By Miriam Raftery

Correction:  A prior article in ECM stated that Senator Anderson supported construction of Sunrise Powerlink. His office indicates he took no position on the project. We regret our error.

February 29, 2016 (Alpine) – “Keeping constituents safe is my top priority,” Senator Joel Anderson states  in a letter today to Supervisor Dianne Jacob.  “I want to make sure all available and appropriate state resources are deployed so that my constituents are provided answers to their questions about the electric and magnetic field (EMF) levels in our community.”

Senator Anderson’s letter indicates he has contacted three state agencies regarding the EMF concerns, including the California Department of Health (CDPH), which advised him that they will review measurements taken by local governments to see how they compare with other schools that were surveyed by the CDPH in a previous study.  

By Miriam Raftery

Controversial plan outrages Alpine voters, Chaldeans and other district residents

Priscilla Schreiber (photo, left) will be forced off board

February 25, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – Grossmont Union High School District voted 4-1 to ditch district-wide elections and switch to electing trustees from each of five districts. (View map)  The board also voted to ask the San Diego County Committee on School Board Reorganization to waive a requirement that would ordinarily allow the public to vote on redistricting. (View map at bottom of this article)

East County’s largest school district inappropriately used at least $27,000 in bond money to pay a public relations firm to combat what it called a “barrage of misinformation” on its Alpine legal fight.  

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a San Diego Online News Association member.

Photo: Scott Patterson (inset) is deputy superintendent of business for the Grossmont Union High School District.

View video: https://youtu.be/uGyrxCXcGO0

By Ken Stone

February 25, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Documents obtained through a Public Records Act request and official statements confirm that Proposition U bond funds for Grossmont Union High School District projects were used to pay Apex Strategies, led by prominent local PR agent Tony Manolatos.

By  Miriam Raftery

February 23, 2016 (San Diego’s East County)—Grosssmont-Union High School District’s board is expected to cast a final vote Thursday at 4 p.m. on controversial redistricting maps. The board will also vote to seek a waiver from the state from a requirement that would ordinarily requiring putting the redistricting measure on the ballot, and waiver from a state requiring that new trustee area plans be in effect at least 120 days before the next election in November.  (View meeting notice. The meeting will be at the East County Regional Education Center, 924 East Main Street, El Cajon.)

The district contends it has acted appropriately in response to a threat of legal action over alleged voting rights violations. But critics say the plan would oust the board’s most outspoken dissenting member, Priscilla Schreiber, leave Alpine represented by an opponent of the Alpine High School, and divide Iraqi-Chaldean residents into multiple districts, diluting their power as a voting block.  It also carves out a new district in the Lemon Grove/Spring Valley area with no trustee currently residing in that district, which does have a history of representing people of color.

An open letter to the Grossmont Union High School District Board regarding its ban on any public citizen speaking over 3 minutes total for all agenda items combined

By Nick Marinovich, former member, Citizens Bond Oversight Committee for the Grossmont Union High School District

February 20, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- As a Citizen who actively participates in the governance process, I have indicated at several board meetings my frustration with not being able to adequately make my points when there is a three minute total time any one Citizen can speak at a regular board meeting. Government Code Section 54954.3 states:

(a) Every agenda for regular meetings shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public, before or during the legislative body’s consideration of the item, that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body, provided that no action shall be taken on any item not appearing on the agenda unless the action is otherwise authorized by subdivision (b) of Section 54954.2.

 (b) The legislative body of a local agency may adopt reasonable regulations to ensure that the intent of subdivision (a) is carried out, including, but not limited to, regulations limiting the total amount of time allocated for public testimony on particular issues and for each individual speaker.

 (c) The legislative body of a local agency shall not prohibit public criticism of the policies, procedures, programs, or services of the agency, or of the acts or omissions of the legislative body. Nothing in this subdivision shall confer any privilege or protection for expression beyond that otherwise provided by law.

GUHSD Superintendent Ralf Swenson to retire on July 1, 2016

Source:  Grossmont Union High School District

February 19, 2016 (El Cajon) – GUHSD Superintendent Ralf Swenson will retire on July 1, 2016. The Governing Board of the Grossmont Union High School District has selected Dr. William E. Diedrich and Dr. John L. Roach of Dave Long & Associates Executive Search Services, as its advisers to assist the Board in its search for a new superintendent.

By Mike Allen

February 15, 2016 (Santee) -- Santee teachers will receive an immediate four percent raise retroactive to July 1 of last year and get an additional four percent salary bump starting July 1 as part of their new contract, which is expected to be ratified by the board of the Santee School District on Feb. 16.

By Miriam Raftery

February 14, 2016 (San Diego) -- Should teenagers be allowed to vote?  Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez thinks so – at least in some cases.

February 10, 2016 (El Cajon) -- A celebration of black history that includes music, dance and theater performances at Cuyamaca College and an African-American Read-in at Grossmont College are among February’s Black History Month events.

Included among the events will be tributes to iconic figures like Martin Luther King Jr., President Obama, Maya Angelou and others, in addition to lesser-known names such as Daisy Bates, a civil rights heroine who led the charge to desegregate the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957.

By Suzanne Potter, California News Service

February 7, 2016 (Los Angeles) -- Teams are hitting the streets gathering signatures for a ballot measure this fall that would extend part of Proposition 30, which raised income taxes on the wealthy and raised the sales tax by a quarter of a percent, then funneled the money to public education. 

February 4, 2016 (San Diego) – Conservation-minded high school seniors are encouraged to apply for one of five $1,000 college scholarships offered by the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County (RCD). The RCD Conservation Scholarship Program encourages students who are interested in conservation, agriculture, environmental science, natural resources, or biology to attend college and pursue careers in resource conservation or agriculture.

East County News Service

January 29, 2016 (Alpine) – Bruce Cochrane, Superintendent of the Alpine Union School District, has given notice that he will be leaving the position he has held since mid-2014. 

By Miriam Raftery

January 22, 2016 (El Cajon) – Grossmont Union High School District’s board voted unanimously last Thursday to shift from at-large elections to district elections in which each trustee will represent a specific portion of the district. The move comes after an attorney for Diego Valley Charter School sent the district a letter advising that it may be in violation of the Voting Rights Act and threatening legal action.

Photo credit:  Yale's wife, Elizabeth Schwartz

By Mimi Pollack

January 20, 2016 (San Diego) - Yale Strom may be a multi-talented man, a respected teacher at SDSU, and a well known musician both locally and internationally, but he is also refreshingly down to earth and modest, answering my questions at his rustic, comfortable home in Mission Hills with his loving dog, Olive, snuggled on his lap.

East County News Service

January 17, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – Ralf Swenson, Superintendent of the Grossmont-Union High School District, announced during Thursday’s board meeting that he will retire on July 1^st.