Marsha Sutton

Education Matters: Update on ethnic studies progress, and San Dieguito’s unresponsiveness

June 4, 2025 at 3:40 p.m.

Since the state legislature ed Assembly Bill 101 in 2021 which mandated that students in the class of 2029-2030 take a class in ethnic studies to graduate high school, North...

Education Matters: New data on school district salaries, revenue, enrollment

May 21, 2025 at 4:34 p.m.

Several recently released reports with information about public school staff salaries, student data and revenue deserve some attention. An article by The 74, a nonprofit news outlet covering the nation’s...

Education Matters: Bringing back the magic in our lives

March 28, 2025 at 10:48 a.m.

Somewhere along the way to adulthood, we lost the ability to infuse our lives with magic. How do we make the world alive again with miracles and awe? When we...

Education Matters: Unanswered questions about ethnic studies in San Dieguito

March 7, 2025 at 5:04 p.m.

At the Feb. 4 San Dieguito Union High School District’s special board meeting, district staff asked school board to agree to postpone the implementation of the district’s proposed ethnic...

Education Matters: Revisiting a sorry special education case

February 17, 2025 at 5:03 p.m.

At the Feb. 4 San Dieguito Union High School District special board meeting, the main focus, deservedly so, was to decide whether to make ethnic studies optional for this fall...

Education Matters: Decision on funding for ethnic studies draws closer

January 1, 2025 at 11:29 a.m.

As California school districts scramble to meet the state’s legislative requirement to provide a course in ethnic studies by the fall of 2025, more attention is focusing on a part...

Education Matters: Banned Books Week raises awareness of threats to free speech

September 17, 2024 at 2:23 p.m.

No one would expect to come away scared after attending a library convention. Yet the prevailing theme at this year’s American Library Association conference, held in San Diego June 27...

Education Matters: The (almost) final chapter

August 20, 2024 at 4:03 p.m.

The San Dieguito Union High School District surprised me by finally fulfilling my Public Records Act request for a copy of the settlement agreement between the district and the recently...

Education Matters: Settlement reached, details vague

July 16, 2024 at 4:28 p.m.

A settlement was finally reached at the last moment, resolving the ongoing legal battle between the San Dieguito Union High School District and one family’s plea for reasonable from...

Education Matters: The special education saga continues

June 5, 2024 at 12:31 a.m.

I didn’t plan to write this column, as I assumed the San Dieguito Union High School District, after losing two court battles, would settle its disagreement with the special education...

Education Matters: Other people’s money, other people’s kids

May 15, 2024 at 11:15 p.m.

For anyone interested in reading about a school district’s fiscal irresponsibility and complete disregard for a student’s best welfare, this story is for you.Matthew Storey, a San Diego special education...

Education Matters: Ethnic studies at San Dieguito

March 30, 2024 at 7:36 p.m.

San Dieguito Union High School District is one of many hundreds of high schools across California preparing to meet the ethnic studies graduation requirement for the class of 2030.This requirement,...

Education Matters: Ethnic literature class creates confusion

March 11, 2024 at 11:15 p.m.

A recent Canyon Crest Academy article in the school newspaper announcing that the school would soon offer an ethnic studies class sparked some confusion and alarm.The article’s headline reads “Ethnic...

Education Matters: Son of Holocaust survivors speaks to Canyon Crest students

January 31, 2024 at 1:02 a.m.

In recognition of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Canyon Crest Academy’s Jewish Culture Club sponsored a presentation on Jan. 25 by Ben Schindler, son of Holocaust survivors Max and Rose Schindler.Although...

For 25 years, most school board meetings I covered were boring. Now they’ve gone haywire.

December 9, 2023 at 1:08 a.m.

Sutton is a local education writer and opinion columnist and lives in Carlsbad. She can be reached at [email protected]’s hard to believe that 25 years ago when I started my...

Education Matters: Enrollment, payments and bullying issues at Del Mar Union

November 10, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.

My last column provided district-supplied data showing that enrollment in the Del Mar Union School District has been declining steadily for the past 10 years.Given that data – and that...

Education Matters: Enrollment controversy at Del Mar Union

September 26, 2023 at 10:33 a.m.

