How to prevent summer learning loss
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, June 29th.
The new state budget is funding programs to serve students and families.
More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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As the city of San Diego's homeless encampment ban is set to take effect soon, a new “safe sleeping place” is now open.
It’s a parking lot at the city’s central operations yard at 20th and B Streets.
It has 136 tents for up to two people each.
Mayor Gloria held a news conference there yesterday.
“We have transformed this portion of this facility into a place where unsheltered residents can get off of our streets and sidewalks, out of our parks and canyons and be safe.”
Another, 400 tent lot in Balboa Park is scheduled to open this fall.
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M-T-S mini-bus and access services are back up and running.
Service resumed yesterday, after a two-month work stoppage.
An agreement was reached earlier this week, between the company that operates the routes for MTS and the union that represents the drivers.
M-T-S officials say there could be some missed mini-bus trips over the next day or two as the system recovers.
The same can be said for the access system that serves disabled passengers.
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City crews yesterday, finished installing new traffic calming measures in P-B, after the project was briefly delayed.
Diamond Street now has "diverters" at two intersections.
Flexible posts and signage direct drivers to turn right, while allowing pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicles to pass through.
The city had planned to install the project last week, but City Councilmember Joe LaCava asked for a delay, after meeting with the project's opponents.
He says the changes will improve safety, and make P-B more walkable and bikeable.
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School may be out for summer, but a local teacher says there are many ways to incorporate learning over summer break.
“Even though it’s summer, for them to sit down and be able to continue learning and to read everyday, do math every single day. It’s not just a nine month thing that we do… it’s everyday.”
Stay with us for that interview and more, after the break.
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The California state budget is now signed into law… and ready for the start of the new fiscal year on Saturday, July 1st.
Education reporter M.G. Perez has more on the spending to support students and families.
The 2023-24 state budget totals almost 3-hundred-11 Billion dollars. 1-hundred-8 billion of that will be spent on the education programs for students in TK through 12th grade. …that includes new funding from Prop 28 paying for the arts in every California school…and 3-and-a-half million dollars going to every county office of education to stock opioid reversal medication. The budget also limits the amount of fees parents must pay for subsidized childcare. Alethea Arguilez is Executive Director of San Diego First Five ..which supports low-income families “with raising costs for housing and basic needs and gas and you know childcare should not be the afterthought, right? The health and safety and wellbeing of our little ones should be on top of mind.” MGP KPBS News.
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Schools out, and it’s summer break for most students in the county.
With summer break comes the summer slide, how can parents prevent or at least slow that learning loss over the summer?
Green Elementary School T-K and preschool teacher Sylvia Anderson has some ideas. She spoke with our producer, and her former student Emilyn Mohebbi.
Mrs. Anderson was my first grade teacher… nearly 25 years ago!
Mrs. Anderson, welcome to the San Diego News Now podcast.
Tell me a bit about what you usually see in terms of the summer slide in your classrooms come fall when students return, and how it impacts your students.
Let’s talk about preventing that learning loss… I’m curious, do you suggest summer school for kids who may not necessarily be behind at the end of the school year?
Is there a risk of not giving your kids enough of a break, or overdoing it over the summer?
For many, cost is a concern. So how can families find lower cost options?
What do you tell your students and their parents to do over the summer in terms of preventing learning loss?
Any other suggestions for parents?
TAG: If you’re a parent looking for news, information and resources to help support you in this adventure we call "parenting," our newsroom has a KPBS Parents Hub, where you can find the story we just heard, plus more.
You can check it out at kpbs-dot-org-slash-parents.
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Residents only have until tomorrow to take a state survey that will determine how money will be spent to enable fast internet access to all Californians.
Reporter Katie Hyson looked at why it matters.
There is no fast internet in many rural areas and tribal lands. But there are also communities in the city, like Logan Heights, where it exists but it’s unaffordable. One in five homes there don’t have it. I think that's probably one of our highest needs in our community. That’s Kathryn Johnson, branch manager of the Logan Heights Library. She says patrons come in to use the internet for basic needs like job applications, homework and paperwork for assistance programs and medical appointments. They can also borrow wifi hotspots to bring home – but there’s a waitlist. They are so popular. We have 99 hotspots at our location, and we probably get, I would say, maybe six, seven calls a day asking if we have them available. More than 100,000 people in San Diego County lack fast, reliable internet. That’s according to a county analysis of census data. Most zip codes only have one or two fast internet providers. Not a lot of competition means higher prices. People can apply for financial help from the federal government for internet service, but most eligible households in San Diego County haven’t. The survey – which is meant to help officials target barriers that underserved residents face to accessing the internet – is online. Katie Hyson, KPBS News.
