school on June 15 and set their eyes to the future. The Beach & Bay Press spoke with four high flying students who took their Pacific Beach education by the horns.

Opinion
 
SDNN.com
June 30, 2009
Marsha Sutton: Schools’ budget blues
Some serious changes are in the offing for schools, if ABX3 42 (Evans), the education trailer bill passed Sunday night in the state Assembly by a vote of 43-30 (with eight abstentions), makes it through to law.

Citybeat
June 23, 2009
Kooky school planning | District seems content to let library boosters chart construction coursesay what?
The process by which some folks have come to the conclusion that a charter high school is needed Downtown is nothing if not comical.
 
Jack Brandais
Communications Department
San Diego Unified School District
(619) 607-0477 (cell)
(619) 725-5570 (desk)
 

Monday, June 29, 2009

Clip Report for June 29

Voice of San Diego
June 29, 20089
How the Library Became a Schoobrary
There's been a lot of action lately on the downtown library. And if you haven't followed every detail, you might ask yourself some logical questions.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 27, 2009
Focus on school foundations | District wants guidelines on how nonprofit donations are spent
SAN DIEGO — As schools turn to private foundations to help fill gaps left from budget cuts, parent-run nonprofits are getting new scrutiny from the San Diego school district — prompting concerns they might lose the ability to spend donations as they see fit.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 27, 2009
Student Spotlight: Zulma Monsalvo
Her brother got an electric keyboard when she was in elementary school, but he didn't use it much. So, Zulma Monsalvo taught herself how to play.

10News.com
June 26, 2009
Student Awarded $1.25M For Relationship With Teacher
SAN DIEGO -- A jury awarded $1.25 million to a former student at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Paradise Hills because they found that the principal and others failed to report a sexual relationship between the student and her teacher. Also covered by UPI.

SDSD News Release
June 26, 2009
John Flood Receives Educator Award | Flood was honored for his work with the San Diego Unified School District
Flood was recognized for his work with schools in the Madison High School Cluster, and is an artist-in-residence with the visual and performing arts in the San Diego Unified School District. He has developed a comprehensive world music program in K-12 schools in conjunction with the International House of Blues Foundation.

Voice of San Diego
June 26, 2009
An Idea on Class Size
School board member Richard Barrera mentioned something interesting yesterday when I rung him up to talk about class size: San Diego Unified is pushing for the state to reimburse them an estimated $14 million in penalties for upping class size. Barrera said that money, in turn, could actually be used to reduce class size by hiring more teachers.
 
Opinion
 
SDNN.com
June 29, 2009
John de Beck: Answers to your questions
San Diego Unified board member John de Beck asked our SDNN readers if they had questions about the education system - and they did. Here are answers to some of the questions sent in.
 
SDNN.com
June 29, 2009
Marsha Sutton: Gompers’ protest over district’s latest scheme
The headline screamed out at me from my computer screen. Gompers Charter, the Little School That Could, needs help once more.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 28, 2009
Ozzie Roberts | Tough teacher changed lives; now her life changes
Crandallyn Graham – "Mama," "Ms. G" – is so down-to-earth, with such laser-sharp wit, she makes you feel she's tough as tacks. And that you have to be just like her to pull up a chair in her room.
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 28, 2009
Dean Calbreth:
Determining the impact of stimulus bill a difficult job
In a rare display of political candor last week, President Barack Obama admitted that his $787 billion economic stimulus program isn't quite meeting his expectations.
 
examiner.com
The San Diego Unified School District has "hybrid schools" among its many innovative programs. Hybrid schools are district or charter schools that offer flexible programs for homeschooling families.
 
examiner.com
June 28, 2009
Michael Jackson as a lesson about gifted children
Of all the mystery surrounding Michael Jackson, his genius has been unquestionable since the onset of his professional career at the age of five.
 
examiner.com
June 27, 2009
12 of the nation's top high schools are in San Diego Unified
Newsweek's list of the nation's top 1,500 schools includes 12 schools in the San Diego Unified School District.
 
KPBS-TV
June 26, 2009
San Diego Week: San Diego Schools to Invest $20 Million in Downtown Library
Reporter Ana Tintacolis tells host Joanne Faryon about the San Diego Unified School Board's decision to commit millions to a charter high school in a proposed downtown library.
 
