Went there as a kid and I have so many memories of this community and with the stuff there just…read morelike family , not sure how things are now but I hope things are ok

OK so your South or West Berkeley teenager has been arrested, has been skipping school, failing, or…read morebeing generally unmotivated and non-compliant. Berkeley Youth Alternatives may be the place for him/her. Run by Becca Prager under the direction of Nikki Williams, the garden and youth program offers 1:1 and group counseling, homework help, all incorporated into a supurb sustainable urban agriculture program. Hosting three urban gardens, youth in this program participate in planning, seeding, planting, maintenance, and harvesting fresh fruits and vegetables. Weekly meals are shared using items grown from the garden with a time to express gratitude to peers, community volunteers and staff. Youth learn job and social skills, are eligible for minimum wage reimbursement, and are give the support they need to excel in school and make individualized college and vocational plans. Unlike most gardening programs, this program is year long, focussing more on school and study skills during the winter and spring and gardening during the summer and fall.

I graduated from West County in May 2011, and I loved every second I was there. The school kept…read moregetting better each year! If you have kids going into high school, you should really consider West County!

My twin boys both go here. They have been going for the last couple of months. We have seen such a…read morehuge improvement in their math skills. I highly recommend this place.

Branden has been coming to our house and tutoring my daughter, they opened this tutoring center and…read moreI started my daughter today here, it's clean, safe, and easy to get to. Brandan is a great tutor, since he's been tutoring my daughter me, my husband, and the teacher noticed a big difference in her math scores!!! Definitely would bring your child here!!! Great and kind people!!!

Hillwood has indeed been a blessing to our family. It was so great coming back for the Schools…read morerecent reunion of parents and students. The returned visit was such a awesome reminder of how much of a foundational building block the school provided for our kids. The classes are small, student-teacher engagement and academics are outstanding. They always serve healthy lunches, which was important to us. We sent both our older son and younger daughter. They both got accepted into excellent bay area Private High Schools and they graduated with honors. Then they both went on to receive a 4 Year Army ROTC Scholarships for college. My oldest son went on to obtain a degree in aviation, then was called into ministry and went on to obtain his Masters in Divinity. He is now serving as an Army Chaplain Officer. My daughter went on and graduated with a (BSN) Bachelors of Science in Nursing. Graduating Summa Cum Laude from Nursing School. Now serving as an Army Nursing Officer. It was definitely due to the outstanding foundation that the Hillwood Day School imbedded into them both while attending. THANK YOU HILLWOOD ACADEMIC DAY SCHOOL. MR AND MRS GRANTZ, we so appreciate you both for all your care and support from you and your team. Hillwood will forever hold a special place in our families heart.

The Nature Study campus of Hillwood Academic Day School. It is actually a cabin owned by the…read moreprincipal of Hillwood, Mr. Eric Grantz. It's very fun and all the kids love it when there's an event here :)

I'm a long term Berkeley resident. My kids will be going to Montessori school until they start…read moremiddle school at King. Yvette Felarca is the biggest reason I want them to leave the Montessori system. She is the best teacher America can offer. Her struggle with the white supremacist trying to stop her from helping our community is heroic. My son was a victim of white supremacy leadership at an Asian bilingual school called Pacific Rim International. He was bullied so badly his bones got broken. They have more citations from community care licensing of social services than any preschool in the entire Bay Area. And don't care to obey plans of correction, because they mastered the art of making up lies, and bullying immigrants into pretending. The children who had to leave because they were bullied for the color of their skin will have to live with that memory for the rest of their life. And the teachers and staff are heartless enough to do this to children. Knowing the community of parents, staff, and residents in Berkeley deal with problems instead of bullying parents complaining about them is a breath of fresh air. It gives me hope for my children. Makes me proud to be a Berkeley resident. As long as teachers like Yvette Felarca are here, I can feel safe. If she ever leaves I might have to keep my kid in Montessori until high school. I do understand they have issues of sexual harassment at Berkeley High. I trust that will be fixed. And I also understand they have issues empowering students of color, but I trust these are issues that will continue to be focused on for improvement. Unlike that horrible private school that continues to fail in making improvements because it threatens the white supremacists entitlement. #WeSupportYvetteFelarca #WilliamsKKKraigColonization #AsianAmericansAgainstWhiteSupremacy #BayAreaAgainstGentrification #WeAreBerkeley #PacificRimInternationalSchool #BerkeleyLives2017

