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The San Ysidro School District got its ninth superintendent in five years when the school board voted unanimously Thursday night to hire a Lemon Grove educator to head the district.
Why this matters
The San Ysidro School District, which serves some of the poorest students in San Diego County, has been roiled by scandal and superintendent turnover since 2013.
Gina Potter, a deputy superintendent in the Lemon Grove School District, will be the first permanent superintendent in San Ysidro since Superintendent Julio Fonseca resigned abruptly in September amid allegations of financial misdeeds.
Fonseca’s resignation set off months of turmoil in the district, including the resignation of his deputy, Jose Arturo Sanchez-Macias, who briefly served as interim superintendent.
Potter is joining a district that continues to undergo an “extraordinary audit” by the state. San Diego County Schools Superintendent Paul Gothold asked the state to conduct the audit into payments made to Fonseca and Sanchez-Macias. A state official said the investigation is expected to be completed soon.
Some board members have asked for the District Attorney’s Office to investigate the district’s finances.
Potter said she embraces the challenges facing the district.
“The sky’s the limit for the amount of stability and success that we, together, will bring as a community of staff and parents and leaders,” she said. “We are going to become an incredible school district.”
Potter said she has nearly three decades of education experience, including the past 16 years in the Lemon Grove district. She started there as a principal at Mount Vernon Elementary before becoming the district’s top finance officer. She later became the deputy superintendent for business services. Potter said she earned a joint doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of California San Diego, San Diego State University and California State University San Marcos.
Potter said the makeup of San Ysidro’s student body — it’s 90 percent Hispanic, according to state education data — was one of the factors that attracted her to the superintendent’s job.
“This is a school district that’s absolutely a gateway to the American dream for students who have immigrated to America,” she said.
A Chula Vista High School graduate, Potter said she has deep roots in South Bay education. Her father started five adult schools for the Sweetwater Union High School District, including the San Ysidro Adult School, she said. Her mother is a retired South Bay teacher.
“I could not be more excited to be coming back home,” Potter said.
Board President Rosaleah Pallasigue said Potter’s experience and community roots made her a standout candidate.
“She has a proven track record with fiscal stabilization, with bridging community relationships, with parent relationships, and we’re really blessed to receive her,” Pallasigue said.
Her priorities for the new superintendent include addressing San Ysidro’s budget deficit and the state audit.
The district serves about 4,800 students in grades kindergarten through eighth, with many among the poorest in San Diego County. For the 2016-17 school year, 36 percent were homeless and 81 percent received free or reduced price lunch.
Potter’s salary and start date are expected to be decided at next month’s school board meeting. The job was advertised with an annual salary of $180,000 to $200,000. In fiscal 2016, the Lemon Grove district paid Potter more than $189,000, including salary and benefits, according to Transparent California, a nonprofit think tank that compiles public employees’ pay and pension information.
The San Ysidro School Board also voted unanimously Thursday to approve a contract for interim Superintendent Edward Velasquez. He’ll be paid $1,000 a day, up to $43,000, and will be reimbursed no more than $12,000 in travel and lodging expenses.
The contract was effective to March 12, three days after the board voted 3-2 to hire Velasquez until a permanent replacement could take over.
Velasquez replaced interim Superintendent Mary Willis, who left the district when her contract expired on March 9.
Gina Potter will be the ninth person to hold the top administrator’s post at the San Ysidro School District since 2013. Here’s a rundown of the former superintendents from the past five years.
