By William Ponder, SoutheastThursday, Nov. 19, 2009 | As the school year moves along it is interesting that now the school board is holding "town hall" meetings on the issue of the budget. The district has already put a budget freeze on the low hanging fruit (travel, professional development, some goods and services, etc ... ). I find it a little backwards to have a town hall meeting after you have already put the brakes on some district activities just to hear "the public". Can the elected officials get ahead of this issue or will they just kick the can down the road?
Without a leader and with only those who have their own political agenda ... what is the district going to do? I believe the ship is sinking and nobody wants to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. If the district gets no help for the state or the feds (has the district applied for the race to the top funds?), SDUSD will be taking water real fast with no end in sight. I hope some folks at the "town Hall" meeting will provide the board with lifesavers ...
By Carrie Schneider, San DiegoWednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 | I would like to see local agencies do more to link the cost of water to the use of water. The biggest part of my monthly water bill is not a charge for water used, it's for infrastructure. A shower that costs 15 cents provides no incentive to save water. Wasting water is what causes us to think we need to spend huge amounts of money on increasing the size of dams and building desalination plants. In this way, water wasters are being subsidized by the rest of us. When are we going to wake up an start billing users for the real cost of water?
By Thomas Sweet, San DiegoTuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 | Thanks for the article on test scores not being in principals' evaluations. Here are some thoughts from the perspective of a teacher, former business manager, and parent.
I've been a classroom teacher for nine years after retiring from a major California company where I was deeply involved in the analysis of results and creation of improvement plans. In my career, I was evaluated under good plans, poor plans, and fake plans. In all of those cases, however, I had the ability to influence the outcome of my work.
The current Federal and state systems do a poor job of measuring the effectiveness of staff or administrators. If I were measured on the improvement year-over-year of my students, I'd be happy to be evaluated on the progress of struggling students. Just change the way California processes tests so that the student is held accountable for the results. If students must pass the test, or show significant improvement over the previous year's result, in order to pass a class, scores will get better. Today, students in California have no meaningful incentive to do their best.
The present system takes months to return scores to the classroom level. I have met teachers in Texas who were analyzing their scores three weeks after testing. Information on last May's tests is available to me in October! If the AP and SAT folks can turn around the volume of tests they administer, someone should be able to do it with our standards tests.
What would timely results do? First, give me time to include performance as part of the course grade. Second, give me time to modify curriculum in next year's course so that weak spots are strengthened.
Any evaluation process must allow for what teachers and administrators can influence. Measurement of improvement is more valid than the statistically questionable target system in place today. For example, the use of year-by-year targets instead of a rolling three year average creates penalties and sanctions and unnecessary administrative overhead where none is needed.
I'm glad we have someone looking at education in San Diego.
Thomas Sweet is a Math & IED Teacher and Track & Field Coach at Patrick Henry High School. By Joe Silverman, San DiegoMonday, Nov. 16, 2009 | Saving money by refusing to fill vacancies is a common bureaucratic ploy when cutting costs. While it is the easy way out for management it is, on the face of it, a grossly inefficient response to lean budgets. It says, in effect, that every vacancy is equally important in the operation of a function. What if, instead, departments were required to rank order the criticality of all positions. Then, you'd expect the cuts would come partially from vacancies and partially from incumbents. While rank ordering may be too difficult, at least positions could be classed as critical, desirable but not critical, and nice to have. However, if the latter procedure was adopted, departments must be required to categorize positions in the form of a roughly normal distribution. Else, you know what would happen (for the naive, "all positions are critical"). By Hans Laetz, Malibu, Calif.Monday, Nov. 8, 2009 | Let's make something very clear about the proposed football stadium in Industry: It is not "L.A's Shining Stadium On the Hill."
Unlike inferiority-beset cities like San Diego, Los Angeles does not have/want/need an NFL team. We do just fine watching the Dodgers play in their gem of a hilltop stadium and counting NBA banners. Those who wish get plenty of football on TV.
Sports fans in LA do not need such diversions, when we can listen bemusedly to the yokels in such lesser markets as San Francisco and San Diego chant "beat L.A!" as if that's the most-important thing in their civic lives.
L.A. is not, in any way, participating in the self-aggrandizing NFL exercise in Industry.
The fair-weather San Diego fans deserve the Spanos and whatever the latest fill-in-the-blank owner is doing with the Padres. Watching the Dodgers' owners in a nasty divorce is far more engaging than watching any team that San Diego has produced in the last decade or three.
