This week we have a special episode for you. This coming year is going to be a difficult one for leaders of San Diego Unified School District. They are facing a massive budget deficit, ongoing stagnation in enrollment. They’re grappling with the aftermath of scandals involving sexual misconduct allegations that got the attention of the federal government and brought down the district’s superintendent.

Cody Petterson was just named the new school board president. He’ll guide the five member Board of Education for the District. 

He’s taking over that role from his colleague, trustee Shana Hazan. 

Both of them came into the studio to talk about all these issues and more. It was a frank and interesting exchange on some very touchy topics in education.

 

Show Notes

You can show your support for our podcast today by going to vosd.org/podpeople

 

Links

San Diego Unified School District Board of Education 

About

Shana Hazan Board President - District B Term Expires: December 2026

Cody Petterson Board Vice President - District C Term Expires: December 2026

 

Selected Recent VOSD Stories: San Diego Unified School District 

 

Oct 14, 2024

San Diego Student Test Scores Haven’t Made Up Pandemic Losses

The slow recovery from pandemic performance drop offs coupled with growing budget woes may spell trouble for districts like San Diego Unified.

 

Sep 12, 2024

Billions of Dollars Later, Some San Diego Unified Students Still Dealing with Hot Classrooms

Taxpayers have voted to give San Diego Unified School District $11.5 billion over the last 16 years with the express purpose of bringing working air...

 

Sep 5, 2024

New San Diego Schools Superintendent Didn’t Mention Misconduct or Victims in Speech to Principals

Over multiple district communications since Lamont Jackson's firing, there's been a group of people conspicuously missing.

 

Sep 3, 2024

Lamont Jackson Is Out as San Diego Unified Supe. What’s Next?

Fabiola Bagula, who was elevated to acting superintendent from her deputy superintendent role after Jackson's firing, seems poised to keep that role.

 

Aug 29, 2024

Investigation Into San Diego Unified Superintendent Substantiates Allegations of Misconduct Involving Staff

The allegations against Superintendent Lamont Jackson were levied by former San Diego Unified School District staff.

 

Aug 19, 2024

Feds Slam San Diego Unified’s Handling of Sexual Misconduct

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education skewers how San Diego Unified for years handled sexual misconduct complaints.

 

Aug 12, 2024

School Is Back in Session: 4 Education Stories to Follow

Believe it or not, most schools in San Diego County are back in session. If the new school year snuck up on you, that's likely because start dates have been…

 

Jun 12, 2024

The Learning Curve: San Diego Unified’s AI Future Is Now

San Diego Unified paid $83,000 to integrate its high school English curriculum into an online platform and got access to an AI tool as well.

 

Jun 11, 2024

San Diego Unified High Schoolers: Getting Great Grades But Troubling Test Scores

An analysis of thousands of letter grades from San Diego Unified high schoolers shows that far more students pass classes in subjects like English, math and...

 

May 20, 2024

San Diego Unified Investigating Superintendent Lamont Jackson

Though a district official has confirmed an investigation is occurring, no one will say what prompted it.

 

May 17, 2024

San Diego Unified Is Slowly Embracing Science of Reading

The district has long relied on an approach to teaching kids to read that's not back by science. Now, officials are working to change that – but it hasn't...

 

May 16, 2024

San Diego Unified Walks Back Majority of Teacher Layoffs

District officials announced Thursday that they had rescinded 96 percent of the layoff notices issued in March.

 

Feb 26, 2024

‘I Can’t Wait Until You’re 18’: Despite Years of Sexual Harassment Allegations, San Diego Unified Allowed Teacher to Quietly Retire

For years, students and faculty at Roosevelt Middle filed complaints against a middle school math teacher. Students alleged he'd grabbed their butts,...

 

Feb 21, 2024

San Diego Unified Board Member: Teacher Layoffs Are Coming

In June, San Diego Unified officials announced the district was projecting big deficits in the coming years. The expiration of hundreds of millions of...