The enrollment data for the Del Mar Union School District would appear to confirm the concern of many residents about over-building facilities during a long period of declining enrollment.A DMUSD...

Education Matters: Preparing for ethnic studies

September 5, 2023 at 7:51 p.m.

Assembly Bill 101, signed into law by Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, mandates the completion of a one-semester course in ethnic studies as a public high school graduation requirement...

Education Matters: Del Mar Union found out of compliance with special education laws

May 17, 2023 at 6:31 p.m.

An investigation conducted by the California Department of Education concluded that the Del Mar Union School District has been out of compliance with requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities...

Guest commentary: Transgender people need our and comion amid growing intolerance

April 3, 2023 at 11:21 p.m.

March 31 was International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day dedicated to recognizing the accomplishments of transgender and nonbinary people and raising awareness of the need for trans justice and...

Transgender people need our and comion amid growing intolerance

March 31, 2023 at 11:17 p.m.

Sutton is an opinion columnist and education writer who lives in Carlsbad.Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day dedicated to recognizing the accomplishments of transgender and nonbinary people and...

Education Matters: Filling the Del Mar school board vacancy presents challenges

March 28, 2023 at 6:52 p.m.

Predictably, the Del Mar Union School District’s Board of Trustees voted at the March 15 board meeting to appoint someone to fill the board seat vacated Feb. 16 by Scott...

Education Matters: The challenge of interpreting test scores

March 14, 2023 at 4:31 p.m.

Deciphering California’s recently posted school test scores is exasperatingly complex. It’s a dizzying alphabet soup of acronyms, numbers that rely upon other numbers, links back to other sources, and nuanced...

Education Matters: No perfect solution for filling an unexpected board vacancy

March 1, 2023 at 4:11 p.m.

The Del Mar Union School District, as of this writing, has yet to decide how to fill the school board seat just vacated by Scott Wooden, who resigned Feb. 16...

San Dieguito boundary issues: A policy change is long overdue

February 14, 2023 at 9:37 p.m.

“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr could have been thinking of the education system when he wrote those words in 1849: “The more things...

Education Matters: The equity issue

January 31, 2023 at 6:43 p.m.

The California Department of Education (CDE) has emphasized Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in its mission to improve educational outcomes for all students.Equity in particular has received the most attention...

Education Matters: Backspace erase on election of officers

January 18, 2023 at 2:06 a.m.

One good thing about the new composition of the San Dieguito Union High School District school board is that at least there is movement.It may not be movement in the...

Education Matters: Consequences of another San Dieguito superintendent transition

December 6, 2022 at 8:02 p.m.

After the resignation of Tina Douglas from her interim superintendent position at the San Dieguito Union High School District on November 18, one day after the district’s Nov. 17 board...

Education Matters: Deepening the district’s deficit, raises were approved at San Dieguito

September 23, 2022 at 10:31 p.m.

At the Sept. 14 San Dieguito Union High School District board meeting, trustees in a 3-1 vote awarded the certificated teaching staff a 4% across-the-board salary increase, on top of...

Opinion: Education Matters: When a map resolution isn’t about a map

July 18, 2022 at 9:31 p.m.

The resolution on the San Dieguito Union High School District’s Board of Education meeting on June 23 to accept the San Diego County Office of Education’s redistricting map was not...

Gruesome descriptions of bodily harm have to be a part of any discussion on gun reform

June 30, 2022 at 1:01 p.m.

Sutton is a freelance writer and opinion columnist who lives in Carlsbad.Baby steps. That’s all we have one month after the Uvalde massacre.The senseless carnage in Uvalde, Texas, on May...

Education Matters: Firing of Del Mar principal ignites a firestorm

May 4, 2022 at 7:39 p.m.

If the purpose of the parade of principals was to generate sympathy for Del Mar Union School District Superintendent Holly McClurg with their orchestrated performance, it backfired spectacularly.During public comments...

Education Matters: The loss of Mossy

April 26, 2022 at 7:58 p.m.

The turmoil in the San Dieguito Union High School District never ends.We’ve seen the failed appointment of Ty Humes, the failed Michael Allman recall effort by the SDUHSD teachers union,...

