{"id":90859,"date":"2025-12-12T00:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T00:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/90859\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T00:23:17","slug":"a-tiny-sf-high-school-is-closing-heres-what-it-means-for-sfusd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/90859\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tiny SF High School Is Closing. Here\u2019s What It Means for SFUSD"},"content":{"rendered":"

After shelving<\/a> school closures last year and promising<\/a> to hold off for the 2025-26 school year, the San Francisco Unified School District made a surprising announcement two months ago: The Academy, a high school with fewer than 100 students<\/a>, will close next summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Academy currently shares a building with Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA). Its students have already taken tours of Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High, about three miles north, where they\u2019ll move next fall. Those who don\u2019t want to go to Wallenberg will get first choice at enrolling in SFUSD\u2019s other high schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

School officials say they will preserve what makes The Academy special, except its intimate size. But size is a big deal for Academy families, who say the move threatens the extra attention staff can give, especially to the school\u2019s disabled students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parents also call the move a broken promise. Because it takes place at the start of the 2026-27 year, it\u2019s not technically a closure in the 2025-26 school year, as school officials point out. But some teachers, parents, and students say The Academy was set up to fail. \u201cWe feel very betrayed by the district,\u201d said sophomore Finnegan Kelly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Academy families also say they\u2019re bearing the burden as SFUSD tries to dig out of a deep financial hole. But a district spokesperson calls The Academy\u2019s closure \u201ca standalone decision made with the best interests of our students at heart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fight over The Academy is important not just for families and teachers there, but also to understand why SFUSD might revive its push for school closures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The previous attempt, in 2024, ended in the face of bitter opposition, forcing Superintendent Matt Wayne to step down. But Wayne\u2019s successor, Maria Su, has a new two-year contract in hand. Even while cleaning up Wayne\u2019s mess, Su never said closures were permanently off the table \u2014 only paused<\/a> for the 2025-26 school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Academy shares a building with Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA). Next year, Academy students have the choice to move to Raoul Wallenberg High or get first dibs on enrollment at other high schools. (Photo: Taylor Barton)<\/p>\n

With a $51 million budget gap<\/a> to close by July, the school board has delicately reintroduced the idea of \u201creorganization\u201d (school site expansions, consolidations, mergers, and potential closures).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Academy \u2014 slated to close with no public hearing or board discussion \u2014 has been the only move so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The superintendent and board haven\u2019t agreed on a path forward for other schools yet, but they have to stabilize the budget to regain full local control from state oversight. The district recently improved its standing but is still on watch with a \u201cqualified\u201d certification. That means it \u201cmay or may not\u201d be able to meet financial obligations in the next two years, the district announced last week<\/a>, and noted that \u201cthe upcoming budget cycle will still require hard decisions and difficult conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Academy difference<\/p>\n

The Academy isn\u2019t an average high school. It hosts one of two public high school programs for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the city. All students at The Academy take American Sign Language. According to state data<\/a>, it also has a higher percentage of Hispanic students, disabled students who require special-education plans, and homeless students than district averages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of students that come from marginalized communities,\u201d senior Toto Honniball told The Frisc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cynthia Kelly, sophomore Finnegan\u2019s mom, said that the environment was much more welcoming to Finnegan, who is transgender, than the larger middle school he attended before The Academy: \u201cDifferent kids thrive in different environments.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Students like Finnegan Kelly (left, with his mom Cynthia Kelly) say they appreciate the one-on-one support that The Academy\u2019s small size allows.<\/p>\n

As a school of choice, it also has an atypical learning environment. All students spend mornings in academic classes and afternoons on career-focused work. Freshmen work on the campus\u2019s community farm<\/a>, and the food is served in the cafeteria. \u201cWe\u2019ve sort of built a miniature version of the food system on campus so students can see how all the parts interact together,\u201d said SFUSD chef Josh Davidson, who leads the program. \u201cIt\u2019s been a huge success.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, The Academy\u2019s career focus expanded, making classes at City College of San Francisco mandatory and letting 10th, 11th, and 12th graders earn college credits. The dual enrollment \u201chas given them real world, real life experience,\u201d said Cynthia Kelly, \u201cbut still with that sense of belonging to the smaller community at The Academy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

SFUSD spokesperson Laura Dudnick said dual enrollment is successful based on student surveys and grades, which she declined to release citing privacy concerns. Moving it to Wallenberg \u201callows SFUSD to expand access to these valuable opportunities for more students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Food from the campus\u2019s community farm is served in the school cafeteria as part of the career-focused curriculum at The Academy.<\/p>\n

