New Campuses, New Leadership, Fewer Students
- Neelum Arya | Zuni Drive
School is back in session. The first day of school was filled with excitement, first-day photos, and first-day flowers for teachers. It was also the first day of new leadership for the Del Mar Union School District (DMUSD).
Acting Superintendent Chris Delehanty was onsite at Del Mar Hills Academy to welcome students back to the newly modernized campus alongside longtime principal Andrea Sleet. Delehanty will return to his position as Assistant Superintendent of Business Services once the incoming superintendent Marisa Janicek officially joins the District. Janicek has nearly three decades of experience in public education, with most of her experience in the highly ranked El Segundo Unified School District. Janicek brings a set of fresh eyes to the district and is expected to conduct a series of listening sessions to learn more about our schools in the coming months.
The Del Mar Heights School also started the new school year with a new principal at the helm, Kate Daniels. Jenny Peirson, former principal of the Heights, has joined the District’s Instructional Services Department as a principal on special assignment. This will be Daniels’ first year as principal, but she has been with DMUSD for several years as a classroom teacher, Innovation Technologist, and was the Assistant Principal at Hills during the modernization.
Families at both campuses are excited by what comes next for our two neighborhood schools. Del Mar Heights School and Del Mar Hills Academy have been sharing a campus since 2020, so families are getting used to the relative calm of both campuses and the ease of the morning drop off. The decline in public school enrollment across the District, consistent with statewide trends, has been more noticeable for our two schools this school year. Combined enrollment for both Del Mar Hills Academy and Del Mar Heights School is now under 550 students. One benefit of sharing a campus for the past several years is the increased friendships across families attending both schools, friendships that will strengthen the Del Mar community as a whole as our children take regular advantage of the improved playgrounds, fields, and outdoor spaces that are now available at both schools.
Neelum Arya is a graduate of Del Mar Hills school and parent of a second grader attending Del Mar Hills Academy.