Monarch School is a public K-12 school in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, which is exclusively for students who are

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

, at risk of being homeless, or impacted by homelessness. It was founded in 1988. At that time it was the only such school in the United States. As of 2021 it is still largest and most comprehensive K-12 program for homeless students in the U.S. The school enrolls approximately 350 students ranging in age from 4 to 19."New campus for school for homeless"
''San Diego Union-Tribune'', February 16, 2012 Monarch is accredited by the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...

(WASC) and aligned with

Common Core Standards The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, is an educational initiative from 2010 that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know in English language arts and mathematics at the concl ...

. Monarch School is a public-private partnership between the

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

Office of Education and the nonprofit Monarch School Project. The nonprofit organization was initially headed by

Ronne Froman Veronica Froman-Blue, better known by her maiden name Veronica "Ronne" Froman (RADM, USN, Ret.), is an American retired naval officer. She was the first woman to serve as commander of the United States Navy Region Southwest, a position known as t ...

, a former Navy admiral and former chief operating officer of the city of San Diego. In January 2012 Froman became chairman of the board of directors and Erin Spiewak replaced her as CEO. Spiewak's involvement with the school began in 2003 as a volunteer; in 2004 she was named volunteer of the year. The school originated in 1988 as "The PLACE," an acronym for Progressive Learning Alternative for Children's Education. It began as a drop-in center, then found a small location to function as a school in 1990. It started with just one teacher, Sandra McBrayer, who was later named the national Teacher of the Year in 1994."Developer, Wife Donate $1.5 Million To San Diego School"
''San Diego 10 News'', November 22, 2006 McBrayer had been teaching juvenile offenders in the court school system when she came up with the idea of a school specifically for homeless children. "I realized that part of our responsibility is to take school to the students and not just wait for them to come to us," she said in 1994. From 2001 until 2013 the campus was located on West Cedar Street in the

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

neighborhood of

Downtown San Diego Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...

. That facility started with 48 students; by 2002 it had reached its capacity of 150 students. By 2009 enough classrooms were added to be able to serve students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The school grew to be over capacity and had to turn away eligible students, according to Froman. Ground was broken in February 2012 for a much larger facility in a remodeled warehouse at 1625 Newton Street in the East Village neighborhood. The estimated cost of the new facility is $14.4 million, most of which came from private donations. The new location opened in May 2013 and is named the Nat & Flora Bosa Campus, to honor a couple who donated the money to purchase the West Cedar Street location, as well as giving $5 million toward construction of the new campus. The facility can serve up to 350 students a day. In addition to a comprehensive educational program, the school is able to provide for other needs such as food, hygiene, clothing, school supplies, transportation and counseling.

References

External links

Official websiteSan Diego County Office of Education: Monarch School
{{authority control High schools in San Diego Public schools in California 1988 establishments in California