| Manuel Paul (permanent): | Resigned in 2013 after being indicted on corruption charges. He pleaded guilty in 2015 as part of a pay-to-play scheme and was sentenced to two months in federal jail. |
| Gloria Madera (interim): | An assistant superintendent who took over for Paul. She resigned in 2014 after the county Office of Education said the district might not be able to meet its financial obligations. |
| George Cameron (interim): | A retired National School District superintendent who was brought in as the district began to face possible bankruptcy and a state takeover. He resigned in 2015. |
| Edward Velasquez (interim): | A retired Los Angeles-area educator who was credited with helping stabilize the San Ysidro district’s finances during his four-month stint. He left in 2015 when the district when the district hired a permanent replacement. |
| Julio Fonseca (permanent): | A former Los Angeles-area educator took over in July 2015. He resigned this past September amid allegation of financial misdeeds. |
| Jose Arturo Sanchez-Macias (interim): | Fonseca’s top deputy took over when his boss resigned. He stepped down two months later amid questions about payments made to himself and Fonseca. |
| Mary Willis (interim): | A retired Los Angeles-area educator hired in November a few days before an “extraordinary audit” of the district’s finances was announced. Her contract with the district ended in March. |
| Edward Velasquez (interim): | The retired L.A.-area educator hired in March for a second stint as interim superintendent. His contract was approved April 12, the same day Potter was selected. |
Related stories…
Edward Velasquez was in Idaho when the San Ysidro School Board voted Thursday night to make him the district’s latest interim superintendent. The retired Los Angeles educator also served in that role for five months in 2015 when the district was facing bankruptcy and a state takeover.
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Two former top administrators in the San Ysidro School District cashed out nearly $178,000 in vacation and leave days during the approximately two years they worked there, according to payroll records obtained by inewsource. The amount of vacation days appears to be far more than either could have earned under their contracts.
Continue reading…
When the San Ysidro school board hired Mary Willis as its interim superintendent in November, she became the seventh person to lead the troubled district since 2013. She was also the fourth to have ties to school districts in the East Los Angeles area.The San Diego County superintendent of schools is asking the state to investigate the San Ysidro School District, citing concerns about payments made to the district’s two former top administrators.
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The San Diego County superintendent of schools is asking the state to investigate the San Ysidro School District, citing concerns about payments made to the district’s two former top administrators.
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We’ll let you know when big things happen.
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Editorial Standards Page
- Our Mission
- Ethics Policy
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- Unnamed Sources
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Our Mission
inewsource is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to improving lives in the San Diego region and beyond through impactful, data-based investigative and accountability journalism.
Our Vision
Betrayals of the public trust are revealed and rectified, wrongdoing is deterred, and inequities are illuminated thanks to inewsource’s deep, dogged, fact-based reporting.
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Ethics Policy
inewsource will conduct its business with the highest standards of decency, fairness and accuracy. These standards shall apply equally to inewsource employees, freelancers and all others engaged in gathering information on behalf of inewsource. All receive a copy of these ethical standards.
In the course of our reporting, we will consistently:
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In addition, inewsource follows the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists. The latest version, revised in 2014, can be found here.
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We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) as follows:
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Diverse Voices
Inclusiveness is at the heart of thinking and acting as journalists, and it supports the educational mandate of inewsource. Race, class, generation, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and geography all affect point of view. inewsource believes that reflecting societal differences in reporting leads to better, more nuanced stories and a better-informed community.
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Diverse Staffing Report
Below is a breakdown of staffing data at inewsource. We determine the composition of our staff by asking them to self-identify. It is based on a newsroom of 11 and a total staff of 15 as of August 2020. Percentages are based on 15 total survey responses. The numbers include full-time and part-time staff, full-time fellows and full-time and part-time interns.
| All Staff Percentages are based on 15 total survey responses. The numbers include full-time and part-time staff, full-time fellows and full-time and part-time interns. | Newsroom Percentages are based on 15 completed survey responses to this question. | Business Percentages are based on 15 completed survey responses to this question. | |||
| Gender Identity | Gender Identity | Gender Identity | |||
| Women | 80% | Women | 82% | Women | 75% |
| Men | 20% | Men | 18% | Men | 25% |
| Sexual Orientation | Sexual Orientation | Sexual Orientation | |||
| Straight | 87% | Straight | 82% | Straight | 100% |
| LGBTQ-identifying | 7% | LGBTQ-identifying | 7% | ||
| Not specified | 7% | Not specified | 7% | ||
| Speak a language beyond English at home | 33% | Speak a language beyond English at home | 18% | Speak a language beyond English at home | 75% |
| Race/Ethnicity | Race/Ethnicity | Race/Ethnicity | |||
| White | 67% | White | 73% | White | 50% |
| Hispanic or Latinx | 20% | Two or more races | 18% | Hispanic or Latinx | 50% |
| Two or more races | 13% | Hispanic or Latinx | 9% | ||
| Age | Age | Age | |||
| 20-29 | 40% | 20-29 | 45% | 20-29 | 25% |
| 30-39 | 47% | 30-39 | 45% | 30-39 | 50% |
| 60 or older | 13% | 60 or older | 9% | 60 or older | 25% |
* The percentages in the charts have been rounded and may not add up to 100.
