Social Equity

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us

“Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society” Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Communities across San Diego are facing challenges of remote learning as K-12 schools have shifted to online classes or have been forced to go remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic. School closures have created a situation where the most disadvantaged children are most likely to lose out on the opportunity to keep learning.

The San Diego COVID-19 Equity Task Force is an innovative, volunteer community-based coalition of stakeholders organized to discuss, advocate and help implement policies and strategies to address the disproportionate negative impact the new coronavirus disease is inflicting on the diverse and vulnerable populations in the San Diego community. Local physicians, Dr. Rodney Hood, Dr. Robert Gillespie and Dr. Suzanne Afflalo are the founding members of this collaborative.

Rancho Peñasquitos mother Cheryl Canson said she’s become increasingly concerned about her son, Jordan Jackson, an inmate at California State Prison, Sacramento. 

Jackson, who was sentenced to 35 years after severely injuring his infant son in 2011, is living with bipolar disorder. The stress of COVID-19 has worsened his mental health, Canson said. 

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us

California’s 116 community colleges receive a fraction of the per-student spending compared to public universities in California even though they are the largest provider of higher education and workforce training in the nation and serve far greater proportions of low-income students, first-generation students and English learners.  

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing recession have forced Californians and San Diegans to grapple with a new reality. Daily ways of life – sending kids off to school, being able to safely go to work, and seeing and caring for aging family members – all looks very different these days.

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Write it! Email it to hoa@ivn.us

Gov. Gavin Newsom made the right decision when he vetoed Assembly Bill 331 that would have required all public high school students in California to take at least one semester of ethnic studies in order to graduate.

Hear more of this story at 6 p.m. Wednesday on "The Extra Point" on Mightier 1090am.

Matthew Villongco stopped by the UCLA campus to see his friends on a Thursday night during his first year of community college. An airy lounge surrounded by a glass wall, packed to the brim with students, caught his eye — The Study.

He’d imagined that people would be partying. Instead, he saw collaborative studying, an atmosphere filled with chatter, not students in their own headphone-induced bubbles.

When Hana Muhammad’s family left war-torn Somalia for the U.S. more than 20 years ago, it was the International Rescue Committee that helped them resettle in San Diego where the nonprofit has an office in City Heights. The organization helped her mother find a job, save money and buy a car. 

This is Part Two of a two-part series on racism and the education system. Read Part One here. ‍

Data supporting the direct link between family income and student achievement rely mostly on test scores as the primary indicator of success. By that measure, the evidence is indisputable that schools in wealthy neighborhoods out-perform schools located in less affluent communities.