Morning Report: SDUSD Supe Is Out

San Diego Unified’s board voted last week to part ways with its superintendent after an investigation substantiated allegations of misconduct with former district employees.

As our Jakob McWhinney reported, an independent investigation found that Lamont Jackson “more likely than not,” “engaged in unwelcome, sex-based behavior,” against two former employees. 

Deputy Superintendent Fabiola Bagula will serve as the interim superintendent.

The news comes after we reported that the school district had hired a law firm to investigate Jackson. There were other allegations against Jackson, but investigators said there wasn’t enough evidence to substantiate those claims.

It also comes after the U.S. Department of Education slammed San Diego Unified for how its has handled sexual misconduct complaints for years.

Read more here.

VOSD Podcast: On the latest episode, our hosts explain what this means for the second largest district in the state. Our hosts also walkthrough Jackson’s background and vision for SDUSD. (FYI we recorded the episode a day before the school board vote.)

Listen to the full episode here.

Thicker Plastic = More Problems

We pulled this post from the Politics Report. If you become a Voice of San Diego member, you can get the weekly newsletter in your inbox. Learn more here.

It has been 10 years since California became the first state to ban single-use plastic bags. The law prohibited grocery stores and, later liquor and convenience stores, from distributing single-use plastic bags.

California leaders were pleased with their accomplishment.

“This bill is a step in the right direction – it reduces the torrent of plastic polluting our beaches, parks and even the vast ocean itself,” said then Governor Jerry Brown, in a press release, Sept. 30, 2014.

San Diego’s own Toni Atkins, then the Speaker of the California Assembly, was also boastful of what it would achieve.

“Removing the harmful blight of single-use plastic bags, especially along our coastline and waterways, helps ensure the kind of clean and healthy environment we need to have a stronger economy and a brighter future,” Atkins said.

Unfortunately, they appear to only have made the situation worse.   

Ten-year reality check: This week, San Diego Sen. Catherine Blakespear rallied in Sacramento in favor of her bill and a companion bill in the Senate that would … ban plastic bags.

And she came with an alarming statistic. Since the plastic bag ban, our use of plastic bags has only gone up – a lot.

Read more in the Politics Report here.

About that Crime-Fighting Measure

A crime-fighting ballot measure would crack down on theft and drugs, but critics warn it could bring back practices that led to overcrowded prisons.

Proposition 36 is aimed at curbing the smash-and-grab robberies that have retailers on edge, while adding teeth to drug penalties to prevent overdose deaths, writes Capitol reporter Deborah Brennan in the latest Sacramento Report.

Prosecutors and law enforcement officials say it enables them to seek heavier penalties for repeat offenders, and could keep fentanyl and meth dealers off the streets. Criminal justice advocates fear it will disproportionately target Black and Latino communities.

Also, environmental groups say Assemblymember David Alvarez is trashing an anti-landfill bill by state Sen. Steve Padilla.

Read the Sacramento Report here.

In Other News

• The Union-Tribune reports that overdose deaths in San Diego County are down.
• Related: KPBS reports that data from federal agencies shows that most fentanyl entering the United States is coming through legal ports of entry and it’s being smuggled by native born Americans.
• Our Will Huntsberry joined KPBS Roundtable to discuss his latest investigation into a foster care charity. Listen to the discussion here.
• State and federal officials have reached an agreement to keep San Onofre open to the public, the Union-Tribune reports. As our Tigist Layne wrote in March, the lease was set to expire by the end of August. The state leased the beach from the feds for $1 back in 1971, but now, rent has gone up by a lot.

The Morning Report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña and Deborah Brennan.

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