San Diego Unified leaders announce plan to fix “systemic issues” in special education
Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson…it’s WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10TH>>>> [DISTRICT LEADERS SAY SPECIAL EDUCATION IS UNDER FUNDED…]More on that next. But first... the headlines….
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THE SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) APPROVED A SETTLEMENT OF $30 MILLION TO BE PAID TO THE FAMILY OF A BLACK TEENAGER WHO WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY A POLICE OFFICER.
IN JANUARY, 16-YEAR-OLD KONOA WILSON WAS FLEEING A GUNMAN WHO HAD SHOT AT HIM. AS HE FLED, HE ENCOUNTERED SD-PD OFFICER DANIEL GOLD WHO THEN FATALLY SHOT HIM IN THE BACK.
THE SETTLEMENT IS BELIEVED TO BE THE LARGEST OVER A POLICE KILLING IN U.S. HISTORY. COUNCILMEMBER HENRY FOSTER SAID THE CITY MUST DO BETTER.
SETTLEMENT 1A 0:12
"As a father of a young Black man, this hurts. This could be my son. … This is the Black experience in America."
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE IS STILL INVESTIGATING THE CASE AND HAS NOT YET DECIDED WHETHER TO FILE CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST THE OFFICER.
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THE OCEANSIDE MUSEUM OF ART OR OMA WAS GIVEN NEARLY $4 MILLION DOLLARS FROM THE STATE TO SUPPORT THE MUSEUM’S EXPANSION AND RENOVATION
STATE SENATOR CATHERINE BLAKESPEAR FROM ENCINITAS PRESENTED THE CITY WITH A CHECK ON MONDAY
OMA HAS BEEN TRYING TO RAISE FUNDS FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS NOW
AND THANKS TO THIS RECENT DONATION, THE PROJECT CAN NOW BEGIN
THE MUSEUM IS EXPANDING TO THE EMPTY FIRE STATION BUILDING NEXT DOOR AND UP FIRST IS RESTORING ITS EXTERIOR
ONCE THE EXPANSION IS COMPLETE, THE MUSEUM WILL HAVE ADDED TEN THOUSAND SQUARE FEET … INCREASING CLASSROOM, EXHIBITION AND PERMANENT COLLECTION SPACE
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THE KAREN COOPER FOUNDATION AND THE SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY MADE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON SPECIAL FOR SOME 600 PUPS AS THEY AWAIT THEIR FOREVER HOME
YESTERDAY THE ORGANIZATIONS HELD THE 'TOYS, TREATS AND TAIL WAGS' EVENT AT THE HUMANE SOCIETY’S SAN DIEGO CAMPUS
THE PUPS EACH GOT A TOY AND TREAT
THE KAREN COOPER FOUNDATION SAYS THEY WILL DELIVER TOYS AND TREATS TO MORE THAN 8 THOUSAND DOGS ACROSS 56 SHELTERS
INCLUDING ALL HUMANE SOCIETY LOCATIONS IN THE COUNTY
THE FOUNDATION WAS CREATED TO INSPIRE ACTS OF KINDNESS AND CELEBRATE KAREN’S LIFE AND LOVE FOR ANIMALS
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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SAN DIEGO UNIFIED LEADERS ANNOUNCED PLANS YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) TO FIX QUOTE “SYSTEMIC ISSUES” WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THE DISTRICT
REPORTER JACOB AERE SPOKE TO DISTRICT LEADERS WHO SAY UNDERFUNDING IN SPECIAL EDUCATION FROM THE STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS CAUSING FINANCIAL STRAIN
UNDERFUND 1 (ja) :53
The announcement comes as the district is facing a projected $47 million budget deficit for next school year.
Superintendent Fabi Bagula says they're advocating for more funding from the state and federal governmnent…. And also planning to redesign their district’s approach for special education.
“Im bringing up this issue now because actually we should of brought it up a long time ago.”
One of the issues they want to solve is the quote "over-identification of students for special education services.”
District data show in 2015 about 11 percent of students in the district had individualized education plans, or IEPs. This year it’s 17 percent.
“To truly construct a system that is going to help the education of every child with an IEP we need the funding to provide that proactive system.”
District officials are expected to talk more about what’s causing the projected budget deficit at Wednesday’s school board meeting. JA KPBS News.
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CREWS WORKING ON A TRAIN TRACK PROJECT OVER THE BATIQUITOS [BATA-KEETOS] LAGOON ARE ALSO WORKING ON A PROJECT TO HELP AN ENDANGERED BIRD.
NORTH COUNTY REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN TELLS US WHAT’S HAPPENING.. AND WHAT OYSTER SHELLS HAVE TO DO WITH IT.
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LAGOONREST 1(an) TRT: 0:47 SOQ
NATS crews spreading crushed oysters
As any expectant parent knows… there’s a lot of work getting the nursery ready before the baby comes.
NATS crews working
In a way … this is what these SANDAG crews are doing …
NATS
… prepping the nursery … but they’re doing it for the birds … literally.
“To rebuild this W-2 least tern nesting site we’re currently standing on.”
Tim Pesce is a senior environmental planner for SANDAG. He says the restoration work began earlier this fall … after the nesting season ended in August.
The hope is to restore it to its original 4-point-2 acre size.
“Over time, it has started to erode a little bit. So we are pushing that sand back up against the site to restore it back to its original size and to prevent it from eroding in the future.”
On Tuesday … crews spread crushed oyster shells on the site. It’s to help camouflage the eggs.
