Oakland school district’s error hinders students’ college plans

Oakland school district officials who neglected to seek accreditation for a new high school scrambled to make up for the mistake this week, while acknowledging the lapse will make it harder for graduating seniors to apply to the University of California and California State University systems.

The 75 seniors at Madison Park Academy on the southeast edge of the city found out Tuesday that their school does not have the proper accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a certification that tells UC and CSU admissions officers that the school’s courses are state-approved.

That means the students must gain admission “by exception or exam,” district officials said. The admissions process won’t rely on the courses taken by students or the grades they earned, but rather SAT or other test scores, or a demonstration of exceptional circumstances that merit admission despite the lack of traditional qualifications.

The UC system does not place limits on the number of students admitted by exam, but caps those admitted by exception at 6 percent of newly enrolled freshmen.

All other Oakland high schools are accredited, district officials said. But Madison Park, previously a K-8 school, only recently expanded to include high school grades, and this is the first graduating class. District administrators failed to apply for accreditation, said district spokesman John Sasaki.

Due to the high school being new and turnover of district staff, the accreditation process “dropped between the cracks,” Sasaki said. “Obviously this is not what we want to have our students dealing with.”

District officials met with students and parents Thursday night to try to allay fears, but frustration was apparent Friday as families struggled to understand what the mistake would mean. Senior Kaila Anderson, 16, said she plans to apply to several universities, including UC campuses, in her pursuit of a career as a nurse practitioner for victims of domestic violence.

“We’re taking it one day at a time,” she said. “We’re trying to persevere through all this madness.”

She worried that the burden of using an alternative application process would discourage some of her classmates from applying to a four-year college.

“The kids are really, really upset,” said a district teacher who has been talking with students and attended the meeting Thursday. “The students worked so hard.”

Many of the students have overcome educational hurdles and would be the first in their families to attend college. “I’ve never seen anything this awful happen to children,” said the teacher, who asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to speak.

Representatives for the accrediting association were at Madison Park on Friday, before an expected vote on accreditation expected in December and official notification in January. But college applications are due in November. Applications to the military, community colleges, private universities and out-of-state colleges will not be affected, officials said.

To help students, the district will send a college and career readiness specialist to the school twice a week, and will sponsor financial aid nights and a college admissions course. In addition, the school will get $10,000 to pay for activities like campus tours.

The district has hired an accreditation coordinator to make sure this doesn’t happen again, Sasaki said.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker