(June 30) The San Diego Unified Board of Education unanimously approved a balanced budget for the upcoming school year. No significant layoffs or staff adjustments were required to balance the district budget this year. Highlights of the approved measure include a $45 million fund for COVID-19 emergency expenditures. District leaders said those funds will pave the way for reopening schools on schedule on Aug. 31, including options for on-campus and online learning.

“The unanimous vote this evening by the Board of Education reflects our collective confidence that we can open schools in a timely manner, on schedule, on Aug. 31, with outstanding options for students who want to be on campus, as well as those who wish to learn from home,” said Superintendent Cindy Marten. “The COVID-19 crisis is the biggest adaptive challenge to public education of our lifetimes, and we are ready to meet the challenge.”

Superintendent Marten introduced the budget item by noting the numbers have improved since May when Gov. Gavin Newsom released his revised state budget. Working with the governor and the entire San Diego legislative delegation, school leaders successfully advocated for changes in the state budget, including:

• Undoing a 10 percent cut to Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) estimated at about $100 million as proposed in the 2020-21 May Revise and instead utilizing deferrals and federal advocacy to mitigate cuts;
• Securing learning loss funds to cover COVID-19 costs and to support reopening of schools, which totaled $91.8 million for San Diego Unified;
• Adopting a pension buydown of employer contribution rates for 2020-21 and 2021-22, and a CalSTRS pension rate freeze for 2020-21, which amounts to an estimated savings of $17 million for San Diego Unified in the next school year;
• Advocating for special education funding based on the moderate-to-severe disability of students, which resulted in the allocation of $100 million for the low-incidence pool add-on that provides $2.4 million for San Diego Unified.

Members of the Board of Education also emphasized the need for continued advocacy at the federal level. They have called for the U.S. Senate to follow the House of Representatives in passing the HEROES Act, which provides an additional $58 billion to schools nationwide.

This year’s first-time college freshmen and transfer students will experience local campuses like never before: with mostly online instruction. For schools that have avoided this approach, expansive reopening plans promise mass testing and lower density student housing.

The shift has taken hold as the rest of society learns to live with the pandemic following statewide lockdowns in the spring. Many of this year’s high school seniors, including those at Scripps Ranch High School, graduated in socially distanced car parades.

San Diego State University, located just 20 minutes south of Scripps Ranch, will be following the lead of the other California State University system’s 22 campuses by offering mostly online instruction, with some exceptions for courses that require more hands-on work.

Schools within the San Diego Community College District, including San Diego Miramar College, will be following a very similar approach in order to keep most students off campus.

San Diego State University (SDSU) Director of Athletics John David Wicker said in May that the campus is planning to bring back athletes in the fall, starting with Aztecs Football. Although, much of the student life that surrounds fall sports, including tailgating and packed student sections, is unlikely to follow.

UC San Diego (UCSD) committed to the much more ambitious approach of bringing students back to campus in the fall, with a strong emphasis on mass testing and contract tracing. Due to the campus’s extensive healthcare infrastructure, UCSD is better positioned to take this kind of approach than its local counterparts.

“This effort will leverage the ingenuity and expertise of our clinicians, molecular biologists, epidemiologists, bioinformaticians and others to work toward a tailored map of where the virus is, and where it isn’t,” UCSD Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said in a press release.

Besides academic instruction, student housing will be limited to single and double rooms – eliminating rooms of three. Students who test positive for the virus will be isolated in a campus facility, according to UCSD’s Return to Learn webpage.

University of San Diego, one of San Diego’s smaller four-year universities, with nearly 10,000 students, also plans to bring students back to campus in the fall for in-person learning. Testing will be made available on campus as positive cases will be subject to contract tracing, according to a campus announcement in May.

The University of San Diego (USD) requires most freshmen to live on-campus, a mandate that will remain in place as the campus switches to a lower-density model for student housing, according to an announcement from President James Harris.

The campus will also embrace an adjusted academic semester, starting courses earlier on Aug. 17 so students don’t have to return following Thanksgiving break – potentially transmitting the virus between cities.

Scripps Ranch News congratulates all the students who are promoting to the next school level this week. The future is bright! Here are a few special messages sent in from Scripps Ranch News readers.