Column/Opinion– Education Matters: One step too far

April 16, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.

It takes courage to face down the people in charge of your children’s education.But at some point, patience runs out for parents, and speaking up becomes a matter of principle...

Education Matters: The map fiasco

April 6, 2022 at 5:35 p.m.

The controversy in the San Dieguito Union High School District over the redistricting map process took an interesting turn when the issue was bumped up a level after the San...

Education Matters: Maps, masks, lotteries – and micro-management

March 4, 2022 at 9:52 p.m.

Five intelligent people serve on a school board and all agree to hold meetings twice a week for a month, with meetings lasting six to 10 hours and one even...

Education Matters: Boundary decision kicked down the road

February 24, 2022 at 5:47 p.m.

At the end of a marathon 10-hour school board meeting, held Feb. 17 and ending at nearly 1 a.m. on Feb. 18, San Dieguito Union High School District trustees put...

Education Matters: San Dieguito Academy suffers again from too much interest

February 15, 2022 at 9:12 p.m.

The inability – or refusal – of the San Dieguito Union High School District to allow students residing near San Dieguito Academy to attend their neighborhood high school has failed...

Education Matters: Fearing the ‘other’

January 12, 2022 at 9:46 p.m.

The recent racist, homophobic and antisemitic vandalism at San Dieguito Union High School District schools was horrifying and wicked. Decent people know that. No point in expressing my personal disgust...

Education Matters: How not to be a team player

December 21, 2021 at 3:20 p.m.

Several years ago, I sat on a 20-member board and still recall one teachable moment.We came to an agenda item considered by the executive board to be noncontroversial. Yet I...

Education Matters: Comic-Con Special Edition’s education focus, from toys to teachers

December 10, 2021 at 1:01 a.m.

The list of toys audience thought were targeted for girls and which for boys was disheartening.At Comic-Con Special Edition, held Nov. 26-28 at the San Diego Convention Center, the...

Education Matters: Comic-Con Special Edition’s education s shine

December 1, 2021 at 8:41 p.m.

The special part about Comic-Con Special Edition, held Nov. 26-28 at the San Diego Convention Center, was the ability to move around without the usual crush of humanity present at...

Education Matters: Why is Critical Race Theory so divisive?

September 4, 2021 at 10:17 p.m.

Critical Race Theory – people either love it or hate it. But what is it?Critical Theory, as defined in Wikipedia, has roots in sociology and argues that “social problems stem...

Education Matters: Measure MM funds used for legal fees

June 30, 2021 at 7:41 p.m.

Revisiting decisions made by voters is never a good idea. Too often people say they would never have voted the way they did had they known … whatever.Yet, looking back...

Education Matters: The littlest learners

May 19, 2021 at 8:55 p.m.

A data-driven presentation on the benefits of transitional kindergarten (TK) was provided to the five local Basic Aid districts last month by North County community member Allison Trent.Of the four...

Education Matters: Stop the madness

May 5, 2021 at 1:07 a.m.

After all the tumult at the San Dieguito Union High School District – with the appointment of new board member Ty Humes, the resignation of Superintendent Robert Haley, and the...

Education Matters: QAnon, replacing Gibson, and the insurrection

April 7, 2021 at 8:47 p.m.

Is this really what it’s come to? Labeling people as QAnon believers simply because they want kids back in school?References have been made to QAnon to characterize school board ,...

Education Matters: Getting adults out of the way

March 18, 2021 at 3:14 p.m.

As we agitate for schools to reopen, one school may be closed permanently, if short-sighted decision-makers have their way.A recent letter from the state notifying San Diego County of its...

Education Matters: Challenging school reopening rules in court

March 2, 2021 at 7:01 p.m.

A lawsuit filed Feb. 16 in San Diego Superior Court charges four California state officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, with creating arbitrary new rules that are restricting many public schools...

Education Matters: Parents rise up in defense of their children

February 9, 2021 at 5:50 p.m.

One positive outcome of the pandemic and school shutdown is the seismic realization by parents and the public that teachers unions do not always represent what’s best for students –...

