San Francisco has a new public school. Mayor Daniel Lurie and Superintendent Maria Su cut the ribbon Thursday morning, Oct. 29, on the Extensive Support Needs School in Chinatown, a small campus for students in grades 5 through 12 with autism and intellectual disabilities.

What the school offers

The school is in the Edwin and Anita Lee building, a three-story former Navy building with a playground on the roof. It previously housed a newcomer school for Chinese immigrant students, which merged with Lau Elementary in 2024 after enrollment fell to fewer than a dozen students, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

  • Two classrooms of eight students this year, for a capacity of 16
  • Plans to add two more classrooms next school year, for 32 students in total
  • An occupational therapy room, a "calm-down" room and a speech therapy room

A quiet start

The school opened with one student, a high schooler, KALW reported. A district representative told the station that two more students will join Monday and a few others have outstanding offers.

Enrollment is by invitation. Families need district approval, which includes a behavior specialist visiting the student's current school to assess fit. After that, families can tour the school and make a final decision.

Why the district built it

Federal law requires that students with special education plans receive the services in those plans, even when a district lacks the staff or facilities. San Francisco has few options in the city for students who need complex behavioral, academic and social-emotional support, so 133 students currently attend nonpublic schools. Some commute up to three hours a day, the Chronicle reported.

Those placements are expensive. KALW reported tuition of $180,000 to $200,000 per student. The Chronicle cited a 2024 independent review that found transportation and contracted services can cost $200,000 or more a year for an individual student, and average about $80,000 per child.

"By strengthening our local programs, we can better service students and families here in San Francisco, while reducing the need for students to attend non-public schools far from their communities," Su said in a statement.

Melanie Bauzon, a parent and chair of SFUSD's Special Education Community Advisory Committee, spoke at the ceremony. "This school is a promise from our district that our kids matter, that they belong, and they deserve the very best support right here in San Francisco," she said, according to KALW.

Su first announced the plan for the building in May, as part of a larger review of which programs to expand and which schools to merge or close.