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Public Safety

Roundtable: Back To School 2019

By Bennett Lacy / Producer,  Mark Sauer / Host, The Roundtable
Published August 30, 2019 at 11:15 AM PDT
A parked school bus in San Diego, Nov. 1, 2018.
KPBS Staff
A parked school bus in San Diego, Nov. 1, 2018.
rt_8-30.jpg
Back To School 2019
This week's episode focuses on education as San Diego Unified School District begins a new academic year, the Sweetwater Union High School District grapples with a major budget shortfall, and local students sound off on whether they feel safe on campus.

Roundtable Guests:

John Carroll, reporter, KPBS News

Adriana Heldiz, multimedia producer, Voice of San Diego

Will Huntsberry, reporter, Voice of San Diego

Kristen Taketa, reporter, San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego Unified begins a new school year

More than 100,000 students returned to class in the San Diego Unified School District this week. The district is calling attention to its focus on student health by highlighting improvements to food menus and the phase-in of later start times. By next year, all schools will start no earlier than 8:30 am. The district is also focusing on improved access to advanced math courses for underrepresented groups.

RELATED: California Poised To Overhaul Charter Schools

Budget cuts for Sweetwater schools

Parents raised their voices this week at the Sweetwater Union High School District’s board meeting. They are concerned about a budget shortfall that is jeopardizing bus service. In some cases, students must walk several miles to reach campus. The district includes schools in San Ysidro, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, Bonita and National City.

Roundtable: Back To School 2019

RELATED: Sweetwater Budget Woes To Cut Into Already Ailing Adult Education Programs

San Diego students weigh in on campus safety

The state of California has released its latest annual survey on student safety. Voice of San Diego analyzed the results to find where students feel the most and least safe. At dozens of local schools, including a few elementary schools, the number of students who report feeling safe is below 50%. Physical violence and bullying are among the factors.

RELATED: What Three New San Diego Schools Tell Us About Safety And Design

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Public SafetySan DiegoSan Diego GovernmentTransportationSouth Bay
Bennett Lacy
Ben Lacy is a producer for KPBS Evening Edition and KPBS Roundtable.
See stories by Bennett Lacy
Mark Sauer
A newspaperman for more than 30 years, Mark Sauer joined KPBS in October 2010 and previously served as the host of the KPBS Roundtable. He spent 27 years as a reporter and editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune after stints at The Houston Post and at two papers in his native Michigan. A features/human-interest writer in the UT's Currents section for many years, Mark also spent about a third of his UT career as an editor and reporter on the Metro Desk. He has covered a wide range of events: Wild fires in Southern California and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast; Super Bowls and the World Series; foster care and child-abuse issues; the Roman Catholic Diocese's sexual-abuse scandal and bankruptcy; royal visits of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Princess Diana; Republican and Democratic national conventions; high-profile criminal trials; and many other stories, from the silly to the sublime. Along the way, he interviewed everyone from presidents to pan-handlers. His work exposing the false accusations and prosecutions of several San Diegans for murder, rape and child abuse garnered Pulitzer Prize nominations and many regional and local journalism awards, including Best in the West, the Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism and several San Diego and California bar-association awards. Mark has a degree in journalism from Michigan State University.
See stories by Mark Sauer