took a field trip not too long ago and it actually seemed like a good school, showed all the…read moreclasses you could take and all. Best part for me was the auto shop, able to be done in 10-12th grade. There's also this business academy and you could get your work permit if you wanna start working. Also includes social justice, a couple more if I remember correctly.

I want to recognize sir patric Andre Romero. He's so awesome. He's my kababayan too. So helpful so…read morekind . San Leandro high school is blessed to have him. Also the supervisor so helpful and also the people in the front to check in. Many thanks guys for everything you guys do.

Westlake Middle School (jr. high). was a blur. seems nothing happened here besides walking to…read moreschool along the shores of lake merritt and returning home on the opposite side. walking home was better since i always bought an ice cream or popsicle to ease the time. taking the bus or out of the question. had to save money for the candy, ice cream. once in a while i would gaze into the cadillac dealership (whole foods now). cool car. never aspired to own one though.

This school is amazing! This school is like a second home to me... Everyone's cool, and it's nice…read morebeing around all those people! Teachers know when to be joking and when to be strict, students also likes to be around with the teachers and play with them, it seems like we are all friends. But usually when a new teacher came in, some students would be disrespectful, but as the teacher continually works there, the students would be nicer and nicer. Students are usually treated the substitutes badly and disrespectfully, but there would always be students who were nice to help out. And in some of the classes, the students were always quite, and waiting for instructions. So the behavior to the substitute in this school really depends on what class they are substituting. This school got lots of fun stuff to do, they planned field trips, (such as ice skating, Oakland museum, science and technology museum, boomers...etc) and in art class, they also create clothing, earrings, and cards for sale, they look no different than the things that are in the store, but was created by the students! There are also gardening, Restorative Justice, Mesa, girl's club, and class that teaches you how to cartooning! Students seems to love those activities.

We came here to pick up our niece. This was my first time picking her up. The pick up line of cars…read moreis an experience. There is even a line just getting off the freeway. Luckily we saw her as soon as we pulled up. I was worried we wouldn't be able to find her in the crowd. Picking up isn't for the lighthearted.

I had two children attend here. If your child is interested in a career in the sciences this school…read moredoes not prepare them for the way classes are taught at a top tier university. The way in which they test (multiple corrections opportunities) and teach (use of calculators) is the opposite of what they do in university. O'Dowd is focused on the appearance of grades but the grades aren't real. They worry about what they can say about college acceptance rates and types of institutions students are accepted to but they don't actually prepare them for how to study for or take exams properly. It's not worth the cost for the outcome. Maybe if your child is interested in the liberal arts or some general finance degree it's fine. If their focus is to just play sports this might also be your spot. If your child is not a minority likely also fine. If you want them to go to one of the top schools in the nation and survive - this is not for your child. Counseling staff have outdated ideas and a relic leading them all. The school does not offer anything that supports essay writing at school or as part of an assignment as many other high schools of a similar position do. They do nothing that provides value. They provide a place for students to submit their college options (for their tracking nothing more) and provide zero coaching on applying. They do not offer support to those that are paying their wages and keeping the lights on. Look elsewhere. This is not worth the financial investment given the lack of genuine college preparation experienced here. Huge disappointment.