AN/KPBS
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SOME ACADEMICS, CLERGY AND ACTIVISTS HAVE EMPHASIZED TO KPBS IN THE LAST YEAR THAT AMERICA’S DEMOCRATIC SALVATION LIES IN ITS CITIZENS...THEIR ABILITY TO TALK TO ONE ANOTHER ACROSS PARTY LINES; UNITE TO SOLVE LOCAL PROBLEMS; AND DEMAND BETTER GOVERNMENT. PUBLIC MATTERS REPORTER AMITA SHARMA SPOKE TO THREE SAN DIEGANS ABOUT WHAT THOSE CONVERSATIONS AND ACTIONS MIGHT LOOK LIKE.
DEMOCRAT JUILIANA ["JOO-LEE-ANN-AH"] COLLINS; REPUBLICAN VICTOR LOPEZ; AND INDEPENDENT MERI JO PETRIVELLI ["MARY JOE PEH-TREH-VELL--EE"].
DIVIDE PT2 (4:39) "...it matters to that community.” (FEATURE)
Q. I know that each one of you are friends with people and/or are related to people who hold different political views than you. How have those relationships fared over the last several years amid our fractured politics?
I believe before this current era, it was easier to find common ground with people and navigate around those challenges. But now we're seeing such extremes on all sides that finding that common ground is much more difficult. And there's certain people that I just cannot relate to anymore, and I have to cut ties with those people.
Q. Victor, what has been your approach? What language and tone have you used in navigating thorny political conversations with close loved ones?
The first thing I'd say, and I like what my colleagues said here about empathy. I truly understand what everybody's thinking from their perspective, and I can see why they would have these different opinions and perspectives from the media that they consume, from their circles, from their religious beliefs. There's so many factors that play into what people will think and feel about a political thing. So at the end of the day, I never blame anybody for how they feel because that's their world, and that's how they see it.
Q. UCSD academic, John Porten, who specializes in conflict resolution, believes that there is a political-industrial complex intent on dividing Americans. And he says that the antidote to that is for people from across the political divide to come together and work to resolve issues at the local level that are not zero sum, issues like homelessness, hunger, dirty beaches. I know that some of this work is already happening, but do you see potential in today's environment for even deeper work to happen around these issues?
I think the idea that it has to start individually is right, and I don't see how else it could be. We serve families that are going hungry, and we have less food. The why doesn't matter. These people need to eat. They are hungry. So what do we do? We come together, we solicit donations, we solicit financial donations, we find volunteers that can go to the food bank more frequently. All the things that you have to do to ensure that 500 families in the La Mesa Spring Valley School district are less hungry than they would otherwise be. That's where this thing comes into play. Nobody wants children to go hungry. It doesn't matter who you are or who the children are.
Q. I spoke with Justine Sullivan, who is the lead minister at the first Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego. And she said, to effectively come together and resolve local problems, we have to stop issuing purity tests to one another. But at the same time, we have to be able to talk in a safe environment. I want to know from each one of you what that means. And secondly, is there anyone you won't talk to?
Basically I look at everybody as a potential friend. That's my own little personal philosophy. Anybody I happen to meet, whether it's a clerk, whether I'm passing them on the street, I think friend. Until there's the line for me, which is just, do you willfully We want harm for someone else, whether it's targeted at me, whether it's targeted at somebody else. You want physical, mental, sexual, whatever harm. That is a line. I cannot interact with you as a person if you feel that strongly about eliminating somebody that is underprivileged, is of a minority group, is of a targeted group.
Q. So this guy I talked to said that, oh, it's great that you guys are talking about and contemplating bridging the political divide at the local level. But at the end of the day, if you're talking about threats to American democracy, it's all coming from a broken political system in Washington. And what you all are doing at the local level is just a blip on the screen. Do you agree?
I think that it is just a blip on the screen, but it's my screen. It's our screen. It's the community around me. It's people that I'm connected to, either directly or degrees of separation. And so working to make things better vocally in whatever way that means for you, because all of us have our own places and ways in which we want to achieve something or feel like we can achieve something, cleaning up a beach or working in a food plant, whatever it is. Yeah, that's a blip on the big screen. But man, those 500 families that have more food than they would have or that beach If it has less trash on it or the river that is less polluted, whatever that issue is, yes, that is local and small and a blip, but it matters to that community.
TAG: THAT WAS KPBS’S AMITA SHARMA TALKING TO SAN DIEGO VOTERS. FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW, GO TO KPBS-DOT-ORG
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AN UPCOMING PERFORMANCE WITH DANCERS AND MUSICIANS IS ABOUT HONORING THE LITTLE THINGS ALONGSIDE THE HEAVINESS AND CHAOS OF THE WORLD.
ARTS REPORTER JULIA DIXON EVANS TAKES US INSIDE A REHEARSAL.
DANCER 1 (1:20) SOQ
[clarinet]
Dancer and choreographer Giovanna Francisco says she is most aware of outside pressures based on how they feel in her body
I was noticing how taking on the weight of things with things in my family or things just in the world and the chaos of everything all the time and how it would make me feel heavy and it would translate into my movement. I started to think about how this is something that we all experience
Francisco is the creative director of "All the big and little things," which is informed by the ways we carry our burdens.
I was wanting to explore how we can better tune into those moments where we might be aware of it, and other times where we might not be, and learn to accept both and embrace both versus trying to change anything.
[jangling noises
"Can you do the rain stick?"
"Yeah"
Musician Zane Shrem-Besnoy was prompted by Francisco to study how sound and music are perceived.
[Zane playing clarinet]
can we notice our relationship to sound? Can we notice when it turns into music or when we feel like it's music and kind of like blurring that line?
These sounds include clarinets, slide whistles, harp, poetry, even balls bouncing on hand drums.
Performances take place this weekend at San Diego City College's City Gallery.
Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS News.
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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. I’m Lawrence K. Jackson. Thanks for listening and subscribing by doing so you are supporting public media and I thank you for that. Have a great day!
