Steady progress is being made constructing the pre-kindergarten (PK) through fifth grade Mission Bay Elementary School at 1415 Owens Street. The 550-student capacity facility is expected to be ready for students by July 2025. But it won’t open for classes until the following year, as the San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) grapples with a $148.5 million 2024-2025 budget deficit.
“The decision to move the school opening date back to the 2026-2027 academic year was reviewed and considered by the superintendent, members of the cabinet [SFUSD’s management team], and enrollment center staff…based on a range of factors,” said Kate Levitt, SFUSD bond program communications director. The district needs “…adequate time to plan the Mission Bay attendance area, engage in targeted community outreach, hire the school’s leadership team, and build its programs. Everyone benefits from a smooth and successful school opening.”
Opening Misson Bay Elementary will coincide with closure of other public schools following years of enrollment declines. The District is about 14,000 students shy of filling all its seats, with an expected further loss of another 5,000 students by 2030. There are too many schools, too few students and not enough money to spread staff and other resources across so many partially empty classrooms. At the same time, San Francisco’s population is tilting towards the southeast neighborhoods, with new residential construction taking place in Mission Bay, Dogpatch, and Potrero Hill.
SFUSD plans to initially use the Mission Bay School campus for planning and start-up activities and as the site for the Mission Bay Hub, a STEM program for high school students.
“We recognize the change in the elementary school’s opening date will affect families in our communities, many of whom anticipated and planned for the August 2025 start,” said Levitt.
“We’ve been working on the Mission Bay School for a long time,” said Sarah Davis, a Mission Bay resident and Mission Bay School Steering Committee member. “But we understand the school fits into the bigger school system. The delay might give us time to work on the traffic, pedestrian, and bicycle safety issues in light of the new Amazon logistics facility coming online on Seventh Street and Berry Street.”
She added that there are significant circulation and safety issues with the traffic circle at the intersection of Mission Bay Drive, Owens Street, Channel Street, and Mission Bay Boulevard.
“We’re trying to get a rebuild of that roundabout. I hope the families that were looking forward to being in the Mission Bay School will stick with us,” added Davis.
“We’re working with SFUSD and UCSF on safe travel routes,” said Bettina Cohen, a Steering Committee member, who, with several fellow members, including Bruce Agid, have formed a Safe Access/Transportation subcommittee. “It’s as much out of concern for the kids coming to the school from outside the neighborhood as it is us getting around. Those of us on the…subcommittee agree that if we can have only two spots get improvements, the traffic circle and that intersection need it the most.”
According to Cohen, SFUSD could have notified the community about the later opening date sooner, or “…at least told us there’s a possibility the opening could be pushed back a year. I give them an “F” in communications for this. On the bright side, this gives the neighborhood and our Safe Access/Transportation Subcommittee more time to prepare. This is for the best. If the district isn’t ready, better to take the extra year and do it right.”
SFUSD spends roughly $17,000 per student, including about $4,000 on central administration and $13,000 on schools and classrooms. Mission Bay Elementary School’s annual operating costs could reach upwards of $10 million, an expenditure the district would need to balance as part of efforts to reduce its deficit.
Construction milestones include installation of the steel frame in July.
“Prior to that, the construction team focused on months of soil remediation to increase soil density and prepare it for the building’s foundation. They started the foundation in winter 2024 and completed it in the spring,” said Levitt.
McCarthy Building Companies serves as the prime contractor, with Swinerton as construction manager. The perimeter retaining wall, steel and metal deck welding, exterior facade mockup, and utility lines are presently being installed. Next up is interior framing and walls, windows and roofing, and building system infrastructure. Drywall and finishes need to be in place before fitting mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire sprinklers. In July, Mission Bay residents held a “Topping Out” ceremony to mark placement of the last steel beam on the school structure.
The school will feature all-electric equipment, including in the kitchen, natural daylights, operable windows to allow in Bay winds, and a rooftop solar array. It’ll rely on reclaimed water. Native and drought-tolerant plant species will be planted throughout, with recycled ground mulch and bioretention areas. The campus will utilize paving composed of recycled materials. Play equipment will be made of a natural wood element.
