San Diego Unified Superintendent Walks Back One of Four K

On Wednesday night, Superintendent Fabiola Bagula told a packed auditorium at Bethune K-8 that the district was reversing course on closing the school’s middle school grades.

The announcement came after nearly two weeks of frenzied advocacy by parents desperate to keep Bethune’s middle school open. It was kicked off by Voice of San Diego breaking the news that the district planned to cut middle school grades at four of K-8 schools. That came as a shock to stakeholders, none of whom were consulted about the cuts.

But while the district spared Bethune, the middle school grades at the other three K-8 schools are still on the chopping block. And over the course of the last two weeks, district leaders’ explanations for the closures have them doing something rare – criticizing their own school