Vaccinations Begin
Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Tuesday, December 15th. Students learning English have suffered the most academically during the pandemic. That story’s coming up. But first... let’s do the headlines…. San Diego county health officials reported more than 2400 new covid-19 infections on monday and no new deaths. Meanwhile…. The first partial shipment of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines has arrived in San Diego County, specifically at UC San Diego and Tri-city Medical center. Once the full shipment of vaccines arrives soon, it will be enough to immunize about 70% of local health care workers. Officials say it could be March or April until vaccines are available for everyone. San Diego’s local military base also received their first doses of the vaccine. In a teleconference, Rear ADML Tim Weber, the head of Naval Medical Forces Pacific says the first round will not be enough to vaccinate the thousands of sailors and Marines in San Diego. The first doses will go to frontline healthcare workers at Navy hospitals and to first responders. Future rounds will go to troops preparing to deploy and then eventually dependents. From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need. Recent data released by school districts show that while many students are falling behind during distance learning, English learners are among those suffering the most. KPBS education reporter Joe Hong spoke to teachers and experts about how hard the online learning environment is for these students. Daemein Patterson works with English learners in the Grossmont Union High School District. He says they’re in an almost impossible situation. PATTERSON.mp400:02:46:08Imagine myself going to another country and having to do what they’re being asked to do in arabic or in mandarin. I’d fail miserably, but that’s what they’re being asked to do. Data compiled by the district show more failing grades across all student groups, but Patterson says English learners are getting Ds and Fs at disproportionately higher rates than their peers. And it’s not just at Grossmont -- officials at Sweetwater Union High School District and Poway Unified School District see similar trends. PATTERSON.mp400:09:46:06Learning a new language even on an app, it works and it’s good. But being in a class being able to practice that language with your peers and having those engaging conversations and using the language, that’s by far the best way to help these students become successful. Educators say this crisis is yet another example of the pandemic amplifying existing inequalities. Jorge Cuevas Antillon is the District Adviser for Curriculum and Instruction of Dual Language and English Learners at the San Diego County Office of Education. ANTILLON.mp400:01:59:11The fact that these students are getting D’s and F’s is probably a symptom of larger issues that are going on for these students in their lives. In California’s public schools, English Learners are more likely to come from low-income families and experience homelessness and are less likely to graduate than their peers. ANTILLION.mp400:02:33:23There’s a lot of reasons why this category that has to do with their linguistic background is just one of the many hurdles they’re experiencing when they’re trying to get an education especially now. That’s why one teacher working with English Learners says handing out grades to these students is only making things worse. Ana Monge is an English Language Development Resource Teacher at Otay Ranch High School in the Sweetwater Union High School District. MONGE.mp4 00:14:12:21It’s unfair because the grades are assuming everyone’s internet connection is equal. That everyone’s home life situation is equal. That they have a learning space in their home. That they are in quiet locations with no other obligations. Monge says she’s doing her best to help nonbilingual teachers work with their students who only speak Spanish. But the virtual classroom puts up significant barriers. MONGE.mp400:10:13:18Many students have never met me. So when I do outreach to them, they don’t respond because they don’t know who I am. They’re new to the school, they never met me, and so that opportunity is lost on them. And Monge says she often ends up helping both the students and their parents. MONGE.mp400:06:32:11Under normal circumstances, I think one of the biggest challenges for ELD students is that they don’t have a strong advocate because their parents are also English Learners for the most part. Back in Grossmont, Patterson says radical measures will be necessary to undo the damage the pandemic has done to English Learners. PATTERSON.mp400:08:12:12I personally feel like we’re going to have to go back and start from the beginning in most cases because a lot of these students come to us not being literate or fluent in english or literate in their L1 or primary language. They’ve had no educational access since March. Joe Hong KPBS News. A manual recount for a Santee City Council race started on Monday. KPBS metro reporter Andrew Bowen says the results came down to just a handful of votes. AB: The recount was requested — and is being paid for — by the San Diego County Democratic Party. The party’s endorsed candidate, Samm Hurst, lost the Santee City Council District 4 race by just five votes. The declared winner, Republican Dustin Trotter, has already been sworn in. He says the Registrar of Voters is doing an honorable job, and the outcome of the recount is in God's hands. DT: It just shows that every vote counts, and that this is an awesome, awesome process that we were able to go through. Nationally the voter turnout and local here in San Diego was well above average. AB: Of particular interest in the recount are 36 ballots that weren’t counted for reasons including missing or mismatched signatures, or a postmark after election day. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news. Friendship park on the US-mexico border has been connecting communities in the two countries for years. Now, the US border patrol plans to replace the border wall there, which will drastically change the park. KPBS’s Max Rivlin-Nadler reports. Friendship park, on the US-Mexico border adjacent to the pacific ocean, has tied the binational community together…. Sharing prayer services… gardens… family reunions… and even sports…. But in the waning days of the Trump Administration….. Border Patrol has told the stewards of the park that it plans to quickly replace the two fences that line it…. Replacing them with 30-foot high bollards… John Fanestil is with the Friends of Friendship Park. It’s a further desecration of this historic location. The location was designed to be a binational meeting place. Advocates for Friendship Park hope the incoming Biden administration will not follow through on any contracts signed by the Trump administration… or complete any work that’s been started. Border Patrol told KPBS it plans to award contracts in the coming weeks, with the project to be completed by late 2021... Max Rivlin-Nadler, KPBS News. On Monday, California’s presidential electors cast 55 votes for Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, pushing the ticket over the threshold to officially secure the White House. CapRadio’s Nicole Nixon reports. California’s electors included a litany of elected officials and D emocratic party leaders, as well as a former Super Bowl Champion and the executive producer of the sitcom ‘Big Bang Theory.’ San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber was also an elector and served as chair of the gathering. WEBER: We today, the electors, have cast 55 votes — more than any other state — for Joe Biden as President and 55 votes for Kamala Harris as Vice President. [applause fade out] <<:12>> None of the electors in California — or in any state — cast votes for the candidate they weren’t pledged to. Outside of the Assembly chamber, law enforcement barricaded the Capitol grounds in case of protests. Demonstrators have gathered in downtown Sacramento every weekend since the election claiming without evidence that President Trump won. But those protestors were absent during California’s electoral vote. UC Irvine Law Professor Rick Hasen [pro: HASS-en] says the electoral college meeting is normally an under-the-radar election-year formality. HASEN: The only reason the country is caring about the drama of the electoral college votes — which is normally not any kind of drama at all — is because of Trump’s continued insistence that he’s going to be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and remain in office. There’s no legal path for him to that. The electoral votes will be sent to places like Congress and the National Archives. Congress will meet to certify the votes in early January. SOC Coming up on the podcast...Government officials have done a lot to assure us testing and treatment for covid-19 will be affordable. But is that true? KPBS is launching a new project to find out. That story’s next just after this break. For the last nine months government officials have assured us testing and treatment for COVID 19 has been is affordable. But, is that true? Well, KPBS Health reporter Tarryn Mento is teaming up for a project with Inewsource’s Jill Castellano to investigate. They both spoke to KPBS MIdday Edition Host Jade Hidemon about the project. Here’s that interview…. That was KPBS Health Reporter Tarryn Mento and Inewsource investigative reporter Jill Castellano speaking with KPBS Midday Edition Host Jade Hidemon. ….That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
