Recent Articles
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Salaries, benefits, and how columns grow out of control
Some of you have asked why my columns are so long. It’s a good question, because I never set out to write so much. It’s hubris to think my words are so important – I recognize that. Every time I sit down to write, it’s always with the goal to keep my words under 1,000 – 800 is the target. But here’s...
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Focus on senior portraits
As part of its contract with the San Dieguito Union High School District to shoot senior yearbook portraits, Keane Studios, located in Carmel Valley, receives personal contact information for each 12th-grade student and their parents. Some parents say this is wrong, citing a violation of privacy...
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Pushing boundaries
By Marsha Sutton Few issues cause parents more distress than changes in school boundaries. Who can forget the tumult when in 2002 the Del Mar Union School District moved hundreds of families from one attendance area to another? Resentment still lingers, 12 years later. The San Dieguito Union High...
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No blame game on illegal student fees
By Marsha Sutton It would be easy to assume, after the last few columns, that the staff at the San Dieguito Union High School District deserves condemnation. Recent stories highlighting what may be unlawful student fees have been critical. The schools’ nonprofit foundations have not always followed...
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High school student parking fees under scrutiny
By Marsha Sutton At $40 annually per vehicle, the San Dieguito Union High School District collected over $77,000 in fees this year from students for campus parking permits. With an overall budget this year of about $107 million, $77,000 may seem insignificant. But there’s a principle at stake here,...
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Illegal fees collected for cap-and-gown; refunds owed
By Marsha Sutton Parents who paid for caps and gowns for their graduating high school seniors this year are owed a full refund, the San Dieguito Union High School District has determined. Because the district did not make it clear that caps and gowns could be provided at no charge, SDUHSD is now...
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News for high school athletes and graduating seniors
By Marsha Sutton In her fight to ensure fair and equal access for all public school students in California, Sally Smith is a champion for those without a voice and Public Enemy #1 to those who view her as a destructive force in public education. Smith is a doggedly determined attorney who began...
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A vote for decency on the county school board
By Marsha Sutton A lawyer once told me he would rather defend rapists and murderers than dive into the ugly world of education politics. Although joking (sort of), I take his point. Having written about education for the last 18 years and suffered more than my share of abuse for the positions I...