Protests, sick outs and firings roil Albert Einstein Academy

Driving the news: The school has seen escalating protests since principal Greta Bouterse's firing was announced by the superintendent over Thanksgiving break.

• Multiple parents who spoke with Axios estimate that almost all teachers and about a third of kids are wearing all black to school, defying the school uniform.
• Meanwhile, some parents are keeping their kids home on Wednesdays as a form of "sick out" protest.
• At a recent school holiday market, parents sold T-shirts supporting the principal with a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: "If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself."

Superintendent David Sciarretta has declined to publicly say why Bouterse was let go, calling it a "confidential personnel matter" in a Nov. 29 email sent to parents that Axios obtained.

• Bouterse had been principal for 16 years. She didn't respond to a request for comment from Axios.
• School officials promised an interim leadership plan that parents say has yet to be shared.
• On Monday, the school sent parents an email, obtained by Axios, that outlines a timeline for hiring a new principal and notes that finalist interviews would be done by February.

What they're saying: Sciarretta did not respond to a request for comment from Axios. The school's board president, Maria Ortega, answered questions by email and said she could not disclose why Bouterse was fired.

• "The Board is aware that this change in leadership has upset many parents," she wrote.
• "That said, we have consistently communicated to our parents that the actions of the Board and (school) leadership are guided first and foremost by what is in the best interests of our students and staff, while also ensuring that our program maintains its compliance with our charter, our internal policies/requirements, and applicable law," she wrote.

Catch up quick: The school started in 2002 as a German immersion school.

• Like any charter school, it's free, and spots are given out through a lottery.
• The school has historically had a long waitlist because of its above-average performance and strong reputation, and its enrollment has steadily grown to about 1,400.

Between the lines: But frustration has also been growing at the school on other fronts, particularly over the German immersion curriculum, parent Natalie Cook told Axios.

• "They were claiming that it was 50/50 German immersion," she said.

• Now, the school is only teaching German for 45 minutes a day, Cook said, a claim school officials did not respond to.
• "If I had known this, I honestly would have enrolled my daughter in a different language immersion school," she said.

The other side: Ortega told Axios that the board has discussed changes to the German program at multiple board meetings and that parents have been given "opportunities to respond."

By the numbers: Student test scores from the 2024–2025 school year declined 9.9 points in English and 19.3 points in math, according to the California School Dashboard.

• But English learner progress increased 23.7%.
• That stands in contrast to the rest of San Diego Unified, where English and math scores increased in 2024–2025, while English learner progress declined 3.3%.

The intrigue: Exactly who is let in has also become a point of contention for some parents.

• The school allows students in third grade and older to enroll, even if they don't speak German, which is atypical for language immersion schools, Timothy Lu told Axios. His wife teaches at the school and his daughter is a fifth grader there.
• "The school just wants to get kids in there just to fill up the school," Lu said. "It's grown and grown, and test scores have gone down, and it's kind of lost that magic of a small school."

What's next: Ortega said the board supports Sciarretta and has no plans to reinstate the principal.

• "The Board is not considering any further changes to the instructional program at this time," she wrote.