High Tech High delays Escondido middle school plan

By: PAUL EAKINS - Staff Writer | Tuesday, June 13, 2006 12:52 AM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- High Tech High officials said Monday they have postponed plans to open a middle school in Escondido by fall 2007, but they are still expecting to open a high school on time.

The San Diego-based charter school also is negotiating for an undisclosed property to house the new campus, said Mara Sanders, special projects manager for High Tech High. She said the decision to delay the middle school opening was financial and had little to do with the unsuccessful campus site search that began more than a year ago.

"It's really an issue of just realizing that we have a lot of money to raise and we feel it would be better to start with just the high school. It's a more manageable task," Sanders said.

The cost of starting the new schools is about $2 million each, she said. Although the middle school won't open in 2007, it could open within a year or two of that, Sanders said.

"We'd still like to have the middle school if we can raise the funds for it," she said.

High Tech High is a liberal arts, college preparatory charter school that operates three high schools, two middle schools and an elementary school in San Diego, as well as a high school in Redwood City in the Bay area. Charter schools are public schools that don't have direct oversight by local school districts.

The organization had been hoping to purchase 4.5 acres owned by the city at Washington Avenue and Ash Street, but its offer of $2 million was turned down this spring by the City Council. City Manager Clay Phillips said Monday that council members had decided to wait for a buyer that could pay the property's appraised value of $3.9 million.

Sanders said earlier this year that if an adequate site isn't found for the campus, High Tech High might have to consider locating the school elsewhere. But the school could open in a temporary Escondido location until a permanent site is ready for classes, she said Monday.

"We're still hopeful that Escondido is going to be the place," she said. "Escondido has a lot to offer. We have a lot to offer Escondido. We feel it's a good fit."

The planned Escondido high school is part of a statewide charter approved by the state Board of Education in January that will allow High Tech High to open 10 schools during the next five years. The first two of these schools are planned to open in September 2007 in Escondido and Chula Vista, which were chosen because of their diversity and low-income populations, school officials have said.

The High Tech High middle school would need approval by the board of Escondido Union School District, which oversees the city's elementary and middle schools.

The high school will serve almost 500 students and the middle school, if opened, will serve more than 400 students, High Tech High officials have said. The Escondido school will have a focus on the life sciences, but also will offer a regular high school curriculum, Sanders said.

Sanders said both of the schools' enrollment lists will be determined by a lottery, and no student will be selected based on grades, test scores or other standards.

Many Escondido parents already have shown an interest in sending their children to the middle school, she said. Some have even enrolled their children at High Tech High's two middle schools in Point Loma with the hope that they will be able to transfer to the Escondido campus when it opens.

Escondido resident Tiffany Spencer said she was disappointed the middle school won't be opening anytime soon. She hopes to eventually send her son Keith, who is finishing third grade, to the Escondido school rather than a High Tech High or private school farther away.

"I was just hoping that I wasn't going to have to look around any further," Spencer said. "I was hoping that High Tech was going to be my answer."

Contact staff writers Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.