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The Game of Principal Musical Chairs: A Rule Book
The Learning Curve is a weekly, jargon-free column that answers questions about education. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦ By all...
View Article‘We’d Have to Have Rocks in Our Head to Tell Them the Neighborhood School...
Last week, in a story about the major turnover of principals at San Diego Unified, I relayed a story Superintendent Cindy Marten has told several times. Marten said she rallied parents at recent...
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Fact Check: San Diego Schools’ Segregation Problem
Statement: “So I think what we’re trying to get at in Vision 2020 and emphasis on quality neighborhood schools, is an awareness that the goals of the Carlin case, the goals of integration, were noble...
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It’s the Most Dangerous Time of Year for Pedestrians in San Diego
Sunday didn’t just bring a time change, it meant more drivers and pedestrians are sharing roadways in the dark. In the past, those circumstances have helped make this the most dangerous time of year to...
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No, San Diego Unified Isn’t Killing School Choice
San Diego Unified has a bit of a conflict when it comes to offering students schools options. For decades, parents have taken advantage of school choice, a program that allows students to transfer to...
View ArticleSegregation in City Schools Could Get Worse With New Strategy
In 1977, a Superior Court judge found 23 San Diego Unified schools to be so racially isolated they deprived black and Latino students’ equal rights to a quality education. He ordered the district to...
View ArticleMemorial Prep Rebuild Gets a Vision and a Price Tag: $100 Million
It’s happening. The district will build and revamp Memorial Prep, a long-struggling middle school in Logan Heights. Officials plan to spend at least $100 million on the effort. In addition to a middle...
View Article‘No School District in the Country Has Ever Done it’
Segregated schools have been a concern in San Diego since at least 1977, when a Superior Court judge found that 23 district schools were so racially isolated they deprived black and Latino students of...
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San Diego Unified Envisions a New ‘Pathway’ for Logan Heights Students
The Learning Curve is a weekly, jargon-free column that answers questions about education. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦ This week...
View ArticleDistrict Investigation of Foster Fundraiser Is Delayed – Again
That 30-day investigation of Marne Foster is at 52 days and counting. During a Sept. 29 school board meeting, San Diego Unified’s board of trustees approved a motion to hire an independent investigator...
View ArticleSchool Board Investigators Haven’t Visited Address on Suspicious Claim
Sixty-nine days into what was supposed to be a 30-day probe of two incidents involving school board president Marne Foster, it appears investigators haven’t yet checked out some basic information. On...
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Tumultuous Charter School Burns Through Another Principal
As a charter school in the College Area, Harriet Tubman Village Charter has operated with a degree of autonomy that allowed it to create its own structure and elect its own leaders. For years, it did...
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The Learning Curve: Seeing the Light on School Bond Priorities
Around this time of year at Voice of San Diego, staff members reflect on the past 12 months and start compiling a list of Voices of the Year. Making the list isn’t necessarily an honor, but it’s a...
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San Diego Unified’s Most Absurd Visual Aids, Ranked
Schools and school districts tend to have their own language – and usually it’s clunky and convoluted. To its credit, San Diego Unified seems to recognize this and tries to translate its ideas into...
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The Enloe Family’s Story Forced Changes in Youth Football
We opened 2015 with a sobering look at the toll football has taken on one high school athlete at La Jolla High, whose life was changed after he sustained a brain injuring during a game. Months after...
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Kim Abagat and Mitzi Lizarraga Took on the School Board President
What happened at the School of Creative and Performing Arts may have stayed buried and silently fizzled away had Mitzi Lizarraga and Kim Abagat not spoken out. Lizarraga, the school’s then-principal,...
View ArticleMorning Report: Whatever Happened to the Megabond?
For the past three years, Todd Gloria has looked at the backlog of street repairs in San Diego and thought: Man, we could really use a megabond. As San Diego City Council President, Gloria pushed for...
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SD Schools Superintendent Left Out Major Context in Explaining Principal’s...
In September, responding to public backlash that she caved to pressure and removed a principal at school board member Marne Foster’s request, Superintendent Cindy Marten took the rare step of releasing...
View ArticleLawsuit Claims Retaliation by Schools Trustee Marne Foster
San Diego Unified trustee Marne Foster abused her position as an elected official and retaliated against at least one district employee for personal reasons, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Kim...
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The Learning Curve: Civita School Is Still Moving Forward
Earlier this week, my colleague Ashly McGlone broke down San Diego Unified’s plans for the next couple of years of bond spending. Thanks to two voter-approved construction bonds, the district will be...
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