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

December 13, 2024

The election just ended. The election just started. We often accuse politicians of being short sighted but one thing they definitely plan far in advance is their next political move. We may have heard the first shots in the 2028 mayoral race. 

The city has a new president of the City Council and the region has a new Republican leader, same as the old one. 

And the county passed a rule about what the sheriff can and cannot do with immigration enforcement officers and the sheriff said thank you but I run my own show. 

We get into the meat and potatoes of it all.

Show Notes

San Diego's Pension Scandal:

Wikipedia San Diego pension scandal

VOSD Mayor Announces New Pension Board Nominees; Whistleblower’s Name Absent
by Andrew Donohue
February 28, 2005

 

La Jolla Secession:

VOSD Morning Report: In Point Loma, Talk of Secession
by Randy Dotinga
January 6, 2011

VOSD Mayor Gloria Chimes in on La Jolla Secession
‘As a Mayor, I wouldn’t recommend it,’ he said on the VOSD Podcast last week.
by Jakob McWhinney
December 10, 2024

 

101 Ash Street (the former Sempra building)

Wikipedia 101 Ash Street

VOSD How the City Came to Lease a Lemon
It’s likely the city never would have purchased 101 Ash St. if a developer hadn’t come along to act as middleman. But that structure also laid the groundwork for a situation that is stunningly messy even in the canon of San Diego real estate history.
by Lisa Halverstadt and Jesse Marx
August 10, 2020

San Diego City Council Meeting Item 330:  Proposed Settlement Agreement Involving Acquisition of the 101 Ash Street and Civic Center Plaza Properties

 

Carl DeMaio 

Carl DeMaio Won an Assembly Seat but the Road to Victory Was Vicious 
The Republican Party of San Diego County has been absorbed in a family feud centered around their newest elected official, incoming Assembly member Carl DeMaio. 
by Deborah Sullivan Brennan
December 6, 2024

 

Sanctuary City San Diego

Border Report: Schools, Churches Mull Sanctuary Policies
by Brooke Binkowski
December 5, 2016

Neither San Diego – Nor California – Is a Sanctuary for the Undocumented
by Scott Lewis
February 21, 2017

Border Report: What a Sanctuary City Is, and Isn’t
by Kate Morrissey
December 9, 2024

Jim Desmond's Instagram Account
What does it mean to become a “Super” Sanctuary County? To fully grasp the implications, you need to understand California’s current sanctuary state law and its impact.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Meeting Agenda Item 29
SUBJECT: ADOPTING A BOARD POLICY ON IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
TO ENHANCE COMMUNITY SAFETY (DISTRICTS: ALL)
December 10, 2024
Agenda Item 29 PDF
Meeting Video on YouTube

Statement on Board of Supervisors Vote on Immigration Enforcement
Sheriff's Office to continue following state law.
Post Date:12/10/2024 5:15 PM

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve got the full crew in today to host a conversation with Mayor Todd Gloria, fresh off re-election, the mayor has no honeymoon. A huge budget deficit is coming up and his plan to deal with it – a tax increase – failed. 

For more on the issues:

Can San Diego Finally Pass a Sales Tax Increase?

Politics Report: The Civic Center Dream

101 Ash St.

Newly Homeless Residents Still Outpacing Newly Housed

Homelessness Crisis Response System 2023 Data and Performance Report

Morning Report: The Battle Against Homeless Shelters

Wendy's - 'Where's the Beef ' Ad (Original - 1984)

La Jollans Are Trying to Divorce San Diego (Again)

November 1, 2024 Podcast: 2024 Election Draft Pick (start at 16:40 for Andrea’s description of the Mayor’s pup)

 

Support VOSD: Member Benefits
Join today and receive insider access.

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week is thanksgiving so what better time for us to bring back beef week? It’s more like Beef 10 Days. It may seem incongruent but we should all be thankful we can beef in local politics without violence or whatever. 

 

And we have a special guest this week, Council President Sean Elo-Rivera is here. We’ll talk about the election and some tough decisions coming up for him and his colleagues.

