Cup of Chisme: School District Boss Is Out

San Diego Unified’s superintendent is out of a job.

The district’s board voted to fire Lamont Jackson on Friday after an investigation substantiated allegations of misconduct with former female employees.

What’s next? San Diego Unified is the second largest school district in the state. It has a lot of hurdles ahead of it as its leaders tackle a significant budget deficit next year and recover from this leadership shakeup. Our Jakob McWhinney reports that Deputy Superintendent Fabiola Bagula will serve as the interim superintendent, while the district launches a search for a new boss.

Listen here: We spoke about investigation and Jackson’s history with the school district on the latest episode of the VOSD Podcast. You can listen to the episode here.

In other education news: Every year, we publish a guide to help parents navigate the world of education. It’s called, “A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools.” You can download the latest edition here.

I’m telling you because if you’re a parent and have something you want us to cover, I want to hear from you! Send me an email at andrea.lopez@voiceofsandiego.org.

OK, grab some cafecito, I have more chisme.

Tijuana Is Thirsty

Voice of San Diego contributor Sandra Dibble had a fascinating piece last week about Tijuana’s quest to quench its thirst.

Basically, there are two treatment plants in the city that take sewage and spit out clean water, but there’s a problem. There isn’t a network of pipes to deliver that water anywhere, so instead clean water — 7 to 12 million gallons to be exact — dumps into the Tijuana River channel. One expert described it to Dibble as “one of the most depressing things to see.”

Here is the big idea: Baja California’s water agency is studying how it get that clean water into the A.L. Rodriguez Dam for storage, and then eventually into a different treatment plant that could turn it into drinking water. It’s going to take a lot of money and time to do that, Dibble writes, but officials in the United States are stoked.

That’s because the Tijuana River and its pollution has become a huge headache for officials on this side of the border, as our MacKenzie Elmer has reported.

You can read Dibble’s story here.

Broken Promises

Over the past couple of years, county leaders have made one thing clear: the region needs more shelter, especially in unincorporated areas.

San Diego County officials have done many things like providing funding for homeless services, opening safe parking lots for people who live in their cars, and expanding a hotel voucher program for homeless residents.

But some leaders have also done another thing: stand it their own way.

Two months ago, the county lost out on $10 million in state funding after county supervisors abandoned a plan to open a 150-tiny home shelter in Spring Valley. Only one supervisor was against that move.

And most recently, the supes postponed the opening of a safe parking lot in Lakeside. Former Voice intern and now-contributor Kathryn Gray published a story on what the county committed to doing and what’s stopped it.

Read the full story here.

Other Stories on My Mind

• Are we going to see more development in rural San Diego? Our MacKenzie Elmer reported that a lawsuit involving a construction recycling plant in Escondido just opened the door to it. Read more here.
• The death of a San Diego police officer last week following a high-speed police pursuit hit many in the community hard. It also raised some questions about when police should give chase. That didn’t sit so well with the police officers’ union, which argued that connecting the two was disrespectful. A police oversight group that recently recommended changes to pursuit policies, didn’t comment on how the accident might shape the conversation when I asked, but it’s something I’ll keep following as we learn more about the accident.
• We tried to unpack the latest in the Nathan Fletcher scandal on the latest episode of the VOSD Podcast. His legal team is arguing that new text messages between his accuser, Grecia Figueroa, and her friend undermine her claims of sexual assault. Listen to the full episode here.

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