San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

in northern

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Established in 1936, the district serves over 13,000 students in five middle schools, five comprehensive

high schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, and one alternative high school. SDUHSD is ranked the top school district in the county and #5 school district in the state.

History

Prior to 1936, students who lived in coastal

North County North County is a region in the northern area of San Diego County, California. It is the second-most populous region in the county (after San Diego), with an estimated population of 869,322. North County is well known for its affluence, especial ...

attended high school in Oceanside. In January 1936, the communities of

Encinitas Encinitas (Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and about south o ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Solana Beach Solana Beach (''Solana'', Spanish for "warm wind") is a coastal city in San Diego County, California. Its population was at 12,941 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 Census. History The area was first settled by the San Dieg ...

Del Mar Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to: Places in the United States * Del Mar, California * Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California * Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California * Del Mar Fai ...

, Green Valley, and Olivenhain voted in favor to form a new high school district. San Dieguito Union High School, now San Dieguito High School Academy was the flagship school of the district, in which the first classes were held in September 1936. Architect Lillian J. Rice was hired by the district board to design the school. The district now serves students from five elementary school districts in North County: the Encinitas Union, Rancho Santa Fe,

, and

School Districts. Students from those school districts matriculate through the middle schools and high schools.

Board of trustees

The district is governed by a five-member

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

, called the

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

. Since 2017, trustees are elected directly by voters from five separate areas within the district's boundaries. The current board trustees include Rimga Viskanta, Katrina Young, Jane Lea Smith, Michael Allman, and Phan Anderson. Viskanta and Smith have served as board president and board vice president since 2023. Allman and Young were elected to the board in 2020. Anderson, Smith, and Viskanta were elected to the board in November 2022. Viskanta is a policy analyst, and former board trustee for the Encinitas Union School District. Smith is a businesswoman, and former school teacher and administrator. Young is a community volunteer who previously served as chairman of the

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States established to provide the means to cure cystic fibrosis (CF) and ensure that those living with CF live long and productive lives. The Foundation pr ...

. Allman was former chairman, president, and CEO of

Southern California Gas Company The Southern California Gas Company (trading as SoCalGas) is a utility company based in Los Angeles, California, and a subsidiary of Sempra Energy. It is the primary provider of natural gas to Los Angeles and Southern California. Overview Its ...

Sempra Energy Sempra is a North American energy infrastructure company based in San Diego, California. The company is one of the largest utility holding companies in the United States with roughly 40 million consumers. Sempra's focus is on electric and natura ...

. Anderson is a software engineer.

Current members

Leadership and staff

The president of the Board of Trustees is Rimga Viskanta. She has served as president since December 2022. Viskanta previously was a member of the Encinitas Union School District board of trustees from 2016 to 2020, where she also served as board president. Tina Douglas, associate superintendent of business services, has served as interim superintendent since April 2022. The executive cabinet includes the heads of each district department: * Tina Douglas, Interim Superintendent, Associate Superintendent of Business Services * Deputy Superintendent (vacant) * Bryan Marcus, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services * Mary Anne Nuskin, Associate Superintendent of Human Resources On November 17, 2022, the board failed to pass an interim employment contract to fill Douglas's associate superintendent position. The next day, Douglas notified the board she would resign as interim superintendent and return to her previous position as associate superintendent of business services after the next scheduled board meeting on December 13, 2022. Cheryl James-Ward, professor at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

and former CEO of

E3 Civic High School e3 Civic High is a free public charter high school serving grades 9 thru 12 located in the landmark 400,000 square foot downtown San Diego Public Library. History The city of San Diego had been studying the possibility of a new central library ...

, was hired in November 2021. James-Ward was placed on

administrative leave Administrative leave is a temporary leave from a job assignment, with pay and benefits intact. Generally, the term is reserved for employees of non-business institutions such as schools, police, and hospitals. The definition of administrative leav ...

in April 2022 after controversial comments she made about

Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

during a board workshop. Board trustees Muir, Allman, and Bronstein voted in the affirmative, while Young voted against it. The board subsequently voted unanimously to terminate her contract on June 26, 2022, effective August 15, 2022, without cause. The board appointed Lucile Lynch as interim superintendent in May 2021. She served in the role until the board hired James-Ward in November 2021. Lynch was preceded by Robert Haley, who served in the role beginning on November 1, 2018. He resigned in April 2021.

School sites and properties

High schools

There are five high schools in the district, including four comprehensive schools and one alternative school. Although officially named academies, there is no official academic or educational difference between San Dieguito and Canyon Crest Academies and Torrey Pines and La Costa Canyon. SDUHSD uses a school choice method, that allows any student within the elementary and middle school boundaries to attend any of the four comprehensive high schools.

