San Diego news from inewsource Journalism for the common good

The San Ysidro school board has agreed to pay $107,000 to a former district official who was dismissed in 2016 without explanation 11 days after the board honored her for her “hard work and dedication.” Read More »

Newsletter for May 27, 2016. Read More »

Newsletter for May 3, 2016. Read More »

Most states, including California, don’t require schools test to make sure their drinking water is lead free. The San Ysidro School District is spending $24 million to replace drinking fountains, sinks pipes and faucets at three schools after elevated lead levels were found in the drinking water. Read More »

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. Read More »

Malware infected computers at San Ysidro School District this month, deleting emails and forcing the district to temporarily shut down part of its systems. Read More »

The San Ysidro School District, which had been on the verge of a state takeover, has turned around its credit rating from near junk status a year ago to “A” ratings from two major rating agencies. The change could mean tens of millions of dollars in savings for district taxpayers. Read More »

“It’s almost disturbing to see this level of incompetence from the school board,” said San Diego Councilman David Alvarez, whose district includes San Ysidro. Read More »

The San Ysidro School District for two years overstated student enrollment and now owes the state an estimated $5.1 million. But inewsource has learned the district’s budget problems don’t end there. New administrators hired last month following the resignations of the superintendent and his deputy have also uncovered an estimated $2.1 million in expenses that were never funded in the ... Read More »

Edward Velasquez was in Idaho when the San Ysidro School Board voted Thursday night to make him the district’s latest interim superintendent. Read More »

Taxpayers in the San Ysidro School District paid Superintendent Julio Fonseca, who resigned last month, at least $1 million in total compensation for 26 months of work in one of San Diego County’s poorest school districts. inewsource is the first to detail Fonseca’s compensation from his time in San Ysidro, including two little-known perks for life insurance and health care. ... Read More »

The head of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nonprofit said he reached out to inewsource to protect the group’s “good name and reputation.” Read More »

A former San Ysidro School District superintendent who state auditors say possibly committed financial misdeeds sued a school board member this month for defamation, claiming the trustee ran a “malicious” and “despicable” campaign against him. In the lawsuit, Julio Fonseca, the district’s superintendent for about two years before resigning in September, accused trustee Rodolfo Linares of spreading false information to ... Read More »

It’s been two months since inewsource reported the San Ysidro School District was trying to recoup the money. Read More »

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. Questions about district payments to Superintendent Julio Fonseca ... Read More »

San Ysidro School District’s interim superintendent resigned late Friday night, just two months after his predecessor departed with a controversial separation package that made him the highest paid superintendent in the county. Read More »

A scathing but flawed report adds credence to long-standing complaints of financial mismanagement at the San Ysidro School District. Read More »

The troubled San Ysidro School District is putting one financial problem behind it while it also searches for its eighth superintendent since 2013. Read More »