Swastika incident at SDA goes unreported; principal placed on leave

Eight students allegedly formed a human swastika at San Dieguito Academy in May. The principal is now on leave amid accusations of delayed reporting and policy violations

Eight students at San Dieguito Academy formed a human swastika as one of their Jewish classmates were flying over the school in May. The school district has placed the principal on paid administrative leave after failing to report the incident in accordance with the law and district policy. Courtesy photo

Note: School, district and board officials were asked to respond by noon today. Due to unforeseen factors, the 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.

ENCINITAS — The principal at San Dieguito Academy 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 district pending the results of the investigation, according to sources and PeerK12, a local non-profit 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 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, Larry, told the SDUHSD Board of Education this week. “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 the parents on Thursday. “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 SDA 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.