San Dieguito High School Academy

San Dieguito High School Academy (SDA), formerly San Dieguito Union High School, San Dieguito High School, and San Dieguito Academy, is the district's flagship school. Opening in 1936, the school is located in Encinitas around one mile from the coast. Similar to Canyon Crest Academy, SDHSA uses a semester class schedule, which allows students to take year-long courses in one semester. During the 2020-2021 school year, 2,059 students were enrolled.

Torrey Pines High School Torrey Pines High School is a high school in the North County Coastal area of San Diego, California. The school is named after the Torrey pine tree that grows in the area. Torrey Pines High School is a member of the San Dieguito Union High Schoo ...

Torrey Pines High School (TPHS) was established in 1974, located in the Del Mar Highlands area of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. Torrey Pines enrolled 2,547 students during the 2020-2021 school year, making it the largest school in the district. It is a traditional high school, using a rotating block schedule with year-long courses. The school's rival is La Costa Canyon High School.

La Costa Canyon High School La Costa Canyon High School (LCC) is a public high school located in Carlsbad, California. Established in 1996, it is a member of the San Dieguito Union High School District and serves the communities of Encinitas, south Carlsbad, Leucadia, Oliv ...

La Costa Canyon High School (LCC), located in south Carlsbad, opened in 1996 and is the smallest high school in the district. The district's only

International Baccalaureate (IB) The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

World School In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, La Costa Canyon enrolled 1,834 students during the 2020-2021 school year. It is one of the district's two traditional high schools, using a rotating block schedule. La Costa Canyon is best known for its athletic programs, producing numerous professional sports players. The school's rival is Torrey Pines High School.

Canyon Crest Academy

Canyon Crest Academy (CCA) opened in 2004 in the Carmel Valley area of San Diego. The school uses the semester class schedule similar to San Dieguito Academy. During the 2020-2021 school year, CCA enrolled 2,503 students making it the second largest school in the district. Canyon Crest has been ranked the #1 high school in the state since 2018.

Sunset High School

Sunset High School is the district's

alternative high school Alternative High School (AHS) is a public senior high (secondary) school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which teaches grades 10 through 12. AHS is currently located at the Clinton Ford Centre, which was home to the former Clinton Ford Elementary Sc ...

located in Encinitas.

Middle schools

The San Dieguito Union High School District currently operates five middle schools. Earl Warren Middle School is the district's first middle school located in

. Oak Crest Middle School in

opened in 1957. Diegueño Middle School in Encinitas was established in 1985, located four miles away from La Costa Canyon High School. Carmel Valley Middle School opened in 1999 in the Carmel Valley community of

. Pacific Trails Middle School was built in 2015, a half-mile away from Canyon Crest Academy.

Recent events

March–June 2021 * On March 19, 2021, Area 5 trustee Kristin Gibson resigned from board, citing personal reasons. The board of trustees would have 60 days to either hold a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

or execute a provisional appointment. On March 29, 2021, the board of trustees voted 3-1 to execute a provisional appointment. Michael Allman, Mo Muir, and Melisse Mossy voted in favor of the process; Katrina Young voted against it. * On April 22, 2021, Ty Humes was unanimously appointed to the board of trustees. * At the April 27, 2021 special board meeting, president Mo Muir stated that the board accepted superintendent Robert A. Haley's voluntary

resignation Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

agreement effective April 30, 2021. The agreement stated he would receive one year's salary and the district would "maintain his health and welfare benefits until April 30, 2022." * On April 30, 2021, Lucile Lynch was appointed as interim superintendent in a 4-1 vote. Allman, Humes, Muir, and Mossy voted in favor of the appointment; Young voted against it. * On June 9, 2021, the district announced that a petition to hold a special election for the Area 5 board seat "was deemed legally sufficient." Humes was then vacated from the board. October–November 2021 * On October 10, 2021, Cheryl James-Ward was announced as the lone finalist for superintendent. Subsequently, on October 14, 2021, the board voted 3-1 on her contract effective November 1, 2021. Allman, Muir, and Mossy voted in favor; Young voted against it. * On November 3, 2021, Julie Bronstein won the Area 5 special election against Humes and a community member. February 2022 * On February 10, 2022, the board selected three final trustee area maps in the 2020 census

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

process, mandated by the

California Voting Rights Act The California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA) is a state law in the state of California. It makes it easier for minority groups in California to prove that their votes are being diluted in "at-large" elections by expanding on the federal Voting ...

