A handful of campuses in San Diego are tinkering with the long-held idea of reserving high-level classes for “gifted” kids. At these schools, young kids are getting the gifted-and-talented treatment before those who seem the smartest peel off in third grade.
The idea is to teach the kids to interpret and understand, to engage in deep thinking. So far, teachers are impressed with what the kids can do.
In other news:
- We examine a few more happenings on the San Diego pension-fund front. And columnist Scott Lewis says Friday’s decision is a victory for reality, although it comes with an immediate price: “Now the big bills are going to come.”
- Columnist Rich Toscano says the local job-loss rate is dipping more slowly, which could be good for the economy. In other words, things seem to be improving from absolutely awful to pretty darned awful.
- You may have read Sunday’s story about how City Hall won’t let a neighborhood build a paid-for park because it doesn’t have the funds to maintain it. Has something similar happened in your neighborhood? If so, drop us a line
Another request: are you having a gas problem in downtown San Diego?
No jokes please, thank you very much. We’re looking for people in condos who are having trouble with hydrogen-sulfide gas building up in sewer pipes. (That’s the gas that smells like rotten eggs.)
And finally, have you recently received a collection notice regarding a long-forgotten traffic or parking ticket? If so, send me a note.
OK, enough questions. If we make you work anymore, we’ll have to put you on staff.
- There’s talk that defense contractor SAIC will move its headquarters from San Diego to Virginia. (Xconomy.com)
Here is the U-T’s latest on that news that first slipped out of anonymous sources to the Washington Post. If confirmed it would mean San Diego losing one of its few Fortune 500 companies.
- KPBS-FM is beginning a series of stories about the local effects of all the veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the La Jolla seal drama will drag on for even longer: the judge is off the case. (SDDT)
- Finally, this is a time of mourning for many in the local media world. Ruth McKinnie Braun, former reporter for the U-T and other local newspapers, died of cancer on Saturday at the age of 51.
McKinnie Braun, was a talented writer who, after leaving the U-T, launched SuchASmartMom.com to help local parents with news and advice as they navigate their childrens’ educational experience. She is survived by two children and her husband, Gerry Braun, a former U-T journalist who now serves as director of special projects for Mayor Jerry Sanders.
This was shocking and sad news. And our hearts go out to the Braun family.