San Diego Unified To Offer Limited In-Person Learning, Will ‘Top Gun’s’ Sequel Lead To Another Military Recruiting Boom?, This Weekend In San Diego Art Events

August 28, 2020 at 10:36 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:01 Speaker 2: 00:05 Speaker 1: 00:13 Speaker 2: 01:30 Speaker 1: 01:49 Speaker 3: 03:00 Speaker 3: 04:12 Speaker 1: 05:06 Speaker 3: 05:15 Speaker 1: 06:07 Speaker 3: 06:12 Speaker 1: 07:11 Speaker 3: 07:22 Speaker 1: 08:38 Speaker 3: 08:44 Speaker 1: 08:49 Speaker 4: 08:56 Speaker 5: 09:12 Speaker 4: 09:14 Speaker 5: 09:30 Speaker 4: 09:34 Speaker 5: 09:44 Speaker 4: 09:46 Speaker 5: 09:55 Speaker 4: 10:07 Speaker 5: 10:13 Speaker 4: 10:17 Speaker 5: 10:21 Speaker 4: 10:31 Speaker 5: 11:02 Speaker 4: 11:15 Speaker 5: 11:43 Speaker 4: 11:54 Speaker 5: 12:02 Speaker 4: 12:07 Speaker 5: 12:30 Speaker 4: 12:38 Speaker 5: 12:44 Speaker 4: 12:56 Speaker 4: 13:34 Speaker 4: 14:29 Speaker 4: 15:34 Speaker 6: 17:29 Speaker 4: 17:33 The governor introduces a new streamline COVID monitoring system. These are the guidelines, these color coded County guidelines that we're putting forward to get us through this flu season. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS midday edition. San Diego unified takes a limited step toward in-person classes. We worked with a team of scientists that CCSD give us some clear direction about how we can start to think about reopening the pros and cons of this year's virtual San Diego festival of books is coming up on our weekend. Preview, stay with us for midday edition. It's coming up next in his COVID-19 update. Governor Gavin Newsome today introduced new monitoring guidelines to inform the state's reopening strategy. Instead of County is being monitored by several criteria to be on or off a watch list. Now, case rates and positivity rates will be the leading indicators measured for color coded tears were introduced from purple indicating the most spread of the virus to yellow with minimal spread, But the purpose, our emphasis in terms of how we're approaching this is we believe this is much more simple, much more transparent, uh, easily monitored by individuals, not just, uh, by business, uh, business representatives, uh, but also by County and state health officers. As of today, San Diego is listed in the red category indicating substantial spread state officials say a new website will be online soon to guide counties on how much reopening will be allowed. According to which tier a County is in as a sign that San Diego is the largest school district is beginning. The process of reopening San Diego unified announced yesterday that it will offer in person classes starting late next month to some students struggling academically. The list of students who can take advantage of the small in person classes include some special needs students and those experiencing learning loss. But the district says the in-person classes will include a limited number of students and will take place by appointment. Only joining me is Richard Berrera vice president of the San Diego unified school board, and Richard, welcome to the program. Thanks so much, Maureen. Now San Diego unified announced that it would be conducting remote learning classes for at least the first part of this school year. Why has the district decided to move to in person classes for some students, Maureen, what we've been trying to do the entire Time is balance the obvious concerns over the spread of the Corona virus in our community. And how do we protect the health and safety of students and staff with the obvious understanding that for really all students, uh, being back in school in person is better situation. And for some of our students, it is critical that we provide in person learning. And so this first group of students, what we're thinking of as phase one of our reopening plan, it's about a little over 10% of the students in our district. So it's about 12,000 students, all elementary school students. And these are the students who we believe are most in need of having in-person instruction. And so that includes, like you said, students with certain special needs where either assessment needs to take place in person or delivery of services and their individualized education plans needs to take place in person, but also homeless students, uh, students in foster care, students who teachers identify as struggling at home. And we are identifying students who struggled in their end of term report card in the spring and who were concerned are behind in their learning. And so we want to bring those students onto campus as well. So we see this as a first phase, we worked with a team of scientists that you CSD to give us some clear direction about how we can start to think about reopening it, given the conditions and the viruses in San Diego County. We know that progress is being made countywide, which is a great sign. It means that we as San Diego ones are doing what we should be doing to comply with social distancing, wearing our masks, starting to bring the spread of the virus down. We're now off of the state's watch list. All of that is encouraging, but we also know that we're continuing to be in a very precarious situation Is the idea that the in person classes would be an occasional sort of boost for the students and that they would continue remote classes at home. So all of the students that are in this first grouping will be, you know, starting on Monday as with all students in our district will be assigned to a class with a teacher. They will be participating in the online learning along with the rest of their class, but teachers individually will make arrangements with parents to bring students onto campus. And what that looks like could be very different for each student. It could mean coming in for, you know, a specific service. It could be, you know, spending a lot of time in the classroom every day. And it really depends on first of all, what the teacher and the principals at the school believe that student needs