San Anselmo Campus Update

In April, I shared with you the agency’s difficult decision to close Red Hill Academy. I’m pleased now to be able to share our agency’s plans about how we will utilize our San Anselmo campus going forward.

First, Sunny Hills has entered into an agreement with Oak Hill School to lease space on our campus beginning in July. Oak Hill School provides an integrated therapeutic education program for children and youth ages six to 22 with autism and other neurodevelopmentally based challenges; students, teachers and administrators for Oak Hill School will occupy the two school buildings on campus. There is a particularly synergistic relationship between our two organizations; in the late 1990s Sunny Hills served as the fiscal sponsor for Oak Hill School when a few dedicated parents came together and established a different kind of learning environment for children with special needs. Oak Hill has emerged as a leader in the field of special education and is planning on expanding its student body over the next several years.

The Marin Academic Center (MAC), Sunny Hills’ nonpublic school serving children with severe emotional and behavioral challenges, is also relocating to our San Anselmo campus this summer. MAC will utilize two cottages for classroom and individual meeting space, as well as for staff offices. MAC students will have the playground facilities, swimming pool and gymnasium; the students and staff at MAC are looking forward to settling in to their new, permanent home!

The Sunny Hills campus has served as a beacon of hope to thousands of vulnerable children and youth for more than a century. As we look to our future and the next stage of our development, I am honored to welcome Oak Hill School, whose vision and commitment to children with special needs so clearly embodies the spirit of this wonderful place, and our very own Marin Academic Center to this amazing place we are fortunate enough to call home.