What about the T in LGBTQ? Transgender rights have a long way to go to achieve equality

August 1, 2020 at 10:29 p.m.

Educating ourselves to the ongoing plight of those who feel the pain of prejudice does not end when events or holidays that command our attention.Such is the case with...

What about the T in LGBTQ? Transgender rights have a long way to go to achieve equality

July 22, 2020 at 1:15 a.m.

Educating ourselves to the ongoing plight of those who feel the pain of prejudice does not end when events or holidays that command our attention.Such is the case with...

Education Matters: Shelter-in-place silver linings

May 14, 2020 at 6:06 p.m.

Like most people, I’ve been thinking about the quarantine a lot these days. And like most people, I’m more than ready to be done with it.But to be truthful, for...

Education Matters: New district office rises again; SOUL’s crushing demise

March 10, 2020 at 3:34 p.m.

It’s baaaaack.Just when we thought the San Dieguito Union High School District had indefinitely tabled the idea to build a multi-million-dollar district office at Earl Warren Middle School, it seems...

Education Matters: Disrespecting constituents and why it matters

January 30, 2020 at 4:50 p.m.

With all the turmoil going on in the world, I’m enjoying reading the New York Times bestseller “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***” by Mark Manson. Yes, the...

Education Matters: Grading and testing, other odds and ends

January 14, 2020 at 6:14 p.m.

A number of education issues from last year carry over to this year and are worth following.A recent story in the San Diego Union-Tribune questioning traditional grading systems touched on...

Education Matters: A wrap-up and new beginnings

January 14, 2020 at 6:16 p.m.

As one year ends and another begins, it’s worth a look back in review and a look ahead to 2020. Since 2019 was a bit depressing, let’s start by looking...

Education Matters: Good news from Sacramento for kids

October 25, 2019 at 5:58 p.m.

Hallelujah! At last, later school start times for California’s public middle and high schools are about to become the law.This has been the bane of my existence for nearly the...

Education Matters: Another case of ‘who would know’

October 19, 2019 at 12:15 a.m.

Another example of “who would know” follows last week’s column regarding San Dieguito Union High School District’s quiet intention to construct a new district office.This time it concerns the promotion...

Education Matters: San Dieguito and its new district office: Who knew?

October 9, 2019 at 12:39 a.m.

Taxpayers can be excused for not knowing that the San Dieguito Union High School District is seriously considering constructing a new district office.Since it’s never been on the Discussion section...

Education Matters: Read a banned book!

September 20, 2019 at 11:55 p.m.

Banned Books Week, Sept. 22-28 this year, is an international effort to celebrate the freedom to read and not to take this privilege for granted.The Banned Books Week Coalition [bannedbooksweek.org/coalition]...

Short films expanded to two-day festival

September 9, 2019 at 6:42 p.m.

After many years as a successful single-day event during the annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival, short films were spun off into a festival of their own.This year the...

Short films expanded to two-day festival

September 9, 2019 at 6:41 p.m.

After many years as a successful single-day event during the annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival, short films were spun off into a festival of their own.This year the...

Short films expanded to two-day festival

September 9, 2019 at 6:33 p.m.

After many years as a successful single-day event during the annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival, short films were spun off into a festival of their own.This year the...

Education Matters: Ethnic studies do-over

September 1, 2019 at 6:42 p.m.

Approved by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016, Assembly Bill 2016 requires the adoption of a course of study designed to “highlight the contributions of minorities in the development of California...

Education Matters: Canyon Crest students partner with Panama to create an environmental comic book

August 24, 2019 at 3:33 p.m.

When Canyon Crest Academy social science teacher Zachary Brown asked his students for ideas for a project focused on the environment, producing a comic book was the last thing he...

Education Matters: Comic-Con’s education surplus

August 14, 2019 at 3:57 p.m.

Besides the specific education topics discussed in the two previous columns, Comic-Con also offered other sessions of educational value.In the “Let’s Learn Through Live Action Role Playing” , a brief...

Education Matters: Understanding LGBTQ issues

August 8, 2019 at 11:26 p.m.

