New middle school offers fresh hope in S.F.’s Bayview

For decades, San Francisco education officials watched as students poured out of the Bayview neighborhood every morning, leaving behind the poorer, more neglected and more crime-ridden southeast side of the city in search of better teachers, better classrooms, better schools.

On Monday, not only were dozens of students staying put in the Bayview on the first day of school, but the flow was at least partially reversed, with some families opting to commute into the neighborhood to attend Willie L. Brown Jr.

Despite countless reform efforts and the infusion of millions of dollars to boost test scores and the reputation of Bayview schools, success never stuck.

At Willie Brown, the district decided to go all in, building the newest, most well-equipped, fully staffed, high-tech, modern school in the district in a less-than-desirable location.

Officials spared few expenses in building the $55 million campus, with three-story buildings covered with windows as well as courtyard and terraces opening up to vivid views of the bay.

The colorful plastic chairs, which vary depending on the class, are ergonomically designed, most with wheels to allow students to easily move in and out of teams.

The classrooms and cafeteria took a cue from the city’s tech firms, with high ceilings, wide-open spaces and colorful decor.

The school has a “maker” space with roll-up doors like a garage that open up to the inner courtyard.

There is an engineering classroom, cafeteria, art studio, gym, medical suite and more.

“This is precursor to what it’s going to look like in all our middle schools,” Superintendent Richard Carranza said as he visited the school Monday morning.

While the old Willie Brown school was almost 70 percent African American, the new one is 41 percent black and 25 percent Latino, with the remaining third white, Asian, American Indian, Pacific Islander and other students.

College Preparatory Academy, the fourth-through-eighth-grade public school with 160 students, it was severely under-enrolled and posted some of the lowest test scores in the state.

The plan was for the new school to offer fully wired and computerized classrooms, as well as classes in robotics, computer programming, art, music and other college-prep coursework.