As a child brought up in stucco-coated San Diego, I too understood the civic vibe that LA was a big, scary place that was to be avoided. How childish, how parochial. By Lee Moore, Del CerroThursday, Nov. 5, 2009 | Can the military share an airport or not? On the question of Miramar, I have heard that the military cannot share the land for a dual use airport. In traveling around the country I have noticed that many major airports have a military side. Airports such as Jacksonville, Charleston, Minneapolis all seem to have a military side. I am sure there are many more. Why, with over 10,000 acres, couldn't there be a shared airport at Miramar? I have noticed that many airports around the country have new modern terminals. Our terminal 2 is surpassed. Terminal 1 doesn't even compete. San Diego will never be a major hub, but can't we do better? Building a new airport would be a big job producer. Building that Gaylord project would have provided thousands of good jobs, right now when we could sure use them. I understand Mesa, AZ is under construction right now with the Gaylord resort we didn't want. I guess we didn't need those jobs either. By Catherine Hockmuth, Ocean BeachThursday, Nov. 5, 2009 | Regarding "Schools Beset with Problems", the headline is dramatic but perhaps a little overly so in response to a single study that seems to take a superficial look a wide range of issues.
I'm hard pressed to understand why it's a negative that we don't fire more teachers. I get that not all teachers are good ones, but doubt the solution to our educational problems is to fire more. I can't say the low number alarms me. In my entire adult life in the private sector, I've seen maybe a handful of people fired for poor performance. Also, did the study look at the intervention process for teachers who've had negative evaluations? Perhaps the real story is that they tend to be successful.
And the idea of mayoral control over the district is a laughable, simplistic solution to a very complex problem. It's a perfect example of the kind of quick fix thinking that dominates educational reform. Got a problem, let's put the mayor in charge! Or better yet -- a CEO!
By Allan Goodman, Kearney MesaTuesday, Nov. 03, 2009 | A new stadium in downtown will only compound the massive traffic and parking problems one sees at Petco, when there is a sellout crowd. With twice as many cars for 60-70,000 people, it will be impossible. The steady breeze that one sees at Petco will only be worse in the winter. There is only one logical place for the new stadium, and that is at the Qualcomm site. The roads, merging freeways, and space for parking are there. Central location for the people from all over this county is there. The facility for SDSU is there. Building a "new" stadium while using the "old" has been done many times in this country á la Yankee Stadium or Stanford Stadium. Jack Murphy and the others who picked that outstanding location were correct. Don't repeat the Petco mistake and move it elsewhere.
By Loran Pilling, San DiegoTuesday, Nov. 03, 2009 | The downtown site is perfect. It's a win-win-win for everybody. The only thing missing is a way for the Chargers to make a profit on a vacant parcel to pay for part of the stadium. The answer is to give them a better than market deal on the Sports Arena or Qualcomm site with the condition that they build a NBA/NHL quality sports arena as part of their condo/retail/office development. We all get a new stadium and sports arena. The Chargers stay here in the perfect spot. We get a NBA and/or NHL team. The city's property tax base goes way up with new revenue from the retail/residential/office part of the Sports Arena or Qualcomm development. In addition, the city will have the other vacant site to sell off or develop. The city also gets increased property taxes in East Village. WIN-WIN-WIN!
P.S. The city could use the remaining Sports Arena or Qualcomm site to relocate the marine training base. The marine site plus adjacent land near Lindbergh could possibly add a much needed second runway to the airport. By Laura Palfrey Murphy, North CountyMonday, Nov. 02, 2009 | It's nice to see some coverage from the dispensary perspective.
Cities do not want to make rules/guidelines. Without the grey area of the law, they will not qualify for drug war funds.
The Supreme Court ruled that Federal Law trumps state law in Gonzales vs. Raich due to the interstate commerce laws. We must focus on Congress rewriting these insane laws in order to revisit this issue.
So, what can the average taxpayer do who wants the government, including our own city, to knock this, what should be illegal, shit off? Go to a sleep clinic and then go get a recommendation for cannabis. Or a depression/anxiety clinic. These are two of the most common uses of cannabis. You don't have to use it, but if everyone did that, the government just might finally take notice.
Even the elderly from Leisure World in Orange County have realized its benefit, found a doctor and formed their own collective. Maybe when the DEA starts raiding all the retirement communities and nursing homes with guns blazing, people will finally have the awakening we have all been waiting for.
There will never be a way to convince the power structure of cannabis' benefit. They are addicted to the money it brings. Just like the Mondale Act of 1973 when federal funds opened up for CPS. Suddenly, we had millions of abused children. When the government opens up federal funds, states clamour to get the money.
Anyone have a tally of the cost for Operation Endless Summer or for the 09.09.09 raids? Juxtaposed against the large bottomless pit of what we call our city budget, I smell change or is that cannabis, in the air?
