City Council Approves Ballot Measure For District Elections At San Diego Unified
Speaker 1: 00:00 A new Trump administration policy would force international college students out of the country. If they don't attend in person classes. This fall critics see it as a way to force colleges to reopen during the COVID pandemic. And the San Diego city council has approved a ballot measure that could change the way San Diego school board members are elected. Joining me is KPBS education reporter Joe Hong show. Welcome. Thanks for having me now tell us about this change in Trump administration policy, because it affects international college students across the country and specifically thousands right here in San Diego. Tell us more about it. Speaker 2: 00:41 Yeah, so the new rule that was announced pretty suddenly this Monday, uh, came out of immigration and customs enforcement. And basically it says that international students on a student visa who are enrolled only in online courses for this fall will either have to sign up for an in person class or transfer to another university where they'll be able to do so or leave the United States. Speaker 1: 01:08 And how are schools reacting to this sudden announcement? Speaker 2: 01:11 So, uh, the UC and the S and the CSU systems are currently working to figure out ways to support their international students. Um, I spoke with Dulce Durado at UC San Diego. She is the director of the international students office, and she said, the university still has time to figure out what they're going to do for their students. Speaker 3: 01:36 Our quarter doesn't begin until late September. So there's still some time in terms of the university, really trying to assess, you know, what enrollment looks like. And then, you know, what course offerings may need to be adjusted. Speaker 1: 01:51 And, and you say, critics are seeing this as a way to force colleges to reopen during the COVID pandemic. Why is that criticism being made? Speaker 2: 02:00 Yeah, so I think in the past week, we've seen the Trump administration try to strong arm, not just universities, but also schools into reopening as a first step to reopening the economy. Because for a lot of a lot of parents, especially reopening schools and colleges is it is going to be a first step to getting the economy rolling again. And by forcing universities tend to offering in person instruction for international students. This is sort of like a step to full to forcing them to fully reopen, I guess. Speaker 1: 02:35 So what is the advice that school administrators are giving international students right now? Speaker 2: 02:40 Right. So school administrative administrators right now are, are fairly calm, they're concerned, but they're calm. And they're asking international students not to panic, not to suddenly make changes to their academic schedule. They're definitely telling students not to make plans to leave the country, because it seems like the universities will sort of be able to work with students and figure out a way to keep students in the country and going to class. Speaker 1: 03:10 Let's move on to this ballot measure about San Diego unified school board elections. How are school board members elected now, Joe? And how would this measure change that? Speaker 2: 03:21 So San Diego unified school district is, is divided up into five smaller sub districts. And in the primaries school board candidates run only in their subdistricts and only voters who live in those sub districts can vote for them. But in the November general election, um, it turns into a citywide election. So you have voters from different sub districts voting for all the candidates. And what this measure would do is it would keep the November general election to a by district license. So no more at large elections. Speaker 1: 03:53 The idea apparently is that district elections would give lesser known candidates a better chance. Why is that? Speaker 2: 04:01 It comes down to the, the price of running a campaign and keeping an election scaled down to a, uh, a subdistrict. It would know you're campaigning to about 10 times fewer voters than you would be if you're a campaigning throughout the city. And so it would allow people who are intimidated by the price tag of a running to run for school board. Speaker 1: 04:25 And there's also the claim that it would improve the diversity on the San Diego unified school board. Is there a lack of diversity now among the trustees on the school board? Speaker 2: 04:36 I think the school board could do a better job of representing the student population. So right now you have two out of five school board members are, uh, older white gentlemen, and you have one Latino school board member, and you have one member from the LGBTQ community and one African American board member that doesn't really reflect the student population 50% or so of the students at San Diego unified are Latino. Um, about 25% are white. So maybe by reducing the, the barrier to entry into running for school board. Yeah. It might encourage individuals from, I guess, more marginalized communities to represent the communities. Speaker 1: 05:20 Would this measure have any impact at all on the current races for the school board? Speaker 2: 05:24 So, no, um, this, this ballot measure is on the same ballot as the current school board members or at this current school board candidates. And if it passes, it would go into effect in the next school board election in 2020, Speaker 1: 05:38 I've been speaking with KPBS education reporter, Joe Hong and Joe. Thank you. Speaker 2: 05:44 Thank you.
