A candidate who wants to unseat Katherine Nakamura on the San Diego Unified school board is taking aim at her decision to support the schoobrary, a charter school located in the planned downtown library.
Business owner and school board candidate Steve Rosen sent out a press release last night calling the move “foolish” and arguing that it wasn’t what voters had in mind when they approved $2.1 billion in bond funding to renovate schools:
This is a classic case of “bait and switch” and is unfair to students, teachers and taxpayers. … We need to fix the roofs, repair classrooms and attend to the needs of students, not waste scarce funding on unrealistic plans for a white elephant wanted by a few select interests.
Nakamura, who represents the northeastern areas of San Diego Unified, has been one of the strongest backers of the idea of placing a charter school in the library. She voted last night to approve leasing two floors of the library for the school, praising it as a valuable partnership with the city and a new resource for kids.
“Nobody’s going to spoil this for me. I think this is a wonderful night,” Nakamura said. “This is a unique, unique opportunity for our students.”
I’ve left a message for the third candidate in the race, middle school math teacher Kevin Beiser, to ask what he thinks about the schoobrary and how he would have voted. Check back later for an update!
— EMILY ALPERT