San Diego’s only French American School will take root at 6550 Soledad Mountain Road to join the La Jolla Preschool Academy and Montessori School of La Jolla, the San Diego Unified School District announced on March 14. The French American School bid $22,000 for the campus after Springall Academy terminated its lease two years early to move to a larger facility. The French American School desires to expand from its Clairemont campus and expects to enroll 200 students this year. The school’s name neatly reflects its shared identity. Forty-five percent of the students hail from French families ” and the same percentage consist of American families. As for its educational philosophy, the school aims to incorporate the discipline of the French system with the American emphasis on fostering self-esteem. While the French curriculum emphasizes exceptionally neat cursive writing, American education excels in speaking and presentation skills, director and founder Andre Bordes said. “We take the best of both worlds,” Bordes said. The school offers classes for 2-year-olds through eighth grade and is actively recruiting preschool, kindergarten and first-grade students, as learning French after that age is more difficult, Bordes said. Enrollment is open, and children from 19 La Jolla families currently attend. The French American School follows a string of four entities that have passed through since the site’s original tenant, Decatur Elementary School, closed in 1983. The include the Christian Faith Center, the La Jolla Presbyterian Church, Springall Academy and High Tech Middle Media Arts. The school will open its doors August 31. For information about admissions, call (858) 273-3940, ext. 306, or visit www.sdfrenchschool.com.