Riverside STEM Academy: board reviews UCR site, on-campus upgrades and expansion options
Loading...
Summary
District staff presented survey-based 'success factors' for Riverside STEM Academy and several facility scenarios — including a UCR STEM Center (estimated $134M), upgrades to the existing campus (~$83M) and other district-site concepts — and asked the board for direction.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Riverside Unified School District received a staff report Dec. 18 outlining how Riverside STEM Academy (RSA) achieves results and what facility options could preserve or expand that success.
Principal Mark Colwell described RSA’s top success factors as staff–student relationships, cohort-based teaching with three core teachers per middle-school cohort, high expectations (an accelerated, single pathway model), daily collaborative planning time for teachers and sustained capstone research projects. “Our teachers have the freedom to be innovative and provide powerful teaching,” Colwell said, explaining how those elements combine to define the school’s culture and outcomes.
District staff presented a range of facility concepts requested by the board after a September study session. The proposal most familiar to the public would place RSA’s high school on an 8.3-acre parcel at UCR (Blaine and Canyon Crest) as a STEM Center with an estimated construction cost of about $134 million; the middle grades would remain on the existing Hyatt campus. Advantages cited included close ties to UCR labs and mentors and use of previously completed environmental impact work; drawbacks noted included a complex ground-lease, possible matriculation complications, transportation costs, and topography or site-development challenges.
Alternate concepts included modernizing and expanding the existing 10.8-acre Hyatt campus (ballpark $83 million), relocating to another district site, co-locating within an existing comprehensive campus, or building a replacement facility on district-owned land near Poly High School (conceptual cost estimates varied and staff cautioned these are preliminary). Facilities staff reported about $1.5 million spent so far on EIR and preliminary planning toward the UCR option.
Community testimony from parents, RSA teachers and alumni stressed protecting the school’s cohort model and UCR partnerships. “The two ingredients that make RSA work are the unique culture and the proximity to UCR,” said a parent speaker. Some callers urged exploring STEM centers on multiple campuses to expand reach across the district rather than concentrate growth at one site.
What’s next: The board asked staff to keep protective elements (cohort structures, teacher collaboration, capstone pathways) central to any expansion plan and to return with more detailed cost, timeline, partnership agreements (MOUs) with UCR, and a plan for measured growth that protects RSA’s instructional model.