A steep decline<\/p>\n

Despite these offerings, The Academy is under-enrolled. It is funded to serve 200 students, according to the district, but only has 99. \u201cThis leads to an unsustainable teacher-to-student ratio of one to nine compared to the district high school average of one to 33,\u201d said Dudnick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot afford to have all the necessary staff for such a small school,\u201d assistant superintendent of high schools Davina Goldwasser said in response to student questions at an Oct. 8 town hall<\/a>, according to attendees\u2019 notes.<\/p>\n

In the past 10 years<\/a>, the school\u2019s high mark was 362 students, in 2016-17. Numbers stayed relatively stable through the pandemic, then plummeted the past four years from 347 to the current 99. The reasons depend on who you ask.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of The Academy\u2019s school of choice status, students have to request to attend; they can\u2019t get there through the district lottery. Students are especially frustrated because \u201call of them specifically chose to go to Academy,\u201d said senior Honniball. Other schools of choice in the district, like SOTA for example, have waitlists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Another reason for the drop is the CCSF dual enrollment, according to SFUSD\u2019s Dudnick. The coordination with City College means an earlier-than-usual enrollment deadline \u2014 spring instead of summer<\/a>. Unless students plan months ahead, they often miss the window.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blaming the CCSF program rankles families and teachers who thought it would help, not hinder, enrollment. \u201cWe were told to redesign a system that students wanted to come to,\u201d said Ryan Hightower, who teaches English at The Academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hightower, other teachers, and families also said a threat of closure has also hurt enrollment. \u201cIt\u2019s been going on for three years,\u201d said Hightower.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rumors, then reality<\/p>\n

In October 2024, when the district released its list of schools to potentially close, move, or merge, The Academy was on it<\/a>. But families and teachers say the threat goes back farther. \u201cYou have an entire class of 1765498991 juniors who have had this threat held over their head as they make decisions whether or not to come to our school,\u201d said Hightower.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2022, SFUSD administrators met with Academy staff to talk about its enrollment problem, according to current and former teachers, who told The Frisc that the administrators said closure was under consideration \u2014 but not set in stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was upset, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean we told the parents and students,\u201d said Patricia Mott, a former Academy special education teacher who now leads special education at Phillip and Sala Burton Academic School. \u201cBut that stuff comes out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Teachers and other say that rumors of closure, stemming from a 2022 meeting, have dissuaded families from enrolling at The Academy for years. (Photo: Taylor Barton)<\/p>\n

Mott said some teachers may have leaked the prospect to their students: \u201cI think that is what started that rumor, way earlier than [the district] officially saying we would close [in 2024]. That starts to scare people into not wanting to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about the 2022 meeting, SFUSD\u2019s Dudnick did not dispute the teachers\u2019 accounts or claims about rumors, but she did not verify that the meeting took place. \u201cWe would not want to speak for the decisions of any individual family,\u201d said Dudnick. \u201cWhat I can share is the district\u2019s focus: ensuring that every student who wants access to a program understands their options and knows how to enroll.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do we do with the many thousands of empty seats in our school buildings across the district?<\/p>\n

SFUSD school board president phil kim<\/p>\n

Mott also acknowledged that enrollment at that point was already low. In the 300s, it was under the capacity the district had planned for. When asked how SFUSD determines if a school is underenrolled, Dudnick said there\u2019s no \u201cblanket definition \u2026 given the variety of programs and services for the diverse student populations that we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the reasons for The Academy\u2019s decline, some school board members say they should have a vote on the closure. At the Oct. 28 meeting, board member Matt Alexander called it a violation of a core principle<\/a> to include the community in decision-making. \u201cWe should have voted on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five times the size<\/p>\n

Wallenberg currently has 522 students<\/a>. That\u2019s a fraction of SFUSD\u2019s largest high schools, which have 2,000 kids or more. It\u2019s even smaller than SOTA (680 kids), where The Academy is co-located. The campus, at the top of Glen Canyon Park, is the former McAteer High, where Academy students have their own floor. At Wallenberg, they\u2019ll be integrated with the rest of the school. (The move could also free up space for SOTA to expand.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

While quite small, Wallenberg\u2019s size is a concern for many students and families. \u201cWe chose this small school because it\u2019s a small school,\u201d said Finnegan Kelly. \u201cWe chose to be here because we will get the one-on-one support that we need and the peer support that we need that you can\u2019t get in a big school.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe Academy and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts share the former McAteer High campus. The Academy, which has one of two public high school deaf and hard-of-hearing programs in SF, will move to Wallenberg next year. (Photo: Taylor Barton)<\/p>\n

