San Diego Schools is an advocacy group established to provide parents with help and support to get involved and improve education in San Diego County. Our goal is to improve transparency, accountability and equity in the School Districts throughout San Diego County.
Our founding members are people like you – who have been involved with their local districts for years, fighting “the good fight” to make sure our kids are considered first in the plans our districts make (and the way they spend our money…)
Todd Maddison is a long-time parent/student advocate and activist in K-12 education.
In addition to having three kids educated in the Oceanside Unified School District, Todd was the first parent representative in the OUSD LCAP Committee, a leader of the District Parent Advisory Committee, participated in the California State “LCFF Design” project, sat on the El Camino High School Site Council for four years, and has run for School Board in his district.
Todd is also a founding member of the Parent Association and was the San Diego County Chair of the California School Choice Foundation.
Outside of education activism, Todd spent decades as an executive tasked with providing “exceptional customer service” for a national retailer, the project manager for a global tech company, and a CEO. He is currently the Research Director in charge of data collection for Transparent California, a public watchdog website with over 28 million records of public employee compensation.
Amy Caterina is a long-time parent advocate and activist in North County. In addition to having two kids educated in the Del Mar Union School District and the San Dieguito Union High School District, Amy served on the board of the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation and the Canyon Crest Academy Foundation. In addition, Amy served in various roles on the Del Mar Hills PTA. Amy was also part of the leadership team for Save Our Schools, a parent advocacy group formed to investigate the planned closure of a local elementary school. Amy is currently an elected member of the Canyon Crest Academy High School Site Council.
Outside of education activism, Amy has over 25 years experience providing corporate communications consulting services to biotechnology companies around the country. Amy is also a patient advocate and board member of the Lymphedema Advocacy Group, a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit organization established to advance lymphedema care in the United States by advocating for improved insurance coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease
Nick Marinovich, a founding member of San Diego Schools, is unfortunately no longer with us, but his legacy lives on here.
Nick had over eight years of experience in Bond Oversight for local school Programs.
He was Chair of the Sweetwater Union High School District Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee for over eight years and led this Committee in complying with independent accountability of bond spending.
He also served on four other Bond Oversight Committees, published numerous position papers relative to Bond Oversight issues, had several Opinion pieces published on local education issues in the local media, and was an invited witness before the Little Hoover Commission hearing on Bond Oversight.
Nick provided consultation services for formation of a District Bond Oversight Committee and preparation of a strategic facility plan for two San Diego County School Districts.
Nick was employed by the County of San Diego for over 32 years as a Project Manager and Analyst, and has extensive knowledge of facility planning and finance, local and state government operations, evaluation and procurement of consultant services, management of large capital projects, experience and analytical expertise relative to preparation of complex reports, studies, and issue papers regarding governmental operations.
He was the Project Manager in various aspects of several major capital projects including the Hall of Justice, County Waterfront Park, the County Operations Center Redevelopment, and the North County Courts Expansion.