When Cambay Group got the blessing of the City of Lathrop in 2015 to build a school campus for what would eventually become the River Islands Technology Academy, it was approved as an interim school facility site to serve the new community.
But after the school’s population grew by more than 50 percent in two years, the need to house 650 students and employees, 27 teachers and 8 administrators means that they’re going to need more buildings.
On Wednesday, May 24, the Lathrop Planning Commission will decide on whether to amend the existing conditional use permit which allowed the school to operate in order to allow for the addition of 12 new portable classrooms to serve the growing student population.
In addition, the applicant is requesting that the interim approval of the school be extended another 10 years, until 2027, to allow for the school to operate and serve the students of River Islands and the outside community who wish to attend.
Currently River Islands, which falls into the Banta Elementary School District, is served by both the NextGen STEAM Academy, which is under the auspices of BESD, and the River Islands Technology Academy that was developed early in the development process in conjunction with the school district to serve the students of River Islands as the community developed. Because Banta is a small district, which only had one elementary school prior to the development of River Islands, building additional schools to meet the rising demand would have been too taxing.
But the relationship between the district and the charter school does have an interesting backstory.
The original building that was constructed for the River Islands Technology Academy, by Cambay Group, was taken back by the school district in January of 2015. The district then opened the NextGen STEAM Academy in that location, and forced the independent charter school to look elsewhere – eventually settling in its current location and leasing property that’s owned and being developed by Cambay Group.
Once completed, the school site will be able to accommodate 1,048 students as well as 58 teachers and administrative staff. While the campus itself is open to outside students, all future growth is expected to be solely from residents moving into the master planned community.
Staff is recommending approval of the new portable buildings as well as an extension of the interim school site classification for a term not to exceed 10 years.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
River Islands seeks to expand school to add 398 students

