Bay Area Educational Institute (BAEI) was founded for the purpose of starting an independent high school in the Bay Area and developing programs serving secondary students with learning differences. The only one of its kind in the East Bay, Bayhill High School opened its doors to its students in September of 2007.

The need for a comprehensive high school for students with learning differences is widespread. Roughly fifteen percent of the United States population has a form of learning disability. There is a high number of highly talented and intelligent students with learning disabilities — such as dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorder, non-verbal learning disorders, Asperger’s Syndrome, and a host of other major challenges — who are unable to succeed because traditional schooling systems are not equipped to cater to the needs of these students. Schools devoted to addressing their special needs are far too rare. The scarcity of such schools in the San Francisco Bay Area — especially in the East Bay Region — is a particularly dire problem. And while several mainstream private high schools occasionally enroll learning-disabled students, they welcome only those whose deficits are at the mildest end of the spectrum. A still smaller number of students from families of means are able to attend special education boarding schools on the East Coast. Regrettably, both scarcity and affordability factors leave most students with learning disabilities to struggle, and many times fail, in school settings that are not designed to address their neurobiological differences.

The creation of a new high school for learning-disabled teenagers is necessary to educate this population of deserving, special needs students and thus assure them the opportunity to thrive as productive and contributing members of society.