Morning Report: Alarm Bells, No Action
EM - News Moderator 
Thirty days. That’s how long school districts have to notify state regulators of an employee’s change of status due to allegations of misconduct.
Yet, district officials at one school district waited eight months. And that’s only after our reporter, Jim Hinch started asking questions.
The story: The Chula Vista Elementary School District allowed a teacher to quietly resign after an investigation found he had “inappropriately touch[ed]” female students and engaged in “an indicator of grooming type behavior,” according to a copy of the investigator’s report obtained by Voice of San Diego.
It also took the district months to begin investigating the allegations despite repeated complaints from teachers and staff about Matthew Hunter’s behavior. He was a special education teacher at Rogers Elementary School.
When Hunter left, parents were left wondering what happened. Rumors swirled. And months later some wish the district had been more transparent about the allegations.
“When it comes to your own child, what else was kept from us?” one parent said. “What other things were out there, noticed or observed or documented? We wouldn’t know…Parents need to be informed what’s going on.”
More: Four former Bell Middle school students are suing the San Diego Unified School District and their former teacher for sexually assaulting them when they were students. (CBS 8)
Sacramento Report: Coastal Commission Reputation Era
A 53-year-old state agency is rebranding.
Earlier this month, California’s Coastal Commission unanimously passed a rule change to give affordable housing projects on the coast more time to begin construction. Sacramento reporter Nadia Lathan writes that commissioners see this as a step toward gaining the trust of lawmakers and housing advocates.
The agency has caught a lot of flack over the years for making it difficult to build along the coast. But the appointment of two pro-development officials and a wealthy Los Angeles real estate developer seems to be pushing the agency’s needle.
Still, staff and commissioners often point out that the agency’s primary responsibilities are coastal protection and public access issues, not housing policy, for which they believe they have been unfairly scrutinized, writes Lathan.
Read more in the Sacramento Report here.
VOSD Podcast: Padres For Sale, Again
On the latest VOSD Podcast episode, our hosts dig into a brewing sewage recycling war, Proposition 36’s impact on the county’s budget and the potential sale of the Padres.
They also explain Mayor Todd Gloria’s reshuffle of his executive team following the departure of two deputy chief operating officers. Could we see some “deputy Todds” on the horizon? Tune in to find out.
Also on the pod: The hosts also discussed the stunning reporter from UC San Diego about how many freshmen at the university cannot do basic math. Here’s the U-T’s news story on the report.
In Other News
- Immigration lawyers are leaning on Writ of Habeas Corpus petitions as a last ditch effort to prevent their clients from illegal detention. These federal lawsuits have seen a massive increase in October in reaction to the federal administration’s crackdown. (KPBS)
- A federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit against San-Diego based tuna company Bumble Bee Seafoods. The company is accused of human trafficking and forced labor violations. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Mariana Martínez Barba. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.
The post Morning Report: Alarm Bells, No Action appeared first on Voice of San Diego.
