By Lillian Mongreau | June 27, 2012
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San Francisco will have a new high school next year. The school board approved a petition by charter organization KIPP to open a school in or near the city's Bayview neighborhood. Seven KIPP schools have been founded in the Bay Area since 2002. The national charter organization is known for its academic rigor and strict discipline.
Rising eighth-grader Frida Resendiz attends a KIPP middle school in San Francisco. "The KIPP - it gives you extra help," says Resendiz. "I like being there because they give us an opportunity to show what we know."
Board member Emily Murase says she knows the charter will compete with district schools for enrollment and thus funding. But she says KIPP also offers the district's low-income and minority students a valuable option. "KIPP has a track record of success with those students that we haven't been able to capture," she says. "Are they governed by different policies? Absolutely. Are they small? Yes. Are they funded? Yes. All those things. But, quite frankly, they're doing it."
The final school board vote for the KIPP school was 6 to 1.