(Above) Congratulations to Kayla Kuhn for promoting virtually from EBS to Marshall. Mom, Dad and Kaden are so proud of you :)

Congratulations Charlize! We are so proud of all your accomplishments. The sky's the limit. We love you!!! Mom, Dad, Halle, and Hudson

Samantha Pearson, 8th grade St. Gregory. We are proud of you! Class of 2024, Cathedral Catholic High School

Alice Kelly! Congratulations on finishing Elementary school. We are so proud of you and can't wait to see what Your future holds! Love Mum, Dad and Sam x

Vinny, time to celebrate moving from EBS to MMS! It's going to be great. Cheers to you and your friends! Love, Mom, Dad, Carmen, Leo, Giada, and Teddy

Congratulations Heather Faber on your 8th grade graduation. Love, Mom and Dad

Congratulations Ryan Faber on your 5th grade graduation. Love, Mom and Dad

Congratulations to our 5th grade graduate. Addy, you are a SUPERSTAR! I can't wait to watch you shine as you enter the next exciting chapter in your life. Love you bunches! Mom and Dad.

Congratulations, Julia! We are so proud of all you have accomplished in 9 years at SGGCS. We wish you the best in high school. Love, Mom, Dad, Ethan and Mason

Reese, We will miss all the memories at EBS but so excited for you to move onto Marshall Middle! We love you forever! Dad, Mom, Hannah, Joshua and S'mores

From a Penguin to a Mustang and now ready to soar as a Falcon... we love watching your adventures and can't wait for the next chapter. Congratulations, Greyson!

Congratulations to our 8th grader Peyton, who will be going to SRHS in the fall.  Keep working hard and continue to shine! Your family is so proud of you!

Jenica Park, 8th grade at Thurgood Marshall Middle. You always work hard at being a great daughter and student. It's been a crazy journey so far. Congratulations on your 8th grade graduation! We love you and are so proud! The Park Family

Jaeden Park, 5th grade at Ellen Browning Scripps. You have done well in your journey so far. Continue being a good son and a great student. Congratulations on your 5th grade graduation! We love you and are so proud! The Park Family.

We're so proud of you Savannah! Congrats on all your successes at MMS & know you'll soar next year at SRHS! Love, Mom, Dad & Trev

Rowen, We are so proud of the person you have become. Keep reaching for the stars and may high school be your best years yet! Love, Mom and Dad, Arjun, Simi, Nina and Saylor

Preston, We can't believe how fast 9 yrs at STGGCS flew by. We're so proud of all your accomplishments. Keeping focusing on your goals & pushing yourself as you transition to a new & exciting environment, High School! We love you so much!! Love - Dad, Mom & your little brother

Sofia Morra, Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School (graduating 5th Grade). We can't believe you are already graduating Elementary School Sofia! Congratulations on your time at EBS and best of luck at Marshall. Love Mom, Dad & Siena

Luke, we are so proud of you on your preschool graduation! Keep asking questions, exploring and being the amazing silly guy you are! Love always, Mom, Dad, and Drew

Happy 5th Grade Promotion to our handsome, smart, talented, determined, competitive and animated Landon. Daddy, Mommy and Chi 2 love you so very much, we are so proud of you!

Congratulations, Andrew, our MMS graduate. We're proud of all your accomplishments. Can't wait to see what the future has in store for you. Love, Mom, Dad, Adrian and Audree

Dear Chandra, We are so proud of your accomplishments throughout elementary school and know you will continue to excel in middle school! Love, Mom, Dad, Tara, Taj, Cody, and Milo

Natalie, You are smart, funny, loving, kind, talented, have a strong faith and positive spirit. You are a wonderful friend, sister and daughter. You inspire us all! Love, Mom and Dad.

Happy graduation to our sweet boy. You have worked so hard for the last 6 years at Miramar Ranch Elementary. We are so proud of you Shay Giffen. We are excited for your next adventure! Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Ava

Alyssa Winkelman is one of the Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) seniors caught in the changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. She has been robbed of many traditional senior year experiences but has an interesting perspective. 

Winkelman has been involved in the school’s music program, including marching band for all her four years at SRHS. 

“We’re missing out on our spring concert and our end of the year concert, which is usually a really huge deal. … It’s really unfortunate,” she said. 

She listed other senior year events she will miss: prom, Grad Night, senior ditch day, senior pranks and an in-person graduation ceremony. While the school district is looking into alternative graduation plans – including a virtual graduation and possibly a celebration later in the summer – decisions had not been finalized as of press time. 

Winkelman explained what it has been like to finish the year with distance learning.

“Going to school has always been somewhat of a challenge for everyone to wake up early – but seeing your friends seems to make it more bearable,” she said, adding that she misses those friends and some of her teachers. “This is the time when you make friendships and you learn how certain aspects are working out until you go into the real world, so it’s kind of upsetting that we don’t get to really embrace that.” 

