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.
Union-Tribune Editorial | Don't kill exit exam | Democrats'proposal shows unseemly extent of CTA's clout
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.
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)