KPBS-FM
June 26, 2009
Editor's Roundtable:
Building a New Downtown Library
GLORIA PENNER (Host): I'm Gloria Penner. I'm joined by the editors at the roundtable These Days in San Diego. Today, we'll look at the momentum that's building for the downtown library. The editors with me today are Andrew Donohue, editor of voiceofsandiego.org, Tony Perry, San Diego bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, and Ricky Young, government editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Let me welcome you individually. Andrew, how are you?
 
Jack Brandais
Communications Department
San Diego Unified School District
(619) 607-0477 (cell)
(619) 725-5570 (desk)

Friday, June 26, 2009

Clip Report for June 26

Voice of San Diego
June 26, 2009
High Hopes at Central Elementary for Small-Class Program in Limbo
Kindergarteners chattered around teacher Cindy Robinson, eager to show her their carefully written phrases or ask questions. Most of her students at Central Elementary came to her class unable to read or write in English; some couldn't ask to go to the bathroom. Their earliest papers show little or no writing, only pictures and an occasional scrawl.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 26, 2009
District partly liable for teacher-student affair | Jury awards girl $1.25 million in suit
A Superior Court jury concluded this week that San Diego Unified School District was partially liable for not stopping a years-long sexual relationship between a high school girl and a teacher.

Bonsall-Fallbrook Village News
June 25, 2009
CIF approves multi-school status with Oasis
The CIF San Diego Section’s Board of Managers approved a Multi-School Teams Status request which will allow students at Oasis High School to compete for Fallbrook High School athletic teams.
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 25, 2009
Hoops star's goal: play for U.S. | Lack of citizenship a temporary setback
When Angelo Chol was one of 21 players invited to try out this month for the USA Under-16 national basketball team, he was excited.
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 25, 2009
Trustees won't change school starting times
The morning bell will not ring any earlier or later for San Diego schoolchildren come fall. That's what the San Diego school board decided Tuesday after weeks of criticism from parents who complained about two sets of proposed changes to school start times.
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 25, 2009
Filling a need for nutrition: Children get healthful meals at free summer lunch program
SAN DIEGO Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch? An annual summer lunch program designed for children from low-income families began this week at nearly a dozen parks and recreation centers from Kearny Mesa to Encanto. An additional 12 sites will open next month.
 
Opinion
 
Wake up, San Diego. Your public schools are being stealthily hijacked by the powerful teachers union, which readily sacrifices the needs of students for its own avaricious ends.
If you think this is hyperbole, consider the plain facts:
 
Jack Brandais
Communications Department
San Diego Unified School District
(619) 607-0477 (cell)
(619) 725-5570 (desk)
 

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Clip Report for June 25

Voice of San Diego
June 23, 2009
The Schoobrary and the Labor Pact
Here's an interesting quirk in the schoobrary plans: While city officials are loath to make the library project fall under the labor agreement that San Diego Unified adopted for its $2.1 billion facilities bond, an attorney for the school district said the "tenant improvements" that the district would pay for in the building would probably fall under the labor agreement, even though those improvements aren't paid for with bond funds. The improvements could include such things as interior walls, flooring and lighting.
 

KPBS-FM
June 23, 2009
S.D. School Trustees To Consider School Library } San Diego Unified's Support Seen as Pivotal
SAN DIEGO The San Diego Unified school board will consider today whether to use school bond money to help the City of San Diego build a downtown main library.

National

New York Times
June 23, 2009
Education Chief to Warn Advocates That Inferior Charter Schools Harm the Effort
The Obama administration has made opening more charter schools a big part of its plans for improving the nation’s education system, but Education Secretary Arne Duncan will warn advocates of the schools on Monday that low-quality institutions are giving their movement a black eye.

San Francisco Chronicle
June 23, 2009
Court: District must repay private-school cost
The Supreme Court on Monday took the side of parents of children with disabilities, ruling that they can claim reimbursement for the cost of private schooling if the public system fails to offer an appropriate program for their child.

Sacramento Bee
June 21, 2009
Democrats want California schools to get billions that voters rejected
California voters said no, but Democratic lawmakers are pushing to do it anyhow. The issue involves billions of dollars and a ballot measure so important to schools that the California Teachers Association spent more than $7 million in a failed attempt to pass Proposition 1B.

Los Angeles Times
June 15, 2009
As state cuts funding, more districts turn to voters
Facing multibillion-dollar state funding cuts, school districts across California are asking residents to tax themselves to fund local schools. Parcel taxes -- some topping $2,000 annually per family -- have been proposed this year from Sebastopol to San Marino.

