Graduated SRHS in 1972 and to this day I still have the fondest memories..In my freshman year of 68…read moreit was still uptight but by 69 all hell broke lose..We were smoking pot all over the campus, teachers, principle and deans were cool with it..Sometimes at lunch break we would have a keg of beer out on the soccer field..Teachers were great and we all went on to become successful..I'm still close friends with many and I was part of the 420 gang..Wish I could relive it again..

A school with issues that STILL produces fine kids prepared for college…read more San Rafael High School is a long standing (by long I mean founded in 1888) high school with tons of history. All students that graduate from here end up LOVING this school. I myself graduated in 2007 and I still have very fond memories of this school. Pros: A handful of teachers STRIVE and WORK non-stop to see these kids succeed. During high school I had EXTREME money problems and a professor even offered me 400 bucks to help me get by. I didn't take the money but, just goes to show you the lengths they'll go for their students. The music program is arguably one of the best for a public school (I mean, they even have their own recording studio and broadcasting station.) Furthermore, its a REAL school. You see your jocks, weirdos and gang-bangers all going here. It's not an isolated school and your child experiences true life. Also many ESL students go to SRHS and thus this school has large english department. From beginning English all the way up to AP english. Many school don't offer that. I personally fell in love with this school and will hopefully send my kids here someday. Cons: the school is so old that it was falling apart when I left. I believe now they are renovating it and it has gotten better. The school has many issues including a high turnover rate of teachers, seems like every year 5 teacher quit and 5 more are hired. Keep an eye on this school and don't listen to just the negative word-of-mouth comments.

I would never send a kid to this school as long as Skip Kniesche has any position of power. Having…read morebeen a student at this school first hand and experiencing Skip's form of leadership as a Vice Principal, this man will overlook any signs of distress in your child. If you have a kid who doesn't fit in completely, he will likely ignore your child and dismiss them. I even came back to the school 10 years later to request a specimen I had lent the school that had magically become a permanent fixture of theirs without my consent. Who did I speak to? Skip! And he was extremely rude and unpleasant. What did it take in order to get him to treat me like a human and return my property? My FATHER had to call. Yes. I was 18 years old and my father had to come to the school in order for Skip to get off his butt and treat me like a person. Shame on Skip. Shame on this school. If you have a kid who's an outcast, or if you have any personal home issues going on and are hoping for a school to be somewhat sensitive to those struggles, do not send your child to this school.

Terrible school. The people who greet you in the office are extremely rude, and can be heard…read moretalking badly about parents constantly. You can tell they genuinely dislike the job. Kids there are very judgmental, and teachers do little to nothing about bullying! It doesn't feel like a safe environment, and the education moves far too fast for most students. I would absolutely NOT recommend sending any students here. The older kids are quite rude to the 5th graders as well, and the electives aren't funded well enough at all. The PTA spends all it's money on "teacher appreciation WEEK". Yes, I said WEEK. They dedicate a whole week to giving to teachers who rarely help students. DO NOT SEND A STUDENT HERE. This school depresses many people, and personally, it brings me to a dark place remembering going there. I was immediately so much happier after graduating, I wouldn't even consider going back to visit even after all these years!

As a parent with more than one child at Mark Day School, what continues to stand out most is how…read moredeeply the school truly knows each student. Beyond academics, teachers take the time to understand who children are--their strengths, challenges, interests, and values--and help them discover how they want to contribute to the world around them. Mark Day School builds on basic structures of academic knowledge acquisition and focuses on something far more meaningful: developing thoughtful, reflective, engaged humans. The culture encourages students to think critically, speak confidently, and act with empathy and purpose. Public speaking, collaboration, and self-awareness are woven naturally into daily life, not treated as add-ons. The result is a community of children who are not only capable learners, but genuinely wonderful people--curious, grounded, and a joy to be around. Mark Day has a rare ability to shape students who will contribute to society in meaningful, positive ways, and as a parent, that gives me tremendous confidence in the education my children are receiving.