More than a third of The Academy students require special-education plans. About 10 percent of those students are in the deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) program, which \u201creally hinges on this very small, tight knit community of students,\u201d said Mott.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DHH program will also move to Wallenberg. Small, quiet classrooms are important for DHH students, according to current and former Academy teachers. Not all DHH students can read lips, and many depend on classroom interpreters, whose job is more difficult in noisy environments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that this program requires specific supports and we are committed to meeting the needs of our students with the utmost care,\u201d said Dudnick. She could not confirm that Academy staff would move with the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In interviews with The Frisc and comments at board meetings, some students accuse the district of targeting The Academy for its high special-education numbers. Dudnick responded by pointing out that schools of similar size have similar special-ed proportions, such as June Jordan School for Equity (34 percent<\/a> of 176 students) and John O\u2019Connell High School (25 percent<\/a> of 460 students). The tentative plan last year was to close June Jordan and merge it with O\u2019Connell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Wallenberg has about 23 percent<\/a> students with special-education plans. The district\u2019s largest high schools have much lower numbers: Lowell has 8 percent<\/a>, and Washington and Lincoln both have 14 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some research has shown that closures affect Black and low-income students disproportionately<\/a>. Mott said the same is true for special education. \u201cSpecial-ed students become very sensitive to who the staff are over time, and what the classes are like, and if they\u2019re small and quiet. Getting absorbed into a larger school for a lot of those kids is extra stressful.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The district has assured the public that students\u2019 IEPs will still be fulfilled, no matter what school they attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Specter of closures<\/p>\n

During last year\u2019s push for closures, SFUSD admitted sotto voce<\/a>, and eventually full-throatedly, that closures aren\u2019t primarily about saving money. \u201cSchool closures or mergers are not part of the budget balancing plan,\u201d board vice president Jaime Huling reiterated at last month\u2019s meeting<\/a>. She added that the 2026-27 budget must include the current school portfolio, except for The Academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that may only be true for the near term, said Jill Wynns, who spent 24 years on the school board, five years as budget chair: \u201cWhat they\u2019re actually saying is school closures are not going to fix our budget next year, because it\u2019s not instantaneous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A sign board outside The Academy. The district estimates it will save $3.2 million via school closures and consolidations, including The Academy, in the 2027-28 school year. <\/p>\n

There are \u201cshort-term costs associated with potentially closing or merging a school,\u201d according to Dudnick. But over time, school closures will save money because of staff reductions, said Wynns. Elliott Duchon, the state advisor overseeing the district\u2019s finances, has said<\/a> that staffing is by far the district\u2019s biggest expense \u2014 more than 80 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a document<\/a> posted ahead of the Dec. 16 board meeting, the district projects site consolidations will save $3.2 million in the 2027-28 school year. The plan \u201cassumes three sites\/programs per year for three years.\u201d This reflects potential future closures, not just The Academy\u2019s, according to Dudnick, and is only about three percent of the total $103 million the district will need to slash by 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n

School funding is tied to enrollment. The fewer students, the less state money flows to SFUSD. The district operates 125 schools and says they have space for 14,000 more students than the nearly 49,000 currently enrolled. The district also projects enrollment will decline another 4,600 by 2032.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The disparity between students, facilities, and staff isn\u2019t sustainable, as school board president Phil Kim has stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes that mean that the only thing we can do is close schools? No,\u201d Kim said on a Zoom call with advocacy group San Francisco Parents Coalition in October. \u201cBut we do need to answer: what do we do with the many thousands of empty seats in our school buildings across the district?\u201d<\/p>\n

(A charter school veteran, Kim joined SFUSD in early 2024 to run the closure initiative. Mayor London Breed tapped him for the school board in August 2024<\/a> when board president Lainie Motamedi abruptly stepped down. Kim became board president<\/a> early this year and is up for reelection in June.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The teachers union, opposed to staff reductions, has demanded central office cuts instead. Last spring, to close a $113 million deficit, the district obliged. It cut 177<\/a> central office positions (81 were layoffs<\/a>, the rest were vacancies) without laying off teachers and other school staff \u2014 although 352 teachers took an early retirement buyout<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How much SFUSD still needs to cut is a moving target. One year ago, SFUSD projected cuts of $13 million for 2026-27<\/a>. The projection currently stands at $51 million, Chris Mount-Benites, deputy superintendent of business operations, told the school board<\/a> Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Academy\u2019s students have until January 30 to confirm<\/a> enrollment at Wallenberg or request a different high school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At this point, parents are better off researching and touring other options than fighting closure, Mott said. \u201cYou can complain right now all you want to, but without the money [to sustain a school this small], there\u2019s nothing they can do,\u201d Mott said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing that\u2019s going to prevent it. The train\u2019s going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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