The Story of Mountain View Community School:

Tucked in the heart of Southeast San Diego, Mountain View School stands as a powerful example of what is possible when educators, families, and students are provided the trust and freedom to reimagine what school can be. Since its founding in 2013, Mountain View has grown from a small charter school with just two grade levels into a progressive TK–8 community public pilot school rooted in equity, community, and learner-centered practices. Mountain View’s compelling story reflects three enduring themes: Autonomy, Collaboration, and Innovation.

Thirteen years ago, two dedicated educators, Anthony Villasenor and Dr. Wendy Ranck-Buhr, teamed up to write a charter petition to open a second location for the San Diego Cooperative Charter School (SDCCS) organization. They believed that all students, regardless of their zip code, deserved access to progressive, child-centered, and hands-on learning opportunities. During the charter approval, the school was offered classroom spaces through Prop 39 on the Bandini Elementary campus, located in a historically marginalized community in Southeast San Diego; they accepted the offer[1]. SDCCS Mountain View opened its doors in August 2019, with Anthony Villasenor as Principal. Mountain View steadily grew over the next several years, from a small handful of primary classrooms in 2013, to a full K-8 school serving approximately 300 students by 2018.

All charter schools in San Diego are required to be reauthorized every 5 years in order to remain in operation. Despite SDCCS Mountain View’s growth, positive feedback from students and families, and success on many metrics including family engagement, school climate, and enrollment, the school struggled with statewide testing achievement, which put its authorization status in jeopardy. Test scores rose steadily from 2017 to 2019, but the charter organization became concerned that those gains were not enough, and might jeopardize the renewal status for the entire charter organization. Tensions within the charter organization rose as new charter leadership began to make unpopular staffing changes to the Mountain View site without the input of staff or families[2]. Mountain View staff and families approached the charter school board to express their concerns over those changes. When their voices were ignored, families approached the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) with their concerns.

In the summer of 2019, families began working with the district to explore a pathway for the Mountain View site to become the district’s first Pilot School, an option presented in the SDUSD teacher’s contract[3]. Pilot Schools were created in cities such as Boston and Los Angeles to give district schools greater flexibility to innovate and localize decision-making–while also serving as a strategy to retain students and families in districts amidst the rapid expansion of charter schools. With support from unions, districts, and other interest-holders, Pilot Schools are granted defined autonomies in areas like staffing, professional development, and curriculum and assessment—enabling them to design learning programs tailored to their school’s specific needs. While families collaborated with the District and former Mountain View staff, the charter executive director and board doubled down on making sweeping changes to the Mountain View site. Dissatisfaction from families around the staffing changes and the resulting impact on their child’s educational experience caused a sharp decline in enrollment. Soon, the budgetary impact of the enrollment decline became unsustainable, and in December 2019, the charter board voted to permanently close the Mountain View site, effective immediately.

Mountain View’s journey began with a vision of local autonomy—a belief that the people closest to students should be the ones shaping their learning environments.”

Fortunately, Pilot School plans were already well underway between Mountain View parents, former staff, and the SDUSD. The District moved quickly to adjust the Pilot School timeline, and agreed to open Mountain View as a district Pilot school in January of 2020, mobilizing resources to assist staff and families with the mid-year transition from charter to district. While still operating in district schools, pilot schools are provided with autonomies in areas such as hiring/retaining staff, professional development and in curriculum and assessment that allow the school flexibility to create relevant learning programs that address the needs of that specific school.

Today, Mountain View School continues to be a progressive, learner-centered Pilot School and Community School in Southeast San Diego focused on whole-child, constructivist education. The school is proud to be a high quality TK-8 Community School of choice under SDUSD and has been part of the California Community Schools Partnership Program–a $4.1 billion investment in community schools– since 2022. This investment has strengthened Mountain View’s ability to provide direct resources towards student needs and family needs including creating calming rooms, food pantries and resource centers, while also increasing family engagement practices and investing resources to strengthen the implementation of project- and community-based learning. SDUSD mobilized resources at the district level to provide strategic staffing in coaching and support to teachers and coordinators at the site-level who are doing the hard work of implementation. At Mountain View, we are a true community of changemakers, empowering every child to develop the skills to become a lifelong learner, a contributing member of the community, and an empathetic human being with a strong sense of purpose. Mountain View educators are dedicated to nurturing each student’s growth by fostering essential academic, social-emotional, and life skills that prepare them to thrive both in school and beyond.

Mountain View’s journey began with a vision of local autonomy—a belief that the people closest to students should be the ones shaping their learning environments. Mountain View embraced the power of school-site decision-making from the start.

“We were in control of the curriculum…we were in control of our hiring,” recalled Erica Diamond, one of the school’s founding educators. “Because we were trying to do something different, [we ensured hires were] a good fit, people who were fully invested in [our vision].”

