Swastika at Encinitas school unreported; principal on leave

Note: School, district and board officials were asked by North County Pipeline to respond by noon Sept. 19. Due to unforeseen factors, the North County Pipeline deadline was pushed up. Any statements from those officials, should they comment, will be included as an update and in a follow-up story. Two board members declined to comment, and one of them referred questions to the superintendent.

The principal at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas has been placed on paid administrative leave after allegedly failing to report an alleged antisemitic act immediately after the incident was caught on camera in May.

Cara Dolnik was recently placed on paid administrative leave by the San Dieguito Union High School District pending the results of an investigation, according to sources and PeerK12, a local nonprofit fighting against antisemitism and extreme agendas in schools. According to a letter from the district to parents, Robert Shockney will be working in the school’s administration. He is currently the district’s coordinator of College Readiness and Testing.

Eight students, all freshmen, were reportedly caught on an aerial photograph forming a human swastika on one of the high school’s athletic fields on May 30, an act the family, who are Jewish, and its representatives, are calling a hate crime.

The alleged victim told his parents, who informed school administrators, who then allegedly told the parents “people were already on vacation” and the school would deal with it during the 2025-26 school year, sources said.

“That image was aimed at him, a Jewish child,” the victim’s father told the SDUHSD Board of Education at a recent meeting. “But the greater hate crime is what followed. Silence and delay. No timely reports to law enforcement. … By failing to act, this district turned a student act of hate into an institutional act of racism.”

The San Dieguito Union High School District administration and Board of Education were not immediately informed, as required by law and district policy. The district and board members learned of the alleged incident in late August after being informed by Trustee Mike Allman, according to a statement from PeerK12, which is representing the family.

The parents of the eight freshmen students, meanwhile, were also not immediately informed and did not know of the alleged incident until this school year, sources added.

“Our school community is shocked and appalled by a hateful situation that took place on the San Dieguito Academy’s campus at the end of last school year,” Superintendent Anne Staffieri said in a letter to parents on Thursday, Sept. 18. “Once I became aware of the image, we took action to work with the families of the students involved and immediately launched an investigation, which is still ongoing.”

On May 30, a freshman student was taking a flying lesson out of Palomar-McClellan Airport and was passing over San Dieguito Academy to take a picture of their P.E. class, sources said. The student cleared the activity with the P.E. teacher, who organized for students to position themselves in a human smiley face, according to a source.

However, the timing of the student’s plan was miscalculated, and a different plane flew over the school. The student then text messaged at least one classmate to have the other students return to get the photo, the source added. It’s unclear whether any, some or all of the eight students were in the P.E. class.

But when the student’s plane arrived over campus, the eight students had formed the Nazi symbol. The alleged victim took a wide aerial photo and, some time later, zoomed in and saw the eight students and the symbol. All eight have been identified by the alleged victim and some school and district officials.

What the student saw shook him to his core, a source said. The student then contacted his parents, who then contacted school officials to no avail, a source said.

Per district protocol for an alleged hate crime, the school administration must elevate it to the district level and contact law enforcement. Neither was done immediately, sources said.

Once the 2025-26 school year began, though, the school did not act, further frustrating the family and their advocates, sources said.

“It was only after we reached out to PeerK12 for their assistance that this incident was escalated to the proper authorities and the district finally did anything,” the family said in a statement on the PeerK12 website.

Meanwhile, the alleged victim’s father told the board that the district requested his son’s name be released to law enforcement. The father said the delay is not a formality and is how institutions allow hate to grow.

Additionally, the father said his son has been asked to sit on a panel about how to be nice to others without the district acknowledging what was done to him. The father said the district failed; its policies allowed for the alleged antisemitic act and is the district’s “hate crime.”

Another issue for the family was a recent communication from Staffieri, which acknowledged an incident but omitted that the act targeted a Jewish student, a source said. She has since released a new statement outlining the alleged incident.

Regardless, once Staffieri and other district officials conducted a preliminary inquiry, they placed Dolnik on leave. It’s unclear whether other school administrators will be or have been placed on leave.

PeerK12 contacted Allman, who escalated the issue among the district and board. According to the organization, Allman confirmed he had not been informed of the incident and immediately escalated it to district leadership, who launched an internal investigation that same day, called the family, and began meeting with PeerK12 and the family regularly in the following weeks.

In 2021, Allman and PeerK12 teamed up to have the board pass a resolution addressing antisemitism and affirming the value of Jewish students, faculty, staff and families.

However, PeerK12 also reported that the alleged victim and his family are being harassed by the parents of the alleged perpetrators.

“The victim’s family, already receiving threatening calls from the perpetrator’s parents, were left without district support,” the organization said in its statement. “And that is when PeerK12 was called in to help the family and expose the cover-up to district leadership.”

As for punishment for the students, the district policy for hate-motivated behavior outlines several measures such as parent conferences, counseling, restorative justice programs, social-emotional learning and behavior support plans. It does not mention suspension or expulsion, although those options are on the table, a source said.

Staffieri’s letter emphasized that hate in any form is unacceptable and will not be tolerated on school grounds. She said the district is working to ensure that students feel safe and supported and “that important lessons are learned.”

“Those who are outraged, please know that I hear you,” Staffieri wrote. “We all know, or should know, that the image of a swastika is hateful and hurtful and creation of this image is a call to action for our district to double-down on our efforts to call out hate when we see it. Please be on the lookout for future communications from our district about opportunities to engage with our Jewish community as we heal.”

Sources said school administrators acknowledged they did not report the incident until approached by district officials this month.

Staffieri also addressed in her letter to parents why it took so long for the district to act. She said once SDUHSD was notified, officials immediately began working with the family to gather facts, examine the breakdown in internal communication, and launched the investigation.

She said due to certain privacy laws, there are elements of the investigation that the district is not permitted to share. Staffieri reiterated her support for the student, the Jewish community and continued safety and support for all students.

She also said as two major Jewish holidays draw closer — Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — all students are supported in participating in religious holidays as they choose and are free from impacts on schoolwork or extracurricular activities.

This story was first published in North County Pipeline, a news outlet managed by local journalist Steve Puterski. Letters to the editor are welcome. Send them to letters[at]northcoastcurrent.com.

 

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