Don't even get me started on the private prison/slave business.
It's time for all of us to come out of the smoky closet and clear the air. Come on, you millions of users I keep hearing about? Come protest with us. Stop being afraid.
Watch "American Drug War" and google Irv Rosenberg's testimony in Michigan. Pretty much says it all. By Dianne Parham, Normal HeightsFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | This is how I predict the main library will proceed.
The estimate will come in at or below $185 million, and no one paid me $500,000 to know that. The City Council members will pat each other on the back, not for being visionaries but because they know some of them will be out of office when the contractors come back to ask for additional funds because, ooops, their estimate was too low.
Then it will be too late because, after all, construction has already started and now we have to add money to the project, even if the fundraising is still pretty pathetic even after a decade of trying to get interest in the project. And the Council will add money and add money and add money, and the public will never be told the total true cost of the project, but will continue to be told it was approved at the original amount. I've seen this before, by the way, and so have you if you've paid attention to projects built in the city. And because it is a bigger building, everyone will be surprised the operating costs went up because, unlike construction costs, operating costs tend to go up, but now we have the building so we have to pay the added costs of running it.
And the first major earthquake we have, the whole thing will fold like the tower of toothpicks it is due to the maneuvers to move school money out of projects that needed the funds and dumping them into the main library in a community that didn't want a charter high school but that's all they get so the safety requirements can be avoided.
Of course there is the added cost of transporting the students to the site, but let's not count that -- the school system can afford that extra expense, right?
Good job all around. Typical city project.
I would love to be wrong, by the way, but I would also have liked to have had a decent design for the library and that didn't happen. By Richard del Rio, Pacific BeachFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | Is it just me or does Emily Alpert's note on a local group of businesspeople and civic leaders at University of San Diego sound like deja vu all over again? When the Chamber of Commerce's Business Roundtable lobbied for hiring former School Superintendent Alan Bersin in 1998, the fix was in. The SDUSD School Board announced that they wanted a "non-educator," knowing all along that Alan Bersin was their man.
Now we have another private group of self-described leaders holding a private meeting to discuss issues of concern for the district. The invitation cites four main areas of concern including transparency and community involvement. Without any irony intended the meeting is closed to the public. If I were this group's English teacher, their invitation to the event would be penalized for not defending the claim. By Hank Cunningham, EncinitasFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | Sorry, but it's difficult to empathize with the "plight" of the Suttons and other De Anza Cove residents who've lived on one of prime pieces of real estate in coastal San Diego County for years at a pittance of the true value of their leased property. Face it -- they don't own the underlying land, and the term of their land leases expired years ago.
It's time for the landlord (city of San Diego) to exercise its lawful authority and for the tenants to move on. Please relate this to the following article by Scott Lewis that seriously considers municipal bankruptcy.
The city needs to manage the assets it already possesses before even considering reneging on legal contracts with its employees. By Bill Bradshaw, Mission BeachMonday, Oct. 26, 2009 | More than just a graveyard, indeed. It's an asset that could be converted into cash, instead of an annual $300k drain on the city treasury by simply selling it. But what does the bureaucracy do? Spends time on plans to spend more money to make it a "showplace" for nature and art.
With a $169 million deficit, called "structural" by the IBA, can there be a more fitting example of why this city, one of very few that runs cemeteries,is in deep trouble? Until someone cleans house, there is no way our financial problem will be faced, much less solved. By Ian Trowbridge, Mission HillsFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | The comment by Malin Burnham that the public can't be trusted to express an informed vote on whether the city should build a new Civic Center. Sarah Palin's idiotic political and social pronouncements pale in comparison with Papa Malin's proclamation that he believes in the concept of "in loco parentis" for the majority of adult San Diego voters.
This man is a disaster for San Diego with the influence he wields with the old guard still running this city who, in turn, control the mayor and a least one council member.
Maybe we shouldn't vote at all for mayor or city council members and let Malin pick them himself as he already tries to do. After all, we can't be trusted. By John de Beck, Bay ParkFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | The state constitution does not permit charges for public education activities.
That is not debateable.
When charges are requested for student participation in a school-sponsored activity or class, the case law supports the constitution and any attorney that says otherwise is wiggling away from legal precedent.
The excuse that a child whose family can't afford the charge will be taken care of by the school (through donors, or by school funds) is just that: an excuse! The constitution does not have a means test. It doesn't say it public education is free for the poor, but not free for the others!
As a board member, I and others elected to office are sworn to support the constitution. The issue of whether or not parents choose to attend private schools because we make public schools free (or stop requiring payments for activities) is irrelevant and should not color our judgment.
