East Coasters Moving to Bay - which OUSD school for 10&12yr olds?
Hi there...we're a family of four moving from East Coast to Berkeley/Oakland and are in need of info re: schools. Specifically looking to balance a *truly diverse* environment w/ strong academics. Public school system is ideal, but would consider affordable private - ideally, secular - for our 10 yr old (going into 5th gr). Per my research, Edna Brewer or Claremont Middle might be ideal for our 12 yr old; Oakland Tech HS is seemingly ideal next step. *Wondering...can she DEFINITELY attend Edna Brewer Middle or Claremont Middle if we live in one of those districts? Re: Oakland Tech, if you live in the district are you definitely assigned to that school? If we don't live in the district, is there lottery or choice and what's that like or how competitive is it? Considering Cleveland Heights Elementary or Peralta Elementary for our 10 yr old...wondering how people feel about these schools as well as the aforementioned middle schools and Oakland Tech? Finally, I keep reading about Oakland Unified merging schools based on low attendance--are any of the aforementioned schools likely to be affected by this? If so, are class sizes expected to increase by much? I like the idea of kids at lower-scoring schools receiving better/more opportunities at high-scoring schools, but am worried about class size and teaching approach in terms of equity. Thanks so much for reading and for any help/advice!
Parent Replies
Welcome! For Peralta and Cleveland, you're most likely to get in as a late applicant (which you will be if this is for next year) if you live in the neighborhood. You will go onto the waitlist behind on-time neighborhood applicants but ahead of on-time non-neighborhood applicants; for 5th grade, you're likely to get into either. Same is true for Claremont; Brewer is more in demand so may have more late applicant neighborhood families. Cleveland, Claremont, and Brewer are all diverse; Peralta is not as much (but still relatively diverse compared to many suburban schools, so depends on where you're coming from). You'll want to get a local address as soon as you can to get onto the waitlist. Note that schools zoned to Cleveland/Brewer are not zoned to Tech for high school, so if you are set on that and don't want to move before high school, you'd want to go the Peralta/Claremont route. Alternatively, you could rent for a couple of years in the Cleveland/Brewer zone and then move before high school. None of these schools are likely to be closed or merged. Class sizes are relatively consistent districtwide except at under-enrolled schools. You might also look at Sankofa United, which does have smaller class sizes than most North Oakland schools because of a recent merger. It also feeds to Claremont/Tech.
Welcome to the Bay Area!
The school enrollment / lottery season is now. If you are showing up in August wanting to be assigned to your neighborhood school that is highly coveted (Edna Claremont, Cleveland, Peralta, etc.), you might not get in. Peralta has consistently not been able to accept all of the neighborhood kids, so there's no guarantee. Cleveland has been able to accept most of the neighborhood kids. There was a year when not all of the neighborhood kids got into Cleveland, but it's not as consistent as other schools. I think you'll have a good chance of getting into Cleveland if you live in the area. (We are a former Cleveland family.) Many OUSD schools lose students at 4/5th grade as families transition to private school, so you may have better luck getting your 5th grader into your desired OUSD. In addition to Cleveland and Peralta, there are other OUSD schools. Chabot has had a demographic changes and is more diverse now. Glenview and Sequoia are other good elementary schools and have diversity.
If you live in the school zone, you are higher on the selection list. Siblings of current students are picked first and then the neighborhood kids. If there are spots left over after all neighborhood kids have been offered a spot, then it goes to the general lottery. For 5th grades, sibling preference isn't an issue, if you live in the area, your chance of getting in is extremely high.
For middle school, I have not heard of neighborhood kids not getting into Edna or Claremont. I know kids outside the zone getting into these schools. For Oakland Tech, for the past 2 years, I have not heard of any neighborhood kid not getting in and my friend's kid who lives outside the zone got into Tech for this school year. Tech is a big urban school and can be overwhelming but my friend's child who is quiet and artistic seems to have found their artsy group and seems to be doing ok.
None of the schools you mentioned is on the impact list for the upcoming mergers. Most affordable secular private schools that I'm aware of are Crestmont School in Richmond (~21k/yr, K - 8), Mills College Children School ~22k, K - 5) in Oakland, Grand Lake Montessori in Oakland (~$1900 / month, Elementary only). Other secular private schools cost around $30k. Financial aid is available, and application deadline has passed for private schools but many have rolling admissions, so I encourage you to contact the schools. If you have your hearts set on living in Oakland or Berkeley, a commute to Richmond might be a stretch. but, if you are open to living in North Berkeley/El Cerrito/Richmond, Crestmont will be wonderful for you. When we were looking to switch our child from OUSD to private, we looked at Crestmont due to its attractive tuition. We couldn't figure out how to make the commute work as we live in central Oakland. There are also charter schools that you can consider -- Oakland School for the Arts is highly regarded, if your child is artistic. East Bay Innovation Academy is a popular charter school as well. Good luck!
OUSD class size is large. It always has been and will be. Many popular schools are at capacity and have maximum allowed student numbers in class.
We attend Cleveland and love it. Really strong and open armed community for families that join after kindergarten.
We have 2 kids at Skyline HIgh School which is one you should consider. It is a gorgeous campus up in the hills, has amazing administration and class offerings and gets overshadowed by Oakland Tech. It is smaller than Tech, has a closed campus (this last year Oakland Tech has had a lot of issues with open campus and non students hanging out across the street and causing a lot of problems). I would just encourage you to do your research and get to know a few OUSD high schools. We had kids at Montera which was a good place for them and our older child wanted to go to Tech bc that is all she heard you had to do. But we were zoned for Skyline and has always been happy, safe and has done very very well and is waiting to hear from public and private schools. The counselors and admins care, reach out when they see your kid may need something. The class selection is really good and i am always impressed on the offerings. I just encourage you to look around and not go off "must go to this school bc...."
Welcome and enjoy the Bay Area!
We applied for the inter-district transfer for our K-8 child for the Berkeley School District. The Districts have been quite forgiving for allowing kids to attend the schools outside of Berkeley as long as you are considerably close. Now is definitely a time to register for the lottery as most public schools will be closing their waitlists rather quickly.
If you need some help finding a place to transfer to that is not as bad of a commute, let me know. I would be glad to help!
Welcome to the East Bay! We’re actually in the middle of a move to the East Coast, so have similar questions but in the other direction! I’m not sure what gender your 10-year old is, but if you have a boy who would like a smaller school, I’d suggest checking out Pacific Boychoir Academy (PBA). It’s a secular, private choir school (no music experience necessary) with a very intimate elementary-grade 8 day school. It’s located in the Piedmont Ave area, just up the street from Oakland Tech. The tuition for elementary is very modest compared to the bigger private schools. The boys at PBA split their time between music and academics, and have the opportunity to sing and travel around the world. The kids I met there were astonishingly poised and all-around great kids.
Thank you to everyone who responded...such helpful thoughts, suggestions, and feedback...we very much appreciate it!