Construction is funded by a $744 million voter-approved general obligation bond approved in 2016 by 80 percent of voters to fund public school repairs and maintenance.
Stephen Chun, SFCTA director of communications, said a Mission Bay School Access Plan that addresses student pickup and drop off and other traffic issues will be created at the request of San Francisco District 6 Supervisor and Transportation Authority Board Member Matt Dorsey.
“The [plan will] develop concepts which aim to reduce key barriers to active transportation connectivity near the school site. The project recently completed its first round of outreach which included an online survey in several languages as well as a community workshop held at the Mission Creek Park Pavilion,” said Chun. “In fall 2024, we plan to share the findings from the first round of outreach and draft improvement concepts at multiple outreach events including a meeting of the Mission Bay CAC.”
SFUSD is collaborating with the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to integrate a tile mosaic into the school. The piece will be installed at the east façade entrance at Nelson Rising Lane and Sixth Street. SFUSD wants the artwork to be bold, colorful, visually enhance the learning environment, and inspire and engage students. A public art review panel chose four artists, Nico Berry, Priscila De Carvalho, Josué Rojas, and Harumo Sato, as finalists to design site-specific proposals.
“Mission Bay School will be a central hub for fostering creativity and innovation, shaping our students’ future and reflecting our City’s priority,” said Jenny Lam, San Francisco Board of Education president.
“Parents and children are waiting to have the same opportunities as other families in the City to go to school close by and be a part of a local school community. It’s about equity, not having to get up early and travel to schools as far away as the Sunset District. That is really challenging for everyone,” said Agid. “There are thousands of units recently built here, with a significant percentage being affordable housing. This is where the students will come from, the market-rate and affordable housing units where people want to remain in Mission Bay and the eastern and southeastern neighborhoods.”
A $790 million bond to fund more school repairs and address food security will appear on the November ballot.
“This money would support necessary repairs and improvements for SFUSD schools, from roofs and bathroom upgrades to installing modern HVAC-R systems. Bond funds would be used to fix and upgrade many SFUSD campuses in the future,” said Levitt.
Bond proceeds would also support creation of a “Food Hub” to increase student access to fresher and healthier meals.
This fall, the Mission Bay Hub will welcome its third cohort of high school students from San Francisco International, June Jordan, Mission High School, Thurgood Marshall, and The Academy. The Hub provides scholars with opportunities to learn and research the sciences in academic and professional environments. Hub participants have worked with staff of the University of California, San Francisco, the Golden State Warriors, Kaiser Permanente, Denali Therapeutics, and Union Square Orthodontics.
“We’ve grown to 60 incoming students in fall 2024, now admitting students from San Francisco International High School this year,” said Erik Rice, SFUSD Mission Bay Hub director.
SF International High School, located at 655 De Haro Street, has approximately 400 students, most of whom are recent immigrants. SFUSD provides language support to help them progress in their studies and projects.
“In the 2024-2025 academic year, we anticipate two areas for students to specialize, one focused on biochemistry and neuroscience, and the other on anatomy and allied health, e.g. orthopedics, radiology, and sports medicine. Allied health covers diagnostic, treatment, and prevention health services,” said Rice.
This academic year, SFUSD implemented a new PK to eighth grade language arts core curriculum, which includes Spanish Language Arts, English Language Arts, and English Language Development. It reflects creative exercises for PK and transitional kindergarten, a focus on the science of reading for kindergarteners through second graders, reading exercises for kindergarteners through fifth graders, and expeditionary learning, which emphasizes character growth and teamwork, for grades six to eight. Students piloting the new curricula were significantly more likely to have grade-appropriate assignments and stronger instruction. It’s SFUSD’s first substantially revised language arts core curriculum in 10 years.
Watch the Mission Bay School construction cam live feed at: https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/schools-community/school-mission-bay Read the Mission Bay School Access Plan and sign up for project updates at: https://www.sfcta.org/mission-bay-school
Danny Pham 
Chaitanya Tondepu