Get ready because we’re close to wrapping up our new guide to San Diego schools! That’s our annual publication that helps parents make the best choice for their child.
Two big things. This year, we’re introducing two new metrics. Without getting into the weeds, one measures how schools are recovering from the pandemic. And another tracks which schools offer career and technical education programs in growing, high-demand industries in San Diego County.
Our 2025 Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools drops next month. If you want to review our guide from last year, you can download it here or read the stories online.
This week, our Jakob McWhinney used some of the data from the guide to analyze how many schools have recovered from the pandemic, which wreaked havoc on test scores and much more.
He reports that only 13 percent of schools in San Diego County have students who are performing better on tests now than they were before the pandemic.
That’s 96 schools out of 740! McWhinney explains what experts say about how schools are recovering from Covid. You can read more here.
Bonus! McWhinney sat down with three principals at schools that bounced back.
A Safe Parking Lot in City Heights Isn’t Going to Happen
Reporters Lisa Halverstadt and Jakob McWhinney broke the news that a hoped-for safe parking lot on San Diego Unified property is likely not going to happen.
Background: In 2023, the school district offered up the old Central Elementary School site to the city of San Diego as a safe parking lot for families. We checked in on the site’s progress last year, and learned that not much had happened.
The news: Halverstadt and McWhinney revealed that the city concluded it would not move forward with the project because of lack of funds. The city had received a grant for the project, but city officials determined they did not get enough money.
“Bottom line: If the full grant funding was received, the city would have proceeded with the old Central Elementary project and worked with the district to try and expand the [safe parking] program’s footprint,” a city spokesperson told Voice of San Diego.
One school board member told McWhinney that they will continue to look for other partners.
“The fact that there’s families driving around tonight not feeling like they can be in a location where their kids are safe and they’ve got access to any sort of facilities, access to any sort of resources is a shame, and it’s a shame for our city that that continues to be the case,” said Richard Barrera, a school board member.
More Chisme to Start Your Week
- Sacramento reporter Deborah Brennan spoke to San Diego’s legislators about their priorities for 2025. No surprise, many of them are proposing new laws to address homelessness and housing. Read more here.
- Tigist Layne wrote about a controversial Poway City Council appointment last week. And this week she had a fascinating follow up. During this week’s meeting, Poway’s city attorney accused one member of the Council of harassment and retaliation. Read more here.
- We published a story this week by the California Health Report on what has and hasn’t happened since the devastating January floods of 2024. Read the story here.