The recent labor deal the teachers union made with San Diego Unified School District saves the jobs of more than 1,000 teachers. But unless California voters increase taxes on the November ballot, the deal dictates the local school year will be shortened by up to 14 more days.
Here’s our story on what this would mean for City Heights resident Fatima Abdelrahman, whose children had never been to school before they moved here from Darfur, Sudan five years ago:
A shorter school year would affect children across the district, but would have a particularly profound impact on children like Abdelrahman’s — English language learners whose parents rely heavily on schools and don’t have the resources to pay for summer camp or tutors to make up for lost instruction time.
‘Oh my gosh! School is so important. They cannot miss these days,’ Abdelrahman said. ‘One day less school is enough for us, and that’s already been happening.’
You’re reading our roundup of news from Speak City Heights, a collaboration between KPBS, The AjA Project, Media Arts Center San Diego and us.
Here are the rest of this week’s stories:
• Listen to a KBPS radio discussion about a women-only swim class at a City Heights YMCA. The original story generated a flurry of comments about gender and immigration issues.
• Why do folks want a skatepark in City Heights? Watch a video on the issue produced a youth media program hosted by Media Arts Center and The California Endowment.
• In the fourth installment of a Media Arts Center video series on safety, Crawford High School students share their feelings on interactions with police in Colina Park.
• Media Arts Center also talks with some siblings who live in City Heights about what a nearby canyon was like before and after cleanup efforts.
• In this week’s Twitter news roundup: Changes to California’s open-meetings law, checking in on realignment, the fate of ghost bikes and more.
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Dagny Salas is the web editor at Voice of San Diego. You can contact her directly at dagny.salas@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5669.
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