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This is the second installment of a two-part series on Gompers Preparatory Academy in Southeast San Diego. Read the first installment here. The Gompers community has made its position clear. About 80 students, teachers, alumni and community members staged a protest Oct. 27 at the district office, demanding that the San Diego Unified School District reverse its recent decision to eliminate on-loan agreements for four top Gompers Preparatory Academy charter school employees. The on-loan agreeme

This is the first in a two-part series on Gompers Preparatory Academy in Southeastern San Diego. Read the second installment here. Fifteen years ago, I had the privilege of sitting in the boardroom when San Diego Unified School District’s Board of Education authorized the conversion of Gompers Middle School to an independent charter school. This was a turbulent time, with Alan Bersin as superintendent, a teachers union in revolt and a dysfunctional school board. In this midst of this tumult ca

Native San Diegan Shakema Martin says she may still be employed today if she weren’t Black. Martin, a Mira Mesa native, was working at a Carlsbad company until August when she caught COVID-19. She quarantined until she felt better and returned to work with a doctor’s note, clearing her of the highly contagious virus. “They let me start work right away but told me I needed my doctor to fill out other paperwork,” she said. Martin found it difficult to complete her extra work during her Monda

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ It's often hard to see, but much more is at stake Tuesday than the presidency and control of Congress. Voters get to shape public policy by approving or rejecting more than 100 statewide ballot measures and dozens more local proposals — and this exercise in direct democracy includes plenty of ideas for bettering American democracy itself. More than a score of m

Editor's Note: This opinion piece originally appeared in The Hill, and has been republished on IVN with permission from the author. ‍ Polling indicates Joe Biden and the Democrats will win big. However, Democrats are falling short of the edge they need in early voting to offset the Republicans’ anticipated big edge in Election Day voting in three of four battleground states where data is available. If pollsters adjusted to fix 2016 mistakes, the RealClearPolitics average in each state shows B

Her son’s third birthday party and his preschool field trip, those are the SeaWorld memories Anna M. holds dear. As a season passholder, she gushed about how fortunate children in San Diego are to get exposure to animals up close between the Zoo and SeaWorld. “They aren’t just reading about them in a book or watching them on TV. My son has seen a real-life manatee. I didn’t know what a manatee was at his age!” said Anna, who preferred not to disclose her full name to protect her privacy. The c

VotePact is a voting strategy that advocates that people vote for their actual preferences by pairing up with someone on the other side of the Democratic-Republican divide. So people can strategically vote for the candidates they most like without fear of helping those they most fear. Instead of effectively cancelling out each other -- one for Trump and one for Biden, they can both vote Libertarian or Green or whatever they want. It is effectively DIY ranked choice voting, which allows voters t

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to hoa@ivn.us Most San Diegans think homelessness is getting worse and they say the city is to blame. The coronavirus pandemic makes homelessness even more of a concern for public health. We need solutions now and half-measures have failed us. San Diego should — and can be — a place where everyone has a place to call home. Measure A presents a solution for homelessness. It would build 7,500 apartments for low-income people in the c

Represent San Diego and Independent Voter Project presented a screening of Daniel Falconer’s award-winning anti-corruption documentary, "UnRepresented," to an audience of 120 democracy reform advocates and concerned citizens on Oct. 10. The screening was followed by a lively and in-depth discussion of the challenges raised by the film’s unflinching look at the current state of American democracy. "UnRepresented" is a short film with a big message: legalized political corruption is ruining our d

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday discussed the option of filing a lawsuit that would allow the passage of Measure C — a special tax measure that would increase lodging taxes — despite it failing to receive a two-thirds majority vote in the March primary. Measure C asked that a tax be levied on overnight lodging guests between the range of 1.25% and 3.25% with revenue going toward the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center. Under the California Constitution, special tax measures requ