Students at Lafayette Elementary School watch an instructional video about colors during the first day of San Diego Unified's reopening plan at elementary schools. / Photo by Adriana Heldiz

Parent involvement in their kids’ school generally is associated with better student outcomes. 

They can be a big part of our education system. Sometimes it’s something small such as attending a parent-teacher meeting and other times it’s urging school district officials to implement programs to better serve their own child and other students. 

But getting involved isn’t always easy — at least not for all parents. School districts are their own bureaucracy, filled with countless committees and acronyms that all impact the quality of your kid’s education. 

In our latest San Diego 101 episode, hosts Adriana Heldiz and Maya Srikrishnan break down what parents can do to get involved in their children’s education. 

They tap into Voice of San Diego’s resident education expert, Will Huntsberry, and parents involved in their local schools. Spoiler alert: You’ll even get to meet our hosts’ parents in this episode. 

“… the more parental involvement there is in a school district, I think the better the school district is because I think it brings in a lot more diversity of thinking and perspective than can be possible with just the employees of the school district,” says Jaya Srikrishnan, Maya’s mom. 

You can listen to the episode here. 

Related For Parents: School choice windows are now open for many districts in San Diego County. Get a roundup of everything you need to know to make a decision about your child’s education by downloading a free copy of our Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools.

About That Bry, Senturia Story

In the latest Politics Report, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts make sense of two intriguing stories that appeared on the San Diego Union-Tribune’s website last week.

Those stories are related to a lawsuit alleging that a large, corporate owner of homes had systematically avoided getting required permits for the many renovations it performed across California. The suit alleged that the cities where these homes are were deprived of permitting revenue and potential property tax increases from improved assessment values.

The litigant: That would be Neil Senturia, Barbara Bry’s husband.

Lewis and Keatts dig deeper into the story in the Politics Report, our weekly politics newsletter available exclusively to VOSD members. Support our work here. 

Over in the Scanner Darkly: the podcast crew talked about the insane cost of living in San Diego and an analysis of investor-owned homes. They also discussed how weird it is that masks are coming off again and what that means for kids experiencing school these days. 

The Eyes Have It: A new state law requires police departments to disclose to the public its military gear. U-T columnist Michael Smolens writes that the policy allows SDPD to keep using and acquiring military equipment but opens a door for the Council to at least consider whether deployment of that equipment is appropriate. 

In Other News

  • An analysis shows that hate crimes in San Diego nearly doubled in 2021. (Union-Tribune) 
  • Students and parents are tired of masks, and school districts are taking the heat for enforcing state rules, reports the Union-Tribune

This Morning Report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafana, Maya Srikrishnan and Jesse Marx.

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