John Walton, president of the Walton Foundation met with Pastor Timothy Winters to discuss a vision for a new charter school in the community

Dwight Sykes, a member and leader of the Bayview Baptist Church was invited to become the principal of the new charter school located on the campus of the church

The school began with a contribution from the Walton Foundation and support from the San Diego Unified School District

In the first year, there were 7 classrooms and 150 students. By its 2nd year, it expanded to 295 students

Leadership and academic programs were established such as Taekwondo and PSSO were started 

Friends of Nubia raised $10,000 to put Books in the Library

Classes were held in the auditorium and cafeteria while classrooms were renovated. In the first year students only had sack lunches. By the second year, they had hot lunches

Nubia began as a K through 5 school but expanded to a K through 6 school. The school ran from 8:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The school ran from 6 to 6 but often 7 to 7 and sometimes stayed open until 8:00 p.m.

The building was not complete and that created challenges- we often had to scrape off debris from tables so that the students could study

There were no books, materials or even chairs – we had to purchase or find everything and make it work

API was higher than for most schools in the area.

All of the teachers were broke

Ed Hersche – provided core knowledge about kindergarten

Mr. Sykes read the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Covey and used a lot of these ideas in organizing Nubia

The challenge was getting parents involved and the space!

We use to scrape off the desks for the church members

A lot of parents pulled their kids out of private school to attend Nubia

We were the first elementary charter school in the area. Then other charter schools opened like Sojourner, Bethel, Promise and Holly

We knew we needed to learn to co-exist with the church

Chargers raised money through a shoe giveaway. It was one of the first Charger grants

We began participating in the Martin Luther King Awards and got media coverage

The first governance board included Ruffin, Winters, Weber, Roy and Bennett

We offered bonus money to staff for special achievement

We got $11,000 grant to establish a library

Our math scores were off the charts

We participated in the I Am Awards

We were the first charter school to reach its enrollment projection in less than 30 days

We had the largest school participation at the AAAE Workshops in 1999 to 2000

We had a staff celebration on a private harbor cruise off of Seaport Village in 1999 with John Walton and SFRF

SFRF Principal of the year in 1999 was Principal Sykes

The US Navy was our partner

There was a transition in principals from Mr. Sykes to Mrs. Doakes

Housing increased in the area

In 2002, the legislature required more credentialing for charter schools

We dropped school futures and No Child Left Behind was established

Saturday School was started in2002

Superintendent Alan Bersin began his Blueprint for Success and charter schools were treated as out of the loop

We participated in the Martin Luther King Parades and Spring Festivals 

September 11, 2001 affected all of us – Mr. Curry’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner brought tears to our eyes

Broke out of the idea that we were a Bayview school and began reaching out of the church community to the wider community

We had our first charter renewal in 2002 and passed. What a relief!

New curriculum adoptions such as the California Math and Houghton-Mifflin reading

Building a more diverse teaching staff

2004 - Present

Student Activities

Parents and Community

Curriculum and Instruction

Staff Development and Training

Nubia Travels