Recent Articles
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Education Matters: Will Harvie’s return
If there were only one school board meeting to attend all year, San Dieguito’s on Nov. 3 was it. About 100 people squeezed into the San Dieguito Union High School District board room that night, most there to protest the sudden “resignation for retirement purposes” of Torrey Pines High School AP...
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Education Matters: Education propositions on the ballot
As a socially-liberal fiscal conservative (or a fiscally-conservative social liberal), I find myself in a bind at each election cycle. The Republican Party is too extreme on social issues, and the Democrats are too free with our hard-earned cash. So where does that leave us registered Independents...
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Education Matters: The rest of the SOUL story
The surprising thing about the vote to deny the SOUL charter school petition is that there was definitely the sense that San Dieguito school board members were inclined to support it. When the founders of the school spoke to the board before the Oct. 13 vote and clearly said they would not accept...
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Education Matters: Microscopes and clarinets vs. raises and the surplus
Last week’s column ended with the assertion that the San Dieguito Union High School District, with its just announced $4 million surplus, should stop asking parents for money for basic classroom and program essentials that the district should be financing. Two examples that the district has not...
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Education Matters: Clearing up LCFF confusion
The portion of last week’s column that discussed the Local Control Funding Formula money received by the San Dieguito Union High School District was incomplete, somewhat confusing and requires further elaboration. I may have opinions on how districts should spend their money, but those opinions...
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Education Matters: Money is flowing, but in the right direction?
The state’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) has provided school districts with significantly increased revenue which was intended to address the needs of traditionally under-performing groups of students, as well as advance achievement for all students. Using LCFF funds for across-the-board...
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Education Matters: Later school start times at San Dieguito remain elusive
The last time I wrote about school start times, I began by saying, “I can’t believe I’m writing about this again.” And here I am doing it yet again. Why? Because school boards continue to resist mounting evidence supporting the need for later school start times for adolescents. In a column back...
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Education Matters: Smarter and more balanced
No, Smarter Balanced is not a butter substitute. It’s a ridiculous name for tests that assess student achievement on the new Common Core State Standards. Not sure about balanced, but one can argue that kids may be getting smarter. The Smarter Balanced test results from last spring were just released....