Opinion

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 23, 2009
The public's best friend | Push for massive CTA payoff shows value of two-thirds rule
The Democratic-dominated California political establishment, much of the media and good government groups such as the Bay Area Council agree on what's causing the budget debacle. They blame the constitutional requirement that taxes can be raised and budgets adopted only only by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

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

Monday, June 22, 2009

Clip Report for June 12-22

Voice of San Diego
June 22, 2009
San Diego Schools Chief to Get His Report Card
San Diego Unified Superintendent Terry Grier is set to be evaluated today in a closed session school board meeting. The evaluation comes right on the heels of a teachers union petition that was implicitly critical of Grier, though it did not name him specifically. For a refresher on Grier's ups and downs in his first year at San Diego Unified, check out our Year of Grier article.

Voice of San Diego
June 22, 2009
Get a Special Ed Master's Degree on Us
Here are a few more details on that program to convert elementary school teachers (who San Diego Unified has too many of) into special education teachers (who San Diego Unified needs more of):

KPBS-FM
June 22, 2009
Experts Worry About "Summer Learning Loss"
Summer school programs across San Diego County have been scaled back because of the state cuts to education. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis says education advocates worry about the "summer learning loss" that will result.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 20, 2009
School district bucking budget trend | Spending increases; reserve at $20 million
CHULA VISTA A school district boosting its spending?
That's what happened when the Chula Vista Elementary School District's board passed its budget.
That's right. The budget went up
by $6.3 million.

La Jolla Village News
June 18, 2009
LJHS marine class students shore up education
Marine life off the La Jolla coast is a great learning tool for area residents. Accordingly, a number of La Jolla High students recently took part in setting up an intertidal monitoring site in Bird Rock.
Under the direction of La Jolla High marine science and biology teacher David James, this official site is part of the Census of Marine Life (coml.org). This 50-year project will survey marine habitats around the planet.

La Jolla Village News
June 18, 2009
Parent groups partner as SDUSD eyes foundations
About ten parents representing foundation organizations from several San Diego city schools including Torrey Pines and La Jolla elementary schools gathered Monday, June 15 outside a Scripps Ranch Starbucks to discuss concerns regarding an agenda item slated for Tuesday’s school board meeting taking aim on "Foundation-Funded Teachers."

Voice of San Diego
June 19, 2009
Schools Committee to Hear About Charterbrary
A citizen committee overseeing the San Diego Unified School District's facilities bond is scheduled to hear Thursday about a proposal to place a charter high school on two floors of the long-delayed downtown library.

Voice of San Diego
June 18, 2009
Questions Tail Schoobrary As It Gains Political Momentum
Members of the oversight committee for a $2.1 billion school bond lambasted school officials on Thursday for not giving them a chance to weigh in on a plan to funnel $20 million of the bond proceeds to the city of San Diego's long-stalled downtown library project.

Voice of San Diego
June 18, 2009
Paying for Teachers to Be Retrained
San Diego Unified is floating several ideas on how to place the 185 elementary teachers who now do not have teaching jobs because of class size increases and other cuts.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 18, 2009
New life for a new downtown library?
SAN DIEGO One calls it "brilliant." A second sees it as a way to expand educational opportunities. A third views it as a premature proposal that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Fallbrook-Bonsall Village News
June 18, 2009
CIF relaxes cross-country participation requirement, wrestling modification likely
The CIF San Diego Section rule that an athlete in an individual-competition sport must have participated in at least half the number of permissible contests in order to be eligible for post-season tournaments was intended to address athletes who joined a school team at the latest possible moment, not financially stressed athletic programs cutting back on their schedules.

KFMB-AM
June 18, 2009
Teacher's Union Sends Big Petition To District
The San Diego Unified School District has received a big statement from the teachers' union.
The San Diego Education Association presented a giant petition to the San Diego Unified School District Wednesday. It's about the length of a football field.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 18, 2009
'Unassigned teachers' need new credentials
SAN DIEGO After eliminating positions, raising class sizes and offering early retirement to veteran educators to help close its budget gap, the San Diego Unified School District has about 185 teachers who are without classroom assignments for fall.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 18, 2009
Photos: A Grad Situation
Seniors from 18 campuses in the San Diego Unified School District graduated Monday, but students at Mount Everest Academy, John Muir School and Garfield and University City high schools got a head start with commencement ceremonies Friday.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 17, 2009
School board is nearing OK of balanced budget
SAN DIEGO After months of sitting through budget hearings and protests, the San Diego school board is one step closer to adopting a balanced budget. But questions over the district's spending plans persist.