Ownership Structure, Funding and Grants
inewsource is a nonprofit organization, whose legal name is Investigative Newsource. It does business as inewsource. The business was incorporated on Aug. 4, 2009 in the state of California. Tax-exempt status as a 501c3 was granted by the IRS on Sept. 15, 2010. inewsource is funded primarily by individual contributions and foundation grants. We are guided by a board of directors.
Editorial independence: Journalists employed by inewsource take no editorial direction from donors whose contributions may support the organization. inewsource will not hesitate to report on its donors when events warrant. Our Editorial Independence Policy details the firewall between journalism and revenue.
To be transparent with the public, inewsource lists its donors on its website. In cases where a donor is the subject of an inewsource story, additional disclosure will be made.
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Fact-checking and Verification Standards
Transparency is one of our core values. Today, there is a need to build trust with our audience because new media and ways of communicating spread lies and slanted news faster than “real” news. At the same time, this era of new technologies makes it easier than ever for news organizations to be transparent. People don’t just have to believe us, they can investigate our investigations with our source materials.
Transparency is key to building credibility.
inewsource reporters have primary responsibility for reporting, writing, and fact-checking their stories. But before a story is published, the reporter reviews all facts and sources with an editor or another reporter. Facts must be traced to a primary source.
In addition, we “transparify” certain investigative stories. This process involves publishing a version of the web story with hyperlinks to all the story’s facts. This is proof that all facts have been documented with primary evidence. We do this to build trust with our readers and to be as transparent as we hope the public figures and institutions that we hold accountable will be.
Unnamed Sources
Not all sources are created equal. Some sources cannot speak authoritatively, provide proper analysis or speak specifically to every inquiry placed before them. To maintain the integrity of our reporting, inewsource reporters must select sources who can speak with validity to the topic at hand, and avoid presenting unqualified or underqualified sources as experts.
If an interviewed source has a conflict of interest, or whose qualifications may be tangential or limited, reporters will note that within the context of the story.
It is incumbent upon reporters to fully background their sources to uncover conflicts of interest or slant prior to using them in a story.
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There are times, however, when information may be critical for a story but cannot be found or verified by other means. For example, a source may be able to confirm specific information about a series of events they may have witnessed, but have legitimate concerns about using their name or title. The repercussions to the source could be legal, job-related retribution or personal safety. The source and journalist must discuss these potential dangers and terms of use should be agreed upon by both parties.
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inewsource strives for accuracy in everything we do, which is why we are committed to fact checking our content. But sometimes we make errors. When that happens, we correct them. We also clarify stories when something we’ve written is confusing or could be misinterpreted.
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Including the web producer is key because inewsource is a multimedia news organization and shares its content with multiple partners on multiple platforms. The web producer must alert these partners about corrections and clarifications.
Corrections and clarifications should be included at the bottom of stories and dated.
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Our audiences know the region we cover and have a stake in maintaining and improving the quality of life in San Diego and Imperial counties. We know your knowledge and insights can help shape what we cover and how we cover it. We invite your comments and complaints on news stories, suggestions for issues to cover or sources to consult. We rely on you to tell us when we get it right and when we need to keep pushing.
Your comments, questions and suggestions can be sent to the team as a whole at contact@inewsource.org or you can contact a specific member of our staff.
