New direction for Compass High School: Learning differences school moves to new expanded location in San Mateo

“Students love the communal areas,” said Executive Director Rachel Wylde. “It feels very welcoming and easy to make friends and socialize.”

One student said they enjoyed the light in the building and that it feels like learning in a treehouse. Another said the school feels like a learning sanctuary.

The space, which formerly functioned as offices, is in a good location since it is centrally located for students across the Bay Area, she said. Compass is one of the only high schools in the Bay Area specifically focused on students with learning differences. The goal is to offer a supportive environment to students with challenges from traditional learning disabilities to those who have high-functioning autism, dyslexia and learning disabilities. The school continues to have more girls than boys, with females making up 60 percent of the student population, which is unusual, Wylde said.

Along with a new campus that only required minor renovations like painting and new furniture, the school has added new classes and features. With its first class, which is an 11th-grade class getting ready to apply to colleges, the school has hired on a career counselor. The school has also added a learning strategies class to help students deepen their self-awareness, along with music, graphic design and Latin classes. Honors classes are also new.

Technology has a big part in the classroom, with Smartboards and e-textbooks.

“‘This is like the school of the future,’ one visitor told us,” Wylde said. “It has the feel of a small college. … We’ve really emphasized the idea one size does not fit all.”

Another futuristic aspect of the school is the fact classes don’t begin until 8:45 a.m. every day because of research that shows teens need more sleep and as teens’ sleep cycle changes to two hours later, it’s hard for them to go to sleep earlier.

More changes will come to the two-story facility, Wylde said. As the school grows, the administration plans to add more classes both on the second floor and on the ground floor, which the school is leasing out space to tenants. This will allow for art and science rooms to be added.

“There really has been a need in the community to serve these kids,” said Jean Kovacs, vice chair of the school’s Board of Trustees.

The school hopes to grow to 10-15 students per grade, reaching about 50-60 students total.

Funding is something the administration is working on and, as a nonprofit, that means it can’t receive venture capital funding. Wylde’s dream is to find an angel donor. The school does have several grants and has raised about $500,000. With tuition at $34,000 per year, the administration could look into the possibility of applying to get certified as a nonpublic school by the California Department of Education so students can get placed there. Tuition would be paid for the students by the public school. Thirty percent of students receive financial aid and tuition includes integrated services such as speech therapy and support for students as well as their families. The school is focusing on getting Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or WASC, accreditation now.

The ribbon cutting ceremony to inaugurate the new site is 9 a.m. Oct. 1 and Mayor Robert Ross will give opening remarking. Tours of the school will follow.

There will be an information session for those interested in applying to the school 7 p.m. Oct. 28 at the school.

For more information go to compasshigh.org.

angela@smdailyjournal.com

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