Head-Royce School to build 11 new buildings in Oakland Hills

Head-Royce School, a college prep academy in the Oakland Hills, has overcome pushback against an 8-acre expansion.

The K-12 private school received a green light from the City Council, which denied an appeal by neighbors seeking to block its expansion at 4315 Lincoln Avenue, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The 136-year-old school wants to enlarge its campus by nearly 60 percent and to boost enrollment by nearly 40 percent over the next 20 years.

Head-Royce has proposed adding 8 acres across the street from its 14-acre campus, with 11 new buildings to include a performing arts center and a science and technology center.

The auxiliary campus would include outdoor classrooms, gathering space for students, gardens, walking trails and a pedestrian tunnel under Lincoln Avenue.

Residents in the neighborhood around the school argued they’re in a wildfire danger zone and that the area is ill-equipped to handle a growing campus. 

They also argued the school’s expansion proposal fails to adequately prepare for wildfires and would add to traffic congestion and noise from construction. 

Rachel Skiffer, head of Head-Royce, said the school plans to expand slowly on the site of the former Lincoln Children’s Center. Its planned enrollment increase aims to grow by 2 percent a year, from 905 to 1,250 students over the next two decades.

School officials said they have a wildfire emergency evacuation draft plan that they will finalize once the city issues a certificate of occupancy. 

In addition, they said neighbors will be notified of any large events at the performing arts center, which would only host school events. It’s not clear when the project will break ground.

Head-Royce was founded in 1887 as the Anna Head School for Girls in Berkeley. In 1964, it moved to the Oakland Hills campus, where it merged in 1979 with the nearby Royce School.

— Dana Bartholomew

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