Schools

The Plot Thickens

August 27, 2009 By Jim Minkey 1 Comment

boothbay1

The 25 page agenda packet has been released for the big pow wow scheduled for Monday in which a fourth elementary school will be discussed. It’s kind of tortuous to get through all 25 pages but there’s some interesting stuff there.

The attorney has rendered an opinion that “the sale of Boothbay Park to the School District is prohibited by Government Code Section 37111.1″ because “transfer of this park land to the District would not represent use for a ‘municipal’ purpose” and because “the City has not, within the last 3 years, acquired or developed an equal or greater amount of land for park purposes” that could replace the park. It’s also indicated that Port Royal Park might be restricted based upon the dedication that was made by the original developer in that section of town.

Further, it’s also opined that giving the land away would be a gift of public funds, which is prohibited under the Government Code. As such, the District would have to pay “fair value” based on an independent appraiser.

Hmmm…pretty interesting. Especially if you’re fighting to save Boothbay Park. It also sure would seem to put pressure onto the 15 acre/Parkview Plaza site again, doesn’t it? At any rate it sure will be an interesting meeting on Monday!

Filed Under: Foster City, Schools, The Parks

School Daze

August 11, 2009 By Jim Minkey 6 Comments

audobon

Many of you have been really aware of the problem of overcrowding in the local schools, exacerbated by the economic slump that’s forcing plenty of families to move kids from private schools to public out of financial necessity. What we now have is a problem…way too many kids for the existing schools, particularly the elementary schools.

The solution from the school board seems to be the creation of a fourth elementary school in one of four proposed locations, on part of the 15 acre site, at Port Royal Park, on 3.9 acres at the end of Halibut at Beach Park and at Boothbay Park. A big city council meeting is planned on August 31 to discuss the planned sites and, interestingly, there’s folks who are quite passionate about these choices. Particularly Boothbay Park, which has a ground swell of local neighbors who are opposed to developing this location. They’ve created a website to fight this battle, saveboothbaypark.com and will certainly provide some interesting dialog at that meeting on the 31st.

All this without the usual debate about a High School. Schools are, with good reason, a very hot topic and in Foster City where the quality of education and the test scores are consistantly so high it’s not a surprise how passionate folks are. The interesting thing here is how passionate they are about the parks as well!

Filed Under: Foster City, Schools, The Parks

So Far, So Good

May 26, 2009 By Jim Minkey 2 Comments

District	School	# of students incl. in 2008 API	2008 API (base)	State rank	Similar schools rank
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Brewer Island Elementary	376	939	10	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Foster City Elementary	466	919	10	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Baywood Elementary	312	913	10	8
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Bowditch Middle	927	900	10	5
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Audubon Elementary	335	880	9	2
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Highlands Elementary	241	850	8	1
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Beresford Elementary	149	832	8	10
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Laurel Elementary	220	819	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Meadow Heights Elementary	192	811	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	North Shoreview Elementary	174	808	7	7
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Borel Middle	916	795	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	George Hall Elementary	245	792	6	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Abbott Middle	718	789	7	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Park Elementary	233	782	6	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Sunnybrae Elementary	261	782	6	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	College Park Elementary	189	764	5	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Parkside Elementary	265	752	4	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Albion H. Horrall Elementary	249	748	4	8
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Fiesta Gardens International Elementary	262	744	4	1
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	THE Bayside S.T.E.M. ACADEMY	532	704	4	6

I can’t resist…this makes three posts in the last week about FC schools. It all seems to follow that in the middle of the discussion of local school chaos California released it’s Academic Performance Index (API) and we’re still looking pretty darn good. In fact Brewer Island, Audobon and Bowditch have higher scores than last time this was done and Foster City School remains unchanged. Here’s a link to the last chart:

http://fostercityblog.com/2008/09/better-grades/

While we’re at it, here’s how the SF Chronicle describes these scores:

“California ranks all schools on a 1,000-point scale called the Academic Performance Index (API), which is based on how well schools perform on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. The state also assigns schools a number from 1 to 10, based on how well they do when compared with all schools in the state. For fairness, schools are also compared against those with similar demographics. A school may rank a mere 1 against all schools, but may shine as a 10 when compared only against schools with similar populations of students.”

Filed Under: API's for Foster City Schools, Schools

Cause & Effect

May 21, 2009 By Jim Minkey 1 Comment

domino

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about the schools issues in Foster City and I’ve received several e-mails and had discussions with folks who have serious concerns about how these schools issues have and will effect home values in Foster City. The key questions are: 1) will the overcrowding in Foster City Schools cause the overall superb quality of these schools to diminish and 2) does the lack of a High School and the apparent lack of hope of one coming also mean homes values will decline.

