San Diego’s largest school district begins a new academic year
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, August 22nd.>>>>
After a 24-hour delay,San Diego Unified starts its new academic year this morning. We’ll hear from Superintendent Lamont Jackson.That next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######
After a 24-hour tropical storm delay, school campuses from college to T-K will be bustling with activity today.
It’s day one for the San Diego Unified School District, welcoming students back to more than 100 campuses.
Higher education is also back in session.
About 50-thousand students in the San Diego Community College District will begin a new academic year.
And, San Diego State University begins in-person classes for the fall semester following a day of virtual learning on Monday.For those with kids in school, go to kpbs-dot-org slash parents and submit any questions you may have to help guide our coverage for the year ahead.
The Aztecs men’s basketball team is lending its voice to a new awareness campaign about the dangers of fentanyl.
It’s a collaboration with the local U-S District Attorney’s Office.
Here’s part of that public service announcement.
(nats of music) “My name is Lamont Butler. Jae LeDee. Myles Byrd. Demarshay Johnson Junior. Fentanyl kills, creates chaos, ruins families, and doesn’t care about your race. It doesn’t care how you identify."
The videos are posted on YouTube, Snapchat and other social media platforms.
Local prosecutors recently met with SDSU resident advisors and student leaders on how to recognize signs of an overdose and how to properly use Narcan.
No relief yet for soaring gas prices in San Diego.
Triple-A now puts the local average for a gallon of regular fuel at $5.32.
We’re now at 28-straight days of increases.San Diego’s average is now 37-cents higher than one month ago. We’re still about a dollar less than the record price of $6.43 set last October.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
The one-day delay for the first day of school in San Diego Unified gave administrators and staff time to assess and repair damage from Sunday’s storm.
KPBS Education Reporter M.G. Perez has this update.
There are more than 170 campuses across the San Diego Unified School District…that’s a lot of ground to cover to make sure classrooms are safe for students to return. Administrators and teachers spent the extra work day assessing for damage…and then making necessary repairs. Sarah Hillard is a science teacher at Millennial Tech Middle School who found storm water leaking from the ceiling onto iPads in her classroom. She will make it a teachable moment. “I think it’s really important to teach the kids about weather…weather patterns…climate and what is causing hurricanes to occur in a city where they haven’t occurred in the last 80 years.” Superintendent Lamont Jackson has assured parents the district’s abundance of caution guarantees students will return to safe campuses. MG Perez, KPBS News.
As the fall semester begins at San Diego Unified, Superintendent Jackson says he’s prepared for a new school year of success.
Once again, here’s KPBS Education Reporter M.G. Perez.
Everyone has their own memories of the first day of school. “The new back pack… the new pencils… there was some excitement about that …and some nervousness.” San Diego Unified District Superintendent Dr. Lamont Jackson is ready to welcome back students for the fall semester. He tells us their mental health is his first priority. “I think we're doing a much better job of exposing individuals… human beings…to what they have been suffering with in silence, and it's much more public…and with that comes self, referrals…So we're getting more referrals, you know, students articulating, what they're feeling.” Jackson’s other priorities also include 10 additional community school campuses that will include services for families and their children that go beyond the classroom. MGP KPBS News.
We have much more from Dr. Lamont Jackson about the new school year, and how he’s looking into helping schools in Maui that have been affected by wildfires. You can find that on the KPBS YouTube page.
Tropical storm Hilary’s impact on the County’s infrastructure was minimal.
Emergency officials say that’s due, in part, to being prepared.
Here’s Reporter Matt Hoffman.
Forecasters say most urban areas in the county got two to three inches of rain from Hilary with wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour. But initial estimates show no major damage countywide. Something San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria attributes to pre-positioning crews across the city doing work like clearing blockages from pipes and storm drains. “Because of their hard work the worst that we feared never came to pass. When we asked you to stay home and take precautions you responded and by doing so you reduced the need for emergency services , allow our first responders and city crews to do their jobs.” No deaths or major injuries have been reported..Some low-lying roads were flooded..and there were nearly 150 reports of downed trees or branches. Matt Hoffman, KPBS News.
The Storm brought lots of rain to the region and that will help ease the risk of wildfires in the short term.
environment reporter Erik Anderson explains.