Oakland Tech started their Centennial Celebration last year with a kick off of a presentation in…read moreits library on October 18, 2014. There were many people on hand, listening to the speeches and appreciating the history of the school. I could not stay long to enjoy the company of my fellow alumni. However, I purchased a copy of the Centennial Book, 1915 to 2015. The book is filled with memories and photos of many alumni who received their education at this fine school. When I did the initial review of Oakland Tech (hereafter Tech), I gave the school a 3 star rating due to something tragic happening on the campus during the school year 1972/1973. A student named Rita King (Class of 1974) was killed during a fight in the cafeteria. This incident had an impact on the school the following school year; to wit, that the majority of the white and Asian students transferred out and enrolled in other high schools (Skyline or Oakland); thus, resulting in a school that was no longer diverse or lacking diversity. Tech had to set up their campus at another location (the old Merritt College on Grove Street) in the late 70's due to the building not being up to earthquake standards. It wasn't until the fall of 1982 that the newly renovated Tech had its dedication. It was great for the students to be back on a campus in classrooms where there were no big puddles of water on the pavement and no leaky roofs when it was raining hard. I cannot say for sure when Tech was gradually becoming diverse again, but I would like to believe it was during the 1980/1981 school year. Even though the seniors of that year were known as the Apollo Class, still there needed to be more improvement in race relations. I know the graduating seniors of the Class of '81 had good intentions in having speeches delivered in different languages - English, Spanish and Chinese. The sing-song mimicking and clowning displayed by some of the adults sitting near me proved that the process of improved race relations still had a way to go. Several months ago, I was on the campus for a meeting on a Saturday. I did not meet up with two gentlemen and a committee for all these upcoming events. I liked what I saw in the trophy cases, the Tech memorabilias and pink breast cancer items in the glass cases by the library. The rating was upped to four stars. I had the intention of doing an update after another kick off celebration in front of the school on November 1, 2014, but I had other things occurring and the holiday season was a busy one. The Centennial Celebration Talent Show held two days ago in the school auditorium for the cost of $10 was more than enough to give my alma mater five stars for outstanding performances by the alumni, teachers and current students in singing, dancing, drama and oral speeches. Kudos to the principal, PTSA and all who were involved in organizing this event. All hail to Technical I sing. Finally, I can still say it loud, I'm from Tech and I'm proud.

The school is very nice and vintage. the first day there…read moreduring summer school I got lost inside. I like the hallways, they're like little alleys and the windows are very nice. i thought they were going to open all the way up. I went here for the 2010 summer school so i did not really experience the whole thing. The cafeteria is very interesting..don't know why but yea. during summer school I missed my regular school Skyline High School! Tech is an okay school but not for the whole year for me.

All I can say is the staff are immature and have been caught throwing parties and providing…read moreprofanity to TEENS, you school is really dirty, the technology is incredibly behind, the kids are incredibly behind making it hard for teamwork to even be imagined, the teachers are overworked because of the fact they're underpaid, and we just barely got a little diversity in our curriculum thanks to the teachers efforts. The school itself operates quite literally like a business which is so pathetic considering you're being funded by the people. If you wanna gamble your education and wellbeing I recommend CVHS!

I attended a JV baseball game here. It was absolutely terrible behavior by the Trojan baseball…read morecoaches and umpire: one of the Trojan players intentionally shoved a visiting player, and the umpire blamed the visiting team and kicked out the visiting player victim. Trojan parents were screaming at high schoolers, running up and getting in their face, as well as cursing at small children; however, Trojan security blamed the visitors for mischief and kept surveilling them as if they were the source of the trouble When only Trojan players and parents were the ones acting aggressive. Moreover, the umpire claimed to "not see" any bad behavior by the home team and frequently called in the home team's favor: strikes were flagged as "balls" and obvious tag-outs were called "safe". Out of dozens of baseball games I have attended at many schools, this school had the most corrupt and poor display of leadership with their coaches, umpire, and security. No integrity with their staff whatsoever. I feel sorry for the kids at CVHS who are learning from these sad, sorry examples of adults.

Went in today to get a registration packet for my younger sister. They had these wonderful handy…read morefolder packets ready with the application, a packet of their guidelines and rules as well as a couple sheets of student score statistics. You guys have probably heard of this school. The only school in California that had ZERO absences and the governor thus came to visit. Because of this, its extremely hard to get in now. Last year they the kids do an essay...uhhh...SCARY. Oakland residents get priority seating and if seats are filled too quick there is a lottery. Reading the packet was sort of scary. Extremely strict dress code, things like NO colored hair ties, socks, nor shoes for girls. Detention for breaking rules such as not tucking in your shirt for boys. Saturday school for missing school even if it was a valid excuse. I saw the very disciplined students go to their next class in a single file line. My first thought was zombie? But then again, its too early to really judge. I DO know that kids have dropped out after three months and even after a year of going to the school. With all that said...this IS the school if you want your kids to get a free private school education, this IS the school if you want your kids to become more disciplined...this IS the school if you want your kids to learn responsibility. Its either here or Bret Harte which my parents are very BLAH over at this moment. Our sister will not continue high school here however, just middle school. I think High School is a very critical period in ones life. As the chubby kid said in the movie Hotel for Dogs "Its a critical part of my social development" lolz...

