Outrage has been brewing in the Grossmont Union High School district community ever since the board announced plans to lay off dozens of staff members. It culminated in a raucous meeting two weeks ago during which members retreated into a closed classroom before the conservative majority approved the staffing cuts.
The trustees in favor of the cuts, which include the firing of teachers, assistant principals and nearly all of the district’s librarians, argue they’re necessary to close a $2.4 million deficit. Those opposed say the positions are too vital to lose and point to the district’s large reserves as an escape hatch.
Tuesday’s Grossmont Union High School board meeting was no less contentious. Students staged walkouts while hundreds of protestors once again gathered to demand the board rescind the layoffs.
Hot mic moment: The board majority in favor of the cuts was relatively sedate during the most recent meeting, even as protesters erupted in chants of “Vote them out,” and passed out zines accusing them of being “smelly.” But in a video from the meeting’s recess shared with Voice of San Diego, board member Jim Kelly said how he really felt about the protesters.
“This is the rudest crowd I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kelly told a woman who approached the table. “Some of them are trying to vomit on us in public and trying to bully us and, you know, just humiliate us.”
Kelly continued, saying, “A lot of people don’t want to run for public office because this is what they get … I’m debating if I’m going to be staying if they’re just going to be spewing garbage like … If they’re respectful I’d stay all night.”
The woman speaking to Kelly then motioned to Kelly’s microphone. Seconds later, a disembodied voice said, “I’d advise you to keep your microphone off unless you’re ready to talk.”
By then, Kelly had already turned his microphone off. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Investigative Offices Hit by Department of Education Cutbacks
The Department of Education has become the latest federal agency to be hit by large-scale cutbacks. Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced Tuesday that nearly half of the department’s workforce had either accepted a voluntary separation agreement or would be placed on administrative leave in the coming months.
Wrapped up in those seismic upheavals was the shuttering of seven of the department’s 12 Office for Civil Rights branches. The office is in charge of investigating complaints of discrimination based on a variety of protected identities like sex, race and religion in schools that receive federal funds.
The local angle: The San Francisco branch, which is responsible for reviewing all California complaints, got the axe. That’s a big deal because, as EdSource reported, California has 700 pending OCR complaints.
Locally, OCR has made some big noise. Last year, the office released a damning report on how San Diego Unified officials handle sexual misconduct complaints and found that “more often than not,” officials failed to fulfill their obligations under federal sex-based discrimination laws.
As part of a settlement, district officials agreed to change the way they handle complaints, including implementing more training, creating a central repository of complaints and routing all complaints through the district’s Title IX coordinator. Moving forward, the Office of Civil Rights will monitor San Diego Unified’s compliance until officials believe the district is fully in compliance with federal regulations.
These cuts may mean the Office for Civil Rights – one of the last lines of accountability for misconduct of this nature – is unable to do the job it was set up to do. At least not like it used to.
Latest Numbers Show Newly Homeless Narrowly Exceeded Newly Housed
The number of people becoming homeless in San Diego County continued to outpace the number moving into homes in February, though there’s been some recent improvement in numbers. The Regional Task Force on Homelessness reports that 979 people became homeless for the first time in February and 969 exited homelessness.
For most of the last couple years, local efforts to house homeless residents haven’t kept up with the flood of people losing their homes. Until the region can reverse this trend, it won’t see a dramatic reduction in homelessness.
In Other News
- San Diego FC is adding more security to its next home game to keep fans from using a controversial chant during the game. (Union-Tribune)
- Officials with San Diego Unified announced that the school district is planning on expanding its Transitional Kindergarten program and will reduce class sizes. (City News Service)
- The Ocean Beach library is also going to expand soon thanks to a $3 million donation from two residents. (Union-Tribune)
- Take a look at the San Diego Zoo’s newest baby sloth. (Fox 5)
- Fox 5 has everything you need to know about reporting a pothole in San Diego.
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.