Tonight - Monday, Jan. 26 - Show up to support Keystone - Special Board of Education meeting at 5pm at 4100 Normal Street
Equity is at the core of Keystone
Job training, career-technical education and new sports facilities for students from historically disadvantaged communities.
Keystone will complement the incredible new schools San Diego Unified has created for students across the city
Apprenticeships create job options for students and help increase enrollment
Keystone delivers economic equity by creating union construction jobs and apprenticeships - specifically reserved for San Diego Unified students from underserved communities.
This commitment creates immediate, high-quality career pathways and links the District's academic mission to post-graduation success for its youth.
These programs help grow enrollment, because parents want these opportunities for their students
University and industry partnerships housed at the revitalized Annex 1
The restoration of the historic Annex 1 will turn the old school building into a high-tech Career Technical Education (CTE) center specifically for students from disadvantaged communities. The training programs at Annex 1 will be offered by a nonprofit foundation that is dedicated to helping underserved youth gain the skills they need for modern careers. Students will get hands-on experience through partnerships with local schools and universities, using the same advanced technology found in the professional world.
The refurbished Annex 1 will serve as a classroom of the future where students can train for "Blue Tech" careers—the high-paying, high-tech jobs in ocean science and maritime technology. The Keystone team is already working with UC San Diego on a learning center at Seaport San Diego, a major Blue Tech hub. Students trained at Annex 1 will have a direct path from their neighborhood school to the companies and experts leading the region’s ocean economy. By turning this 115-year-old building into a launching pad for science and engineering, Keystone ensures that students from the community are the first ones prepared for the high-tech jobs of the future.
Keystone gives under-resourced schools the same opportunities as wealthy communities now enjoy
Keystone delivers a dedicated home-team pool for the San Diego High School Cavers, a facility local students currently lack.
This provides low-income students with the same world-class athletic opportunities enjoyed by those in wealthier communities like La Jolla.
Keystone also features dedicated space for San Diego High's broadcasting Career and Technical Education (CTE) program.
Providing the services all families deserve
Keystone includes an on-site childcare center and extensive youth amenities like the Community Green, pool, and play areas.
Providing these essential quality-of-life amenities eliminates key factors that currently drive young families to the suburbs.
These features give parents the necessary support they need to put down permanent roots in the San Diego High cluster.
Turning around the decline in enrollment
Keystone’s 1,500 homes provide the critical mass required to stabilize the San Diego High cluster, with enough beds to house well over 800 students.
This unprecedented scale is essential to meaningfully counter the significant enrollment losses observed at Roosevelt and San Diego High in recent years.
Housing a critical mass of families close to campus is the single most effective way to stabilize and grow the student body.
Stabilizing Birney, Roosevelt and the entire San Diego High cluster of schools
The San Diego High cluster has suffered severe enrollment declines, including a 36% drop at the high school in three years.
Keystone is the only proposal with the necessary scale and family-focused unit mix to reverse this alarming trend.
The competing plan's smaller unit count cannot deliver the volume of new students needed to move the needle.
Permanently affordable for families
Keystone delivers 599 family-sized homes—313 more than the nearest rival—to create a reliable and sustainable feeder pipeline for District schools.
By creating homes that will always be affordable to families, Keystone allows students to begin their educational journey at Birney Elementary, then progress through the IB pathway to San Diego High -- without being priced out mid-stream.
This strategy directly addresses the primary driver of student attrition: high housing costs forcing families to leave the city.