The pandemic hit schools hard. From shocking increases in chronic absenteeism rates to pervasive learning loss, nothing seemed immune from the impact. Students performed worse on tests but especially on math tests.
That’s one of the findings of a recently released report that analyzes student performance on both state and national tests. From 2019 to 2022, San Diego County districts lost about .35 grade levels of learning in math. In reading, they only lost about .24 grade levels.
But that’s not the whole story. In the years since students returned to in-person instruction, their performance on math tests has begun to tick up. Their reading performance, however, has continued to fall.
One of the researchers responsible for the report says that may be because students’ reading performance was dropping even before the pandemic.
County Supes May Nix Sanctuary Policy
San Diego County Supervisors will decide Tuesday whether to repeal a controversial policy limiting county cooperation with federal authorities seeking to deport undocumented immigrants convicted of violent crimes.
Background: Supervisors adopted the so-called “super-sanctuary” policy in December after the election of President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to carry out mass deportations. The policy goes beyond state law by prohibiting county employees from assisting federal deportation efforts even in cases of migrants convicted of rape, murder and other serious crimes.
Immigrant advocates celebrated the policy but Trump administration officials denounced it. San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez said her agency would continue to assist federal authorities in cases involving serious felonies.
Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican representing northern San Diego County, called for Tuesday’s vote to repeal the policy, which he said in a letter to fellow board members “prioritizes criminals over the safety and well-being of our community.”
Miles Himmel, a spokesperson for Desmond, said Desmond called for the repeal vote in part because the policy’s architect, former District 1 Supervisor Nora Vargas, no longer serves on the Board following her surprise resignation in December. Also, said Himmel, the policy has generated “so much backlash…there might be a change of heart” among supervisors.
Board Democrats Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery-Steppe, both of whom voted in favor of the policy, were not immediately available for comment. In an interview with Voice of San Diego earlier this year, Lawson-Remer said she stood by her vote but otherwise tempered her support. “If there was to be a threat of mass deportations, this would not be a useful tool,” she said. “It’s not where my energy is going whatsoever.”
Heavy Water Flow, Debris Blocks Wastewater from Reaching Treatment Plant
Officials with a wastewater treatment plant at the border are investigating an incident that slowed the flow of wastewater into the plant.
On Sunday, a heavy flow of wastewater mixed with stormwater from Tijuana exceeded the capacity of a drain near the U.S.-Mexico border. The excess water and debris blocked a key gateway to the treatment plan managed by the International Boundary Water Commission.
That resulted in “minimal flows reaching the plant,” Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner wrote in an email Sunday.
Later that same day the flow increased and wastewater was reaching the plant once again. Now, officials with the commission and other federal departments are investigating why there was an excessive flow from Tijuana in the first place.
In Other News
- Voters in San Diego County’s District 1 should have received their ballots last week. The mailers are already making their way to our resident politics nerd. KPBS has a helpful guide to the Special Primary Election. Read more here.
- The San Diego Union-Tribune reviewed tax returns filed by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association and its education foundation and found that both have lost a lot of money in recent years. ICYMI: The Taxpayers Association’s CEO abruptly quit last week and as contributor Joe Hong reported for Voice, he left at a time when some school district leaders were raising questions about the association’s bond endorsement process.
- Officials with the city of San Diego are considering charging for parking in Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park. (Axios San Diego)
- It’s going to be chilly this week. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney, Jim Hinch and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.