The San Diego Unified School District, despite facing financial challenges, must prioritize student safety and post-graduation preparedness. Concerns about the district's handling of sexual harassment and assault allegations, as well as its effectiveness in preparing students for life after high school, need immediate attention.
When she was an Assembly member, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber told the U-T Editorial Board that people who believed San Diego Unified had a 91% graduation rate probably also believed in unicorns. It’s no surprise that leaders of the state’s second-largest school district would focus on finances.
But if board members Sabrina Bazzo, Richard Barrera, Shana Hazan, Cody Petterson and Sharon Whitehurst-Payne want to live up to all their many prior proclamations about the welfare of students being their top priority, that must not be their only focus. Instead, it’s absolutely crucial that they address student safety. In August, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights reported the district had failed to properly handle of the 253 formal allegations of students being sexually harassed and/or assaulted from 2017 to 2020. The district’s response was to blame a lack of specialized training. But the notion that it takes specialized training to know the difference between right and wrong — to know that sexual harassment and assault are, you know, awful — deserves guffaws. It is cover for the fact that the district abjectly failed in its responsibilities under state and federal laws. Heads should have rolled. Instead, vague “mistakes were made” rhetoric. The second additional focus trustees need to have is even more important. That’s on the question of how well the district is preparing students for life after high school. The oft-heard narrative that SDUSD is close to a model school district is supported by some evaluations, including by the Educational Results Partnership. Yet one of San Diego’s most impressive local educators — Shirley Weber, now California’s secretary of state — never was a believer. When she was an Assembly member, she said districts — and the state Department of Education — have to push up rates and sell positive talking points. She also had access to a huge trove of statistical data on public schools. Some 88% of SDUSD students were reported to have graduated earlier in 2024
Education Student Safety Sexual Harassment Graduation Rate School District
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