Services for military children with disabilities
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, December first.
The impact of frequent moves on military children with disabilities. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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A federal judge in Texas wants to move forward on a case that could end DACA.
The Obama-era program gives some undocumented immigrants brought to the U-S as children temporary protection from deportation and a work permit.
Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas ruled DACA was illegally created, and the case moved to an appeals court earlier this year.
That court sided with the judge , but kicked the case back to his courtroom to consider a new DACA rule put into place by the Biden administration.
Now the judge is asking attorneys to come up with a schedule for new arguments by the middle of this month.
The new Biden rule was meant to strengthen DACA from legal scrutiny.
Advocates argue the only way to truly safeguard DACA and its recipients is through legislative action.
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Good news …. gas prices are the lowest they’ve been since the beginning of March.
The average price of a gallon of regular gas in the county .. dropped to four-dollars-and-97-cents a gallon yesterday.
Although gas prices are dropping, they’re still 31-cents more than this time last year.
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Last month the county got more rain than usual.
Now on the first of December, more Rain is headed our way.
The National Weather Service says it will arrive tonight, but it’ll be light
It’s also going to get windy as the day goes on, with the highest gusts starting this evening.
temps are expected to be in the low 60s today and into the weekend.
More light rain is expected this weekend.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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The U-S Department of Education is asking local school systems to better meet the needs of military children with disabilities.
When service members move from base to base, they sometimes find it takes too long for their child's new school to begin providing special education services.
Carson Frame reports for the American Homefront Project.
On weekdays, Army wife Lawanda Jenkins turns the morning news on well before dawn. She glances up at it from time to time as she helps her 8 year-old [DOB 11/25] daughter Victoria get ready for school. Also news from overnight a man is dead after trying to break into a home on the city's south side. It’s an exacting mor ning routine that’s often interrupted by health scares. Victoria suffers from two neurological conditions that make it hard for her to process information — and lead to problems with body functioning. She’s nonverbal, and relies on a motorized wheelchair and assistive communication devices. JENKINS: Usually she might have a seizure like going once every other morning. So depending on if she has a seizure usually she'll have it maybe around like three ish, but her standard wakeup time is about 5am…Because she requires a lot of work. When the family lived on post at Fort Sam Houston, Victoria’s life at school was pretty stable. She attended the elementary school on post, and the teachers there understood her routines and quirks. But when the family had to move off base unexpectedly last year, Victoria transferred to another school system. JENKINS: it was a big learning curve for the teacher, even though the teacher was a special needs teacher, she was like, she required the most care. Like, one of the days.. she started having a seizure…And there was no nurse on site. So they started panicking, calling me. For the first several weeks Victoria was at the new school, she didn’t have all of the equipment she needed, so Jenkins had to bring a lot of it from home. She also had to take time off work to train teachers and deal with emergencies. To make matters worse, the school liaison at Fort Sam Houston — an Air Force employee who is supposed to help military families in situations — like these, didn’t. JENKINS: I just felt like they had they put in no effort….That's pretty much…I mean, in my opinion, it was just like, ‘We don't care. It's not our child.’ That's kind of how I felt. Advocates say military families with disabled children often face problems like these. When they move from place to place, their new district or state might not offer the same services as their old one. NOWICKI: it’s a very difficult system to navigate, especially when it comes down to the school district level. Jackie Nowicki, a researcher with the Government Accountability Office, has studied the programs the Defense Department offers to families with children in special education. She says the department is limited in what it can do to help, since it doesn’t determine which accommodations children should get. THAT’S mostly up to school districts and states. NOWICKI: “the way the law is designed, they're provided latitude in defining disability categories, and latitude in setting eligibility criteria, that results in unevenness… Frequent moves add to the problem. Jennifer Barnhill is with Partners in Promise, a nonprofit organization that provides special education resources to military families. BARNHILL: it's not as though these experiences in the military community are different than the experiences of our civilian counterparts in special education, it's just that we experience them more frequently because of the highly mobile military lifestyle. Disabled children go through evaluations to determine the kinds of support they need. But when they move, their new districts often want to start that process from scratch. It takes, on average, 171 days for them to do new evaluations, according to a survey Partners in Promise did last year. That means students have to wait even LONGER for services. BARNHILL: “So for example, if a military student arrives in a new location, and it takes them as our survey data show, roughly 5.75 months to receive services, they're approximately a quarter of the way through a two year tour of duty at that point. And if there’s a dispute with the school district, it can take months or years to resolve. By that point, it’s time to move again.The Department of Education recently sent a letter encouraging school districts to look at the complications of the military lifestyle, and to offer disabled children the services that have historically worked for them. And last year’s defense budget expanded legal assistance for military families who experience special education disputes. I’m Carson Frame in San Antonio.
That story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.
Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Bob Woodruff Foundation.
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THIS IS THE LAST WEEK OF CLASSES AT UC-SD, AND WITH ACADEMIC WORKERS STILL ON STRIKE, SOME STUDENTS WORRY THIS COULD AFFECT THEIR GRADES.
