Save San Pasqual Academy!
The San Diego Board of Supervisors intends to close San Pasqual Academy. We need your help to save the school!
What You Can Do to Help
- Write a Supporter Plea Letter (contact information and links below):
- Join Our Save San Pasqual Facebook Group ⟶
- Sign Our Petition @ change.org ⟶
Supporter Letters
Download Letters from Our Supporters (zip) ⟶
2020 UC Davis Report Summary
Contacts to Advocate for San Pasqual Academy
Supporter Plea Letter
[Mo/Day/Yr]
Dear [recipient]:
I am writing as a supporter of SAN PASQUAL ACADEMY and am very troubled to learn that The San Diego Board of Supervisors
intends to close this school. As has been very publicly stated since this tragic news has come to light, I am writing
today to reiterate what is needed to continue this very successful program and why:
This program needs a “carve-out” for permanent exemption as a residential high school for foster youth that allows it to
operate permanently. Currently, the program is under threat because of state and federal guidelines for group homes and
congregate foster care, of which neither is an accurate definition for the program at San Pasqual Academy. It is unique
in its program and in its success. The school has a 94% graduation rate!
The recent 2020 UC Davis study concluded that San Pasqual Academy is THE MODEL for the care of foster youth, and should
be the first choice for foster care.
The Grand Jury of San Diego stated in its study of March 30, 2017, “four previous San Diego County Grand Juries and four
San Diego County Juvenile Justice Commissions (CJJC) have noted the impressive, quality programs available to the
student body [at San Pasqual Academy]. Their reports strongly support increasing the enrollment of San Pasqual Academy
to its full capacity of 184. Despite these recommendations, enrollment has remained consistently below capacity.” Please
pursue an increase in the population, as is recommended by this report.
The students, both currently attending the Academy and those who’ve graduated, have spoken up and written letters in
support of continuing the school. No other individuals have the knowledge, personal experience, or understanding of the
challenges foster teens have to live more than these young people. They know what the positive influence San Pasqual
Academy has played in their lives and what it can mean to foster youth in the future. They are the stakeholders you
should be listening to the most!
Everything I have experienced with being part of the vibrant community involved with the school and the young people who
live there has proven to have a positive influence for these teens and has created a beneficial atmosphere for them to
flourish and grow. The successes they experience, both the small advances and the milestone moments, are obvious in
their behaviors, attitudes, and enthusiasm.
The foster world is tough for teenagers. To take away such a successful program, opportunities, and school only to dump
these teens back into the broken system is cruel and destined to destroy too many lives. Foster homes for teens are in
short supply and high demand. Where will these teens go?
We plead for your support and influence to stop this travesty. Protect this highly successful program that makes a
difference for both the young people and the community to which they will contribute to in their adult lives.
We must all work together to give the foster teens a chance for a better future. San Pasqual Academy offers that.
Sincerely,
© 2019 Friends of San Pasqual Academy