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Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts

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Coordinates: 37°44′43″N 122°26′55″W / 37.7454°N 122.4486°W / 37.7454; -122.4486
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Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts
Address
Map
555 Portola Drive

San Francisco
,
California
94131

United States
Coordinates37°44′43″N 122°26′55″W / 37.7454°N 122.4486°W / 37.7454; -122.4486
Information
TypePublic Arts High School
Established1982 (1982)
School districtSan Francisco Unified School District
NCES School ID063441001276[1]
PrincipalStella Kim
Teaching staff35.58 (on an FTE basis)[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment679 (2022-2023)[1]
Student to teacher ratio19.08[1]
MascotDragon
NewspaperRASOTA Daily Dragon
Websiteasawa.sfusd.edu
Map

The Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, is a public alternative high school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1982 and is part of the San Francisco Unified School District. It is currently located at 555 Portola Drive, San Francisco CA 94131.

History

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For many years, Ruth Asawa, sculptor and advocate for arts in education, as well as others had campaigned to start a public high school in San Francisco devoted to the arts, with the ultimate goal of such a school to be located in the arts corridor in the heart of San Francisco's Civic Center.

At its inception in 1982, School of the Arts was created as a part of J. Eugene McAteer High School, on its present site on Portola Drive. Ten years later, in 1992, the school - now a full-fledged public school separate from McAteer - was relocated to the former SFUSD Frederick Burke Elementary School at 700 Font Boulevard on the campus of San Francisco State University. Due to the dissolution of McAteer High School in 2002, SOTA was offered to return to the more appropriate, fully equipped high school site.

In 2010, School of the Arts was renamed the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts in honor of Ruth Asawa.[2] In 2011, the school was recognized as a "California Distinguished School" by the California Department of Education as one of the state's most "exemplary and inspiring" public schools, demonstrating significant gains in narrowing the achievement gap among its students.[3]

In 2005 a new public high school, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, was started and shares the McAteer campus with SOTA. Although it shares the campus with the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, it is a completely separate school.[4] Now called The Academy - San Francisco @ McAteer, it admits students through the normal high school admissions process.

Arts and academics

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Ruth Asawa School of the Arts students take visual and performing art classes daily in addition to a standard high school curriculum. There are eight art departments with ten strands. The departments are:

  • Architecture and Design
  • Dance — Conservatory Dance or World Dance
  • Media and Film
  • Music — Classical Instrumental, Contemporary Instrumental, Vocal, or World Music
  • Technical Theater — Stagecraft or Costume and Fashion Design
  • Theater — Acting, Musical Theater
  • Visual Arts — Drawing, Painting, Digital, and Sculpture
  • Writing - Creative Writing or Spoken Arts

Admissions process

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Acceptance into the school is based on an audition process for the approximately 175 spots available for incoming Freshmen. All students who complete the audition assignment are offered an opportunity to audition in person for admission to SOTA the following year. Auditioning students are admitted based on audition results; no academic criteria are used.[5]

Landscape of a track and field to the right and houses to the left.
SOTA's track, field, and garden

Alumni

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Search for Public Schools - Asawa (Ruth) SF Sch of the Arts A Public School (063441001276)". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  2. ^ Tucker, Jill (February 24, 2010). "S.F. school board votes to send pink out slips". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  3. ^ "2011 Distinguished Middle and High Schools". California Department of Education. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  4. ^ "Academy of Arts and Sciences". San Francisco Unified School District. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  5. ^ "Admissions | SFUSD". www.sfusd.edu. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  6. ^ Gilbert, Andrew (February 24, 2016). "Trombonist Natalie Cressman honors jazz pioneer". SFGate. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Nguyen, Chris (March 3, 2018). "Sam Rockwell's alma mater in San Francisco hoping for Oscar glory". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  8. ^ Trevenon, Stacy (March 9, 2001). "The music man cometh". Half Moon Bay Review. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  9. ^ Carlson, Erin (August 31, 2019). "The Rising Stars of San Francisco Films". Nob Hill Gazette. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  10. ^ Whiting, Sam (March 2, 2016). "Most likely to... Actors and their Bay Area high schools". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
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