About those big San Diego budget changes Tuesday.
One item of particular interest: The new budget passed by the City Council brings back funding for the recently-eliminated position of chief operating officer.
Mayor Todd Gloria previously made a big to-do of axing the position — and taking over the COO’s duties himself. The mayor even set up an office on the 9th floor, where the COO had worked, to meet directly with department heads.
It took a minor rebellion of the City Council to get Tuesday’s budget passed. The mayor wanted cuts to libraries, public bathrooms and other city services, but enough councilmembers didn’t want those cuts that they passed a different budget instead — one that brings back the COO position.
We asked the mayor’s spokesperson how he feels about having those COO duties removed from his plate months after taking them over. We didn’t hear back.
Two important caveats: The mayor has a few more days to decide whether he wants to veto the Council’s new budget or use line-item vetoes. He could take either of those routes. But, as an assistant city attorney pointed out Tuesday, the mayor also doesn’t have to hire a new COO even if he signs the council’s new budget. San Diego has a strong mayor system (explanation here) which means Gloria essentially acts as the city’s CEO. That means he has a great deal of control over what actions he takes and doesn’t, regardless of what’s in the budget.
The Learning Curve: ICE Took an Oceanside Parent
On Tuesday morning, ICE agents arrested a man who had just dropped his child off at Laurel Elementary School in Oceanside.
It was the second-to-last day of school. Agents left the child’s mother standing at an intersection after the arrest — which occurred less than half a mile from Laurel’s campus.
“This means there’s now a child and family left behind without a breadwinner,” said Eric Joyce, an Oceanside city councilmember.
As our Jakob McWhinney writes: “Amid the Trump administration’s deportation onslaught, school leaders across the country have grappled with how to respond. The administration’s decision to allow federal immigration agents to carry out operations on schools, a reversal of previous policies, has only increased the stakes.”
Read the full Learning Curve here.
San Diego Unified Board Will Vote to Make Interim Supe Permanent
San Diego Unified’s board will vote next week on whether to give interim Superintendent Fabiola Bagula the permanent gig. Bagula took over the district on an interim basis nine months ago, when former Superintendent Lamont Jackson was ousted over sexual harassment.
The move isn’t a surprise. Board members made it clear soon after her appointment that they had no intention of looking for a new supe. That was a departure from what many feel was the performative search for a superintendent that ended in Jackson’s hiring.
Bagula herself has also been the subject of scrutiny. Two former administrators at the district have alleged that she reinforced Jackson’s harassment while working under him and threatened and made false accusations against employees, as we previously reported.
Bagula is deeply familiar within the district, having worked as a principal and then an area supe, before leaving to go to the San Diego County Office of Education for a time.
Many board members trust her and think she has done a good job keeping the district on track.
“She stepped into a really difficult situation. The district could have very easily lost focus at that point and it didn’t. I think that’s because people trust Fabi,” said Trustee Richard Barrera. “In many ways, Fabi is the most qualified person ever to start as superintendent”
Local Instagram Account Shut Down For Now
The much beloved and often controversial account @daygotv mysteriously disappeared from Instagram this week, indefinitely pulling the plug on the moderators’ relentless coverage of San Diego news, culture and hip-hop.
It’s currently unclear why the account was deactivated and whether it will return.
By the numbers, DaygoTV — which has more than 300,000 followers — is likely the biggest source of San Diego news. Yet the account was infamous for making news posts entirely based on original reporting from other news outlets. While this platform expanded the reach of many important stories, some local journalists took issue with this approach.
Beefs aside, their news judgement and original content will be missed by many.
In Other News
- Grossmont Union High School District’s board announced their next superintendent, a former superintendent of Orange County’s largest district, to fill the role left with interim leadership since March. (Union-Tribune)
- Two middle schoolers from Mira Mesa will enter high school next year as award winning documentarians. The 14-year-olds walked away from Tribeca Film Festival earning second place in the student film contest for a mini-documentary on San Diego’s homelessness crisis. (NBC 7)
- A San Diego police officer arrested last year for domestic violence on five separate charges against his now ex-girlfriend was found guilty on one misdemeanor count of domestic battery. (NBC 7)
- Various law enforcement agencies served several search warrants throughout San Diego and National City as part of an ongoing investigation by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force. (CBS 8).
The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry, Bella Ross and Tessa Balc. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.