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La Jolla Cluster parents protest continued school closures
Parents and students from the five La Jolla Cluster schools protest ongoing San Diego Unified School District closures Feb. 18 outside Bird Rock Elementary.
(Elisabeth Frausto)
La Jolla parents and students gather outside Bird Rock Elementary School to protest ongoing school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. (Includes video)
Feb. 18, 2021 1:13 PM PT
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A large crowd of La Jolla parents and students gathered outside Bird Rock Elementary School the morning of Feb. 18 to protest ongoing school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The parents, whose children attend the five San Diego Unified School District sites in La Jolla, said they are frustrated that schools remain closed to regular in-person instruction without a firm date or criteria for reopening.
A parent watchdog group is criticizing the San Diego Unified School District for spending tens of thousands of dollars including some coronavirus relief money on a federal lobbying firm.
In April, the school board hired The Raben Group of Washington, D.C., with a contract worth up to $150,000 to advocate for more school stimulus funding, advance the district’s interests among federal lawmakers and raise the district’s “profile as a leader,” according to the contract.
On Jan. 26, the board unanimously approved another contract with Raben for up to $180,000 for this year.
The district says its investment in federal lobbying has been fruitful, helping to secure tens of millions of dollars in additional coronavirus relief money that will be used to help students.
Community groups call for San Diego Unified superintendent search to be more transparent than the last one
San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten is President Joe Biden’s choice to be U.S. deputy education secretary. The district faces the task of hiring a new superintendent.
(File)
In 2013, the San Diego Unified School District board chose Cindy Marten as the new superintendent behind closed doors, hours after then-Superintendent Bill Kowba told the board that he would retire and before the general public knew the board needed a new superintendent.
Community members said the move violated open meeting laws and denied them the chance to give input.
In 2013 the San Diego Unified School Board chose Cindy Marten as the new superintendent behind closed doors, hours after then-superintendent Bill Kowba told the board he would retire and before the general public knew the board needed a new superintendent.
Community members criticized the move as a closed-door appointment that violated open meeting laws and denied them the chance to give input.
Almost eight years later, the superintendent position is up for grabs once more as Marten is expected to be officially named U.S. deputy education secretary next month, pending Senate confirmation.
Now a coalition of community groups is telling the school board it should not choose the next superintendent the same way it chose Marten.