This school has a barely functioning administration. They are incapable of the basic functions of…read morerunning a school, one of which is the accurate recording of grades.

As a kid who has gone to both Canyon and Creekside, Canyon kids get into fights of the most stupid…read morethings. For example I went there for 1 week and saw 1 out of 3 fights. It took me a while to report someone bullying another kid. I tried to talk to my counselor about it, but it took me a while to get an appointment, and they weren't very helpful. Some of the teachers are nice, but some of them weren't the best. Their principal Mr. Hendee was nice the first time I saw him. I can't tell you if he was acting or just actually nice, but he seemed legit. Academically speaking they don't have a lot of extracurriculars. In 8th grade there is a split leadership class, so you can only have it for half the year. In the last semester you go to the high school to see their leadership class. If you have the first semester you can't go. Which can mislead you to knowing information about it. Sports wise they have good teams. One thing is that if you want to try out a new sport here that you have little experience in, don't. The golf coach Mr. Christensen takes a limited amount of kids. The golf coach at Creekside, which is also the golf coach at the high school takes almost all kids who tryout. This is too also them to have practice. He does only take the good people to play, but all to practice. In all I wouldn't recommend this school...

canyon is a really good middle school overall they teacher are nice except a teacher that yelled at…read moremy kid..i did sue but anyway the morning dropping off your kids is a little crazy but easy

We spent quite a bit of time reviewing middle schools and trying to find a good fit for our 6th…read moregrade daughter. After touring a few middle schools including our district school (Wood), other Charters (Academy of Alameda, NEA), and possible inter-district transfer schools (Bay Farm Middle School) we decided ACLC was the best fit because of school size (smaller, staff will know your child), curriculum (good balance of academic focus and college preparation), and a focus on learner participation and self-governance (lots of activities are learner-led and there is a fair amount of "independence" on how to accomplish work). Overall we feel like ACLC has been a great fit after a semester there. - CURRICULUM: The curriculum seems to be well-balanced with a mix of knowledge-based learning (learning math principles and math worksheets) along with more open-ended projects (team-based science fair project which seems largely student-run in groups) - SMALL SIZE: A smaller school has meant knowing most of our daughter's facilitators as well as the principal (aka Lead Facilitator) and other staff - INDEPENDENCE: The school makes it a point to really involve the students in self-governance, leading activities, and learning to manage themselves. For example, we were really impressed that all 6th graders had an overnight camping trip at the beginning of school (Hannah Camp, named after the student who founded the program) which was organized by ACLC high schoolers (with staff supervision) to welcome new 6th graders. Other "Pros": - It sounds like other AUSD middle schools are dealing with some bullying issues. So far (fingers crossed) it seems that ACLC hasn't experienced as much. - There seems to be good accountability from staff to students. Issues seem to be addressed quickly and students seem to be involved in much of the process. - Good communication. There are weekly updates from the principal. There's a portal where we can contact teachers directly and they respond quickly. There's a Slack channel for the PTA and the wider ACLC community. "Cons": - Homework load is light. We came from an elementary school that didn't assign any homework. We expected a little more work than they've received - Campus is pretty small and spare compared to many of the newly renovated middle schools - It seems like mobile phones and other devices are pretty prevalent and distracting... including in classrooms. Facilitators should try to manage this better.

Our daughter started 9th grade, new to ACLC. The school is super small, relaxed, and promotes…read moreindependence. Regular project periods provide freedom to manage her own time. Soon she will take some college classes nearby. Facilitators (ACLC's teachers) are on a first-name basis with learners (ACLC's students). When I signed my kid out early, I stated her first name and the office staff knew exactly who she was. In September, she had a large Scout project to complete. The principal, head facilitator, parents, and learners helped her refurbish the school stage. She even appeared before the school's funding board; it was empowering. Her favorite event to date was a field trip to San Francisco to attend a mock trial by the SF Trial Lawyers Assoc. The class then staged their own trial, using the storyline from John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" The school isn't perfect, but works well for us She is being prepared to go out on her own, in an environment that suits her introverted, artistic self. Plus, the parent community is wonderful!