Bay Area Technology School, a charter school for grades 6 to 12 in Oakland, California, has begun 2025-26 on a new campus--a former theater.
KGO-TV reports that BayTech has begun classes in a facility built in the 1920s and once home to the Palace Theater.
"It is nice to see the vision become a reality," says Principal Gail Puhl Williams.
Williams says a shooting in 2022 at the school's former shared campus had a huge impact on students and staff. They wanted a new space of their own where everyone felt safe.
"This is going to be the first permanent home for Bay Area Technology school," Blueprint Project Director Mary Grace Houlihan said. "They have been relocated seven times in their 21-year existence."
BayTech struggled to find a location as a charter school before ending up at the old theater. The gym was built where there used to be a stage. Columns are a holdover from that bygone era, and they even incorporated old fountains and the original ceiling. A third floor was added to house eight new classrooms.
The campus is outfitted with all-new technology, from iPads for students to touch-screen boards.
