David Sciarretta, the longtime superintendent of Albert Einstein Academies, has officially resigned.
At an emergency meeting Wednesday afternoon, the charter school’s Board President Maria Ortega announced that trustees had voted unanimously to accept Sciarretta’s resignation and enter into a settlement agreement with him. Exactly what’s being settled is unclear.
The move comes after more than a year of controversy at the charter school that gave rise to mounting frustration with Sciarretta from parents and teachers. But even as his resignation is a welcome move for those who’ve wanted him gone, some still bear misgivings about the process.
The trouble began a year ago, when parents and community members raised the alarm about what they saw as the deterioration of the charter school’s trademark German-immersion program.
Ultimately, San Diego Unified, the charter school’s authorizer, found parents’ concerns that Einstein’s program wasn’t a true dual immersion program to be true. That prompted a demand by the district for the school to fix its charter, which because of the programmatic changes, was no longer accurate.
But over the past three months, tension has significantly ratcheted up.
In March, allegations that Sciarretta improperly used thousands of district funds on projects like a personal podcast reignited calls for him to step down. Those allegations prompted officials at San Diego Unified, to launch an investigation into its financials. The charter school had already launched at least two investigations into Sciarretta’s conduct.
“The district recently received a complaint regarding AEA that includes, but is not limited to, allegations of misuse of the school’s credit card, violation of conflict of interest policies, and failure to comply with the school’s fiscal policies. Based on the complaint, the district will be conducting an investigation,” read a letter sent by district officials.
In the letter, San Diego Unified officials requested a wide range of documents, including all public records act requests received by the school, all of the charter’s financial documents and contracts, all invoices and payments to consultants and independent contractors, credit card statements and the results of third-party investigations conducted into any allegations of misuse of funds.
In April, the controversies moved to the budget. Leadership announced the charter school was facing a nearly $2 million budget deficit. Officials seem likely to lay off a handful of school staff to plug the hole. Those plans prompted new calls of mismanagement from stakeholders who’ve felt the school’s controversies over the past year have contributed to families leaving Einstein.
Back in March, I spoke to one such parent, Barbara Ecker. Her children attended Einstein for years, but she ultimately decided to pull them out because of concerns that the relationship between leadership and the community had so degraded that it would begin to seep into the classroom. She said she knew of at least 30 families who’d made a similar decision.
Between the 2024 and 2025 school years, enrollment at Einstein dropped by 54 students. While a meaningful dip, it’s not seriously out of line with rates of decline at other San Diego Unified-authorized charter schools.
But while Ecker held Sciarretta responsible for much of the deterioration, she also pointed to the board, which she feels hasn’t met the moment. She herself serves as the board president for a small preschool.
“If I had parents coming to me with concerns about our (preschool’s) director, I would be addressing those. I wouldn’t just sit there and listen with deaf ears,” Ecker said. “I don’t know how the board can just continue to ignore concerns brought up by people.”
Concerns like that are part of what led a group of teachers, parents and a board member to launch a committee aimed at bringing greater community representation to the board. Proposals include creating a seat for a parent and a teacher, though the board has not yet approved any plans.
Then in May, the president of the charter’s board, Ortega, announced in a letter to the community that Sciarretta was “on inactive status until further notice.” The vaguely worded letter did not describe who had made the decision to place Sciarretta on inactive status. It also included a disclaimer that the letter was “not intended to convey any negative message or criticism regarding any employee whatsoever.”
Similarly, Wednesday’s resignation agreement raises some as-of yet unanswered questions about what the settlement agreement entails. Einstein’s board did not indicate if the investigations into Sciarretta had substantiated misconduct, or even if they’d been completed. School officials also did not respond to questions about what, if anything, the investigations had yielded or the circumstances surrounding Sciarretta’s resignation.
For some, it feels like one more question mark in a saga rife with them.
“We really don’t know what this means. Does a settlement mean he’s getting a payout?” Sabrina Bochen, a parent who’s been vocal about her desire to see change at the top of Einstein wondered. “This had to happen for the school to move forward and it’s been very frustrating to the school community that board haven’t acted more forcefully.”
AEA board, do the right thing and follow SIs example and step back. Look at the mess and hold yourself accountable. Your time is up.
The investigation has concluded and Dr. Sciarretta has been clear of almost all the accusations aside for minor issues related to policies. The main reason there’s a budget deficit is because all the teacher rioters are the lazy teachers that do not want to work and make the school spend more than $500,000 dollars in substitute teachers this last year in addition to All the vacation and holidays! They barely spend any time with the kids. They are a bunch of brats trying to get their way! The Board has not released the results of the investigation for MONTHS!! The current investigation is related to Board member Beasley for violating the Brown Act and bringing his church members who are also Einstein parents to complaint against Dr. Sciarretta and all other staff who happens to be people of color. He needs to step down. He is also looking at the gaps in policies the he himself signed to undo them so he can sit his friend teachers on the board. He is trying to to establish an un democratic process for parents to be voted as board members using the teachers student lists. This story is so bias because only shows one side of the story. You should interview people who have supported all these years Dr. Sciarretta and all the executive team. Talk to the parents and teachers that do not agree with this process and have being ignored by these group of German supporters. You are just showing what it is convenient without talking about the whole story.
Your comment makes no sense. You first state, “The investigation has concluded and Dr. Sciarretta has been clear of almost all the accusations aside for minor issues related to policies.” Yet later you claim, “The Board has NOT released the results of the investigation for months!”
If the Board has not released the results, how is it that YOU know the outcome before everyone else? Are you relying on inside information, or are you simply speculating? Your two statements contradict each other.
Many of the supporting staff members you speak of, who have been the most vocal in defending Sciarretta, have personally and professionally benefited from their relationship with him. Loyalty buys protection in Sciarretta’s world.
I asked a Board member in person about the investigation and I was told the investigation concluded but they have not released the results yet because they have been very busy flooded with emails from people. And I guess that loyalty can be bought from someone with no credentials to run a school where parents and teachers are so demanding at their convenience but they do not care to have an unfit principal
So a board member released sensitive, confidential information about a school employee (illegally) to you, but not the school population to whom they have a fiduciary obligation to share this information with because… checking my notes… they received too many emails? Sounds like your “informant” board member also isn’t an upstanding and honest individual and should probably step down themselves. Also, $500,000 (if this is even an accurate number) is only 15% of $3.4million. That is nowhere even close to the “majority” of the budget deficit caused by “lazy teachers”, as you claim. It seems that you are either being misled by all these teachers and parents that you claim support Sciarretta, or you are the one doing the misleading. Where have all of Sciarretta’s supporters been over the last couple of years? They certainly aren’t coming to his defense publicly.