The BUSD is praised all over the place for being innovative, diverse, the home of Edible…read moreSchoolyards, and instituting Universal Breakfast and organic food hot lunch programs. Theoretically, these are all good things...tho' as the parent of 3 sons who have spent a fair amount of time in the Berkeley schools, I cannot give such high praise, myself. The way things work in Berkeley, you don't get to go to your neighborhood school. You are sent a myriad of forms, told to choose your top 3 choices of schools, then (in our case) we were assigned ON THE DAY BEFORE SCHOOL BEGAN a choice we never opted for...letters, phone calls, and personal visits to the district office to speak with the much-beleaguered Francisco were all to no avail. What's the point of having organic lunch & going Green if kids can't walk to their school?? The level of anxiety and road rage near the schools as parents negotiate parking is palpable... My sons are amazing readers and generally well behaved, thus, they remain "under the radar"...while this may be a swell way to avoid conflict, it doesn't bode well in public schools. They are considered "A pleasure to have in class"....Well, yeah, when you have kids with such egregious behavioral problems raising havoc each & every day to the detriment of all, you bet my kids would be a pleasure to deal with. So, they "get by"...unchallenged to do their best, unmotivated to seek more difficult levels of learning because our experience has shown that the Berkeley schools believe "it's alllllll good". Well, it isn't. If I have to assign star points, I will gladly disperse multitudes for the hard working music teachers who try valiantly in the face of budget cuts, to teach music. Often on old, borrowed instruments and at a "Zero" period, I might add. Who is at their best at 7:30 am?? Well, they do a great job. Kudos to them! The same can be said for the art teachers, the gardening teachers, the new & young & enthusiastic teachers who are all facing Pink Slips. There's not much left to cut budget-wise. In comparison to Oakland and Richmond schools, Berkeley looks pretty good, but I strongly urge parents to take closer looks and to insist on attending the school in your neighborhood, not to be bull-dozed by a quota system dealt with at the main district office. For countless reasons we began to look elsewhere despite our strong belief in supporting public schools. Suffice to say schools in Portland compared with our experience of schools in Berkeley were an enormous factor in our choice of leaving the area. It's unfair to say it's the main reason, but it's in the top 3....tread carefully when you enroll your kids in Berkeley schools, and get involved. It's the only way to know what's going on, tho' for me, well, I just don't need another full-time job. Good luck...

I've worked in this school and it's come a long way since I was a kid and it was a junior high…read more I've worked here as a substitute teacher and and ELD tester and I really like going there, especially since they've rebuilt the school. The school has a nice clean layout, the staff are nice and helpful, and if I had a job at that school, it wouldn't bother me. I was meeting with a colleague when I took this picture. And the good memories came flooding back

GREAT school! The teachers are so nice and amazing, they have great ways of teaching class. They…read morehave an art room were the students can learn about art and famous artiest. For the 6th graders, in the beginning of the school year will take a little photographer class and take pictures around the school. Later a student's best picture will be around the school for the rest of the school year. This school has a music program called sound minds. This program teaches you how to play a cello or a violin. When you get better they will take you on a field trip to play with other orchestras. You might even be able to see the California symphony have a rehearsal. What I'm trying to say is just that this is a great school to go to.

Fusion has been a complete game-changer for my son. His teachers are all experienced, creative,…read moreengaging and flexible and have been able to tailor the curriculum to match his interests and learning style. His love of learning has been rekindled. Prior to Fusion, we struggled with school refusal -- now he looks forward to going, no joke! Each day, we receive updates from his teachers about his progress. The administrators are also wonderful and went above and beyond to understand his learning style as well as a few health issues. We never have to worry about him falling behind if he needs medical treatments. There is incredible flexibility with how assignments are given and he can learn at a fast pace. I give Fusion a 10 out of 10. So grateful to have this school in Marin.

Both my kids are thriving and realizing how well they can learn with a personalized program. From…read moreboth almost failing in public schools even with IEP, Fusion has helped them realize that they can achieve fantastic results.

Wildcat Canyon community school is an amazing and healthy environment for children and families…read morelooking for a like-minded community! Waldorf education is a world class education serving the children with a wide variety of subjects and languages, math and science all given through the arts. "Education from the inside out" the children are thought to freely think and with empathy and compassion for each other and the world. This is our fourth year at the school and our two children are loving it! Every year we fall deeper in love with the curriculum, teachers, and community members! Truly, a futuristic school that gives a Renaissance style of education with top-notch educators and holistic minded families. It would be in your best interest to take a tour of the school and then you will be able to see and feel the uniqueness for yourself! Don't be surprised if you see healthy children running and skipping and singing and climbing trees and gardening and playing games together just like schools should be producing healthy, open minded free thinking, individuals!

My partner and I had our child in East Bay Waldorf school for three years. EBWS shut down during…read morethe pandemic and some families, like ours, participated in "pods" with the EBWS teachers who were laid off. We contemplated participating in this "restart" but fortunately made the decision to send our child to another school. We made the decision to send our child elsewhere because this "restart" of EBWS under a different name is , unfortunately, plagued by the same cultish, administratively dysfunctional, and subtly racist practices that characterized the original EBWS. Without going into detail here, our child experienced a consistent pattern of discrimination and exclusion by both teachers and other Waldorf parents. The only regret my partner and I have now is that we didn't take our child out of this school sooner and go elsewhere.