Morning Report: Jeers, Tears For Grossmont School Cuts

Grossmont Union High School District trustees last week approved a controversial mass layoff plan that drew heated community opposition and now could result in recall efforts against several school board members.

Our Jakob McWhinney reports that the scene at Thursday’s board meeting was like a carnival, with a high school dance team performing routines to protest the firing of a beloved teacher and hundreds of community members gathering to voice their opposition to the board’s plan to lay off 61 teachers, counselors and librarians.

Interim Superintendent Sandra Huezo said the cuts were needed to head off a projected structural deficit and adjust staffing to reflect declining enrollment.

But trustee Chris Fite, the lone member of the five-member board to vote against the layoffs, disagreed.

“I think it’s been established that there are other motives than saving money,” Fite said at the board meeting. 

Community members booed the board’s vote and vowed to recall trustees who approved the layoffs. “It’s like a funeral right now,” said Grossmont High sophomore Toby Mishler.

More Drama: The board wasn’t done letting employees go after the layoff vote.

Following a closed negotiation session, Board President Gary Woods reappeared to announce that the board had approved a resignation agreement with the district’s chief of staff, Jerry Hobbs.

McWhinney’s story about Hobbs’ rise to prominence in the district – and what led to his departure – is a strange saga indeed. The capper: The district will give him $186,500 in severance on his way out the door.

Read the full story here.

Mayor Douses Beach Bonfires

Correction: This section has been updated to correct that illegal wood fires would be easier to spot not harder. A previous version mistakenly misquoted a city spokesperson.

San Diego’s beloved tradition of beach bonfires may be burning out.

The culprit: Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed 2025-26 budget, which seeks to close a gaping $258 million deficit with a range of unpopular cuts – including a plan to remove roughly 180 fire rings from city beaches.

Getting rid of the rings could save the city $135,000 per year in maintenance costs, plus reduce the amount of time police and city staff spend breaking up rowdy parties and cleaning up revelers’ messes, city spokesperson Benny Cartwright told our reporting intern, Alina Ajaz.

“I understand that it may be disappointing,” City Councilmember Jennifer Campbell said of losing the rings. “This is the financial reality we are facing.”

Ironic twist: Cartwright acknowledged to Ajaz that eliminating fire rings might not eliminate fires from the beaches. Fire-lovers might just take their blazes to darker parts of the beach. That may result in more trash and debris, he said, but it would be easier to spot the illegal wood fires since the city isn’t providing fire rings.

Read the full story here.

Sacramento Report: Legislator Turns the Tables in Housing Debate

Like many elected officials in San Diego County, state Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins wants more affordable housing in her district, which includes La Mesa, Lemon Grove and parts of the city of San Diego.

Just not the kind of affordable housing you think.

“We need more single-family homes,” Sharp-Collins told our Deborah Sullivan in a fascinating interview that turns conventional wisdom in San Diego’s affordable housing debate on its head.

That debate often presumes that the solution to the region’s housing woes is building more affordable, high-density housing in lower income neighborhoods where residents are at highest risk of housing insecurity.

Sharp-Collins said she and her constituents don’t see things that way.

“People are moving to these communities that were single-family home communities and are now seeing that some of the lots are being purchased, and now you’re getting apartments and other things going up,” Sharp-Collins said. “That’s not the reason people move into the area. It’s to be able to have single-family homes in the community and raise their children and grandchildren.”

In other words, San Diegans of modest means want what their wealthier neighbors have: A nice house in a nice neighborhood where they can put down roots, raise their families and build what Sharp-Collins called “generational wealth” by owning a home.

Read the Sacramento Report here.

LIVE! From Soda Bar

We had a great time hosting our podcast live at Soda Bar last week. The conversation with Keene Simonds, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, was nerdy, spicy, but most importantly, really good.

Listen here now.

In Other News

• Opinion: In a new op-ed, San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera makes the case for making sure San Diego works for San Diegans. He argues that the city has been focused for too long on making corporations and investors happy. Read more here.
• The Board of Supervisors voted to move forward with plans to build 224 affordable housing units in the Mid-City area and downtown Escondido. (ABC 10 News)
• San Diego County jail is “far behind other jail and prison systems in California” in providing mental health care to inmates, according to a report compiled by a prison expert in support of a lawsuit recently filed against the county. The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the report. (Union-Tribune)
• Balboa Park was set to transform into a giant opera stage on Saturday when the arts organization Project [Blank] staged “Park Opera,” a one-day opera performance dispersed to multiple sites around the park. A guide to the event included gems such as: “An opera singer walks through Zoro Garden, singing an aria of a pollinating bumble bee.” (KPBS)

The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.

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