Winkelman is set to attend the University of Oregon this fall, majoring in business, and earned a $5,000 per year academic scholarship. She said she was informed the university plans to hold in-person campus classes. 

She explained that online classes this year did not take much of an adjustment, since the process is similar to how some of her classes were already being conducted. 

“It’s all kind of interesting how technology has played a factor. But I feel we’re all very fortunate to have these resources,” she said. “If this had happened a few decades ago, I don’t know how they would have handled it.” 

As a senior, Winkelman was a section leader for the school marching band, which was a good learning experience, she said.

“At times it was frustrating, but I had to kind of take myself back to when I was a freshman. I didn’t know anything when I was a freshman and my section leader really helped me out,” Winkelman said. “So, I feel like getting to teach younger students the passion of music and marching band, and showing them the ways of how we do things in the program, it honestly is a special experience. … It just felt good knowing I’m passing on my skills.” 

Meanwhile, Winkelman and her classmates are feeling the let-down of losing out on events they were anticipating. She said she will miss a senior family vacation this summer and was planning a trip to Disneyland with friends – and her summer plans are uncertain. 

“Senior summer is supposed to be the time when we’re all having fun and saying our goodbyes, and it feels like we’re not going to get that opportunity – which is really unfortunate,” she said. 

Still, Winkelman does her best to view the situation with a big picture perspective.

“Sure, in the long run it’s not going to be the end of the world, but it’s a big part of what we were looking forward to,” she said. “The universe is going to give us something good in return. I’m not sure what that is or when, but we’re going to come through this and we’ll have awesome stories to tell our kids. … That’s for sure.”

Liz Sloan, principal of Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School (EBS), recently described the challenges of leading a school remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

San Diego Unified School District started preparing for a possible school shutdown in early March by calling in resource teachers to help write curriculum to be used during a shutdown, Sloan explained. Rumors had been circulating, but no one was certain a shutdown would occur. 

Unfortunately, it was not until the morning of Friday, March 13, that she was officially notified that schools would close the next Monday, she said. 

“It was interesting because we had a half day that day, so school was getting out at 12:30 because we were in our parent-teacher conference week. What the district told us was, ‘we’re closing and you need to make sure that the kids take all of their textbooks and stuff home that they need.’ So, I got on the PA system – of course, at that point we only thought we’d close for two weeks and come back after spring break,” Sloan said. “I needed to get that message out to the whole entire school and at that point it was about 11 o’clock and school was getting out at 12:30, so I went on the PA system and said, ‘we’re going to be closed for two weeks and students need to take home all of their textbooks.’” 

It was not the ideal way to inform her teachers and students, but she had no other choice.

“We were in a real time crunch,” she said.  

When the children began to leave that day, Sloan said, she stood at the front gate and checked with every student to make sure each had everything they needed to do school work from home.

While the students were able to leave, EBS teachers were about to begin several unexpected hours of preparation. 

“I called an emergency meeting after school that day for the staff just to explain to them what we were going to be doing,” she said. “I shared with them all the information that I had. Then we got everything together as much as we could in four or five hours – and that was it.”

The teachers were not required to teach for the first two weeks of school closure. 

“But our teachers (at EBS) are so amazing that a lot of them jumped right on to Zoom and started teaching even the first or second day of school closure – and none of them really had any experience doing that,” she said. 

While parents had to set up Zoom for their students, the teachers were also learning the same, as well as how to conduct online classes and testing.  

“So, they were just willing to give it a try and try on something new. I think we all kind of had the attitude of, well, we’re all learning here – we don’t know what we’re doing – and every single lesson that we do, or Zoom class that we run, we learn something new and we improve and we make it better,” Sloan said. “I was just so proud of our teachers of how they really jumped in and started teaching immediately … I think our parents were pretty happy about that.” 

Sloan said one of the challenges of this situation is that everyone has different stressful situations in their own household. 

“I think all of our families have things like that going on as well. So, what we’ve been trying to do and what the district philosophy is on the distance learning is – I think the key word is flexibility,” Sloan explained. “The teachers need flexibility because they have different things going on in their household. … The other side of the flexibility is that we have been really, really cognizant of being flexible with families and allowing them to participate in whatever way works for them, and also trying to adjust what we’re doing to best meet their needs.” 

Her goal is to have students participate in online classes as much as possible each week. She realizes some families can’t have their students participate all the time, but participation at EBS has been incredibly good so far.

“Right now, I’m really, really excited because we have 100 percent participation from our families,” Sloan said.  

