Our History

John McCandless is Lincoln Unified’s only STEM charter school! The school received its name from John McCandless, who served Lincoln Unified with distinction for 33 years as principal of several schools, including Lincoln Elementary, Colonial Heights and Lincoln High School. He also served as District Director of Curriculum and Certificated Personnel and as Associate Superintendent of Personnel Services.

In January 2015, our district received a charter petition for a dependent elementary school focusing on science, technology, engineering and math instruction. Then in August 2015, John McCandless opened to the public as a K - 3rd Grade school at its original location on W. Porter Way. Each following year, another grade level was added to the charter school until it became a TK - 8th Grade campus for the 2019 - 2020 school year.

For the fall 2020 semester, John McCandless moved to its current site at 915 Rose Marie Lane, where Brookside Christian School was previously located. Our school was built on a pedagogy emphasizing Project Based Learning (PBL) and inspired by the principles set forth by John McCandless: to provide a challenging curriculum for all students, and to do so equitably so they can all access the resources they need to succeed.