Popular s at Comic-Con in recent years have focused more and more on LGBTQ issues, and this year was no exception.In the “Entertainment is LGBTQ” , Joshua Yehl asked...

Education Matters: Fighting comic book censorship

August 1, 2019 at 12:26 a.m.

Some of the most overlooked and under-appreciated s at this year’s Comic-Con were sponsored by CBLDF – the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.Censorship of comics and graphic novels continues to...

Education Matters: Improving public education

June 27, 2019 at 9:23 p.m.

The Opinion section and the online edition of the June 15 San Diego Union-Tribune featured readers’ suggestions for improving public education. The best were these:College is not the only path...

Education Matters: Parkland students still ionate about gun control

June 13, 2019 at 2:00 a.m.

Wearing their “March For Our Lives” T-shirts, former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Sofie Whitney and Brendan Duff were featured at an event held at the Lawrence Family Jewish...

Education Matters: Registrar of Voters sued over Del Mar Union’s Measure MM

May 2, 2019 at 4:56 p.m.

Michael Vu, Registrar of Voters for San Diego County, is being sued, along with County Counsel Thomas Montgomery, over issues related to the age last November of Del Mar Union...

Education Matters: SOUL given two years

February 12, 2019 at 6:45 p.m.

After covering education for the past 20 years, I thought nothing would surprise me any more. Then along came the Feb. 6 San Diego County Board of Education meeting.With depressing...

Education Matters: County to decide on SOUL renewal

January 30, 2019 at 1:47 a.m.

The future of the School of Universal Learning (SOUL) Charter School is in the hands of the San Diego County Board of Education, as board meet Feb. 6 to...

Education Matters: The question of ballot language legality, Part 2

January 24, 2019 at 5:32 p.m.

Two letters sent to Michael Vu, registrar for the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, from a number of individuals both locally and statewide claimed several county school districts violated...

Education Matters: The question of ballot language legality

January 16, 2019 at 3:53 p.m.

Many ballot statements for local tax measures presented to voters last November were illegal, according to a letter signed by a coalition of 22 individuals statewide.The group challenged the legality...

Education Matters: Oversight committees, salaries, and school start times

October 23, 2018 at 4:56 p.m.

One of the factors that school districts and their consultants use to encourage voter for General Obligation bonds is to emphasize that school districts must create an Independent Citizens...

Education Matters: The definition of dysfunctional

October 16, 2018 at 4:50 p.m.

The word “dysfunctional” has been used repeatedly to describe the San Dieguito Union High School District’s Board of Education.It’s even been said that dysfunction at the board level is the...

Education Matters: The bullied and the bored: Tips for victimized students and for innovative teachers [Part Two]

August 7, 2018 at 7:05 p.m.

In addition to live-action role-playing strategies for academic learning, discussed in last week’s column, other s at San Diego’s 2018 Comic-Con presented fascinating information ing comics and graphic novels...

Education Matters: The bullied and the bored: Tips for victimized students and for innovative teachers

July 31, 2018 at 5:41 p.m.

Comic-Con’s mission statement begins: “Comic-Con International San Diego is a nonprofit educational corporation …”Although pop culture is integral to its overall mission, Comic-Con’s educational component looms large, beyond the film...

Education Matters: DMUSD’s tug-of-war

June 27, 2018 at 11:52 p.m.

Although Del Mar Union School District Superintendent Holly McClurg announced at the May 23 school board meeting that a General Obligation bond is no longer being considered, apparently it’s not...

Education Matters: Gun resolution misfires in Del Mar

June 7, 2018 at 7:12 p.m.

How did it come to this?Children worry about being gunned down at school. Parents fear for their children’s lives when they send them off to be educated in what are...

Education Matters: Community pushback forces retreat on school facilities plan

May 30, 2018 at 6:16 p.m.

Either the Del Mar Union School District badly misjudged the attitude of the community, forgot to advise the city of Del Mar, or pushed too suddenly for a newly revised...

Education Matters: San Dieguito pay raises and more

April 24, 2018 at 5:37 p.m.

Buried on page 1,366 of a monster 1,399-page April 19 board meeting agenda was a request for the San Dieguito Union High School District school board to approve pay raises...

