There’s been some heated back-and-forth on local opinion pages over how real the idea of not having a superintendent for San Diego Unified was — and where it was coming from. Here’s a quick rundown:
Before the school board met on Tuesday, the Union-Tribune printed an editorial slamming the board majority, saying they were about to grab power by proposing to eliminate the job of superintendent. The Reader blogged that it had gotten a press release saying that scrapping the superintendency was on the table, apparently based not on a press release, but a news report from KPBS posted on the San Diego Unified website.
Getting rid of the superintendent didn’t happen, though the board did talk about the idea of having more than one chief. Because of open meetings rules, they haven’t actually voted on the idea, but four trustees — everyone but Shelia Jackson — said they weren’t interested in pursuing it now.
OBRag argued that the U-T had gotten its facts wrong by chalking up the plan to the board majority instead of dissenter John de Beck, who has aired such a plan on his website. Opinion columnist Chris Reed at the U-T, in turn, blogged today that “alternative media sources” were revising history and that the public shouldn’t get spun.
Whew. And you thought educational debates were stuffy and technical?
— EMILY ALPERT