SDNN.com
June 16, 2009
Mission Bay student says he was punished for activism
Approximately 200 Mission Bay High School seniors walked across the graduation stage Monday, but one student says his high school principal told him a single truancy prevented him from participating in the ceremony.

San Diego Business Journal
June 15, 2009
It’s a First: Schools Sell Bonds That Give Investors a Tax Credit
The San Diego Unified School District’s $38.8 million in construction bonds issued June 15 are the first tax credit bonds ever issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to the Bank of New York Mellon, the acting transfer agent.

Voice of San Diego
June 15, 2009
Students Turn the Tables on School Research -- And Do It Themselves
The teens shuffled their papers, only slightly nervous in their jeans and hoodies in the dimly lit classroom at Crawford High School. Teachers sat arrayed before them, waiting to hear their report.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 14, 2009
Summer classes few, far between | Budget shortfalls force reductions
Summer school has long served as the last hope for struggling students, offering them a chance to make up failed courses or bone up on the basics in time to join their classmates in the fall.

Voice of San Diego
June 14, 2009
The Disposable Teacher
Karin Wehsener wasn't laid off -- but it sure felt like it as she packed her classroom up into boxes on Wednesday. Her SUV was so loaded with books, papers and posters that one box fell, scattering colored scissors across the parking lot at Field Elementary in Clairemont. She set down her boxes and started picking them up.

Opinion
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
Sacramento's budget debacle has had very few upsides. One of those, however, is the way it has illuminated the vast power of the California Teachers Association. When the CTA says "Jump," Democratic state lawmakers ask, "How high?
 
SDNN.com
June 22, 2009
Colleen O’Connor: ‘Yes’ to eBooks in state classrooms
This spring’s budget session is messier than usual.
This is understandable given the near-death remedies proposed in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget and the current state of the California economy.
 
SDNN.com
June 18, 2009
Marsha Sutton: The SDUSD $2,000 question
I’m struggling with this pseudo-controversy all over the news last week about San Diego Unified School District superintendent Terry Grier spending $350 on a dinner in Washington, D.C. for himself, two others from his district staff, and three school board members.

SDNN.com
June 15, 2009
John de Beck: Ins and outs of being a board member
San Diego Unified board member John de Beck asked San Diegans if they had questions about the education system - and they did. Here are answers to some of the questions sent in.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 15, 2009
Union-Tribune Editorial | Time is running out | City Council must act swiftly on new central library
Meeting behind closed doors last week, the San Diego Unified School Board voted 3-2 to spend $20 million on an innovative charter high school to be housed on two floors of San Diego's new central library. This advances the $185 million library project to a critical vote before the City Council, tentatively set for tomorrow.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 14, 2009
Charter schools: Are they better? (Yes) | We must expand successful movement
By Jed Wallace
President Barack Obama's recent call for reforming our nation's public schools put front and center a demand for better results and a stop to the decades of excuses for why so many schools underperform. In doing so, he put charter schools and what they stand for accountability for how students learn, the need for innovation in the classroom and rewarding our best public school teachers at the forefront of the education discussion.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 14, 2009

Charter schools: Are they better? (No) | Adequate evidence does not exist
Recently, President Barack Obama called for increased federal investment in charter schools. Most states now allow for the creation of these special public schools, which unlike traditional public schools can hire teachers and adopt teaching methods independently from school districts. Many observers, including the president, believe that charter schools provide a key source of educational innovation.




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

Thursday, June 11, 2009

News Clip Report for June 1-11, 2009

San Diego Union Tribune
June 11, 2009
San Diego schools will require all students to take University of California prerequisite courses, beginning with freshmen in the 2010-11 school year.

Voice of San Diego
June 11, 2009
Teachers Union Joins Labor Council
The union that represents teachers in San Diego Unified, the San Diego Education Association, voted yesterday to join the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, signifying a tighter relationship between unionized teachers and other organized labor across the region.

