SF school district announces opening date, site for new public school

A new Mandarin immersion school set to open next fall in San Francisco now has a temporary site for its campus, district officials announced last week.

Read more Newsom vetoes a bill to regulate Big Tech’s ‘pervert’ glasses

The dual language school, which expects to eventually enroll students from kindergarten to eighth grade, is set to operate out of the Mission Education Center at 1670 Noe St. for the first year, according to a Sept. 24 news release from the San Francisco Unified School District. In fall 2027, the school will open with one transitional kindergarten class and three kindergarten classes while officials look for a permanent campus, the district said. 

The district said it expects to announce a permanent school site in January, and to move to that site by fall 2028. After the permanent campus is established, the school plans to gradually add more grade levels. 

The campus will be the first public Mandarin immersion TK-8 school in San Francisco, according to the district. 

“Mandarin immersion has a long history in San Francisco, helping generations of students become bilingual and biliterate while connecting them to a language and culture that has shaped our city,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement on social media. 

Families in the district have been pushing for a Mandarin immersion school, Maria Su, the district’s superintendent, said in the SFUSD news release. In 2024, an international private school group announced its plans to open Hiba Academy, a private Mandarin immersion school in San Francisco. Hiba Academy opened its doors last month at 99 Rhode Island St., in the former headquarters of Airbnb in the city’s Design District. It is the first campus outside of China from Wellington College Education Group, the private school network. 

Read more Smart ring CEO found guilty of bilking millions from tech investors

A kindergarten-to-eighth-grade Mandarin immersion charter school was also proposed by parents last year but it was rejected by the San Francisco Board of Education, the San Francisco Chronicle previously reported. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) 

The new school comes as the district is battling declining enrollment, budget shortfalls and potential school closures. The district is also set to change its enrollment policy starting in August 2028. However, the new system has not been decided yet, according to the district website. In the most recent school year, families were able to apply to multiple schools and be placed on rolling waitlists (up to five) if they did not gain admission to their top choice.

The district is also forming a working group that members of the community can apply to be part of with the goal of recommending a permanent location for the new immersion school to the superintendent.