A Conversation with School Board Members Hazan and Petterson

This week we have a special episode for you. This coming year is going to be a difficult one for leaders of San Diego Unified School District. They are facing a massive budget deficit, ongoing stagnation in enrollment. They’re grappling with the aftermath of scandals involving sexual misconduct allegations that got the attention of the federal government and brought down the district’s superintendent. Cody Petterson was just named the new school board president. He’ll guide the five member Board of Education for the District.  He’s taking over that role from his colleague, trustee Shana Hazan.  Both of them came into the studio to talk about all these issues and more. It was a frank and interesting exchange on some very touchy topics in education.   Show Notes You can show your support for our podcast today by going to vosd.org/podpeople   Links San Diego Unified School District Board of Education  About Shana Hazan Board President - District B Term Expires: December 2026 Cody Petterson Board Vice President - District C Term Expires: December 2026   Selected Recent VOSD Stories: San Diego Unified School District    Oct 14, 2024 San Diego Student Test Scores Haven’t Made Up Pandemic Losses The slow recovery from pandemic performance drop offs coupled with growing budget woes may spell trouble for districts like San Diego Unified.   Sep 12, 2024 Billions of Dollars Later, Some San Diego Unified Students Still Dealing with Hot Classrooms Taxpayers have voted to give San Diego Unified School District $11.5 billion over the last 16 years with the express purpose of bringing working air...   Sep 5, 2024 New San Diego Schools Superintendent Didn’t Mention Misconduct or Victims in Speech to Principals Over multiple district communications since Lamont Jackson's firing, there's been a group of people conspicuously missing.   Sep 3, 2024 Lamont Jackson Is Out as San Diego Unified Supe. What’s Next? Fabiola Bagula, who was elevated to acting superintendent from her deputy superintendent role after Jackson's firing, seems poised to keep that role.   Aug 29, 2024 Investigation Into San Diego Unified Superintendent Substantiates Allegations of Misconduct Involving Staff The allegations against Superintendent Lamont Jackson were levied by former San Diego Unified School District staff.   Aug 19, 2024 Feds Slam San Diego Unified’s Handling of Sexual Misconduct A new report from the U.S. Department of Education skewers how San Diego Unified for years handled sexual misconduct complaints.   Aug 12, 2024 School Is Back in Session: 4 Education Stories to Follow Believe it or not, most schools in San Diego County are back in session. If the new school year snuck up on you, that's likely because start dates have been…   Jun 12, 2024 The Learning Curve: San Diego Unified’s AI Future Is Now San Diego Unified paid $83,000 to integrate its high school English curriculum into an online platform and got access to an AI tool as well.   Jun 11, 2024 San Diego Unified High Schoolers: Getting Great Grades But Troubling Test Scores An analysis of thousands of letter grades from San Diego Unified high schoolers shows that far more students pass classes in subjects like English, math and...   May 20, 2024 San Diego Unified Investigating Superintendent Lamont Jackson Though a district official has confirmed an investigation is occurring, no one will say what prompted it.   May 17, 2024 San Diego Unified Is Slowly Embracing Science of Reading The district has long relied on an approach to teaching kids to read that's not back by science. Now, officials are working to change that – but it hasn't...   May 16, 2024 San Diego Unified Walks Back Majority of Teacher Layoffs District officials announced Thursday that they had rescinded 96 percent of the layoff notices issued in March.   Feb 26, 2024 ‘I Can’t Wait Until You’re 18’: Despite Years of Sexual Harassment Allegations, San Diego Unified Allowed Teacher to Quietly Retire For years, students and faculty at Roosevelt Middle filed complaints against a middle school math teacher. Students alleged he'd grabbed their butts,...   Feb 21, 2024 San Diego Unified Board Member: Teacher Layoffs Are Coming In June, San Diego Unified officials announced the district was projecting big deficits in the coming years. The expiration of hundreds of millions of...  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.