and then what arrangements we can make with the parents, what transportation arrangements that we can make. So it will look differently for each student and what Safety measures is San Diego unified taking for the students and the teachers, You know, because we look at this as our first phase of reopening all of the safety measures that we would have in place where we to fully reopen a will certainly be in place for this first group of students. So that means personal protective equipment, you know, for all adults and, and students who are working together, everybody needs to be wearing a mask, uh, you know, the entire time that they're on campus, uh, we need to be doing the deep cleaning, you know, of the classrooms. We need to make sure that the classrooms are properly ventilated and that may mean installing extra, uh, filters in the air conditioning systems, or it may mean, uh, opening up outdoor spaces to be working with these students. So all of those precautions that would need to be in place for all of our students, uh, if we're able, you know, hopefully, uh, to bring everybody back, we'll be in place for this first group of students, Other private schools, and some public schools will be opening very soon for, in person classes for all their students. Why isn't San Diego unified? Uh, we believe that that is a much too risky to do. We think of this as you know, red, yellow, and green zone. And we're just now moving out of the red zone into a dark yellow zone. I think we should describe it as that. So we still have 80 plus cases per a hundred thousand in our County. We don't have anywhere near the testing capacity. I, that would allow us to, you know, preemptively identify students and staff with the virus. We're just developing the capacity to do a investigation and contact tracing, which is absolutely critical. So what we've said is when we're in a yellow zone, we need to do this carefully and in phases. And we have seen Marine examples around the country of, uh, you know, schools or districts that reopened too quickly. And the result was a large number of students and staff contracting the virus and the schools needing to be shut down. We don't want to go through that starting and stopping situation in our district. And we believe that by proceeding cautiously and in phases, we're actually accelerating the time that we can bring all of our students back. I've been speaking with Richard Barrera, vice president of the San Diego unified school board. And Richard, thank you so much. Thank you, Maureen. It's been 34 years, but Hollywood's most recognizable fighter pilot. Pete Maverick Mitchell will be back In the cockpit for a new top gun movie. Navy leaders say the original Tom cruise film led to a recruiting surge, but it's not clear whether next year's CQL will have the same effect from Los Angeles, Libby dank, Ben reports for the American Homefront project. That's my top gun diploma over there. John Simpkin was a Navy Lieutenant, a fighter pilot, and a graduate of the Navy fighter weapons school's top gun program back in 1985. When his boss, the rear Admiral in charge of air station, Miramar dropped of all things, a movie script on his desk. I just wanted to do it. We were pilots. We didn't want to take over working on a movie, right, But Simpkin was outranked. So he became a technical advisor on the top gun set, teaching Hollywood actors, how to be fighter pilots, or at least look the part I'll bring you to me Leg in the climactic dog fight at the end of the movie, when Iceman and Maverick are doing some tricky flying to outmaneuver enemy MIGS, I'm gonna hit the brakes. She'll fly right by. And that's one time poos says, John, this is how they know I'm pulling GS. You know? And I said, well, you gotta tighten all your muscles. Cause you're trying to keep the blood in your head. Simpkin says seeing his work up on the big screen gave him a lot of pride for the Navy. Top gun served another purpose. It was the best recruiting movie that you've ever seen. Commander. Ronald Flanders is the spokesperson for us Naval air forces. If you talk to a lot of the senior pilots in the Navy today, the captains and admirals, many of them attribute their interest in Naval aviation to the original release of that film. The original top gun triggered a military recruiting boom, according to contemporary news reports, movie theaters in Los Angeles and Detroit invited recruiting officers to set up tables in their lobbies to talk with movie goers, with stars and F fourteens in their eyes. And this kind of synergy between Hollywood and the armed forces is by design. Each military service branch has a liaison office in Los Angeles that works with film and television producers, Lieutenant Colonel, Brett Lee is the deputy director of the Army's public affairs office in LA. It doesn't matter if they're fighting like alien robots or they are discussing their job as a, as a black Hawk helicopter mechanic. We want to see positive, accurate representations of what they do With scripted productions, like top gun, the Pentagon reviews, the story and negotiates with the production company over whether the military will participate. The top gun Maverick crew was given access to two aircraft carriers and multiple Navy bases and installations. Actors got special training. The Navy says paramount pictures paid for all flight hours for aerial sequences. Why go to all this trouble? The film audience is made up of American taxpayers and potential service members Fiction of a young army soldier in a film is going to be much more profound than say even a 32nd commercial that we're producing, but a different world Now says Carl force Ling who flew helicopters and tilt rotor aircraft like the [inaudible] Osprey in the Marine Corps. Yep. Tom cruise got to him too. I remember when I was in eighth grade and I saw that movie that's, you know, I immediately wanted to be a pilot. Forced link says this time around the new top gun, won't have the same juice at recruiting offices. As the