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The Oceanside City Council voted 3-2 last week to delay opening the new El Corazon Aquatics Center while it considers whether to save money for its operation by closing the 50-year-old Brooks Street pool.
Mayor Esther Sanchez voted no and said she was outraged at the idea, which would close a heavily used pool in a older, low-income, mostly Latino neighborhood to open the new aquatics center in a wealthier, less ethnically diverse part of the city.
“I am really surprised that this would come up, that we would be taking from the poor to give to the rich,” Sanchez said during the discussion Wednesday. “That’s what it looks like . we are going to deny a huge resource to kids that cannot even get to the beach.”
The app was first rolled out through a pilot program in which the Chula Vista Police Department, Chula Vista Elementary School District and Sweetwater Union High School District took part, according to the DA s office.
The program is now being implemented in El Cajon by the Cajon Valley School District and the El Cajon Police Department, while efforts to expand the program countywide are underway, according to the DA s office.
The San Diego County Office of Education has also provided training materials that include what behavior to be alert for and what to say in response. Children who experience trauma in the home often don t complete homework, do poorly on tests, and are withdrawn, District Attorney Summer Stephan said. This pilot program is a simple way we can alert teachers and school administrators and provide important context so they can monitor the child s behavior and provide support if necessary.
When a participating police officer responds to an incident and identifies a child who may have witnessed or experienced trauma, the officer will use the app to send an alert to the child’s school and teacher that reads simply, Handle with care. No specifics about the incident are shared with the school.
Dr. Shalon Nienow, M.D., the Medical Director of Child Abuse Pediatrics at the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital said the extra support for students comes at such a critical time.
“We’ve seen a really significant uptick in our really egregious cases of abuse, like the ones that are causing kids to be admitted to the hospital. In November our numbers were up 140%. School is a safety net for a lot of kids, and they don’t have that safety net right now,” said Dr. Nienow.
“Mr Keane was treated and released at the scene by a medic, at his request.” All those involved in the incident had now been interviewed, Brown said, and the case had been presented to the District Attorney’s Office. “It has been determined that no charges will be sought,” Brown said. “The totality of circumstances have ruled it was self-defence, which is a justifiable homicide, which won’t be prosecuted.” US law states a homicide can be found justifiable if it occurred in self-defence or when protecting another person. It cannot be used in New Zealand. A spokeswoman for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, said police believed Keane’s homicide was justifiable, but “out of an abundance of caution”, police took the case to the District Attorneys Office for review.