A proposed charter school named for a local education icon could serve up to 350 San Bernardino students between sixth and 12th grade.
The school would be named after Margaret Hill, who started her career in the San Bernardino City Unified School District.
If approved by the San Bernardino school board, the Dr. Margaret Hill Academy would open in August for the 2025-26 school year.
The board is scheduled to vote on the charter petition Tuesday, Jan. 14.
The school would serve about 100 students between sixth and seventh grade in its first year and would eventually serve up to 500 students in the community near Baseline Street and Waterman Avenue, said Shinay Bowman, assistant superintendent for the Upland Unified School District and the main petitioner for the charter school.
“It is a perfect place to charter a school that promises to transform education for vulnerable, at-risk and at-promise students in San Bernardino City Unified,” Bowman said in a Tuesday, Dec. 31, interview.
Backers presented the proposal to the San Bernardino school board Tuesday, Dec. 17. The board did not vote on the petition.
Charter schools are free public schools but are exempt from some rules that govern traditional schools.
Bowman said the school would be built on three pillars, social service resources for families and students, dual enrollment for high school students that lets them finish two years of college credits before leaving the school and a project-based learning system.
Bowman gave an example of project-based learning, citing the fact that there are no bookstores in the city. Students would research the project, present their findings and push for the inclusion of bookstores in the city.
“Kids will do things like solve problems in the community,” Bowman said.
Charter school costs are directly associated with enrollment and staffing, Bowman said. In its first year of operation, Bowman predicted the school would have a $2 million operating budget for 100 sixth and seventh graders and up to $10 million a year at full capacity.
Full capacity would come in six years, with 350 students between sixth and twelfth grade, Bowman said.
Hill, a longtime San Bernardino educator, school board member and Black community leader, died in 2021 at age 81.
Hill was a Virginia native who moved to the city in 1969 and started teaching in 1971 at San Bernardino High School. She later was the school’s assistant principal. Hill led San Andreas High School for the last 16 years of her career. She won a seat on the San Bernardino City Unified school board in 2011 and was set to serve through 2024.
The Del Rosa Post Office in San Bernardino will be renamed for Hill, officials announced in December.
Bowman called Hill a mentor who inspired her during her time on special assignment at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, when Hill asked if the student body knew for whom their school was named.
That question led to a community event in celebration of King’s life, Day of King, for the school. Bowman said it gave the community an opportunity to celebrate King’s legacy.
“It showed me the power of thoughtful questions and the power of the community coming together to make something happen,” Bowman said.
Hill, Bowman said, was an example of how people can make a difference from where they are. For Bowman, who said she was a product of the foster care system, education became a path forward.
“I want to serve kids who are not making it in the system,” Bowman said.
The charter school would give students more resources to succeed, social services, smaller classrooms and dual enrollment, she said. Supporters hope they won’t need a lottery system and that all students who want to could enter the school.
She chose the San Bernardino district because that’s where she started her career and is a place her family identifies as home, she said.