 

LINKS

For more on the issues:

Beef Week

No Longer ‘Norita.’ Some of Nora Vargas’ Constituents Sour on her Leadership

It’s Impossible to Pee Legally in San Diego

 

Sean Elo-Rivera Official City Webpage

Sean Elo-Rivera Instagram

 

Voice Member Benefits
Join today and receive insider access.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Registrar of Voters made us wait six days for an update on the vote count from November 5 – 16 days ago. The main local race we’re still watching is the Oceanside mayoral race. Just 31 votes separated the incumbent and her challenger. 

Senior investigative reporter Will Huntsberry will join us later on the show to explain why the city of San Diego has purchased at least $1 million worth of gear from a man involved in one of the largest law enforcement scandals in San Diego’s history. 

And new data about local schools just dropped. There’s some encouraging news but it’s still kind of bleak. 

 

For more on the issues:

Bill Walton FBI files

 

Pop culture in the FBI filing cabinet:

 

Sanctuary City rhetoric

 

KTLA’s Story on LA’s Sanctuary City declaration

 

A Man Convicted in a Major Law Enforcement Scandal Is Doing Big Business with the City

 

Voice Member Benefits
Join today and receive insider access.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are still processing the election, as I am sure all of you are. But at least some questions have been answered. We’ll go through those updates. 

And, where does the city of San Diego go from here? The mayor and Council President got re-elected but a sales tax failed and a deficit looms. A lot of people are worried about big cities and we get it.

 

For more on the issues:

 

Deadly Failure: A Sailor’s Struggle in a Fractured Mental Health System,

NBC San Diego VOD

VOSD Story

 

Election 2024
San Diego County Unofficial Election Results

The Learning Curve: Bazzo Has Likely Won – Just Barely

Politics Report: Baked Months Ago

 

Voice Member Benefits
Join today and receive insider access.

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, that was an election. We will go back through the races we drafted last week. As always, there are a couple nail-biters as we begin the tradition of waiting for updates every afternoon. 

But we can say that San Diego incumbents did well. Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Councilmembers hoping for another term did fine. So did Terra Lawson Remer, the county supervisor who faced down millions in spending against her. 

Turns out all she had to do was all we suspected she had to do: Connect her opponent Kevin Faulconer to Trump. But like everywhere else in the country, Trump did better here than before.

For more on the issues:

Union Tribune College/Talmadge/Montezuma Rd Fire Photo

 Scott’s Twitter/X palm tree post

Jakob’s Twitter/X young voters post

Voices of the Voters

Election Results: We’re Waiting on These Races

North County Report: Election Results Are Rolling In

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming up on the show this week… It’s time. This is our last show before the apocalypse.

We’ve got a special roundtable to go through our ranking of the best elections to watch Tuesday. Local elections that is. The Voice of San Diego elections draft and the elections contest are back. We’ll do it.

 

For more on the issues:

San Diego 2024 Election: What’s at Stake

Politifest 2024: News and Media

 

Voice of San Diego relies on reader and listener support:

Voice Member Benefits
Join today and receive insider access.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the last lap of this election season and we have updates on several major races in San Diego. 

Is Mayor Todd Gloria overstating his creation of homeless shelter beds? Yes. Did Terra Lawson Remer use campaign funds for her kid’s preschool? Yes. She has a good defense but it’s interesting. 

And in South Bay, the chair of the County board of Supervisors has created several enemies. 

Finally, remember that fake charity that had fake volunteers selling concessions at Petco Park? Well two of its workers are now running a new charity. The thing is, we cannot figure out what the charity does.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Coming up on the show this week… 

We’ve got more mailers here to dissect. We’ll cut through what campaigns want voters to know and what we don’t even understand like: Why are California realtors bullying a candidate for her poker playing skills?

There’s a newspaper endorsement that’s not really a newspaper endorsement … It is silly season in San Diego. 

To wrap it up, We’ll talk about a key school board race and the latest in the biggest race of them all – the District 3 County Supervisor contest. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.