San Joaquin Delta College campus may host new high school

Stockton Unified School District has plans to open a new high school campus at San Joaquin Delta College, which is already home to Lodi Unified's Middle College High School.

The plan has received some resistance from faculty and parents of students at Delta and Middle College who argue that Delta doesn't have the space to support another high school.

The new school — Delta Early College — will be open in about six months, said Principal Michael Hall.

He said it first needs to finalize an agreement with Delta, and that process should take between six and nine months.

"We will eventually be there," Hall said.

Until then, the new school plans to open at the California State University, Stanislaus satellite campus in Stockton, Hall said. The district is also looking at partnering with other CSU schools.

In February, after public resistance from some faculty and parents of both Delta and Middle College High School, the Stockton district pulled back on locating at the Pacific Avenue location.

Early College at a glance

Early College High Schools have campuses across the nation. They are small, autonomous schools that blend high school and college into a coherent educational program and are designed so that all students can achieve two years of college credit at the same time they are earning a high school diploma.

Early College High Schools are designed for young people who are underrepresented in postsecondary education including: students who have not had access to the academic preparation needed to meet college readiness standards, students for whom the cost of college is prohibitive, students of color, first generation college-goers and English-language learners.

The Early College High School Initiative is sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Source: California Department of Education

However, the student application posted on Stockton Unified's Web site still states it is opening at Delta in August. Applications were due Friday.

Hall, who was the principal at the Gilroy Early College Academy where test scores skyrocketed within a year of opening, was hired by Stockton Unified in January when the new superintendent unveiled plans to add an Early College. The organization has set up charter schools all over the country.

Hall previously taught for five years at Middle College before becoming principal of the school in Gilroy.

Delta Early College plans to start offering classes to 100 ninth-grade students in the fall and add 100 in each grade in subsequent years. They would take both high school and college classes, similar to students at Middle College.

While it was not required, school board trustee Jeff Thompson said Lodi Unified has not officially been notified of Stockton Unified's desire to locate at Delta.

The former Middle College principal who helped build the program from the bottom up a decade ago said Monday that he's not sure there's enough room on the college campus for two programs.

"It's up to Delta to extend that agreement to Stockton Unified. That being said, we're willing to expand our program. But there's no reason to have a second school," he said.

Hall, whose wife Joann, teaches ninth-grade AVID students at Middle College, defends the Stockton district's plans.

"There are always concerns," he said of those who have complained about Middle College high schoolers possibly sharing the college campus with another high school in the future.

"People don't like change. This is not about competition; it's about a great opportunity for children."

Hall said the school will help many students who may not otherwise be able to earn a college degree without the jumpstart Early College can give them.

"We want to be able to take care of our kids," he said. "Stockton Unified didn't have an Early College campus, and now we do. What that means is, Stockton students who go to Middle College will be able to go to our own Early College."

But, according to Hall, those Stockton high schoolers who have already received inter-district transfers to LUSD's Middle College will be allowed to remain there.

In addition to Lodi Unified's Middle College, other area Early College campuses include Benjamin Holt Preparatory Academy and the Langston Hughes Academy in Stockton.

Middle College High School, which allows high school students earn an Associate's degree while attending high school, opened on the Delta campus in 2000. It has long been held up as one of the district's top academic performing schools.

The program operates under a multi-million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to open as many as 15 schools like Middle College throughout the state.

Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

deltaconfidential wrote on Mar 31, 2009 2:56 PM:

" educator, you are absolutely right. mr. castellanos meets with x-senator machado very frequently they in turn meet with dr. rodriguez. steve is being groomed to run for the assembly (soon) and it is quite obvious his dealings and manipulations hehind the scenes are to "get votes". watch out dr. rodriguez, your new best friend will turn on you in a heart beat, if it politically advantageous. "

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educator wrote on Mar 31, 2009 8:30 AM:

" Hall is sadly mistaken. No matter what Steve Castellanos is promising in his back room meetings, it is not going to happen. Steve needs to decide who he represents. Delta or Stockton Unified. "

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