VALLEY CENTER
A Valley Center Elementary School teacher was arrested Thursday, accused of engaging in graphic and inappropriate conversations via chat and video messaging platforms with former students in Bakersfield, authorities said.
Kyle Puette, a 37-year-old third and fifth grade teacher, was arrested on suspicion of sending harmful material to seduce minors and communicating with minors to commit a sexual offense.
The alleged sex crimes happened in Bakersfield, where Puette worked as a fifth-grade teacher at Louise Sandrini Elementary School between 2013 and 2017. Authorities said they identified two teenage victims, former students who Puette allegedly contacted through social media.
Authorities did not give a timeline of the alleged crimes or the investigation that led to Puette’s arrest.
UC San Diego Health wins award for partnerships with local school districts
UC San Diego Health’s new clinic in the Village at Pacific Highlands Ranch. The clinic offers primary care and women’s health services.
(Courtesy)
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UC San Diego Health was named the 2021 “Partner in Educational Excellence” by the Association of California School Administrators Region 18 for its COVID-19 testing programs.
Superintendents from the Solana Beach, Del Mar Union, Rancho Santa Fe and San Dieguito Union school districts joined together to nominate the academic medical center for the award in honor of the groundbreaking partnerships it helped create in San Diego County during the pandemic. These collaborations have resulted in symptomatic and surveillance COVID-19 testing for students and school employees, helping keep students on their campuses and in classrooms during the 2020-21 school year.
San Dieguito school district no longer accepts written public comment
The SDUHSD board met virtually on Feb. 25.
(Karen Billing)
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The San Dieguito Union High School District is facing questions about how it is handling public comment, including its recent decision to no longer accept written public comments and an incident when several speakers were cut off mid-comment during a special board meeting.
On Feb. 25, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of San Diego and Imperial Counties wrote a letter to the board and superintendent with concerns that they are unlawfully restricting public comment.
“We write to remind you that a school board may not silence community members engaged in lawful public comment simply because the board dislikes their message,” wrote Melissa Deleon, an equity staff attorney with the ACLU. “If the board is limiting access to public meetings and restricting comments based on the viewpoint expressed, it is violating its own bylaws,
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The youngest Solana Beach School District students are experiencing less Zoom and more in-person learning and playing as the district continued its phased approach of returning more students more days this month. Now kindergarten through third grade students are in school in-person four days a week.
With third grade students returning on Jan. 25, Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services Sabrina Lee said at the Jan. 21 school board meeting that she knows there were smiles behind the masks: “You can’t see their faces but see their cheeks rise under their masks and hear the laughter in classrooms,” Lee said.
In San Diego County, 429,556 students remain in distance learning while 25,781 are in full-time learning on campus and 58,881 are attending school in a hybrid model like Solana Beach. Solana Beach’s phase-in will continue with sixth grade students returning first on Feb. 8 followed by fifth grade on Feb. 22 and fourth grade on March 1. Superintendent Jodee