Did you see any of the Halloween movies? The first one was a classic, done on a very small budget in 1978. At the end the bad guy, Michael Myers, get’s shot 6 times and falls from a second story balcony. Upon looking out the window we discover that Michael is nowhere to be found. There are 9 Halloween Movies and in all but one of them Michael Myers meets some kind of grisly end…only to resurface inexplicably in the next movie. This darn guy just won’t stay dead!

It kind of reminds me of the perpetual discussion about a High School in Foster City. I wrote a post about this topic in early April, Foster City High School…Not and at that time a charter school idea had just been dispatched in Jamie Lee Curtis style by the City Council…and then yesterday I read another article about how another group wanting to build the Magnolia Science Academy, a charter high school, were voted down again on Monday night. I kept thinking “I wonder if the idea was shot several times by sheriff’s deputies, which then fell down a mineshaft, which collapsed when the deputies threw dynamite down it. (Halloween 4, The Return of Michael Myers).

Who know’s? Is dead really ever dead? Never say never…maybe one day a proposal with some real merit will be floated that could be approved. I personally don’t think it’ll ever happen, I think the land in question has more value to the city in other capacities going forward. Until then maybe we can get John Carpenter to film this saga?

Here’s a link to the story:

Charter School Story

Whenever I hear Realtors in the Mid Peninsula talk about property values and the current market sooner or later the subject of schools will enter the conversation and one of the most often repeated mantras is the excellence of the schools in San Carlos, Burlingame and Baywood School in San Mateo. Honestly, it’s rare for me to hear people touting Foster City schools…but they ought to because they’re uniformly excellent. Once again the State of California has released their Academic Performance Index (API) which is based on how well schools perform on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. Here’s how Foster City schools shake out versus the other areas:

Brewer Island (FC)       933

Baywood (SM)              928

Franklin (Bur)              924

Lincoln (Bur)               920

Foster City (FC)          919

Roosevelt (Bur)           910

Washington (Bur)        905

White Oaks (SC)          901

Arundel (SC)               897

Tierra Linda Mid (SC)   895

Bowditch Mid (FC)       880

Brittan Acres (SC)       879

Highlands (SM)           873

Audobon (FC)             861

Hmmm…Somehow I think Foster City not only is holding it’s own, but is in fact thriving when it comes to it’s schools. This is yet another factor in the preservation of value in real estate in this town.  

As I’ve said before on this Blog, my family’s been in Foster City for over 40 years and I’ve been in the Bay Area since 1990…moving here from Colorado. I don’t think there’s any subject that I’ve heard discussed more often and with more passion in Foster City than the subject of a High School in this community. I remember discussions about it when I visited in 1978 when I was a sophomore in college and there were high hopes for it’s apparently inevitable construction in the area that will now be home to Parkview Plaza (the new name given to the 15 acre site, in case you hadn’t heard). I know that for a long, long time many very passionate people have tried to bring a High School to this town and it finally appears that, after all is said and done, it’s never going to happen.

I’m not sure if it’s a distant memory or it’s family folklore but, as I recall, the topic of a High School was voted on here on more than one occasion over the years and didn’t pass. If memory serves there were those that didn’t want additional taxes to be levied as well as the fact that creation of a High School meant separation from the San Mateo school district…and our brothers and sisters in San Mateo were not too crazy about losing that revenue. They fought it successfully. Ultimately in 1999 the City Council amended the land use designation of the 27 acre site from high school to public/semi-public development of the Civic Center Master Plan. Then in 2002 the Peninsula Jewish Community Center was granted a lease for 12 acres, the other 15 acres was leased to a private Episcopal High School venture. They couldn’t raise the necessary funds to build and thus the land became available again. In 2003 the plan changed into a Charter High School concept that was approved by the City Council as well as the San Mateo School Board. Unfortunately funding for this concept was never completely ironed out and it ultimately became clear that the City could produce significantly more revenue going forward by using the 15 acre site for something other than a High School. It was far more important as a revenue source for the future as a commercial and residential development than it would be as a school so 11 acres were carved out for Parkview Plaza and the remaining 4 acres were then to be used as a Charter High School.

Even more trouble brewed last fall when it became apparent that only a relatively small number of Foster City kids would use the school at all….possibly as low as 200 out of a total number of 1200 High School aged kids in town while the rest would be at the discretion of the San Mateo school board. It also didn’t help that the charter petition had changed the name of the school to the Arts and Technology High School of San Mateo. That didn’t go over real well at a City Council meeting last fall.

So last week it seemed that a white towel finally got thrown into the ring when a newsletter was sent to supporters asking for more leaders to step up or the group might have to disband. It’s become very, very hard to generate excitement and financial support for this 4 acre, scaled down school. Don’t expect to see a photo of a Foster City High School…like the one above, I’m betting it’ll never happen. I’m sure there’s plenty of passions on all sides of this issue, so don’t hesitate to comment and express your point of view.  Here’s a link to a San Mateo Times story on this issue:

CharterSchoolLink

This category is for Parents and Students of Bowditch Middle School. Please feel free to post any items relevant to Bowditch.

www.smfc.k12.ca.us/profile/bowditch.html

This category is for Parents and Students of Audobon School. Please feel free to post any items relevant to Audobon.

www.smfc.k12.ca.us/audobon/home.html

This category is for Parents and Students of Foster City School. Please feel free to post any items relevant to School.

www.smfc.k12.ca.us/fostercity/

This category is for Parents and Students of Brewer Island School. Please feel free to post any items relevant to Brewer Island.

 www.smfc.k12.ca.us/brewer_island/Index.htm