Education Matters: San Dieguito’s confinement

April 14, 2018 at 9:37 p.m.

“Welcome to the revolution.”When student leader and Parkland school shooting survivor Cameron Kasky shouted those words, he was addressing an estimated 800,000 people on March 24 in Washington, D.C., at...

Education Matters: School shootings: The tipping point?

February 22, 2018 at 7:36 p.m.

The 2012 Sandy Hook massacre had to be the tipping point. How can a nation do nothing when six adults and 20 kindergarten and first-grade children, babies all, were slaughtered...

Education Matters: The Hamilton effect on education may make classrooms of the future ‘The Room Where It Happens’

January 16, 2018 at 6:40 p.m.

An illegitimate, orphaned immigrant born in the Caribbean rises to become one of the most brilliant of our Founding Fathers.We all know by now the basic biography of Alexander Hamilton,...

Education Matters: Today’s Martin Luther King Day

January 10, 2018 at 1:14 a.m.

Eighteen years ago, I wrote in The San Diego Union-Tribune of my struggle to answer my then 4-year-old son’s questions about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and why we have...

Education Matters: Enrollment numbers, SOUL, and new Prop. AA priorities

January 4, 2018 at 10:11 p.m.

At a San Dieguito Union High School District facilities workshop last fall, demographics indicate that enrollment at La Costa Canyon High School will continue to decline, from 1,936 in the...

Education Matters: Of raises and deficits

December 21, 2017 at 9:16 p.m.

In back-to-back items on the Dec. 14 San Dieguito Union High School District school board agenda, a raise was awarded to teachers just after district staff revealed its projection for...

Education Matters: Mapping the future in San Dieguito school board elections

December 7, 2017 at 9:30 p.m.

Big changes are coming to San Dieguito Union High School District’s school board elections in 2018.SDUHSD is transitioning to by-trustee elections, which means citizens will vote for school board candidates...

Education Matters: SOULful beginnings

November 17, 2017 at 4:03 p.m.

At Conscious Meal Time, otherwise known as lunch, students at the School of Universal Learning (SOUL) gather in a circle to socialize and eat quietly, all together as a group....

Education Matters: Only 17, but leaving his mark on the school board

October 27, 2017 at 7:42 p.m.

When Isaac Gelman took the oath of office on Sept. 14 for a third year as a San Dieguito Union High School District student board member, it was unprecedented.SDUHSD Superintendent...

Education Matters: A time for reflection

October 5, 2017 at 7:59 p.m.

For Jews, this is the season for reflection, atonement, forgiveness and renewal.In that spirit, I wish to apologize to anyone I’ve offended through my personal or written word. My...

Education Matters: Congratulations premature on start times resolution

September 28, 2017 at 7:23 p.m.

Yes, it was purely symbolic. Nevertheless, San Dieguito trustees missed a perfect opportunity at the Sept. 14 board meeting to take a courageous stand in of later school start...

Education Matters: News of all kinds

September 13, 2017 at 4:21 p.m.

First, the happy news.At the Sept. 14 meeting of the San Dieguito Union High School District’s Board of Education, trustees are being presented with a resolution recommended for approval by...

Education Matters: Comic-Con’s hidden education gems

August 26, 2017 at 8:00 p.m.

Comic-Con is about more than costumes, movie stars and sci-fi television and film. Attendees looking for the education component at this year’s mega-convention in San Diego were treated to a...

Education Matters: San Dieguito’s watershed moment

August 17, 2017 at 6:22 p.m.

Watching San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) parents rise up in defense of their children and fight back against the unfair placement of the district’s Adult Transition Program (ATP)...

Education Matters: Reviewing San Dieguito’s missteps

August 17, 2017 at 6:11 p.m.

The most recent misstep at the San Dieguito Union High School District centers on the lack of planning for adequate facilities for the Adult Transition Program, which serves special education...

Education Matters: Adult Transition Program the latest in a series of district missteps

August 3, 2017 at 7:18 p.m.

What’s left to say about the San Dieguito Union High School District’s Adult Transition Program debacle? Given the istration’s track record this past year, it’s no surprise that this program,...