November 2005

Alums Bank on Charter School

Summit Preparatory High School is not your ordinary startup. A Redwood City, Calif., charter school with strong ties to Stanford, Summit Prep began five years ago when Chris Buja, MBA ’90, and two friends placed an ad in a grade school circular seeking other parents troubled by the choice of local high schools. To their surprise, 30 people showed up at an initial meeting. That group grew to an organizing team of more than 400—with Nancy Shott and Rosalie Cornew, both MBA ’87, and Sharon Lockareff, MBA ’90, prominent among them.

Most charter schools are up and running within six months, Buja says, but Summit spent three years doing due diligence. “It wasn’t about asking questions so much as learning what questions to ask,” he says. The process helped organizers decide what they wanted for their children: a free public school with small classes, superior standards, and a diverse student body.

Summit welcomed its 80-strong freshman class in September 2003. Last year, as sophomores, 92 percent of that pioneering class passed the California High School Exit Exam. Summit now has 270 students in grades 9 through 11 and next year, when students in the first class become seniors, it expects to reach its peak enrollment of 400.

Summit’s ties to Stanford are considerable. It is a partner with the School of Education, which meets with Summit faculty regularly and sends student teachers to the school. Robyn Yilmaz, MBA ’01, is director of operations at Summit, and board members include Buja; Andrew Thompson and Steve Humphreys, both MBA ’89; and Beth Bartlett, MBA ’87.

After three years in a former bank building, Summit expects to move to its own new facility next year. The old building has its attractions, however. The drive-through parking lot is convenient for parents dropping off their kids, and its location near the San Mateo County Hall of Justice was actually a plus during the notorious Scott Peterson murder trial. “We rented half the parking lot to the press,” Buja says. “After all, we’re entrepreneurs.”

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