20 Years of Impact: How VOSD Unseated a Corrupt San Diego Unified School Board Member

When Voice of San Diego education reporter Mario Koran began asking questions about San Diego Unified School District Trustee Marne Foster, district officials acted indignant.

It was August, 2015. Foster was an outspoken advocate for underrepresented students in the district with backing from the powerful teachers union. At the time, she was raising money for a re-election bid observers believed she would win in a landslide.

But there was another side to Foster. As summer vacation ended and students returned to classrooms, Koran published a detailed story showing how Foster used her authority as school trustee to benefit her own children, who attended San Diego Unified schools.

In honor of Voice of San Diego’s 20th anniversary, we’re looking back at the stories we broke that had a tremendous impact on San Diego. Read more here.

Teachers said Foster demanded they change grades and alter attendance records on behalf of one of her sons, who attended the School of Creative and Performing Arts, Koran’s reporting showed.

When a counselor gave Foster’s son an unenthusiastic letter of recommendation for college, Foster filed a $250,000 claim against the district – and hid her role in filing the claim by having the boy’s father sign it.

After SPCA’s principal barred Foster’s son from attending the school’s prom because of behavioral problems, Foster pressured an area superintendent (Lamont Jackson, who himself later resigned following sexual harassment allegations) to transfer the principal.

Further reporting by Koran showed that Foster held a fundraiser to help two of her children pay for college, soliciting donations from people with business before the school board.

The district’s response to all of this? The school board’s vice president wrote a Voice opinion piece defending the district and board members honored Foster with a laudatory proclamation praising her “vision, leadership and commitment to all students.”

But Koran’s reporting was right.

Six months after receiving that proclamation, Foster pleaded guilty to accepting illegal gifts as a public official and resigned from the board.

The superintendent also admitted she’d removed the principal of SCPA in part because of pressure from Foster.

And, after Voice sued, a judge forced the district to turn over key emails it had withheld that further corroborated Koran’s reporting. The district had to pay Voice’s legal costs.

The story showed the lengths public officials sometimes go to protect their own from unwanted scrutiny. And it showed how one determined reporter – and an equally determined newsroom – can bring accountability just by asking questions. And refusing to back down.

The post 20 Years of Impact: How VOSD Unseated a Corrupt San Diego Unified School Board Member appeared first on Voice of San Diego.