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Alumni, community fights to keep foster youth high school open in Escondido

San Pasqual Academy may close months earlier than expected, bringing concerns from alumni who attended the school in years past

ESCONDIDO, Calif. — Supporters are fighting to keep an Escondido school for foster youth from shutting down. Last week the San Pasqual Academy received notice that it would have to close by October citing low enrollment and recent changes in state and federal law.

“This is a family that’s being broken apart,” said alumni Vivianna Penn.

For the nursing student, news that San Pasqual Academy is being shut down hits close to home. She says the Escondido campus for foster youth changed her life after being placed with 13 different families.

“I would cry every night and then I got to San Pasqual and there were staff and therapists and friends.”

San Pasqual Academy was established 20 years ago as a pilot program and was slated to expire this December.

But state officials told the county last month that it would be shutting down as early as October due to low enrollment.

“We’re going to explore all of our options to make sure that every student at San Pasqual is fully supported and has a good loving environment,” says county supervisor Nathan Fletcher.

Fletcher says the shut down has to do with a change in a state law, which no longer allows licensing to congregate care settings.

“I understand that people are frustrated this is not a decision that the board made," continued Fletcher.

A petition to keep the school open has now collected nearly 2,000 signatures.

Former student and local activist Shane Harris has already sent two letters to Governor Gavin Newsom, asking for more time to figure out a better plan. On Thursday he returned to the campus for the first time in eight years.

Harris says that with a sports program, therapists, case workers and community support San Pasqual is so much more than a just boarding school for youth in the foster system.

“We understand the concerns around group home settings but my argument is that this is a family environment,” says Harris.

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