(May 29) A joint statement from Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified School Districts was issued today. Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner and San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten issued the following statement:

Reopening schools is integral to the future well-being of our students as well as restarting the economy. However, opening our schools will not be as easy as separating desks or placing pieces of tape on the floor. We will need to ensure the safety and well- being of all in our school community – students, staff and families. Facilities will need to be reconfigured and supplies purchased to sanitize schools on a regular basis. Personal protective equipment will need to be provided to students and staff. More teachers and staff will be needed to do this extra work in schools and to provide both in school and online learning programs. And State authorities have to provide the funding for all of these necessary pieces.

The proposed 2020-21 State budget does not provide the necessary funding to safely reopen schools. And the Governor’s proposed cuts for public education in the May Revise to the 2020-21 State budget come at a time when schools are being asked to do more – not less – to deliver a quality education for students.

Public health authorities must solve some very real issues for the safe return of our school community. For example, our two school districts employ about 90,000 people and serve approximately 825,000 students who live with another couple million people. A robust system of COVID-19 testing and contact tracing will need to be in place before we can consider re-opening schools. Local health authorities, not school districts, have to lead the way on testing, contact tracing and a clear set of protocols on how to respond to any occurrence of the virus.

Sarah Watkins, a sixth grade math teacher at Marshall Middle School, offered some insight into the distance learning thrust upon students, parents, teachers and administrators because of the COVID-19 crisis.

While she doesn’t mind distance learning, she admitted that she doesn’t love it, either. 

For Watkins, the best part of teaching is being able to connect with the students, but it’s not the same teaching through a Zoom class. What makes a classroom special is the appreciation exchanged daily between student and teacher, she explained.

“It’s tricky when you’re not able to feel the energy,” she said.

San Diego Unified School District gave teachers about three weeks to get up to speed on how to conduct distance learning classes and take some online classes while the district contacted students and their families to prepare them, Watkins stated.

“I had to learn the whole thing. What does it look like when I make a test? When I send it, what do they see and what do I see? It was a lot of learning to take place in a very short period of time,” she said.

Watkins and her teacher friends emailed each other to share information. Even now, they remain working from 6 in the morning until 10 at night preparing and taking care of details, she said. 

“At the beginning there were so many tears of frustration because we knew the parents were overwhelmed and upset, the students were overwhelmed and upset and we were learning it all at the same time,” she said. “Each teacher kind of does it a different way. We figured out a system for what worked best for our class.” 

Watkins explained that many of the students were excited at first because they saw the school shut down as a big vacation, but they became sad later when they began to miss their friends.

“They miss that connection. They’ll come to the Zoom meetings … They just want to chat. They’ll chat about anything they can. They’ll show each other their pets – anything they can to get that connection,” she said. “So, something that seemed exciting when it first happened, they now realize the magnitude of it.”

Watkins said teachers are making themselves available to their students and check on their well-being. She said she has even planned fun Zoom events unrelated to math – like a game night – as a way to let her students enjoy and appreciate one another. 

While there have been technical glitches with distance learning, and keeping parents informed has been a challenge, Watkins has seen a few bright spots. 

“Students are able to see now the importance of what it is they’re doing. … It kind of puts that responsibility on them in a way. So many of them are stepping up and seeing that they can actually do it,” she said. 

Watkins also discovered another unexpected result. 

“These shy students who would typically sit back in the classroom, they are reaching out, they are asking me questions … It’s been good to see them kind of stepping up and really being more appreciative of the learning they are doing, not just because they have to,” she stated. “They’re sitting home doing nothing else, so they want to have something to do.” 

Members of the Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) Key Club are collecting letters and messages thanking the often-neglected heroes working through the COVID-19 crisis: grocery workers, firemen, restaurant employees, postal workers and nursing home staff. 

The club has drop-off receptacles at both the “old” Vons and “new” Vons supermarkets in which residents can drop their letters of appreciation. The project will continue into June. Parents will help pick up the letters and distribute them once counted. 

Residents can drop off their letters in either location, but should make sure they place a sticky note on their letter saying that the letter is for the SRHS Key Club project, so the club will get credit. 

The SRHS Key Club just completed a similar project in which it wrote and collected more than 800 letters of appreciation for Sharp Healthcare workers in San Diego.

“The Key Club kids, they’re learning to give of themselves, but they also get credit for the hours they put in and this all goes toward their service hours which makes them eligible for scholarships and helps them with their college applications,” said Lynn Bilotta, Kiwanis advisor to SRHS Key Club. 

Key Club is an international high school service club in the Kiwanis family of Service Clubs. Kiwanis is an international service organization. 

Bilotta stated that the SRHS Key Club members deserve recognition because they are involved in many community projects, including helping other students – such as Boy Scouts – with their projects.  

