When you’re on the hunt for a new person to fill a position at work, you generally want a candidate with experience.
Thomas Herrera-Mishler, who started his new gig as director of the Balboa Park Conservancy earlier this month, has lots of that. As head of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy in Buffalo, N.Y., Herrera-Mishler tackled many of the same issues he’ll have to address at San Diego’s crown jewel – how to honor donors, deal with nearby construction, manage parking and maintain solid working relationships with park tenants.
But Herrera-Mishler had his fair share of critics in the Nickel City who took issue with how he handled those responsibilities. Ry Rivard offered a peek into Herrera-Mishler’s Olmsted past, including an effort to put the names of corporate donors on signs within the park.
Herrera-Mishler acknowledged the move was a misstep to Rivard: “You don’t always get it right.”
Post-and-Bid to Stick Around
Twice a year, San Diego Unified schools post where they’ll have openings for the next year, and teachers apply for those jobs. This is the “post-and-bid” system.
From there, principals have some restrictions on who they can choose for the job, though. According to terms laid out in teacher contracts, principals must pick from a pool of five candidates for each opening, made up of the most senior teachers with the right credentials.
In this week’s Learning Curve, Mario Koran looks at the drawbacks of post-and-bid, which is set to stay in place even though it can potentially create the same inequities Vergara v. California — the landmark court ruling striking down teacher tenure rules in California — sought to address:
“The system allows for teachers with more experience to move to schools in more affluent neighborhoods, where students are more likely to have stable home lives and college-educated parents,” Koran writes. “Schools in poorer neighborhoods, on the other hand, will get the newest teachers, those who have the least experience dealing with challenging students or discipline issues. This is a point the district itself once made – albeit accidentally.”
San Diego’s Growing, but Probably Not How You Think
Our fair city’s no different from most Western metropolises: San Diego’s been growing for decades. But it’s how we’re growing that’s changed.
Things shifted for San Diego as the Cold War ended. Military spending and jobs dried up, leading many folks to pack up and head elsewhere. And that trend’s continued: “Since 1990, the region’s population has lost an average of 12,000 people per year from San Diegans relocating,” Andrew Keatts reported.
So no, the population growth we’ve seen isn’t thanks to Midwesterners drawn in by the perma-sunshine and distinctive SoCal dialect.
It’s more to do with the life cycle: more babies being born here, and people living longer. NBC 7’s Monica Dean and Keatts offer a little more insight on this week’s San Diego Explained.
Quick News Hits
• San Diego’s got pretty good beer, and the San Francisco Chronicle is ON IT!
• Kearny Mesa and Barrio Logan are about to become home to the city’s two newest pot shops, bringing San Diego’s total to eight so far. (Union-Tribune)
• The California state Assembly approved a measure Thursday that would erase the personal belief exemption that allows parents to enroll kids who haven’t been fully vaccinated. It now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. (Sacramento Bee)
• Union-Tribune columnist Logan Jenkins digs into the history of Robert E. Lee Elementary, which was apparently San Diego’s southernmost school at the time of its naming.
• The California Public Utilities Commission will vote July 3 on utilities’ controversial proposals proposals to raise rates on small consumers of household electricity. (Union-Tribune)
Here’s why those proposals might not be good for SDG&E solar customers.
• Councilman Todd Gloria posted an update on Facebook about the progress toward opening a Target Express in South Park’s old Gala Foods grocery store location: “there continues to be a community discussion to ensure the Target Express provides merchandise to best serve the residents and minimize competition with and impact on the thriving small businesses in the area.”
Target reps were at a Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee meeting Monday and said the store would likely open Oct. 7.
• Each resident of city of San Diego, according to the latest state data, used on average 66 gallons of water a day in April, further making the case for dry shampoo and embracing our natural musk.
The L.A. Times has a rad interactive drought report card, which breaks down data among California’s urban water districts. Play around to see how we stack up.
Also in drought news: The state Assembly OK’d a bill that would protect residents from being fined for letting their lawns go brown during the drought. No joke: It was written by Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown. Now it heads to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. (Associated Press)