Our School
Welcome!
The Bay School is a nonpublic, nonprofit school in Santa Cruz, Calif., dedicated to serving individuals with autism and developmental disabilities ages 5-22. It is a school where students establish a strong foundation to build a meaningful life.
The Bay School’s mission is to provide scientifically based educational and clinical services to produce measurable and lasting improvements in the lives of individuals and families served. The Bay School provides full day, extended year educational and clinical services to students regardless of their race, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, or religion.
At The Bay School, students build essential communication, social, behavioral, vocational, and academic skills. With the partnership of families, a team of highly skilled and dedicated professionals, and specialized 1:1 instruction, The Bay School supports students in gaining independence and reaching their highest potential.
TBS is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(C)(3) tax-exempt organization (our IRS non-profit letter).
Tax Identification Number 94-3313535
TBS teachers are certified by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing as Specialists (Moderate-to-Severe) in Special Education.
TBS is certified by the California Department of Education, Non-public school division.
The Bay School is part of the May Institute, a national organization of award-winning programs for children and adults with autism and other special needs.
Quality Improvement
To demonstrate our commitment to the students we serve and ensure that we meet the highest possible standards, our Quality Improvement, Safety, and Clinical Leadership teams work with all programs to measure performance. We use four areas to track progress — effectiveness, efficiency, access, and satisfaction. Our results reveal an outstanding level of satisfaction on the part of individuals served, families and guardians, and affiliated agencies. These consistently high ratings are a direct result of the hard work of our staff.
We are dedicated to providing the highest quality education available. Our academic instruction programs are based on published best practice standards for teaching children and adolescents with ASD and related disabilities.