We were a new 6th grade family joining the MDS community. Our son was previously at Highlands…read moreChristian Schools in San Bruno from 18 months old (They have a wonderful toddler daycare) to the 5th grade. It was great for our son to be entering the 6th grade at a new school with another dozen or so new children from outside schools. The summer buddy family program gave us an opportunity to meet other rising 6th graders and their families. We cannot thanks these parents enough for the warm welcome prior to the start of the school year. In the 6th grade the kids are given their own laptops to be used throughout Middle School. The 6th grade 4 day Outdoor Ed trip to Pinnacle National Park fell on our sons birthday. It was his first time away without any parent chaperones and he loved it. The school dealt with COVID-19 by following the science and took great precautions to ensure the safety of the children. In late March 2019 there was a 2 week teacher training then the kids were back in school via Zoom. We continued to use distance learning in the 7th grade until the winter break when he returned to the classroom. He is now in the 8th grade and we feel grateful to MDS for keeping our kids and community safe. The teachers, administrators and staff are 100% vaccinated as are the students age 12 and older. The kids ages 5-11 are now catching up to reach 100% vaccinated. The high level of education and life experiences our son is getting at MDS has exceeded our expectation. He has made new friends and is excited to be looking at the next chapter of his education, High School. We highly recommend this independent school.

MA is a great college prep school in the Bay Area!…read more Great location near downtown San Rafael! Amazing school grounds and facilities! Excellent teachers who have a love of learning and want to share these passion with students! Great sports and a NEW AQUATIC CENTER has been built! Truly has a school campus feel in an urban environment! You student will be equipped for that next stage in school!

Ma is a pretty good school and you should definitely look at yelp reviews to decide what high…read moreschool you're going to.

I'm always careful to speak out about Oak Hill School because my son isn't a "typical" attendee…read more He's ADD and not neurotypical, but never tested as on the spectrum. We went through four different public school Special Ed systems in different districts, tried multiple interventions and strategies, but his engagement with the curriculum in public school had ground to a halt by the time he reached seventh grade. Knowing he was out-of-the-box, I started looking for a place where he could thrive on his own terms. He's curious and inventive, but not one for marching to anyone else's drum. The public school system kept trying to "break" him, to make him conform - and I understand why! They have many students and they can't cater to each individual, but if you're trying to "break" my younger son, you'd better come to the table with a lifetime supply of patience and endurance because I've lived with him for seventeen years now and I've yet to see a crack in his persistence. It took eight months to entreat the district for a transfer. Since he didn't test as on the spectrum, they questioned why I thought it was a good fit for him, but within weeks, he was engaging with the teacher and staff. Over the last three years, he's gone from wholly unresponsive in public school to developing his own ice cream business with a fellow student, budgeting and making the product, participating in a Sonoma State University survey of non-neurotypical students to provide feedback for NASA's research on an astronomy course, participating in a student internship at a local restaurant and engaging with his fellow students. The staff and faculty is indeed like a family, as one of the other reviewers said. Only maybe better than most families. I can't speak from her perspective, but from my own, it's a place of tremendous acceptance. A place where the students are valued for their gifts, where they're encouraged to advocate for themselves and aided in expanding into their potential. Finding Oak Hill has truly been a turning point for our family. I found it at a point where I'd begun to despair that my son wouldn't make it out of the public school system in one piece, when the hurdle of high school graduation had felt remote and improbable. He's now approximately a year and a half from graduation and we've discussed college options. He's interested in science and engineering. Finding the right school for our children is SUCH a personal decision and one's experience can vary so much from the next. Many of the schools where my sons struggled were highly ranked. Quite a few of them offered programs I might've loved when I was their ages, but hypotheticals don't translate to the individual needs of our kids. All I can say is, Oak Hill is an incredible place with a staff and faculty of warm, thoughtful people and my son has become more thoughtful and engaged through his association with them.

