History

Synergy School Castro Street in Noe Valley, 1973

Synergy School was founded as a teachers’ cooperative in 1973 by Russ Messing, Katherine Czesak, and Jill Goffstein Stocks in Noe Valley on Castro Street in an old diaper service factory (now the Sea Breeze Cleaners). There were 24 students in grades 1 through 6 and 3 teachers. The co-founders called the school “Synergy” to convey the idea that the collective effort of students, staff, teachers and parents would create something larger than the individuals themselves.