School folks have tried to justify the process of charging by asking parents to go to vendors directly for uniform or other requirements. In addition, they have made requirements for periodic "donations" as installment payments of the charges they require for student participation. They also deposit donations into the ASB (Student Body) accounts and then use the accounts to actually pay district employees for work they do after hours for district sponsored activities.
There is an official pay schedule for extra-curricular activities and every principal manages it from their high school budget.
If they want other activities and can't pay for them, charging parents seems like an easy way out. But it is unconstitutional -- not a gray area.
If, as many courts have held, that these practices are unconstitutional, then those who want the worthwhile activities to continue should figure out the constitutional way to support them. Donations are always welcome for public school activities, but requiring them to be paid so your child can participate in a public school activity is wrong. The end does not justify the means. By Lisa Chavarria, TierrasantaFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | I found your article about school fees very interesting. There is a rise in fees, obviously, but a $25 soccer uniform for an extra-curricular activities is mild, even if money is tight. I find it interesting that parents are complaining over $20 for art, a $20 activity card, etc.
No one is complaining that an elementary school class has 40 kids in it. Or that there is little to no art or music in elementary and middle schools. The schools have to made do with the limited resources they have. I guess to stop all this complaining about activities your kids don't "have" to be in (they're called extracurricular for a reason) ... cancel them all. Sure, you love soccer, cheerleading, football and art. Find a community organization to participate in (if you can). And let the fees roll! It will make your $20 seem like a steal.
By Frances O'Neill Zimmerman, La JollaFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | The issue of requiring public school students and their families to pay for uniforms and/or supplies to participate in a particular kind of class or extra-curricular activity is prohibited by law and everyone knows it, no matter what the practice at a given school. Pay-to-play rules don't "stigmatize" poor kids: they exclude them.
This is an opportune moment for a philanthropic institution like the San Diego Foundation to step in, develop a fund and make an annual significant donation to the local public schools to cover such costs. It would be a huge help, it's entirely local and it would win that organization a lot of friends. By Carrie Schneider, San DiegoFriday, Oct. 30, 2009 | Rob Davis does a great job of pointing out the mess created at the border by the Federal Government. The legislation that allowed this project, without any standards for mitigation of the deleterious effects, was the Real ID Act. This bill was supported by both of California's senators, and was ostensibly about improving identification verification, but also included a section that waived all laws (not just environmental laws) in order to speed border fence construction. This was despite the fact that none of the 9/11 terrorists entered the border through Mexico.
The failure of California's congressional representatives to remove this section from the bill means that San Diego will suffer for decades to come unless steps are taken to force the Federal Government to act responsibly. Kudos to Susan Davis for taking some steps to address this problem, but what is needed is a new act of Congress that forces the federal departments to repair the damage they have done to San Diego. By Dylan Mann, Linda VistaThursday, Oct. 22, 2009 | This was an excellent article. voiceofsandiego does a great job covering education, housing, and of course, city politics, but I would love to see regular reports (perhaps even a dedicated column) on San Diego health care. Indirectly, more press coverage will help provide care to the underserved. Make no mistake about it -- PHILANTHROPISTS READ VOICE OF SAN DIEGO.
Many of our fellow San Diegans are skipping primary care because they can't afford $30 co-pays at a local clinic. We all know what happens next ... their conditions fester, they head to the nearest emergency room, and our society pays their bill, which grows to $30,000.
There are people reading VOSD who have the means to underwrite many health clinic co-pays. This is an attractive, "upstream" intervention for donors looking to get the most bang for their philanthropic buck, so to speak. If you want to help people like Ángeles Hernandez, write these kinds of stories as often as possible. I guarantee it will make a difference.
|
You can't mandate that kids buy books, uniforms or other supplies for a school activity -- even if it's an extracurricular.
Friday, November 20 -- 12:14 pm
College controversies, getting cash at your local high school and why Obama hearts preschool.
Friday, November 20 -- 8:14 am
What the city giveth, the Navy taketh away.
Friday, November 20 -- 6:16 am
SURVIVAL IN SAN DIEGO
Changes at the FHA could dramatically affect the local market.
Thursday, November 19 -- 7:19 pm
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Among other chores to be done after a school board budget freeze.
Thursday, November 19 -- 9:08 pm
CAFÉ SAN DIEGO
Wednesday, October 28 -- 5:29 pm
COMMENTARY: SLOP
And more things to think about.
Sunday, November 15 -- 6:31 pm
COMMENTARY: RICH TOSCANO
Wednesday, November 18 -- 4:46 pm
|
|
Letters may be edited for length -- we prefer they not be longer than 350 words. And they may be edited for style and libelous content.