The Morning Report
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When VOSD’s Ashly McGlone and Kate Nucci began asking stakeholders for details about the ways in which local Post Office operations were being altered, they got different answers from several different people — and their answers all conflict with what Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has said before Congress.
One union representative said three sorting machines had been removed in San Diego in recent months; another told the Los Angeles Times six have been removed.
One said he’s seeing mailboxes removed without being replaced for the first time in nearly three decades of service; another said he’d not seen anything of the sort.
Those conflicting accounts are just about all the information there is when it comes to assessing how national chaos surrounding the U.S. Postal Service is playing out locally, because a spokeswoman for the local USPS district declined to provide any specific information about San Diego operations, and declined our request to tour a facility. A Freedom of Information Act request that would provide further details has not yet been filled.
Two postal workers told VOSD that a “drastic reduction in overtime” for local workers has caused all kinds of chaos: “Under recent changes, workers were ordered to stop sorting at the end of their shifts. This caused the mail to pile up in distribution centers so badly that workers had to start loading leftover mail into trailers and bringing them out to the parking lot.”
San Diego Unified Will Dip Its Toe Into In-Person Learning
For months, one of the biggest questions dogging San Diego Unified has been how it will square its obligations to special education students and English-learners with the realities of online-only coursework.
We got some initial answers to that question on Thursday: The district announced it will begin to provide some in-person sessions for students who need it, in limited circumstances. The sessions will require an appointment, and will only be available for those in transitional kindergarten through fifth grade.
“The teachers union, district leaders and school board members have said they want to reopen schools slowly, serving the most needy students first, to ensure that the district’s safety measures are working and to avoid having to close again due to COVID-19 outbreaks,” the Union-Tribune reported.
District Trustee Richard Barrera told the U-T that the next phase of reopening will depend on how successfully this first phase goes.
- Meanwhile, over in the La Mesa-Spring Valley district, officials are scrambling to switch online learning platforms after discovering that some content was racist and sexist. (KPBS)
In Other News
- Boulevard Fitness has defied public health orders for weeks and remained open. But this week, it suddenly closed. NBC San Diego seems to have figured out why: A letter from City Attorney Mara Elliott threatened thousands of dollars in fines for each day the order was violated.
- Virtually every Republican lawmaker in Sacramento is under quarantine following Sen. Brain Jones’ announcement that he’s tested positive for COVID-19. Senate leader Toni Atkins announced Thursday that members will be allowed to vote remotely – a procedure strongly opposed by … Jones himself. (Los Angeles Times)
- San Diego County quietly scrapped a fee increase that would have funded fire mitigation efforts. (inewsource)
The Morning Report was written by Sara Libby, and edited by Scott Lewis.