When I dream, I dream about the newsblitz:
- We explain why black students are so scarce at UCSD, from trouble convincing accepted black students to come to an admissions formula that critics argue disadvantages black students. And we also look at how the university could change that.
- A UCSD alum talks about her experience with campus race relations in the Huffington Post.
- The Union-Tribune sums up the school board challengers running against John de Beck and Katherine Nakamura to oversee San Diego Unified. We blog about who the teachers union decided to endorse in those races — Scott Barnett — and what it could mean.
- Poway schools are sending layoff warnings to 200 teachers and Oceanside is warning 117, the UT reports. San Diego Unified is deciding just how many teachers to put on notice — if any — this weekend.
- Meanwhile in Vista, fewer teachers will get those warnings than originally planned, the North County Times writes.
- City News Service writes about a worrisome financial report for San Diego Unified.
- Also in the UT: A former Qualcomm president opines that schools should emphasize the arts along with science to be innovative.
- California officials are tweaking their list of persistently failing schools, much to the chagrin of schools. Even those that are being removed from the list are annoyed, the Sacramento Bee writes: “We still have the designation of a failing school in the public’s minds and now we won’t have any of these much-needed federal funds.”
- Educated Guess explains why California is messing with its criteria for those failing schools. The Mercury News calls it a roller coaster ride.
- Also in the Merc: The state is delaying money for schools again, which could be a big problem for smaller school districts. It could be a $2.5 billion hit.
- And the Bee also reports that the statewide teachers union, the California Teachers Association, leads the pack for spending on political contributions and lobbying over the past decade. It shelled out more than $200 million.
- The Associated Press reports on the push for national education standards, which set out what kids should learn in each grade, that would replace a patchwork of different state standards. Check out more details in The New York Times.
- Teacher Magazine debates: Is firing bad teachers the answer at struggling schools?
- And here’s another one for the it-could-be-worse file: Kansas City is closing nearly half its schools for budget reasons, The New York Times reports.
— EMILY ALPERT