Jerabek Elementary School celebrated its Kindness Week despite not being physically open. Jerabek Elementary School children have been working in partnership with the school’s Family Faculty Organization (FFO) to host the regularly scheduled Kindness Week activities at homes in Scripps Ranch and throughout the community.

Kindness Week was founded by parent volunteer Laura Stephens with the intent of reinforcing positive behavior among children at Jerabek Elementary School. Years later, with thousands of acts of kindness being displayed, Kindness Week has evolved to be a signature Jerabek FFO program, and a model program for other schools in the area.

This year’s Kindness Week activities included a Food Drive to benefit the San Diego Food Bank. It also included an Artwork & Letter Drive for Sharp HealthCare. Students submitted artwork and letters thanking healthcare heroes. The Kindness Squad compiled all submitted artwork and letters into one electronic presentation to be delivered to the hospitals in the Sharp HealthCare system. 

“At Jerabek we teach all children the Koala Way: be respectful, be responsible, and be kind. Our teachers, faculty and staff are pleased to see that our children and families have taken it upon themselves during distance learning to celebrate Kindness Week outside of our school campus,” said Dr. Angelia Watkins, Jerabek Elementary School principal. 

“I am proud that our Jerabekians are participating in Kindness Week and thank our Kindness Squad for ensuring this vital act is being celebrated. One small act of kindness can truly change and enhance someone’s life,” said Shana Kinnerup, Jerabek FFO president.

(May 7) San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten and Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner issued the following statement in response to the Department of Finance’s preliminary estimates on the California State budget and the need for federal relief:

A 20 percent reduction in State funds to public education, which would be about $2,700 less per student, would cause irreparable harm to children. California already spends significantly less on public education than other large states. Los Angeles Unified receives about $17,000 per student (before any cuts) compared with $30,000 in New York.

Students will need more resources to help them make up for lost time in the classroom due to the virus. Moreover, reopening school facilities in a safe manner this fall will also require more funding. Our efforts to enhance the quality of distance learning and provide a safety net to students and families during this public health crisis have been comprehensive and responsive to student’s needs. With approximately 240,000 devices and close to 18 million meals provided in Los Angeles and San Diego, the immediate challenges posed by Covid-19 have significantly increased costs for our schools.

Implicit in every budget are a series of choices which are made more difficult when the dollars are scarce. But they are still choices which elected officials in Sacramento must make and the consequences will have an impact on an entire generation of children.

This generation has a right to an education, and a 20 percent reduction in State school spending would deny students this right. Simply put, that level of spending reduction would make it impossible for schools to safely reopen this fall. There is no substitute for learning in a classroom setting and a total reliance on online learning may result in many, perhaps the majority of students, losing the equivalent of a year of their education, permanently damaging their future and exacerbating inequality in our society.

Over the past two months we have found a way to do extraordinary things in our schools to keep students connected and learning and help families in need. Now it’s time for the State and Federal governments to find a way to do extraordinary things to make sure we deliver on the promise of a great education for every child in public schools. Each one of them has the talent and we cannot fail to provide them with the opportunity for a great education.

(StatePoint) The transition from in-person to online learning isn’t easy, particularly when it comes to mathematics, a subject in which many students benefit from classroom learning and individualized attention from their teacher.

With closures affecting schools and universities for the foreseeable future, sustaining one’s math skills is very important, as research has shown that academic gains can quickly be lost without practice. On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of learning in math over a typical summer, according to the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

During the COVID-19 crisis, consider accessing the following free distance-learning tools from Casio America, Inc., which are designed to support educators, parents and students K-12 and beyond:

• Tools for calculation, graphing, geometry, statistics and more can be accessed at ClassPad.net, an all-in-one web-based platform with an interactive menu that enables students and teachers to draw geometry figures freehand and input calculations as they would on real scratch paper. Users can also plot data points and add text labels, expressions and pictures to graphs or geometry diagrams.

• Emulator calculator software recreating the functionality of scientific and graphic calculators, including Casio’s PRIZM fx-CG50 and fx-CG500, is supported in Windows and Mac operating systems.

• Downloadable math activities created by teachers for students in grade levels kindergarten through college can help students practice their math skills and learn new techniques for their continuing education.

(StatePoint) Today, many parents are seeking ways to keep their kids engaged and learning beyond the schoolwork remotely assigned by teachers.

Many of the team members at Pilot Pen are parents, too. Below, they share some fun and creative ways you can use the power of the written word to help create special moments for kids while imparting valuable lessons.