SAN LORENZO, Calif. — The San Lorenzo Unified School District will not be relocating East Bay Arts High School for the foreseeable future, but members of the Board of Education say finding the school a permanent campus will remain a priority.
At its regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5, the district’s Board of Education voted 2-3 against having staff study the costs and benefits of moving East Bay Arts back to the Hayward Acres campus, where it had been co-located with Royal Sunset Continuation High School until the COVID-19 pandemic. Boardmembers Juan Campos and Penny Peck voted in favor of exploring the move, but the board effectively decided to maintain the status quo since the motion failed to carry and no other motions were made.
Boardmembers Campos and Samuel Medina stressed that something needs to be done about the hostility between the students and staff of both schools if they’re going to continue to be co-located.
“Whether they’re there for three months or three years, they can’t be on a campus where they feel unwelcome,” Campos said.
East Bay Arts, an arts-oriented magnet school with about 130 students, has been co-located with San Lorenzo High since the 2020-2021 school year. The move has caused frustration among students and staff, and the district has been seeking alternate locations for the high school. Recently, the decision came down to merging the high school with Edendale Middle School, creating one arts school catering to sixth through 12th grade, or displacing the adult school by moving to the Linda Vista campus, which would require facility modifications and upgrades. The motion to relocate East Bay Arts to Linda Vista failed to carry at an October meeting.
Campos said some students are not able to thrive in larger schools and the district should work on providing that kind of atmosphere for the students that need it. Board President Kyla Sinegal pointed out that research shows all students benefit when they’re in smaller classrooms and get more focused attention, making it crucial to improve conditions for all students instead of focusing exclusively on East Bay Arts.
Sinegal added that the board has other priorities it needs to focus on and any move during the middle of the school year will disrupt an existing community, which made her comfortable with continuing to co-locate East Bay Arts with San Lorenzo High for the time being.
Medina said it was important to keep the conversation about where to locate East Bay Arts alive because small class sizes were not the only draw and having a dedicated campus would allow the school to grow. Medina said it would be a shame to lose the educators involved with East Bay Arts to other districts, where they would undoubtedly create world-renowned programs, as was the case with the educator who left after the district transitioned away from the green academy.
Sonia Waraich can be reached at 510-952-7455.
