San Diego Unified School District (formerly known as San Diego City Schools) is the

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, w ...

based in

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 eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States. It was founded in 1854. As of 2005 it represents over 200 institutions and has over 15,800 employees. The average teacher in the district makes around $67,000 a year, with a benefit package worth around $24,000 a year. The district includes 113

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s, 24

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

s, 4 atypical schools, 10 alternative schools, 27

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 25

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

School board

The district is governed by a five-member elected board of education. Board members are elected by district for four-year terms.

Superintendent

The superintendent is appointed by the school board. From 2010 through 2013 the superintendent was Bill Kowba, a retired Navy rear admiral. On February 26, 2013, Kowba announced his retirement, effective June 30. The next day, February 27, the school board unanimously appointed elementary school principal

Cindy Marten Cynthia Minette Marten is an American educator and government official who has served as the 11th United States deputy secretary of education since May 18, 2021. Marten previously served as the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School Distr ...

as the new superintendent. The quick appointment, without a search process or community input, was described as "highly unusual - virtually unheard of" 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 ...

''. On May 18, 2021, Marten left her job as superintendent to become the United States deputy secretary of education, with Lamont Jackson replacing her as the interim superintendent.

Schools

List of primary and secondary schools in San Diego This is a list of primary and secondary schools in San Diego, California, organized by school district. The San Diego Unified School District, also known as San Diego City Schools, is the school district that serves the majority of the city, it ...

organized by district

Partnership with Ocean Discovery Institute

In 2017, the district partnered with the

Ocean Discovery Institute The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...

, a nonprofit that works to teach kids about science and conservation, to bring a $15 million tuition-free learning and research center to the

City Heights City Heights is a dense urban community in central San Diego, California, known for its ethnic diversity. The area was previously known as East San Diego. City Heights is located south of Mission Valley and northeast of Balboa Park. City Height ...

neighborhood. The building will be a permanent campus for the nonprofit and will include two laboratories, a garden, a community kitchen and a residence for a live-in staff member. The Living Lab allows the nonprofit to reach all 10,000 students that attend and feed into Hoover High School.

Farm to School Program

In 2010, the district launched a

farm to school A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

program in an effort to bring locally grown produce to schools. The program seeks to provide students access to as much local, regional, and California grown produce as possible. In addition to produce grown at farms, the district has a Garden to Café program which allows schools to be certified by the San Diego Department of Environmental Health allowing the school to grow and serve their own produce.

References

External links

*
San Diego County Office of Education
{{Authority control School districts in San Diego County, California Education in San Diego School districts established in 1854 1854 establishments in California