San Dieguito Schools Will Not Reopen In January

Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Tuesday, December 29th. San Dieguito School Board cancels plans to bring students back. That story next. But first... let’s do the headlines…. 11 counties, including San Diego, are waiting to hear from state officials today about if the stay at home orders will continue. That decision likely rests on how ICU projections look for the next month. Newsom says hospitalizations in the state have plateaued in most places, but in Southern California the numbers are still on the rise. Meanwhile in San Diego, public health officials reported more than 1700 new coronavirus cases Monday, and 2 more deaths. The Oakland police department is investigating after a sculpture of Breonna Taylor was smashed in downtown Oakland over the weekend. That’s according to the associated press. The bust was installed just two weeks ago to honor Taylor, a Black woman killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky during a no-knock warrant drug raid last March. The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that inmates convicted of nonviolent sex crimes cannot be denied a chance at early parole. The consideration comes from a ballot measure approved by voters in 2016. Proponents say it was never intended to cover sex offenders. But the lower courts say the plain language in the bill means sex offenders cannot be excluded and the higher court agreed. From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need. San Dieguito Union High School District planned to have students return to campus part-time starting in January and then full time by the end of january. Those plans are now cancelled according to an announcement on monday. KPBS Education Reporter Joe Hong has more. In a 4-to-1 vote, San Dieguito’s school board rescinded the plan after the teachers union sued the district, arguing that it could not reopen schools while the county was still in the state’s most restrictive purple tier for COVID-19 cases. Board member Katrina Young said the decision was indicative of the balancing act school officials have had to perform throughout the pandemic. “There’s some parents that are fearful that their kids aren’t thriving right now and that absolutely has to be acknowledged. And there’s other parents that are fearful that this is not the right time to open campuses, and that also has to be acknowledged.” The district will continue offering limited on-campus services to vulnerable students. Board members urged parents whose students are struggling to reach out to their schools to see if they qualify for limited in-person instruction. Joe Hong KPBS News. That was KPBS Education reporter Joe Hong. Two military medical teams are headed for San Joaquin County today, amid a shortage of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients. Hospitals there are nearly 40% over capacity. Brooke McCullough is with Dameron Hospital and Adventist Health Lodi Memorial in Stockton. She says the military medical staff are on a 30-day mission, but she expects to need them even more in the New Year. “Saw the same trend after Thanksgiving, so we anticipate that to happen again. We also pay attention to the number of positivity in the community and with that number increasing, we anticipate there will be more hospitalizations from that group of people as well.” (:15) Military medical teams also came to the county’s aid last July to help with ICU staffing. The San Joaquin Valley and Southern California were the first regions to be issued state mandated stay-at-home orders when ICU bed capacities dropped to critical levels. Dentists say stress from the pandemic, social unrest, and even the election are contributing to a host of problems. That stress often manifests in people grinding their teeth which can especially affect people over 40 who’ve had root canals, cracked teeth, and old fillings. [Stockton] Dentist Doctor Edward Graham is seeing more signs of that in his patients. “People who are commuters will find themselves stressed in traffic and clenching, but most of the times, it’s nocturnal or at night and when you don’t have control over it and what happens is that your body actually kind of relieves the stress built up in it by grinding of the jaws.” Doctor Graham recommends a dental night guard worn during sleep to prevent clenching and grinding. Those are usually available through your dentist or drug store. He also says the pandemic has led patients to put off getting their regular checkups and cleanings which can lead to a host of tooth and gum problems. Coming up....CVS and Walgreens pharmacies are gearing up to help vaccinate California’s nursing homes. We’ll have that story next, just after this break. San Diego nursing homes are expected to get started on vaccinations this week, with some help from CVS and Walgreens pharmacies. The two companies were chosen by the Trump Administration to administer vaccinations in long-term care facilities, and then eventually provide vaccines to the general public. For this huge undertaking CVS is looking to hire more than 100 pharmacists and technicians. Lisa Kalajian is a licensed pharmacist and a district leader for CVS health. She spoke with KPBS Midday Edition Host Maureen Kavanaugh to talk about the vaccine operation. That was Lisa Kalajian, pharmacist and district leader for CVS health, speaking with KPBS Midday Edition Host Maureen Kavanaugh. And for our arts segment today…. The World of Wong Kar Wai was released on Christmas day. It’s a collection of seven restored films by the Hong Kong director and will be available through Digital Gym Cinema at Home for the next month. KPBS film critic Beth Accomando says you should treat yourself to the uniquely seductive style of Wong Kar Wai. When it comes to romance, I’m a cynic but there is one contemporary filmmaker who can make me swoon and that’s Wong Kar Wai. Since his directorial debut in 1988, Wong has been sweeping audiences off their feet with his intoxicating style. If his films – “As Tears Go By,” "Happy Together,” "In the Mood for Love"-- sound more like song titles maybe that's because he thinks of them as cinematic jam sessions. WONG KAR-WAI: "We are just like a group of musicians, jazz band and I'm like the band leader, I have a session and I just call up everybody and they just come over and we have a jam session." Although each film has a distinctly different rhythm, they all riff on similar themes of love, loss, desire and the possibility and impossibility of love. I’ve interviewed Wong and he says that in a sense he's making a single epic work. WONG KAR WAI: "Each film I make is just like a sequence in that long film and I'm not sure what that long film is intended to be and I just love them all." Now you have an opportunity to enjoy them together as part of The World of Wong Kar Wai. The seven restored titles are available for the next month through Digital Gym Cinema at Home. Beth Accomando, KPBS News. ….That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.