Great staff, no grass fields. That could really sum it all up. My kids go here, for the second year in a row since we moved to SF. The principal is a really nice, young (looking) hip dude, who always looks dapper in his attire and trendy haircut. That aside, he also knows all the childrens' names- that seems cool.
The teachers have their work cut out for them, as a lot of these kids have tons of energy from the Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Pepsi their parents gave them for breakfast in the car on the way to school, cuz they done forgot to set their alarm, and their Metro PCS phone alarm never works when they need it to... wow! anyhow, there are a lot of challenges facing this school, every year they lay off half of the teachers due to the city's budget cuts, some of whom are re-hired towards the end of the school year. I'm not saying the city is unfair in it's school spending- it's all one district, can you believe that? I'll save that rant for a review on the SFUSD later.
What did I say about grass fields? Oh yes. When I was a wee lad, all of the schools in my town had acres of grassy fields, with several playgrounds and very high and dangerous things to climb on/jump from. Here, not so much. For one thing, there's no room in the city for silly things like grass at schools. Just put down some asphalt, put in a tetherball pole, a play structure for 5 year olds that the whole school shares, and for God's sake cover the windows with steel grates to protect them from Kickball tournaments at recess!
One huge great thing I am impressed with: the amount of field trips these teachers take the students on. Seriously, between my two kids, it has to be at least 3-4 per month. That seems like a lot to me, but I love it! I got to go to some cool places and see some kids get carsick. Fun! read more