Lea este artículo en español aquí. This article was written by BenitoLink intern Jillian Smith.
The Hollister School District is set to host a town hall on April 6 to discuss a proposal to relocate Hollister Prep School’s sixth through eighth grade students to Marguerite Maze Middle School in an effort to address overcrowding caused by increasing enrollment across the district.
The proposal would move approximately 180 middle school students from the R.O. Hardin campus, where Hollister Prep currently operates as a TK-8 charter school. The students would remain affiliated with the charter school.
The town hall is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Maze Middle School Library.
The proposed changes come as the charter school continues exploring taking over a vacant commercial building on Tres Pinos Road.
District officials say the move would free up classroom space for expanding programs at R.O. Hardin while accommodating increasing enrollment across the district.
Hollister School District Board of Trustee President Jan Grist said the district and Hollister Prep are working together to address rising enrollment.
“The biggest challenge both Hollister School District and Hollister Prep face is the growth of our student population because of the housing boom that is occurring in Hollister,” Grist said. “Both Hollister School District and Hollister Prep School are working closely to address the increase in enrollment in our community.”
Grist said the district plans to make the transition as smooth as possible for both the district and charter students who would share the Maze campus.
According to Superintendent Erika Sanchez, Hollister Prep students and their program would move to the Maze campus but would remain part of Hollister Prep.
“Their students and program would move to Maze and be housed there,” Sanchez said. “Maze would be a shared campus. The vacated classrooms at R.O. Hardin will be used for R.O. Hardin programmatic expansion.”
Hollister Prep students would join a campus that also houses the Hollister Dual Language Academy.
Hollister Prep Chief Communication and Engagement Officer Kirsten Carr said the proposed move would not be the result of growth for the charter school and would require the school to operate across two campuses, which presents logistical challenges.
“We will need to work with our team on operating two school sites which does pose some challenges, but as partners with Hollister School District we want to be as collaborative as possible,” Carr said. “Hollister School District is in the process of listening to their stakeholders so we look forward to hearing from them on next steps.”
Hollister Prep Superintendent Caprice Young said the charter school serves approximately 540 students in grades TK-8 and focuses on serving historically underserved kids.
About 20 percent of the school’s population are students with special needs, according to the information presented at a March 24 Hollister School District Board of Trustees meeting. Young also told the district at that meeting that the school’s students also perform strongly in math and English language arts, outperforming district and state averages.
“We exist because we care about educating every single kid,” Young said.
She said because Hollister Prep is operated by a non-profit, the school district is responsible for providing a facility comparable to those of other public schools.
“So every November, we go to the school board and we say, ‘Where’s our school going to be next year?’ And they say, ‘Here’s where it’s going to be,’” Young said.
Young said while some charter schools lease their own campuses to avoid relocation challenges, Hollister Prep has continued working with the district and understands the district’s facility challenges.
“We know the facilities challenges HSD is facing are real,” Young said. “While we’d prefer to keep all of our families on the same campus, we are part of the Hollister community, so we have to be as flexible as possible. Once the board makes a decision, we will work closely with the superintendent to figure out the logistics.”
Young said the school is trying to gain approval for turning the old Kmart into a school, which would take many years to process approvals. This would allow for a set location for Hollister Prep’s students.
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