original, he wrote an op ed in task and purpose on the subject arguing. It's all about context in 86, the Vietnam war had been over for almost a dozen years. Young people who were recruiting age didn't have it as a touchstone. Ronald Reagan's morning in America was in full effect. I think people were receptive to it. They had no direct observation of a war in progress to compare the movie ready theatrics to Today. The war in Afghanistan has been dragging on longer than many recruits have been alive Combat on the ground. And, and most of the aviation fighting is either providing, you know, eyes in the sky or occasionally dropping bombs on target. But very little of it's the glamorous air warfare you see? And then top gun, The Pentagon will have a while to wait paramount pictures plan to release the cul this summer. But the studio says it's committed to a theatrical release. That's now scheduled for July, 2021 in Los Angeles. I'm Libby dank, man. This story was produced by the American Homefront project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans funding comes from the corporation for public broadcasting. This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh, who doesn't need a break from the news. These days, this weekend, the arts in town can offer a little diversion and some understanding about the multiple upheavals going on in the world from writers who know their stuff about social justice to surf rock and new choreography. Joining me is KPBS arts editor and producer Juliet Dixon Evans with all the details and welcome Julia. Hi Maureen. So the San Diego festival of books takes place tomorrow. What can we expect from this, of course, virtual version, how fresh are miss the in person part of all of this, the mingling, the shopping, but now that it's online, there are some parks for sure. Every year, this particular festival has evolved in really big ways for inclusivity, not just the faces on the panels, but in bringing in a wider audience. And so digital is all about access here. Tell us about some of the panels, another park for digital, they're able to bring in some top notch talent that might otherwise not crease these San Diego, Wesley Lowry, Walter Mosley, Henry Winkler. Then there's plenty of local talent too. They have a huge emphasis on social justice and inequality and the panel topics this year with local reporter gene Guerrero's buck on Stephen Miller, hot off the press shield join reporter Wesley Lowery in a panel. And I moderated a panel about fiction with local writer, Jack gems, and California writer, April Davila, Jack gems, his recent collection of short stories as false bingo that just came out last fall and it's delightful and strange. And Davila's new novel, 142 ostriches follows this heart-wrenching tale of mystery and family grief, all set backdrop of ostrich farming. Also on my radar panels and readings with local poet, Adam Davis, Chris Barron, Gil. So to you and Matt Della Penn. Yeah. And of course, tune in at 10 for the announcement of the KPBS. One book, one San Diego selections for 2020. And I should also add that. Saturday is independent bookstore day and the San Diego book crawl to you. So it's a big day for books. The San Diego festival of books takes place online tomorrow, beginning at 10, all panels and readings will be available for free on demand, live streaming, but registration is required in music. A local surf rock duo has a new album out and we can catch them perform this Saturday. Tell us about Puerto. Yeah, their debut album. Portugal just came out earlier this month on local label, blind owl. And they're going to do a live stream performance from an empty Casbah. I've seen a few of these shows now broadcast on the Twitch platform and they're really well produced. It's not exactly an in person show, but it's better than anything else we've seen during the pandemic. And you can really tell how much bands are thriving on being on a stage in these 11 venues and playing with their band again. And proton is a great band to watch. They have this really sun drench sound and they John so many other influences to infuse into that surf rock garage, rock indie, pop, jazz, even a little soul. And the opening track call the doctor has a total mid career Beatles vibe [inaudible] That was called the doctor from San Diego band, Puerto prior to a live streams from the Casbah tomorrow at 8:30 PM via Twitch. What's going on in the dance world this weekend, Julia. Yeah, they're Roslyn box project. They hit the ground running with really innovative virtual contemporary dance events early on in quarantine. And this month they're going to feature a five new works of choreography. All world premier is by a bunch of Roslyn box artists plus work by, I guess, choreographer, Donnie Duncan previews of some of these work suggest a ton of varieties. Some emotive gorgeous works, um, some surreal experimental pieces and also a little bit of wit and whimsy all with the dancers performing live together at that 10th Avenue art center space. And they're also offering free admission to any frontline or essential worker Roslyn box presents their August series performances to night through Sunday, online now for more arts events or to sign up for the weekly KPBS arts newsletter go to kpbs.org/arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dickson Evans. Julia. Thank you. Thanks Maureen.

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San Diego Unified School District is preparing to start off the 2020-21 school year with remote learning. However, children with learning challenges may be offered in-person sessions. Plus, 1986’s “Top Gun” inspired a boom in military recruitment. Will its 2021 sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick,” do the same despite the changing perceptions of warfare today? Also, this weekend in San Diego art events includes San Diego Festival of Books, surf rock duo Puerto livestreaming from the Casbah’s stage, The Rosin Box’s August Series and a tapestry by Carlos Castro Arias.