Several rainfall records for August fell around the county. Escondido, Vista and Cuyamaca all set rain records. The National Weather Service predicted rainfall totals would be the highest in the mountains. More than six inches fell at Palomar Mountain. At Mount Laguna the recorded rainfall topped four and a half inches. CAL FIRE’s Thomas Shoots says the rain tamps down the risk of wildfires. “Now, with this rainstorm, hopefully that will be less of a concern, but the wind can dry out our fuels very rapidly. And so, if we have a couple of Santa Ana wind events, what are our fuel conditions gonna look like? That has yet to be seen.”Shoots says unlike spring rains which feed plant growth, this soaking likely won’t add to wildfire fuel loads. Erik Anderson KPBS News.
Coming up.... Over the past decade, members of the Ramona Cemetery District voted to give themselves health benefits, totaling more than 400-thousand dollars.
Two of the directors were paying themselves health care benefits, which the auditor thought was unusual.
We’ll have that story, just after the break.
There are 58 special districts in the County that are paid for by property taxes.
Some districts are monitored closely.
Others, not so much.
Anchor Maya Trabulsi has the story of a cemetery district in Ramona.
Nuevo memory gardens cemetery in Ramona is the final resting place for more than a thousand souls. It opened in 1893 and sits on ten acres. adorning the entrance is a plaque recognizing two of the cemetery's three current board members. One is William Biggs who joined the cemetery district’s board more than 34 years ago. The other is Daniel Vengler who’s been a board member for over 30 years. There are no term limits for special district boards in California. But an expert on good governance says he’s never heard of anyone serving this long. Yet, he’s not surprised it happened. “Almost all special districts are under the radar. Nobody pays very much attention to them.” Bob Stern is co-author of the state’s political reform act, which governs how public agencies should operate. Special districts he explains are self governing. “There in the county, unless someone is monitoring them, they get away with whatever they want to.” And “whatever they want” is what this cemetery board has been doing, says 40 year ramona resident Pete Smith. He first took interest three years ago while sitting on a committee that oversees county audits. “Highlighted was a comment by a county auditor, who caught in his review of the statement that two of the directors were paying themselves health care benefits, which the auditor thought was unusual.” The report was sent to the county’s civil grand jury, which investigates such things. But Smith says nothing changed. So he dug deeper and found that since 2011, the Ramona district has paid a total of $402,123 dollars in trustee health benefits. Benefits they voted to give themselves. KPBS confirmed what Smith found. And reviews of the other three cemetery districts in the county found that none of the others paid their trustees health benefits. “My biggest concern as a taxpayer is how this money is being used.” Smith was joined by a KPBS reporter at the board's monthly meeting in early August. It was his second appearance at a board meeting to ask about their health benefits. During his first visit, he was told to provide proof. On this visit he provided it– the district's own records. “Of all the cemetery districts in San Diego county only Ramona pays its directors health care" The California controller's website shows in 2021 trustee Biggs received $15,168 in health contributions and trustee Vengler got $34,800. After more than 20 minutes of back and forth among Smith, board members and the reporter, Vengler made a surprise announcement. He says the board should stop paying for his and biggs’ health benefits. “We want to reverse a motion that was made in 2011… that the Ramona cemetery district pay the calpers health benefits in full for trustees.” Biggs and Vengler were reappointed during the twenty eight years supervisor Diane Jacob was in office. Joel Anderson succeeded Jabob in 2021 and reappointed the board members. We showed him what we found. “You know, I was shocked to learn what we learned.” The supervisor said his options are limited. “We're actually doing the research on what we can and cannot do. I made some of these appointments back in 2021 when I first got elected, and nobody else applied, there were no complaints and I had no idea.” The cemetery district board met again last week. They acted on the proposals Vengler made at the previous meeting and it went a step further. “They wanted to see your checks i redacted the information.” Vengler paid the district back for his insurance costs with two checks totaling $303,658 dollars. And one more thing. “As far as the health benefits go for calpers….. “ The board members agreed to terminate their health benefits. Maya Trabulsi, KPBS News.”
KPBS freelance reporter J-W August wrote and reported this story.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Tomorrow we’ll have more from the first day of school for San Diego Unified. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
