San Diego City Schools

San Diego city schools received a $500,000 grant Thursday to participate in a major national effort to improve the teaching of math, science and technology through fresh classroom approaches. San Diego will be one of nine school districts nationwide in a 2 1/2-year research project sponsored by the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, which announced the $4.6-million program in Washington.

Among San Diego County high schools, the Coca-Cola symbol and athletics have been synonymous for years. Football scoreboards throughout the area feature the soft-drink logo in return for company support of school sports programs. Now Coke wants to be associated with academic achievement as well. Beginning in September, Coca-Cola for Scholastic Achievement will become the newest program in San Diego city schools to strengthen and reward student efforts in the classroom.

The public furor aroused by the recent elimination of F grades by the San Diego city schools is further evidence of the need for two fundamental changes in education. These vital reforms are: (1) parental choice as to the schools children attend and (2) self-governing, autonomous schools, free of interference from educational bureaucrats. For years, professional educators have argued fervidly over the merits and disadvantages of eliminating failing grades. Parents cannot look to the experts for any consensus on this issue.

San Diego city schools Supt. Tom Payzant is considering the top school position in Miami-Dade County, Fla., the nation's fourth-largest school district and one of the most innovative, Payzant confirmed Monday. Payzant is one of 12 candidates for the post. The candidates will be revealed publicly at the Miami school board today.

The commitment to child-care programs by the San Diego city schools fails to meet the needs of parents across all ethnic and income lines, trustees of the nation's eighth-largest school district acknowledged Tuesday. But, although all five board members agreed that they must do more, trustees took only a few initial steps to identify specific problems after their second major discussion on child care this fall, saying that limited money and space restrict any quick fixes. Board President Susan Davis said the district's existing efforts are "embarrassing" contrasted with those of other county area school systems and said that many people in the San Diego community "have the perception that the schools aren't doing all that they should . . . and that, if we had the interest, we'd find a way."