In 2015, a student at Roosevelt Middle reported her teacher for allegedly staring at her chest and telling her, “I thought you were playing with your boobies.” Then, two other students came forward with more complaints over math teacher Bruno Schonian’s behavior.
Students alleged that he told them they had “nice boobs,” tried to meet with them outside of school and grabbed their butts. Faculty members at the school had complaints of their own.
Documents obtained by Business Insider as part of a nationwide investigation into teacher misconduct and shared with Voice of San Diego show that complaints against Schonian began to stack up. But he continued to teach and school administrators moved him to lower grades in an attempt to keep him from “working with more mature 8th grade girls.”
Jakob McWhinney reports that San Diego Unified launched several investigations into the allegations, and while Schonian’s teaching career eventually ended and led to a guilty plea, admitting to willfully causing mental suffering to a child, the district did not fire him. Instead, they allowed him to retire.
Schonian continues to insist he is innocent, despite his guilty plea.
A troubling pattern: Removing educators even for serious misconduct is extremely difficult. Districts often allow complaints to pile up before taking action against teachers who demonstrate inappropriate behavior, even when the signs have been there for years. And even when they do, because of the status quo of retirement or resignation agreements that are kept quiet, it falls on state agencies ill equipped to act quickly to keep those teachers out of the classroom in the future.
How One North County City Plans to Address Homelessness
Escondido’s new proposed strategy to address homelessness calls for initiatives that crack down on crime, prioritize the city’s homeless residents and establish a city-run shelter with sobriety requirements.
The City Council will vote on the proposed policy on Wednesday. It was drafted by the city’s homelessness subcommittee, which includes Escondido Mayor Dane White and Councilmember Joe Garcia. Read the policy draft here.
Our Tigist Layne pulled out some of the most interesting initiatives outlined in the policy.
Reminder: Escondido currently has the highest unsheltered homeless population of all the cities in North County, according to last year’s point-in-time count, with 304 unsheltered homeless people.
And last August, the city stopped contributing funds to one of the city’s two homeless shelters – Haven House run by Interfaith Community Services. The move was highly controversial among residents who criticized city officials for not supporting one of the few shelters in the city and in North County.
A Fight Is Brewing Over Changes to the Port of San Diego
Assemblymember David Alvarez a few weeks ago introduced legislation that would create an ethics code for the Port of San Diego Commissioners. It also calls for the Port to fund open space in waterfront communities.
But the Port is not ready to jump on board.
Background: The Port Commission has seen a series of controversies and departures. Last fall it censured its own Commissioner Sandy Naranjo. The agency’s CEO resigned in January, six months after being placed on administrative leave. And then, Chair Rafael Castellanos resigned, saying he needed to focus on his family and work as a commercial real estate attorney.
“There’s a lack of clarity surrounding a lot of what happened around the port over the last year,” he told our Deborah Brennan for the Sacramento Report.
What’s in AB 2783? The bill would require that the board adopt a code of ethics, limit commissioner terms and board leadership positions. It would ban commissioners from lobbying, contracts or jobs with the board for a period of time after their terms end. And it would require them to share documents with the public when it censures a member. It also calls for 1 percent of the port’s “nontax revenue” to go to creating open space to waterfront communities.
A port spokesperson told Brennan that they are concerned about the bill’s “unintended consequences” and the negative impacts and threats it poses to local jobs on the waterfront.
Read the Sacramento Report here.
On the Airwaves: Lost Trust
This week on the VOSD Podcast, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Jakob McWhinney discuss Will Huntsberry’s story on how residents felt about the city’s neglect during the January floods, and responses by the mayor’s communication staff.
They also get into school layoffs and San Diego Unified’s budget woes. Plus, did you download our 2024 A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools yet? McWhinney explains how we measure school success and why our metric is getting national attention.
Listen to the full episode here. Come on, you know you want to.
In Other News
- KPBS reports that FEMA is now accepting applications for resources for San Diegans affected by flooding caused by storms in late January. San Diego is urging those who suffered property damage to apply for assistance.
- Residents in Little Italy complain to the city about the rising number of homeless encampments. CBS 8 reports residents feel encampment ban is not being enforced.
- After a San Diego County-funded migrant center closed last week, KPBS reports that volunteers are scrambling to aid migrants being dropped on the street.
- If you love starting your day scrolling to “in other news” for a quick news roundup, then you’ll love Cup of Chisme. Get it in your inbox on Sundays. Here’s a taste.
The Morning Report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña, Jakob McWhinney, Tigist Layne and Juan Estrada. It was edited by Scott Lewis.
“…school administrators moved him to lower grades in an attempt to keep him from ‘working with more mature 8th grade girls’.”
for me, this is even MORE unconscionable than the teacher’s transgressions. it could be argued that the teacher has a problem he cannot control. but the others who enabled – and concealed! – his behavior deserve a special place in hell. and to be FIRED!