KPBS-FM
June 10, 2009
Board President Shelia Jackson is guest on radio talk show.
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 10, 2009 (web)
Two University High students arrested in dry-ice blast
Two University City High School students accused of causing a minor blast with dry ice on the campus Wednesday have been arrested on suspicion of setting off a destructive device, a felony, authorities said. San Diego Unified School District police released the boys, both 14, to their parents and they will later have to appear in court, said Sgt. Alfonso Contreras.
 
City News Service via KGTV-10 website
June 10, 2009
School Board Delays Vote On '09-'10 Budget
SAN DIEGO -- Just a week after making cuts to balance the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education learned Tuesday that the district will face an $84 million shortfall the following fiscal year.
 

Voice of San Diego
June 8, 2009
Federal Money for Disadvantaged Kids Used to Pay for Venison, Lobbying
While schools froze their spending to survive a bruising budget crisis, San Diego Unified spent more than $2,000 in federal money for disadvantaged students to send Superintendent Terry Grier to a conference in Washington, D.C., including more than $550 for meals for Grier and other school district staff and trustees.

SDNN.com
June 8, 2009
University City High runner leaves San Diego legacy
Lauded athlete Mac Fleet finishes high school career on strong note, makes plans for Oregon next year.

Voice of San Diego
June 7, 2009
A Slow Start for the Virtual High School
Fifteen-year-old Kevin Groarke does not have to deal with homeroom or the obnoxious clanging of bells, urging him from class to class. He wakes up on his own schedule. He takes breaks when he wants to. And he likes it. Class begins and ends when he logs in or out of his computer, which delivers lessons from iHigh Virtual Academy -- the new online school in San Diego Unified.

KUSI-TV
June 5, 2009
Kumeyaay Elementary Students Donate Hair for Cancer Patients
A large group of female students from Kumeyaay Elementary School, and one traffic reporter from KUSI, lined up this morning to donate their hair to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program.
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 5, 2009
Teacher Spotlight is Serra's Ericka Senegar Mitchell
Her dream is to take her $2,500 prize and buy a bus. Well, a big van.
"One of the obstacles for me to take these students out in the (biotech) industry is transportation," said Ericka Senegar-Mitchell, a science teacher at Serra High School. "There's a lot of companies that say, 'If you can get here, you're welcome to come play with us.'" Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
 
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 4, 2009
Teen chefs cook up a competitive feast | Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch students show culinary skills
Move over Bobby Flay.
The celebrity chef from the Food Network's popular "Iron Chef America" has nothing on a group of culinary students from Scripps Ranch and Mira Mesa high schools

La Jolla Village News
June 4, 2009
Young athletes on mark to show Olympic skills
Students from nine La Jolla elementary schools both public and private will gather at La Jolla High’s athletic field Sunday, June 7 to win bragging rights for themselves and their schools.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 3, 2009
District budget saves many school programs | After 11-hour hearing, board praises decisions on funding
SAN DIEGO The smallest elementary schools will not be sacrificed to balance the San Diego Unified School District budget.

Beach & Bay Press via SDNN.com
June 3, 2009
Teenager’s prayer garden invites neighbors to rest | Garden honors churchgoer's late husband, and parents
For the past year, Willie Calabrese has spent countless weekends across the street from his house on Loring Street transforming a dirt lot at the Pacific Beach Christian Church into a community prayer garden.

SDSU Daily Aztec
June 1, 2009
Program puts youths to work
Though not yet graduated, 100 high school students will be joining the San Diego State community through a new program aimed at putting students to work.


Opinion

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 11, 2009
A third way on public school funding
By John Lee Evans
As we face our worst budget crisis ever, the San Diego Unified School District board has not succumbed to the false dichotomy of teacher layoffs versus program cuts. Unlike many other districts around the state, San Diego chose to not issue layoff notices this spring. Instead, the newly elected board chose to build a budget around what children need in the classroom.

SDNN.com
June 1, 2009
John de Beck: Answers to your questions
San Diego Unified board member John de Beck asked our SDNN readers if they had questions about the education system - and they did. Here are answers to some of the questions sent in.

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 3, 2009
In California, schools or health care?
By Dan Walters, SACRAMENTO BEE
By happenstance, shortly after voters passed Proposition 98 a constitutional guarantee of public school financing in 1988, California's economy plummeted into a severe recession, creating a huge deficit in the state budget.

 

Jack Brandais
Communications Department
San Diego Unified School District
(619) 607-0477 (cell)

(619) 725-5570 (desk)
 

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