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Coming up.... Tijuana’s Little League baseball team is fighting for a spot in the Little League World Series this summer.
“Una, dos tres, ee e ee ee Unos de Tijuana!”
We’ll have that story and more, just after the break.
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An all-star, Tijuana baseball team is fighting for a spot in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Border reporter Gustavo Solis visited the team, as players prepared for their final qualifying tournament.
Tijuana Municipal is a local institution. The local Little League has 144 teams, 1,800 players. A 9-acre complex filled with fields and batting cages. Even cross training and sports psychologists. The league also has a proud history of producing Major League Baseball players. “Adrian Gonzalez, Alejandro Kirk, Jonathan Aranda, Oscar Robles” That’s right. Padres’ legend Adrian Gonzalez played Little League right here in Tijuana. One of the fields is named after him. Alberto Mejia is the league’s president. He says it’s common for kids in San Diego to play baseball south of the border. “You know what, we have a lot of people that cross the border every day just to come and play. Because they know the level that way play here on the league is awesome.” This year’s all-star team features players batting together since they were 3 years old. The team dominated the regional tournament – allowing zero runs and scoring 37 on their way to the championship. “The team behind us, they are a very good team. The coaches are super smart, they have a lot of experience.” If this team wins the national tournament in Monterrey, they will represent Mexico in the Little League World Series. Francisco Fimbres is the coach. He also coached the 2013 Little League team that made it to the semi-final game against Japan. “Seria lo maximo, seria muy bonito y porque no buscar lo que no se logro en el 2013.” He says returning to Williamsport would give Tijuana a second chance to win the World Series. Why does Tijuana produce so many good baseball players? Fimbres says it’s the competition. There are almost 2,000 players in the league. And they all compete at a high level. “La competencia interna es muy fuerte. Es muy Buena, es demaciado fuerte. Creo que da ahi nace, de ahi sale el conocimiento de beisbol de los muchachos.” He also says there aren’t any star players on the team. No big egos. The players practically grew up together – Fimbres says they are more like brothers than teammates. “Aqui no hay estrellitas, aqui no pensamos en un jugador si no son los 13.” That’s one message the players have really bought into. Here is their response when asked who the best player on the team is. “Somos todos. Todos somos uno.” All of us, Jonathan Juarez says. We are all one unit. Jorge Cota watches the Williamsport tournament every year. He says actually playing in it would be pretty cool. “Estaria muy padre ir a juga ren Estados Unidos en un torneo tan importante.” As in San Diego, Little League is a family affair in Tijuana. Parents travel with the team. They come prepared to cheer with drums and multiple chants. This is one of their favorites. “La porra de Tijuana, La porra de Tijuana. Se mueve para aya, se mueve para aca. Esta es la porra de Tijuana!” Miriam Gonzalez Perez is one of the team moms. Seeing how hard the kids train inspires the parents to put in just as much effort. “Vemos el esfuerzo que hacen los ninos y como ellos le hechan ganas nosotros temenos que hecharle el doble de ganas.” It’s a sacrifice. Parents spend their entire weekends going to baseball tournaments. And traveling with the team isn’t cheap. They set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to pay for travel expenses. The national tournament starts July 1. If they win that, Tijuana will represent Mexico in the Little League World Series this August. “Una, dos tres, ee e ee ee Unos de Tijuana!” Gustavo Solis, KPBS News.
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Nearly 10 months after being acquired by Sapporo… Stone Brewery in Escondido is ready to start releasing locally brewed Sapporo beers for the U-S market.
As North County reporter Alexander Nguyen tells us… it involves making some big changes.
nats beer line when the japanese beer giant was looking for another u-s-based brewery to brew its beer … it was looking for one that had the capacity to quickly get the product on the market. stone brewing company met that requirement. sean monahan sapporo and stone coo “when sapporo was looking for a partner, they were looking for someone that could expand and brew sapporo, but also a brand that they could help further develop. and so they fully embrace what stone is, and we continue to innovate into the future.” sean monahan is the chief operating officer for stone and sapporo brewing. he says while stone had the capacity to start brewing sapporo beer right away … there was still a learning curve to get the recipe *just* right. “we did our first big brew. and i'll tell you, it failed. after nearly 10 months and several tries later … stone is releasing the first batches of locally brewed sapporo beer. you can find it at each of stone’s bistros under the experimental lager label. stone still needs to upgrade its facility to handle brewing both sapporo and its own line of beers. and that means more jobs for the local economy. stone is looking to hire more than 100 positions within the next six months. an/kpbs.
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Join us again tomorrow for the day’s local news, and some arts events worth checking out over the weekend. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Thursday.
