Updated
Updated again. I think I'm just going to keep modifying this post, rather than making new ones.
I got an alert from DrumsNWhistles that the Silicon Valley campus of High Tech High School is going to close. (I know I've written a blog post about it, but maybe it never got out of draft. I'll look later. Update: yep, I wrote a long post in May 2006, but never posted it. Rather than sticking it in May 2006, see here.)
Scoble wrote about it, and is gathering support.
The parents are rallying; the Save High Tech High School blog is here:
This is a still short post but longer than it was before-- more later after I get to the Big Pile. I can't take too much time for blogging today. I took too much time for this issue. Dang. Scroll down for updates.
According to the San Mateo Daily News on February 22, 2007
Next year’s freshman class, for example, has 150 openings. Only 60 applications were filed. The school receives $6,300 per student per year. A shortage of 90 students is a $567,000 difference in the school’s budget.
Wow. That's really poor admissions outreach. Given that the area's private schools typically have at least a 2:1 ratio (two applications for every opening), and that the other charter in the area, Summit, has a lottery for openings....something went wrong here.
Could it be hubris? The HTH group in Southern California has a different picture, according to Sign On San Diego:
San Diego's High Tech High campuses had almost 3,000 applicants seeking 285 openings last year
HTH-B has been almost invisible in the Mercury News, with just one article last fall. I don't remember seeing much in the other, local papers either.
If you're enrollment is low, you have to actively recruit, which HTH-B failed to do.
High Tech High School is a charter in the Sequoia Union High School District, but it can accept students from outside the district and even outside the county.
I'm not sure of the procedure for out-of-district students.
It looks like HTH-B failed to get on the radar of Santa Clara county parents -- indeed, Santa Clara as a whole, judging by the fact that the Mercury News has yet to publish any news about the school's closing.
Here's a question I do know the answer to: the geographic location was unfavorable. Both the original campus (San Carlos) and the permanent campus (Redwood City) were too far north. I bet they would have had much better enrollment if the campus had been located south of Palo Alto.
How is it possible that the parents didn't have the remotest idea that the school was in danger?
How is it possible that the school didn't recruit parents to help with an enrollment drive?
My comment at Scoble's, which are points I'll elaborate on later
n my view, HTH made three fundamental errors:
1. locating in San Mateo County, rather than Santa Clara county. SMC’s population is much smaller than SCC’s; SMC has some good public high schools and a good charter (Summit); and is well-supplied with private high schools. I’m not a charter expert, but I think it is difficult for charters to accept out-of-county students. The ability to accept students from any district/county is one of the private schools’ competitive advantages.
2. Fundraising. I’m not sure how much Summit raises per year, but I know they started with a big war chest from private donations and aim to raise at least $100,000 per year; take a look at their donation page here.
http://www.summitprep.com/HowGiveToSummit.shtml
HTH-B doesn’t even have a donation page.
3. Marketing: HTH did not seem to reach out to parents as well as the private schools and Summit.
According to the San Mateo Daily News on February 22, 2007
Next year’s freshman class, for example, has 150 openings. Only 60 applications were filed. The school receives $6,300 per student per year. A shortage of 90 students is a $567,000 difference in the school’s budget.
Compared to:
San Diego's High Tech High campuses had almost 3,000 applicants seeking 285 openings last year
Parents at HTH-B are understandably upset about the HTH-B's closing. I really feel for them, and especially for the kids who felt they had a place to be successful in school -- and have been displaced. Nevertheless:
The key difference between the Southern California HTH schools (which are thriving) and HTH-B is this:
For every HTH seat in Southern Californa, there are 10 kids (read families) applying/in the lottery.
For every HTH-B seat, there are .4 kids kids (read families) applying.
Why? What is the difference? What did HTH do right in SoCal, and failed to do in Northern Califonia?
Reading the comments at Scoble's blog, blaming the Silicon Valley for "a lack of interest", or the chartering school district, or the "NEA cartel", or the building's owner,....
Is a distraction from the two real issues.
Issue #1 -- attracting students to a new school (charter or private) requires marketing.
Issue #2 -- starting a new school requires investment without the expectation of a financial return.
One of the fundamental theories about charter schools is "bringing market forces to bear" on an assumed monopoly--public schooling.
Well, gee, if you are going to bring market forces to bear, you have to act like an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurship, in k-12 education, has some features:
1. starting a new school, even with a successful template from elsewhere, is hard work
2. starting a new school (charter or private) requires philanthropic investment while in the growth phase. I am distinguishing philanthropic investment --meaning giving money without the expectation of return-- from venture capital, where return on investment is expected.
3. all schools that are dependent upon elective enrollment require marketing--both for philanthropic investment and enrollment.
4. Marketing means getting the word out
Were I directly involved with HTH-B, I'd want to know the answers to at least these questions:
- The best referral is from a satisfied customer. What efforts did the HTH administration from Southern California make to bring satisfied SoCal parents to Northern California, to evangelize the HTH model?
- The best referral is from a satisfied customer. What efforts did the HTH-B make to have current parents host "get acquainted" meetings with the parents' neighbors and friends?
- There are a lot of youth organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara County (examples: 4-H, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, youth theater/performing arts groups, non-school sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs, home-school alliances, etc.) What efforts did the HTH-B administration make to build relationships with these groups?
- There are a lot of k-8 private schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara County. How many of those schools did the HTH-B administration visit, with an eye to attracting students?
- In San Mateo County and Santa Clara County, there are a number of small-circulation weekly papers. What press releases about the school did the school distribute?
- In San Mateo County and Santa Clara County, there are a number of small-circulation weekly papers Did HTH-B advertise in any of these papers? If no, why not? If yes, show me the ads, and show me the insertion schedule.
That's not an exhaustive list of observations and list of questions, but it will do for now.
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