San Diego Unified’s latest land sale is an intriguing one – the district didn’t unload the land on a developer, but on HTH Learning, the nonprofit that runs the wildly successfully High Tech High charter schools.
That means the rush could be on for parents to secure a spot in a future High Tech High school in Clairemont – assuming the school board OKs one. A large number of families in Clairemont use the school choice option to enroll their children in higher-performing schools outside of the neighborhood. One observer said kids who don’t successfully choice out of their neighborhood school, and also don’t get selected by the HTH lottery, would feel like losers for having to stay at their neighborhood school.
Attack of the Mayoral Plans, Part 2
Back in Round 1, we published a breakdown of the major mayoral candidates’ big plans for the city.
Now that the race is down to two, we’ve got a sequel: Lisa Halverstadt made a handy guide to all the plans being offered by Kevin Faulconer and David Alvarez, including new blueprints released in the last couple months.
• Local tech guru Ben Katz donned his reporter’s fedora (at least I hope he was properly outfitted for this) and pressed Faulconer and Alvarez on the role of technology in government.
The Old Globe Wades into Housing Affordability
Our Scott Lewis turned theater critic Friday. The Old Globe’s new artistic director wants us all to grapple with realities of American life and his first offering “Bethany” is what Lewis describes as a horror about a homeless woman trying to reunite with her daughter.
The theater is trying to take another step though. Barry Edelstein, the new artistic director, wants it to be a new hub of civic discussion and has set up a panel discussion about housing affordability to complement the show. Lewis has something to say about that.
• There was some terrible news for the team at The Old Globe, Friday. Seamus O’Bryan, who worked as prop master, was killed in a hit and run crash in North Park early Friday morning. (NBC San Diego)
What We Learned This Week
• District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis used the company at the center of the campaign finance scandal to host her website before the 2012 mayoral primary. She didn’t report those services on her campaign disclosures.
• Police often ask the “Are you on probation?” question during traffic stops to feel out whether they can perform a search.
• David Alvarez thinks racial profiling happens here on occasion; Kevin Faulconer won’t say.
• We’ve got a new blog on startups and the San Diego tech scene.
• San Diego Unified is not ready for the Common Core rollout.
Quick News Hits
• NFL boss Roger Goddell touched on two issues that could affect San Diego in his annual state of the league address Friday. (U-T San Diego)
• San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey shared this sad news on Twitter Friday: “Last week my brother passed away from the H1N1 flu. Please PLEASE get a flu shot.” San Diego County has several resources for getting a flu shot, available here.
• This may be one of the worst droughts in memory but somehow, we’re not facing rationing. The U-T tried to find out why.
• Voice of San Diego member Mike McConnell took a look at an old coin and made an amazing discovery recently.
Quote of the Week
“I don’t think this is my last time that I’ll be serving in this role.” – Interim mayor Todd Gloria, on his temporary tenure.