Autonomy extended beyond staffing. From choosing learning materials to designing school-wide systems, teachers and community members made key decisions. “To be innovative is to be able to have flexibility,” according to the former Executive Director of SDCCS, Dr. Wendy Ranck-Buhr. “Flexibility in how you spend your dollars…the people you hire and in the materials that you purchase…it is really, really key.”

In December 2019, when Mountain View adopted a new identity as the SDUSD’s first-ever Pilot School, Mountain View gained stable district support, while continuing to direct some of its own hiring, curriculum, and program development.

From the beginning, Mountain View was more than a school—it was a community. The school was envisioned and built by parents and teachers working side by side and guided by a shared commitment for their children’s education.

“[While] school has always been a very top-down sort of place, Mountain View is a school created by parents and teachers,” said Erica. “People closest to the students…make collective decisions grounded in the ethos of collective responsibility for the well-being of all students in the community and an abiding hope for what school could be, not what it has always been.” This ethos fostered a school culture where families were not just invited to participate—they were empowered to lead. From decision-making meetings to Friday morning sing-a-longs, traditions like these serve as joyful expressions of unity that strengthen the fabric of the community. Indeed, parents often remark on how deeply connected they feel to the school. “They wanted more of an opportunity to [work] side-by-side with the people educating their children– the teacher, playground staff, [or] the principal, they wanted to be closer to the adults having such an impact on their kids’ lives and they wanted a different experience,” Dr. Ranck-Buhr shared. “They found that at Mountain View.”

People closest to the students…make collective decisions grounded in the ethos of collective responsibility for the well-being of all students in the community and an abiding hope for what school could be, not what it has always been.”

The curriculum, too, became a space for collaboration. Students and teachers worked together to shape learning experiences, exploring real questions and problems. “A lot of it goes back to the whole idea of constructivism—children building knowledge, firsthand…by touching, feeling, and figuring it out,” said Erica. It is about giving them agency, voice, and the freedom to “explore, discover, make mistakes, figure things out by trial and error.”

Fueled by autonomy and collaboration, Mountain View continues to innovate in ways that set it apart from more traditional, non-community schools. As one of SDUSD’s designated community schools and as a Pilot School, Mountain View is committed to equity-driven, hands-on, project-based learning that reflects students’ identities and sparks their curiosity. “I think deep down, education is failing our kids, so what can we do differently?” According to Erica, “you want a place where kids love and they love learning…sometimes I think we forget about that.” Providing an environment where educators can lead and make meaningful change for students through professional autonomy leaves room for highly engaged educators that innovate to create rich learning experiences for students.

Innovation is about reimagining the very purpose of school.”

Mountain View’s innovations may not be loud or attention-seeking, but their impact runs deep. Innovation is about reimagining the very purpose of school. From shifting away from traditional testing culture to centering social-emotional learning and student voice, the school continually seeks new ways to better serve its diverse community—83.9% of whom identify as Hispanic/Latinx and 33.3% as English learners.

“Test prep isn’t our focus,” says Dr. Wendy Ranck-Buhr. “Our philosophy is, if students are engaged in high-quality, meaningful learning, the test scores will follow.” Supported by research, that philosophy remains today, with a focus on ensuring students are engaged in learning experiences that support deeper, more meaningful learning. Schools focused on deeper learning–wherein students learn core academic content and apply that knowledge to relevant and authentic real-world problems–demonstrate stronger student achievement, with gains in outcomes especially pronounced for students from low-income families, new immigrants, and students of color who have been historically underserved in U.S. schools. Teachers facilitate project-based, community-based learning experiences where students have opportunities multiple times a year to apply their academic skills to authentic contexts. The impact of these meaningful learning experiences is reflected in traditional metrics. Enrollment has increased by 40% since 2020 and dashboard indicators of student learning have improved across subject areas.

More recently, Mountain View has become a model for other schools. Through its role in the Community Schools movement, it now hosts educators from across the district, state and country, looking to implement project- and community-based learning in their own contexts. “It is very exciting that we get to share the cool things we are doing.”

 We wanted to build something beautiful for this community—something built on respect, joy, and possibility.”

From its beginnings as a small charter school to Mountain View’s transformation into a public Pilot and Community School, it has never lost sight of its mission: to serve students in Southeast San Diego with love, dignity, and high expectations. “I wish I had a school like this when I was a kid,” said founding principal Anthony Villasenor. “We wanted to build something beautiful for this community—something built on respect, joy, and possibility.”

At Mountain View, autonomy empowers the work, collaboration sustains it, and innovation makes it matter. Together, community, families, and educators have created a place where students thrive because they are encouraged to imagine—and create—their own futures.