For months, Ashly McGlone has been digging into sexual misconduct cases involving public school employees.
McGlone’s latest revelation: Two Poway Unified high school teachers ousted after romantic relationships with students were able to continue working in the field thanks to the district’s agreement not to tell potential employers why they’d been forced out, according to records obtained by Voice of San Diego.
Both men, who taught at separate schools and whose resignations happened years apart, eventually lost their teaching credentials more than a year after their departures from Poway Unified, but the revocations didn’t hamper efforts to secure jobs at education firms.
The Poway cases shed light on how local school district decisions, coupled with the state’s slow-moving educator misconduct reporting system, can leave future employers largely in the dark and allow problem teachers to continue working with youth. Public school districts regularly opt for confidential resignation deals to avoid a sometimes lengthy and costly teacher termination process where educators can appeal repeatedly.
A similar decision in Chula Vista allowed a former show choir teacher found to have engaged in “severe and pervasive” misconduct to take on work with a youth theater and a middle school.
Ballot Measure Alphabet
The San Diego city clerk’s office recently shared the names of eight local ballot measures city voters will weigh in on this November.
Here’s a list:
Measure E: SoccerCity
Measure G: SDSU West
Measure H: San Diego Unified school board term limits
Measure J: Mandatory disclosure of business interests
Measure K: City Council term limits
Measure L: Ethics and compensation for elected city officials
Measure M: Audit Committee reappointments
Measure N: Reinstatement of industrial disability for city police officers
Stay tuned for VOSD election coverage in coming months and sign up to attend our day-long public affairs summit Politifest on Oct. 6 for an in-person rundown of November ballot measures.
Downtown Not a Big Magnet for Tech Yet
East Village is envisioned as the IDEA District, a tech hub for innovation, design, education and the arts.
But two corporate giants overlooked East Village and downtown when it came to their technology arms.
Amazon is opening a new office in San Diego’s University City neighborhood, bringing 300 new technology jobs to the region, reported NBC 7.
And Walmart announced plans to triple its headcount at its Walmart Labs operation, a tech headquarters in Carlsbad, reported 10News.
While there are a handful of big online marketing firms headquartered in East Village and downtown, there isn’t a ton of new office space being built in San Diego’s urban core. Developers are opting to build residential condos and apartments instead. That means the dream of a downtown tech hub might never become a reality.
There’s still some hope, though: A real estate investment firm recently bought Horton Plaza Mall and has plans to turn part of the stagnant shopping center into hip office spaces designed for tech businesses. And construction has begun on Doug Manchester’s project that will redevelop Navy property on San Diego’s waterfront into hotels, restaurants and thousands of square feet of new office space. You hear that, Google and Apple?
Speaking of apartment-heavy downtown, competition to fill all the new units with renters is fierce. One company is trying to tempt tenants by offering up a contest for a European vacation. (Union-Tribune)
A New Hunter Investigation
The House Ethics Committee voted Thursday to form a subcommitee to investigate Rep. Duncan Hunter.
The move is part of an established process that says the committee has 30 days from when a member is indicted to either form a subcommitee to investigate or to explain why it won’t.
For now, though, the subcommitee is waiting for the federal prosecution of Hunter to play out.
“Thus, the Hunter and [Rep. Chris] Collins investigative subcommittees are purely symbolic for now,” reports Roll Call.
Opinion: CCAs Pay Off for Cities Without Them Too
Team Community Choice Aggregation has mayors on its side, too.
There’s been much debate about the potential costs for the rest of the region as San Diego and other cities mull whether to pursue community choice aggregation, public energy programs thought to use more climate-friendly energy than utilities like San Diego Gas & Electric.
Del Mar Mayor Dwight Worden, Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear and Solana Beach Mayor David Zito argue in a new op-ed that the growth of CCAs could put pressure on investor-owned utilities like SDG&E to offer better rates and greener energy to customers regionwide.
San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond, National City Mayor Ron Morrison and El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells argued in a separate op-ed last week that San Diegans in cities without CCAs could be stuck with higher bills if the programs proceed.
Time to Vote for the Next People’s Reporter Quest
What’s the status of the Plunge swimming pool project in Mission Beach?
How much do Balboa Park museums make and how much do they pay in rent?
What happened to the 2010 plan to use the old World Trade Center building as a center for homeless services?
Those are the three questions up for a vote in People’s Reporter, a series where we gather questions from readers, then answer those questions.
Take a second to vote on which question you’d like us to answer next.
News Nuggets
The Sierra Club has sued the county in an attempt to halt recently approved housing projects, citing concerns that those plans don’t adequately protect the region from increased greenhouse gas emissions. (KPBS)
Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor has recused himself from a fraud and defamation case against El Cajon City Councilman Ben Kalasho and his wife, forcing another judge to take the case. (East County Magazine)
A long-delayed San Ysidro School District solar project is embroiled in yet another breach-of-contract lawsuit. (Union-Tribune)
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego says it’s reviewing 50 years of records and plans to publish a list of priests accused of misconduct. (KQED)
In the wake of a signature-gathering campaign to overturn restrictive new vacation rental rules, City Councilwoman Lorie Zapf says signature-gathering rules “must be changed.” (IVN)
Beware of the particularly nasty mosquitos in North County coastal communities this season. (NBC 7)
https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/morning-report-poway-unified-agreed-not-to-disclose-two-teachers-sexual-misconduct/