Watsonville Prep School Opens Downtown

WATSONVILLE, CA — Watsonville Prep School held its grand opening this month to welcome the public to its new downtown facility.

Watsonville Prep, a charter school, sits at 407 Main St., which sold in January for $6.4 million, according to Zillow. Previously the building was home to department store Gottschalks.

Watsonville Prep is an offshoot of Navigator Schools, which was founded in 2011 and serves K-8 grade students, according to its website. Navigator Schools also operates Gilroy Prep and Hollister Prep.

Navigator said it seeks "to educate the most vulnerable students of our communities and is committed to eliminating the achievement gap for all students," according to its website.

Principal Andrea Hernandez previously served as a founding teacher at Hollister Prep School, she said in a letter to the community.

"Our focus on data driven instruction, coaching, daily intervention, small group instruction, and student-educator ratio will help each child become the learner and leader we know they can be," she wrote. "We appreciate the trust you have placed in our school, our staff, and our Navigator community, and we look forward to fulfilling your expectations."

Watsonville Prep was twice rejected by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, but Navigator's appeal was approved by the state education board August 2019, according to The Pajaronian's reporting and Navigator.