San Marcos grants K-8 charter; Tech high school on track to open …

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
… five from Oceanside, three from Fallbrook and Poway, one from
Leucadia, 15 from San Diego, eight from Vista and three from Valley
Center, said Turnbull. …

SAN MARCOS — The San Marcos Unified School District has granted Point Loma-based High Tech High the charter it needs to establish a kindergarten through eighth-grade school, officials said Thursday.

The organization filed a petition March 2 to open a school that would complement the high school it plans to open this fall on 5.2 acres behind The Movement church, at 1370 San Marcos Blvd. near Discovery Street.

High Tech High officials have talked about establishing an elementary and middle school to feed the high school since January, when they decided to build in San Marcos, but needed a separate charter from San Marcos Unified officials. The high school will operate under a state charter that allows High Tech High to open 10 campuses statewide that will operate under state jurisdiction.

“We are very happy and looking forward to working with the district,” said Mara Sanders, special projects manager for High Tech High.

The high school campus in San Marcos will be one of two in San Diego County that will open under the state charter, which High Tech High received from the state board of education in January. The other campus will be in Chula Vista.

San Marcos Unified trustees voted 5-0 at a special meeting last week to grant the organization’s K-8 charter after a monthlong review of plans for the San Marcos site.

“They covered every base. It was clear they had done their homework,” said school board President Mary Borevitz. “We are planning on being good neighbors and working together.”

Borevitz said High Tech High officials told trustees that they asked for the K-8 charter now, rather than waiting until the school opens, so it could qualify for part of the $500 million available for construction and modernization of charter schools provided by Proposition 1D.

High Tech High officials said plans are for the San Marcos high school campus to offer a liberal arts college prep program for 150 ninth-graders when it opens this fall. Officials say they will add a grade each year until the school has 500 students.

Sanders said the organization plans to open a middle school that serves sixth- through eighth-graders by 2009, but that plans for a kindergarten through fifth-grade school are still being discussed.

“We don’t have any definite plans when or where we will open that school,” Sanders said.

The high school has already admitted 198 students and enrolled 90, said Peri Lynn Turnbull, director of development for High Tech High.

Of the 90 students who have enrolled, 20 come from San Marcos, 15 from Carlsbad, 17 from Escondido, five from Oceanside, three from Fallbrook and Poway, one from Leucadia, 15 from San Diego, eight from Vista and three from Valley Center, said Turnbull.

When the high school opens in September, the students will temporarily be housed in seven modular buildings, Sanders said.

Small class sizes will emphasize teaching through project-based learning, a technique that requires students to create and design hands-on projects as class assignments, officials have said.