Dear San Diego Podcast: Shana Hazan and the school board’s new housing venture

Tony Manolatos left Shana Hazan and Elizabeth Fitzsimons during the podcast San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Shana Hazan sits down with Tony and a very special guest co-host Tony s wife Elizabeth Fitzsimons to discuss what s happening at the state s second largest school district and why it s getting into the housing business and what that is expected to look like Shana also discussed the importance of wellness in the classrooms the Trump effect on coaching her ambivalence for the White Lotus working from home with a spouse who does the same and more When Shana is not caring for her two children or the tens of thousands who attend San Diego Unified schools she works as a consultant for the company she owns and operates Hazan Strategies assisting non-profits businesses and governing body agencies with improvement strategy planning and more Elizabeth who is CEO of Episcopal Public Services requested Shana about federal funding and what the impacts would be in classrooms if President Trump eliminates the Department of Learning Elizabeth also shared that ECS is grappling with the president s proposal to eliminate Head Start a federally-funded child maturation effort designed to help break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children of very low-income families with a comprehensive campaign to meet their emotional social strength nutritional and psychological necessities to prepare them for elementary school As you talk Elizabeth about the focus of Head Start on ending cycles of poverty that commitment and that ethos is very much a part of my DNA and the family I came from And in all of that is this belief that tuition is a critical piece of ending cycles of poverty in addition to all the other things you described Shana mentioned She added So I come from San Diego love San Diego left did a stint in the Midwest for about a decade did my undergraduate and graduate studies there and worked in Chicago residents schools and in the nonprofit world and did certain work with the Lieutenant Governor s office there And then I came home to thaw out because it s a little chilly in places like Chicago and Madison Wisconsin Shana grew up in San Diego and is a fourth-generation San Diego Unified graduate She studied political science at the University of Wisconsin Elizabeth is also a Wisconsin grad and earned a master s degree in Coaching and Social Procedures from Northwestern University She lives in Kensington with her husband and two daughters and she is at the moment serving in her first term as a school board member an experience that is challenging and rewarding I m really lucky to be on the school board in San Diego Unified This is a place where we believe in the beauty of diversity We have students who come from dozens and dozens and dozens of different countries I think we have nearly languages spoken and dialects at our schools And we love that diverse fabric It really creates wonderful experiences for all of our students And we lift those things up We are welcoming we are inclusive And at a time when that isn t supported everywhere She added A lot of people ask during these times how does it feel to be in masses coaching And here in San Diego it feels really good because we are staying true to our values and to the values that are the values of this entire society The Dear San Diego podcast with Tony Manolatos and Juan Hernandez is produced by JC Polk of Olas Media at the digital branding company s studios in Mission Valley