By Helen Gao
STAFF WRITER for the Union-Tribune

February 4, 2007

A group of SDSU professors is partnering with Sharp Healthcare and San Diego City College to open a medically themed charter high school.

NELVIN C. CEPEDA / Union-Tribune Frederick Johnson said more people of color are needed in health care. Johnson, of Sharp Rees-Stealy South Bay, will be chairman of a new charter school's board of directors.

Health Sciences High School and Middle College will open in September and serve students countywide, pending approval from the San Diego Unified School District later this month. A campus has not been secured.

Infusing an educational program with a theme is a growing trend in the high school reform movement. Educators believe tying class work to careers makes it easier for students to see the practical implications of learning.

Students will be able to take San Diego City College courses while earning their high school diploma. The college offers licensed vocational nursing and registered nursing programs and courses in biology, microbiology and other prerequisites for those interested in pursuing a medical degree.

“We are going to give kids a rigorous education. We are going to give kids a relevant education, and we want to give kids the time of their lives,” said Ian Pumpian, a professor in the College of Education at San Diego State University, who will be the high school's chief education officer. Back to the Top

OVERVIEW Background: San Diego State University, San Diego City College and Sharp Healthcare are working to open a charter high school that grooms students for health-care health care professions. What's happening: The school, which hopes to receive approval this month from the San Diego Unified School District, does not yet have a campus. It is scheduled to open in September and will serve students countywide. To learn more: Contact Administrative Director Sheri North at (619) 594-3837.

Administrators also include SDSU professors Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher and Emily Schell. Frey will be dean of instruction, Fisher provost of curriculum and instruction and Schell principal.

The professors were previously active in the City Heights Collaborative, an educational initiative involving the university, Price Charities and three schools in an impoverished neighborhood in central San Diego.

Chairman of the board of directors will be Frederick Johnson, a pediatrician and medical director for Sharp Rees-Stealy South Bay. Johnson will be joined by a number of other Sharp executives.
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Johnson said the health care field has a tremendous need for qualified workers, especially people of color to better serve the region's diverse population.

“We need more people who can speak the diverse languages we hear in the emergency room every day,” Johnson said.

In its first year, the charter school aims to enroll 200 ninth-and 10th-graders who represent a cross section of the region. By its third year, it expects to serve 400 students through 12th grade.
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California faces a growing demand for health care workers – doctors, registered nurses, lab technicians, nursing assistants – as the population continues to surge and the proportion of elderly increases.

By 2030, the number of seniors in California is projected to reach more than 8 million and one in six Californians will be older than 65, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

In 2005, hospitals had staff vacancies of 5.9 percent to 8.5 percent for technicians, nurses and nursing assistants, according to one report.

Sharp will work with the school to provide mentoring, internships and instruction.
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Students at Health Sciences High also will have plenty of exposure to San Diego State professors and students. The founders aspire to make the school a laboratory for best practices.

Pumpian said he will send aspiring teachers from the university's College of Education to the charter school so they can experience working in an urban school.

“A lot of colleges have been accused of preparing teachers and educators without understanding the settings they are preparing their students to function in. I agree with that criticism,” Pumpian said.
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