On the second question, my little teensie, weensie opinion is that the lack of a High School has no effect at all on values here. I certainly wish that a High School had been built here…but it didn’t and the historic lack of a High School has already proven to be a non issue in this area. Property values exploded here on the same pace as all of the other Peninsula communities in the last ten years. Nobody seemed to care about the High School…or the lack of one for that matter. It always seemed to me that the obvious other benefits of life in Foster City out weighed this problem. It also out weighs the problem in San Carlos as well. I certainly believe that there’s never going to be a High School here, at least one that we would all consider a High School. No marching bands, no football or basketball teams…etc. Whatever land there once was for that type of school is long gone. Going forward Foster City home values are not going to be effected by this issue.

On the first question I think that the school API’s would have to significantly show a big loss before values would be impacted. FC would have to fall down into the 700′s or less to really cause problems. Whether or not this current overcrowding problem will cause this is certainly speculative. I don’t have the answer, but I doubt whether it will simply because so many parents in this town are so very proactive with their kids education. Who knows? I’m much more worried about escalating HOA dues, particularly in light of the potential of FEMA mandated flood insurance having an impact of condo/townhouse values. I also think the economy will sort itself out and lot’s of these kids will wind up back in private schools again…and thus loosen the overcrowding problem.

While these problems are being debated Foster City currently has 32 active single family houses for sale and 18 pending sales. Easily the best ratio so far in 2009. These buyers have not shied away from FC even in the current school drama environment. That’s a positive sign if you ask me.

Time will tell of course. Best wishes to all of the very dedicated and committed parents that are working toward preserving the great education that kids have historically received here. I hope your work pays off!

Filed Under: Real Estate, Schools

School Daze

May 19, 2009 By Jim Minkey 2 Comments

fcschool

Any of you who have kids in Foster City schools right now knows that there’s a certain amount of craziness going on. Most of that craziness involves the fact that there are too many kids for the local public schools to handle and the question has become….is it time for Foster City to add another elementary school?

Foster City school in particular is using a number of portable units and the over crowding is sort of accute. Local groups have been petitioning both the school board as well as the city council to make specific plans for a fourth public elementary school and the idea of using Boothbay as well as other local parks has come up…along with, you guessed it, the 15 acre site/Parkview Plaza. Seems that everybody wants that land for something…except maybe Mirabella. Actually, they want it too…it’s just going to take a little longer to get it.

It seems to me that, all over the Peninsula, families are having a much harder time paying for private schools…and thus there’s a naturally larger influence by kids needing a public school that were not just a few years ago. Who knows if this trend continues or if the economy’s recovery will lighten the burden on the City and the district. Foster City, of course, has no legal responsibilty over the schools…it’s the school district’s area. Here’s a link to the city’s take on this along with a notice that this topic will be discussed this Thursday.:

http://www.fostercity.org/news/San-Mateo-Foster-City-Schood-District-Enrollment.cfm

Filed Under: Foster City, Schools

Better Grades

September 9, 2008 By Jim Minkey 2 Comments

They’re at it again! The state of California has just released their 2008 Academic Performance Index (API) which bases how a school performs on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. In addition, the federal No Child Left Behind Act ranks schools by a different measure called the Adequate Yearly Progress. A rising percentage of students must score “proficient” or “advanced” on their annual state exam, in addition to other indicators, in order to be considered successful. Both of these reports have been released and, no surprise, Foster City is excellent. In fact, FC’s scores have actually risen since last time…and that was excellent too! It’s interesting to note how many of the San Mateo schools did not meet the AYP criteria, while all of the Foster City schools have. Great stuff!

Here’s the breakout:

County	District	School	API 2008 Growth	API 2007 Base	Met all 2008 AYP criteria?
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Brewer Island Elementary	949	933	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Foster City Elementary	928	919	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Baywood Elementary	919	928	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Bowditch Middle	905	880	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Audubon Elementary	883	861	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Highlands Elementary	853	873	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Meadow Heights Elementary	836	799	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Laurel Elementary	830	834	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Beresford Elementary	830	800	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	North Shoreview Elementary	810	796	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	George Hall Elementary	806	786	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Borel Middle	804	807	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Abbott Middle	795	768	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Park Elementary	791	807	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Sunnybrae Elementary	780	788	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	College Park Elementary	765	748	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Parkside Elementary	761	789	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Albion H. Horrall Elementary	748	730	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Fiesta Gardens International Elementary	745	766	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	THE Bayside S.T.E.M. ACADEMY	704	684	No

Filed Under: API's for Foster City Schools, Schools

It’s Dead…Well, Maybe Not Quite!

July 24, 2008 By Jim Minkey 6 Comments

Michael Myers

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

Filed Under: Parkview Plaza, Schools Tagged With: development, Foster City Charter school

Good Grades

May 22, 2008 By Jim Minkey 5 Comments

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.

Filed Under: API's for Foster City Schools, Schools Tagged With: Schools

Foster City High School…Not

April 8, 2008 By Jim Minkey 15 Comments

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

Filed Under: Parkview Plaza, Schools