This has been a wonderful school for my son John. He's struggled for many years, and we found the…read morefaculty to be wildly supportive. Charlie Beavis in particular has been an incredible counselor for John, both academically and spiritually. The positivity and light that radiates throughout the campus has been undeniable. We definitely made the right decision looking back over the past few years.

Hmmm....do I admit I went here? I'm certainly not going to give my graduation year!!…read more Oh, okay. The good: Excellent academics, great facility, gorgeous grounds, awesome teachers. My biology teacher even officiated at my wedding (love you Marty!). Lots of smart kids, lots of artistic kids, I suppose some athletes, but I was SO not one of them. The not-so-good: Yup, it's a snobby private high school in Marin. Lots of kids got really nice cars for their 16th birthdays, lots of entitled rich kids. But I wouldn't say I was ostracized for driving a 1983 volvo wagon... Because it's small, there isn't a lot of social diversity, and very little ethnic/socioeconomic diversity. And I don't even want to think how much it costs to go there now, or how much it will be in (gulp) 2018 when my son heads off to high school. I can guarantee the only way we'll afford to send him is is if he gets some alumni-kid scholarship!

What an incredible school! I've had the privilege now twice to attend a school performance because…read morewe have a friend on staff. What I wouldn't give to have attended a school like this. The grounds are immaculate. It has so much charm and none of the pompousness you may expect from a place like this. The performances we saw were very well done and so much fun to watch. The only down side is I have to start saving now because my 5 year old says she wants to go here when she's older.

I was a student at brandeis from 2021-2025 and have recently graduated so I feel like I'm qualified…read moreto review my experience. Many teachers were horrible at their job and instead of teaching would give speeches on 'growth mindset' and refuse to help while others would target specific students to get mad at and punish everyone for one kid's wrongdoings. A teacher once came to school high as hell and tried to make an explosive rocket and somehow that wasnt what fired him. School lunch is horrible and i got food poisoning numerous times. JS class Made me feel like being Jewish was nothing more than political debates and annoying packet readings. Children of staff members would get special treatment CONSTANTLY. Student body was nice but kinda cliquey. The field trips and art programs were all great tho! Also very good english and language classes. overall a 3.2/5

Let me start and say that I am grateful for the education that my kids got in Brandeis Marin…read more But all the "community " or "family " or any other big words they talking about went out the door in the minute we asked to leave the school. Don't let them fool you, this is a business and now it's clear that they all about the money. Sad and very disappointed.

I attended Redwood as a freshman and sophomore from 1967 to 1969. The math and English classes for…read moreAP students (they didn't use that term back then) were excellent. With about 1800 students, it stands to reason that quite a few would be academically outstanding. I personally knew two who went on to Harvard and one who went on to Yale. Virtually all of the students who bothered to study qualified for a UC or CSU campus. The rest went to community college and then transferred to university, or they had no interest in college and went into sales, the trades, the military, etc. I had attended a small private school and was not comfortable with such a large high school. I had no understanding of what people dread about large public high schools: cliques, bullies, etc. But for someone who wasn't particularly outgoing, I was treated reasonably well. I have always been interested in what is going on in education. I understand that Redwood chose to stop taking money from the state of California (am I wrong?). That would be a good thing. The more parents have control over what their students are learning, the better. Some people talk about Redwood kids being snobby. That was certainly not my experience when I went there. But large public high schools are much more forgiving environments for children who are goodlooking, athletic and outgoing than they are for students who aren't any of those things. I advise parents who have choices (e.g., public vs. private schools) to keep this in mind when they are selecting schools for their children.

UPSIDE - Best teachers around, especially Ms. Rubio who consistently works overtime to help her…read morestudents succeed. Top notch education for your children. DOWNSIDE - Lots of drugs, entitled kids and intense social politics; emphasis on money and status. Not too unusual for a high School, but this school makes the book Mean Girls look like child's play. Little or no participation by my daughters teachers concerning diversity week which is sad, because the kids I have met here show a surprising lack knowledge about people who are not white, straight, rich or privileged.