KPBS REPORTER KITTY ALVARADO SPOKE WITH STUDENTS AND THOSE ON STRIKE.
Fourth year student Kayla Guzman says she doesn’t really know how her grades will be affected by the UC academic workers “It is kind of scary it sucks that we’re so late in the quarter and everything is up in the air Students we spoke with to are supportive of the academic workers and say they should get paid more for the amount of work they do Udayan Tandon, a computer lab researcher at UC San Diego is among the 48, thousand on strike across the UC system. I definitely understand the concern but at the same time …me and a lot of my colleagues are basically living in poverty and the university at any point has the ability to end that The UC reached a tentative agreement with 12 thousand of the 48 thousand workers on strike and say negotiations with the rest of the units Kitty Alvarado KPBS News
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The volcanic eruption in Hawaii has interrupted a key long-running scientific record of airborne carbon dioxide.
Here’s KPBS Environment reporter Erik Anderson with the details.
Lava flows from one of the world’s largest volcanoes have cut off access to a research observatory that’s recorded carbon dioxide levels in the air for 60 years. Those measurements record steadily rising C-O-2 levels, a scientific record widely known as the Keeling curve. That record was started by Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Charles Keeling, who died in 2005, and is now maintained by his son Ralph Keeling. The station isn’t expected to be operating any time soon. “They still have to build…they have to let lava cool. Build a new road over it. They have to put new power poles over it. That’s months in any case.” Keeling says he’s looking for a nearby location that’s suitable to take measurements until the observatory is back on-line. Erik Anderson KPBS News
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San Diego police are going to start enforcing the city’s street vending law in some areas this weekend.
KPBS reporter Jacob Aere tells us why… and what’s next.
Since June, San Diego has had a law against street vending in “high-traffic,” areas, but the enforcement has been a mixed bag depending on where you are. The Gaslamp Quarter Association’s Michael Trimble says there are still dozens of street vendors in that area… many with health and safety violations on their carts … and some have caught on fire! So the police got involved and will start issuing citations this weekend. “And enforcement means you know whether it be tickets, citations or whatnot. It really depends on what the police feel is acceptable at the moment.”” Outside of the Gaslamp, enforcement will soon include the beaches and other coastal areas … once an amended version of the vendor law takes effect sometime early next year. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
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Coming up.... The City of San Diego’s electric street sweeper officially has a new name. We’ll have that and more, just after the break.
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A school in one of the smallest districts in the County is leading the state in the effort to advance T-K or transitional kindergarten.
KPBS Education reporter M.G. Perez explains.
The Creekside Early Learning Center in the Alpine Union School District is the only campus in San Diego county… just for T-K and Kindergarten students. The center has been accepting 4-year old children into their pre-school program for 20 years…putting it well ahead of the new California transitional kindergarten law…that will Wendy Wray is a teacher who’s been there from the beginning “we are not the type that jobs on the band wagon …we create the band wagon and everybody else jumps onboard…with us we’ve always been trendsetters.” By next year, the Creekside campus will be ready to offer T-K classes to 3 year old children whose 4th birthday happens by September 1st. MGP KPBS News
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The next test for the U-S Men's national soccer team comes Saturday.
The team faces the Netherlands in a knockout match.
Jill Ellis, is the team president of San Diego Wave F-C and the former coach of the U-S Women's soccer team.
She spoke with KPBS’s Jade Hindmon about this next step in the world cup tournament.
“As a former world cup coach, how hard can it be to get the team focused on the next game after such an emotional win like that?
The fans are a big part of the World Cup experience… and that extends to San Diego. Last weekend, the Rady Shell was packed with fans cheering on the US team against England…. On top of that, your current team San Diego Wave FC broke attendance records in its first season. Why do you think soccer is so popular here?
Can you give us an update on what is happening with the Wave FC as it prepares for its second season next spring?
FIFA announced an all-female refereeing team will be officiating its first men’s World Cup match on Thursday. What is your reaction to that?
We have heard a lot about how young this U.S. mens team is. What challenges and opportunities does that bring to such a high-pressure atmosphere like the world cup?
Finally, what do you think the U.S. team needs to focus on to beat the Netherlands this weekend?”
That was San Diego Wave F-C team president Jill Ellis, speaking with KPBS Midday Edition host, Jade Hindmon.
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The City of San Diego’s electric street sweeper officially has a name!
And it’s…. Drumroll please…. SWEEP-E.
Last month the city asked *you* to vote on your favorite name out of the top three contenders.
SWEEP-E came in first with more than 43-percent of the votes.
TESS came in as a close second and The Blue Broomba trailed behind in 3rd place .
SWEEP-E also got an ocean-themed makeover to showcase how street sweeping helps prevent ocean pollution, improves water quality and protects marine wildlife.
That’s a big job Sweep-e, best of luck out on the road!
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day. Talk to you tomorrow!
