Letter to Community From Trustee Leslie Schneider, Encinitas Union School District

I am an elected trustee of the Encinitas Union school board and a parent.

I ran for the Encinitas elementary school board in 2016 because of a grave concern that parent voices were not being heard in our district despite our Encinitas schools benefiting from award-winning levels of volunteerism and over $2million in parent donated funds per year. Since winning my seat, I have consistently fought for transparency in decision making, in spending, and for listening to parent voices. What I see in our high school district runs against what I have fought so hard for in my community. By not allowing our 7-12th graders to earn letter grades for this final stretch of the academic year, we are demotivating learners and impeding GPA acceleration. Thousands of CA schools are providing letter grades to students, including 14 of San Diego county’s 19 school districts. Students in these 14 districts are being offered the opportunity to advance their GPA’s making them more eligible for college entrance and scholarships, while those in SDUHSD will not. Why? For a district that prides itself on academic excellence and post-graduation opportunities, why in the world is SDUHSD intentionally crippling those students who want to remain competitive?

I urge the SDUHSD elected board and district leadership to listen to the hundreds of student voices and reconsider this ill-conceived policy. Allow students who wish to receive a letter grade to do so and Credit/No Credit for others who prefer this grading method.

Sincerely, Leslie Schneider Trustee, Encinitas Union School District Parent