What should San Diego Unified’s new superintendent, Cindy Marten, focus on as she takes the reins at the state’s second-largest school district?
Should she be concerned about class sizes, or special education?
Should she look to cut teacher pay, or is it too low as it is now?
Does she need to root out the hundreds of extra employees her chief financial officer recently said were “laying around” the district, or should she fire Stan “Data” Dobbs for getting his numbers wrong?
We wanted her to know what’s important to people who care about San Diego Unified as she kicks off her tenure. So, we’ve started a Tumblr called Dear Superintendent … where we will post your photos (you can get updates from it on Twitter, too, with @dearsdsupe). Simply take a photograph of yourself holding a note outlining the issue you think is most important to education in San Diego today.
Send your photographs to will.carless@voiceofsandiego.org.
A few notes about submitting photos:
• If you’re taking photos in the mirror, make sure you write your note backward!
• If you’re sending photos of your children, please let us know what school they attend and what grade they are in.
• In your email, please tell us your full name and the neighborhood you live in. And feel free to elaborate on the note you’re holding.
• By submitting your photo to us, you’re allowing VOSD to use this image in any or all of its publications.
One last point: Props to NPR, whose Tumblr aimed at President Barack Obama gave us the idea. NPR ran a blog like this in the run-up to Obama’s inauguration, titled “Dear Mr. President.“
We’ve reached out to a few folks for some submissions to kick off the blog. First to respond was teacher and San Diego Education Association board member Dennis Schamp:
Now, send us your photos!
Correction: An earlier version of this post mischaracterized the excess employees San Diego Unified’s CFO said the district employed. We regret the error.
Will Carless is an investigative reporter at Voice of San Diego currently focused on local education, and Dagny Salas is VOSD’s web editor. You can reach them at will.carless@voiceofsandiego.org and dagny.salas@voiceofsandiego.org, or 619.325.0525.
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