Pacific Collegiate School

Pacific Collegiate School is a grades 7-12 charter school located on the westside of Santa Cruz, California.The Founding of Pacific Collegiate SchoolOver a period of about twenty years, beginning in the 1970’s, a group of parents and teachers in Santa Cruz, California, often met to discuss educational reform. They envisioned schools which inspire students to learn through an integrated curriculum, leading to a high level of intellectual and artistic achievement. These people were Catharine Gill, an English literature teacher, Josette Nauenberg, Meg Smith, and Christiane Young, a French teacher. California charter school legislation made it possible for this group to conceive of implementing their ideas.In the spring of 1998, Gill and Young, joined by Singne Coe, a history teacher, began discussing the feasibility of developing an academically strong public charter high school in Santa Cruz, CA. From the outset, Nauenberg, Smith, and Delia Krupp, a Cabrillo College art teacher, also worked on this project. Input on the math and science curriculum was given by some teachers in Santa Cruz, teachers from the private school, York, in Monterey, and a few UCSC professors.Because of some of the founders’ experience with international schools, the new school was envisioned to be at the same level as public high schools in countries such as France and Japan. To achieve this goal, the schools’ courses were to be aligned with the expectations of the Advanced Placement program, with passing at least one AP exam a requirement for graduation. The key concepts were that students would have an international perspective particularly in their humanities courses, rigorous math and science courses, and a rich arts curriculum at each level. Upon graduation all students would be U.C. eligible. The founders believed, based on their own experience, that most students could achieve those goals with sufficient self-discipline, effective instruction with integration of subjects, and a school culture of respect for learning and accountability.