Masthead
CEO, Editor and Founder: Lorie Hearn, loriehearn@inewsource.org
Lorie Hearn is the chief executive officer, editor and founder of inewsource. She founded inewsource in the summer of 2009, following a successful reporting and editing career in newspapers. She retired from The San Diego Union-Tribune, where she had been a reporter, Metro Editor and finally the senior editor for Metro and Watchdog Journalism. In addition to department oversight, Hearn personally managed a four-person watchdog team, composed of two data specialists and two investigative reporters. Hearn was a Nieman Foundation fellow at Harvard University in 1994-95. She focused on juvenile justice and drug control policy, a natural course to follow her years as a courts and legal affairs reporter at the San Diego Union and then the Union-Tribune.
Hearn became Metro Editor in 1999 and oversaw regional and city news coverage, which included the city of San Diego’s financial debacle and near bankruptcy. Reporters and editors on Metro during her tenure were part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stories that exposed Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham and led to his imprisonment.
Hearn began her journalism career as a reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times, a small daily outside of Philadelphia, shortly after graduating from the University of Delaware. During the decades following, she moved through countless beats at five newspapers on both coasts.
High-profile coverage included the historic state Supreme Court election in 1986, when three sitting justices were ousted from the bench, and the 1992 execution of Robert Alton Harris. That gas chamber execution was the first time the death penalty was carried out in California in 25 years.
In her nine years as Metro Editor at the Union-Tribune, Hearn made watchdog reporting a priority. Her reporters produced award-winning investigations covering large and small local governments. The depth and breadth of their public service work was most evident in coverage of the wildfires of 2003 and then 2007, when more than half a million people were evacuated from their homes.
Managing Editor: Laura Wingard, laurawingard@inewsource.org
Laura Wingard is the managing editor at inewsource. She has been an editor in San Diego since 2002, working at The San Diego Union-Tribune, KPBS and now inewsource. At the Union-Tribune, she served in a variety of roles including as enterprise editor, government editor, public safety and legal affairs editor, and metro editor. She directed the newspaper’s award-winning coverage of the October 2007 wildfires and the 2010 disappearance of Poway teenager Chelsea King. She also oversaw reporting on San Diego’s pension crisis.
For two years, Wingard was news and digital editor at KPBS, overseeing a team of four multimedia reporters and two web producers. She also was the KPBS liaison with inewsource and collaborated with inewsource chief executive officer and editor Lorie Hearn on investigative work by both news organizations.
Wingard also worked at the Las Vegas Review-Journal as the city editor and as an award-winning reporter covering the environment and politics. She also was the assistant managing editor for metro at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside. She earned her bachelor’s degree at California State University, Fullerton, with a double major in communications/journalism and political science.
Assistant Editor and Senior Reporter: Brad Racino, bradracino@inewsource.org
Brad Racino is the assistant editor and a senior reporter at inewsource. He has produced investigations for print, radio and TV on topics including political corruption, transportation, health, maritime, education and nonprofits.
His cross-platform reporting for inewsource has earned more than 50 awards since 2012, including back-to-back national medals from Investigative Reporters and Editors, two national Edward R. Murrow awards, a Meyer “Mike” Berger award from New York City’s Columbia Journalism School, the Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism, San Diego SPJ’s First Amendment Award, and a national Emmy nomination.
In 2017, Racino was selected by the Institute for Nonprofit News as one of 10 “Emerging Leaders” in U.S. nonprofit journalism.
Racino has worked as a reporter and database analyst for News21; as a photographer, videographer and reporter for the Columbia Missourian; as a project coordinator for the National Freedom of Information Coalition and as a videographer and editor for Verizon Fios1 TV in New York. He received his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 2012.
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Most of our articles carry a byline to identify the author. In some cases, inewsource will use a brand byline such as “Staff” or “inewsource” for internal or editorial information about the newsroom. In these instances, inewsource‘s Editor and Managing Editor are responsible for content that uses a brand byline.
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inewsource is proud to be a member of The Trust Project and support efforts to increase transparency in journalism by displaying the 8 Trust Indicators on our stories. We launched the Trust Indicators on Sep. 16, 2020.
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