Twenty-four students at Life Learning Academy, located on San Francisco's Treasure Island, will receive free housing -- making the school the first in California to offer no-cost housing for students.
With the new dormitory now completed, the public charter school aims to provide a stable environment for the students, many of whom would be homeless or living in unsafe conditions otherwise.
On Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed helped the public charter school celebrate the opening of the new student dorms.
"These students can focus on their education and preparing for the future, without having to worry about where they are going to spend the night, or if they have a safe place to go to after school," she said in a statement.
Life Learning Academy, which currently has about 60 students altogether, specializes in educating at-risk children, many who have been in foster care and the juvenile justice system. The academy provides students with not only standard academic classes, but also with workforce training, employment opportunities, and career and college counseling among other skill-strengthening instruction. The school currently boasts a graduation rate of more than 90 percent.
"We built a home for students because it became impossible to leave each night knowing that we have kids who are homeless and living in unstable conditions," Teri Delane, the school's principal, said. "We believe this is one solution that can become a model for other public schools who identify students with the very basic need of having a safe place to live."