(CVRA). Maps 1C, 7, and 8 were chosen. Bronstein and Young voted against Maps 7 and 8, citing

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

. Young motioned to include Map 1C in the final options, which passed unanimously 5-0. The final maps are required to be adopted by the March 1, 2022 deadline. * On February 14, 2022, the board of trustees adopted Map 8 in a 3-2 vote. Allman, Muir, and Mossy voted in favor of the map; Bronstein and Young voted against it. Before the maps were adopted, superintendent Cheryl James-Ward indicated she received a letter from San Diego County superintendent of schools Paul Gothold. The letter stated the county board of education could take over the redistricting process if any delay were to occur due to litigation over the maps. Gothold also stated the county was informed that at least one of the maps considered could violate the CVRA. Days later, on February 22, 2022, a lawsuit was filed in the

San Diego County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, is the branch of the California superior court with jurisdiction over San Diego County. History San Diego County was one of the original counties formed when California gained statehood in ...

by two community members against the district. It claimed that the maps "disenfranchised"

people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

and was gerrymandered. April 2022 * On April 4, 2022, the San Diego County Board of Education voted unanimously to take over the trustee area map decision process for SDUHSD. * On April 12, 2022, Melisse Mossy resigns from the board of trustees. * On April 20, 2022, superintendent Cheryl James-Ward was placed on

for comments she made about

at a diversity, equity and inclusion board workshop on April 11, 2022. The board of trustees voted 3-1. Allman, Bronstein, and Muir voted for placing her on leave; Young voted against it. The next day, the board unanimously appointed Tina Douglas, associate superintendent of business services, as interim superintendent at a special board meeting. May–June 2022 * On May 22, 2022, an article was published by ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' about text messages between board vice president Michael Allman and superintendent Cheryl James-Ward. The messages were read by community activist Mali Woods-Drake during public comments at the May 17, 2022 board meeting. James-Ward confirmed she sent the texts to Woods-Drake. The exchange was regarding a

La Costa Canyon High School La Costa Canyon High School (LCC) is a public high school located in Carlsbad, California. Established in 1996, it is a member of the San Dieguito Union High School District and serves the communities of Encinitas, south Carlsbad, Leucadia, Oliv ...

teacher's mask enforcement. Allman texted obscene language and

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

to James-Ward, and urged her to fire the teacher and the principal, Reno Medina: "I will out this SOB. End of story. Does he not know, or does he know and ignore? If he does not know, fire Medina. If he know and ignores, fire the teacher.” * On June 26, 2022, superintendent Cheryl James-Ward was fired. The board of trustees voted unanimously 4-0 to terminate her contract, without cause, effective August 15, 2022. August 2022 * On August 25, 2022, the board of trustees unanimously adopted a resolution regarding gun violence prevention written by La Costa Canyon High School student body presidents Andrew and Shane Baum. The resolution advocated for safe gun storage and common sense

gun laws Gun laws and policies, collectively referred to as firearms regulation or gun control, regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of small arms by civilians. Laws of some countries may afford civilians a right to ...

. It is the first resolution written by the community in district history. November–December 2022 * On November 8, 2022, Rimga Viskanta, Jane Lea Smith, and Phan Anderson won election to the board of trustees. Anderson defeated incumbent Julie Bronstein in the Area 5 race. * On December 13, 2022, Rimga Viskanta was elected as board president. The board of trustees voted 5-0. Jane Lea Smith was elected board vice president. Smith initially nominated Katrina Young for the position, but she declined the nomination and instead nominated Smith. Phan Anderson nominated herself. Smith, Young, and Viskanta voted for Smith, and Anderson and Allman voted for Anderson. Each newly-elected board trustee was elected to a board leadership role.

References

External links

San Dieguito Union High School DistrictEarl Warren middle schoolCanyon Crest
*http://www.sduhsd.net/documents/Achievements/SanDieguito_DARC.pdf *http://www.sduhsd.net/About-SDUHSD/School-Board/index.html {{Authority control Carlsbad, California Encinitas, California Solana Beach, California School districts in San Diego County, California

History

Board of trustees

Current members

Leadership and staff

School sites and properties

High schools

San Dieguito High School Academy

Torrey Pines High School Torrey Pines High School is a high school in the North County Coastal area of San Diego, California. The school is named after the Torrey pine tree that grows in the area. Torrey Pines High School is a member of the San Dieguito Union High Schoo ...

La Costa Canyon High School La Costa Canyon High School (LCC) is a public high school located in Carlsbad, California. Established in 1996, it is a member of the San Dieguito Union High School District and serves the communities of Encinitas, south Carlsbad, Leucadia, Oliv ...

Canyon Crest Academy

Sunset High School

Middle schools

Recent events

See also

References

External links