San Diego Unified has high hopes for its universal transitional kindergarten program, a new grade California created for the state’s 4-year-olds, and which the district rolled out even before the state required it to. But earlier this month, district educators gathered to express their frustration to Superintendent Lamont Jackson about the way the program was rolled out.
They say they haven’t been provided proper training, age-appropriate curriculum and school supplies or adequate staffing. All of that, educators say, is hurting the program. District officials believe it could be a way to combat long-term trends of enrollment decline, by drawing kids into the district early and convincing parents to stick around.
But that only works if the program is high-quality. And as it’s currently formulated, district educators aren’t so sure it is.
San Diego City College Will Soon Offer a Bachelor’s Degree
After a more than yearlong back and forth, San Diego City College’s bachelor’s degree in cyberdefense and analysis was finally approved. The program, made possible by a new law that opened the door to bachelor’s degrees at California community colleges, was held up by objections from the CSU system.
Those objections centered on a stipulation that newly created degrees could not duplicate existing programs offered by a public four-year-university in the state. But, despite having told Voice of San Diego in December that the CSU system no longer had objections to City’s degree, community college officials said the CSUs still had not officially withdrawn their objection.
In mid-December the CSU system finally did withdraw them. With the objection withdrawn, the president of the community college system’s board of governor’s quietly approved the degree last week.
Read more about City College’s bachelor’s degree here.
Politics Report: An Emerging Dispute Over a Planning Commission Appointment
Matthew Boomhower’s term on the city of San Diego’s Planning Commission is scheduled to end this week. Boomhower, an architect and lawyer who works for a development consultant, has been one of the city’s loudest supporters for new housing.
The news: City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera and Councilman Kent Lee signed a memo urging the mayor to appoint him for a second term. Some of the city’s most pro-development groups sent their own separate memo. Mayor Todd Gloria is, at least for now, expected instead to appoint Farah Mahzari, the director of government affairs for San Diego Land Lawyers, a prominent law firm for land-use issues in town.
The Politics Report writes that the push from the City Council members and the development industry on Boomhower’s behalf shows the concern that Gloria won’t take the usual path and give him another term.
Read the Politics Report here.
VOSD Podcast: In the latest episode, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrew Keatts and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña review the great gas stove debate. Our hosts explain that the debate is another example of policy catching up with real life.
Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
In Other News
- San Diego could be considering solving its public restroom shortage by charging for their use. The Union-Tribune reports that city leaders are lobbying the state to lift a ban on pay toilets.
- A huge section of cliff crashed onto Black’s Beach on Friday. Watch the video here. (NBC7)
- San Diego police provided increased enforcement at local Lunar New Year celebrations this weekend in the wake of a mass shooting in Monterey Park. (Times of San Diego)
- The United States government launched a new app for asylum seekers to request asylum. The Union-Tribune reports that many people are having issues with the new technology.
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
Correction: This post has been updated to correct that Matthew Boomhower is not chair of the San Diego Planning Commission.