High Tech High Campus in Bay Area is Likely to Close

By Helen Gao, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Feb. 23–While two new High Tech High charter schools are on track to open in Chula Vista and San Marcos later this year, a sister campus in the Bay Area will probably shut down in June because of low enrollment and the sale of its campus.

High Tech High Bayshore in Redwood City is expected to close because it hasn’t attracted enough students to remain financially viable, said Larry Rosenstock, CEO of the High Tech High charter school chain based in San Diego. Its closure won’t affect campuses in San Diego County.

The Redwood City campus is one of seven publicly funded schools in the High Tech High organization, which has garnered national acclaim for its emphasis on technology and project-based learning. Bayshore would the first High Tech High to close since the wildly successful program started in 2000.

Bayshore parents said they were shocked when they learned last week about the pending closure and imminent sale of the campus. They questioned the severity of the enrollment problem and asserted that the number of students is on the rise.

“We were promised a secure, stable, innovative and successful model,” said Bayshore parent Joan Tabb Waisbein. “Why is it we were taken by surprise and given no time to do something about this?”

Bayshore’s board of directors is expected to decide today whether to shut down. Parents are fighting to keep the school open.

Bayshore began as San Carlos High School in 2003 and joined the High Tech High group in 2005. It serves 245 students, but should have a minimum of 330 and ideally 420, Rosenstock said. The building that houses the campus, he said, was bought by a donor who took out a loan on behalf of High Tech High, with the understanding that Bayshore would acquire the building later.

He said Bayshore doesn’t have enough students to secure a bank loan to buy the building. School funding from the state is based on attendance.

Bayshore is working with the Sequoia Union High School District to enroll students in other schools and find jobs for teachers.

San Diego’s High Tech High campuses had almost 3,000 applicants seeking 285 openings last year. Rosenstock said it would be unfair for schools in San Diego to have to subsidize the Redwood City campus.

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