The Academy

Our son is currently enrolled at the Academy and over the last two and a half years, he has truly thrived with an accelerated curriculum taught by outstanding and dedicated teachers, committed to educating the whole student at every grade level in an intimate, small-​classroom setting.
We took him out of an outstanding Montclair public school in 3^rd grade when it became apparent that the tremendous class size and unchallenging class work were creating a bored and disengaged kid. We tried working within the system, but quickly learned GATE programs don’t really exist at OUSD, and as long as your child is doing well academically by OUSD standards, there is no incentive on the school’s part to challenge them further.
We looked around for a long time before we found this gem of a school. The Academy has a truly diverse, multi-​ethnic, multi-​socio-​economic and multi-​national student body with outstanding academics. It does not have the facilities of Head Royce or Bentley, but it is as academically rigorous as either of those schools at a fraction of the price. Academy students get into any high school of their choice, including College Prep HS, Berkeley High’s IP program, Athenian, Bishop O’Dowd, University HS, etc It has an international feel due to the parent community and the European model of learning (which includes a strong Math and Science focus, teaching French from kindergarten on, and introducing Latin in middle school.) The Academy fosters a true sense of community, while teaching tolerance, respect, and responsibility. There is truly something magical going on in these classrooms. We personally couldn’t be happier.
No school is entirely perfect, however, and the Academy has had its own set of administrative challenges over the past few years, primarily with the day-​to-​day management of school affairs. Throughout these challenges, the school remained committed to the most important constituents: the children. The quality of the teachers and the high quality curriculum never wavered. In July 2014, the founding family decided they were no longer interested in running the school. A few talented and committed parents, along with the entire teacher community decided that this special school must remain open, and did everything in their power to make it so – and they succeeded! In record time, the community created a non-​profit entity, wrote by-​laws, obtained an agreement from the founding family to continue to conduct business under the Academy name, leased the same space and all supplies, honored the teachers’ 2014 – 15 contracts, and opened their doors on time. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, the school was unable to open its middle school, so it ran as a K-​5 only. The parent-​teacher board, comprised of four full-​time working parents, has operated the school throughout the fall without interruption.
The Academy re-​opened, with a revitalized parent-​teacher community this school year. In addition to keeping many returning families, they also gained 11 new students, even after the school year started. This enabled them to hire a veteran head of school Buzz Heinrich, with 30 years of experience, including 17 at the Prospect Sierra school. Since January 2015, Mr. Heinrich has hit the ground running, with day-​to-​day management of the school, and assessing new students at all K-​8 grade levels. He has a record number of commitments for new K-​5 families for the upcoming school year. A collective decision was made to reopen the middle school, so beginning this September (the 2015 – 16 year), the Academy will fully operate as a K-​8 school, as it always had. With the exception of one student, the entire 5^th grade class will return for 6^th grade, and many former middle school families will be returning as 7^th and 8^th graders.
There is newfound passion in this community, as families, teachers and administrative staff work hand-​in-​hand to continue and improve upon 45 years of academic achievement. I urge you to take another look at the Academy and be part of a proud tradition and a promise-​filled future.

The Academy — great teachers, advanced curriculum (dedicated science, language, art ad music teachers!). and amazingly compassionate and interesting students. Continued academically-​challenging classes in nurturing environment. However, better than before. Now run by an experienced and highly successful Head of School after a prosperous career at Prospect Sierra.
Such a wonderful place for kids who need academic challenge, but still love to be goofy.
We left Bentley after 1^st grade because of concern for lack of academic rigor and the fact that they were uninterested in providing more advanced math curriulum for my son, who was well beyond the very simple addition problems provided in his class. There were other isssues as well, including a disinterested administration indifferent to parents’ concerns.
Of note, spoke to parent of child at Bentley this weekend in 2^nd grade. We shared same 1^st grade teacher, and she knew of my disappointment in the curriculum and teaching. She admitted that she doesn’t think her son «learned anything» last year. The 1^st grade teacher was shockingly weak there and I feel as though we wasted a year (and significant amounts of money!) there.
So, on the hunt for new schools, we looked around everywhere. What I found here was an amazing an challengin curriculum, while completely nurturing and warm. The classes are small, kids engaged and teachers dedicated.
They have a dedicated science teacher, as well as dedicated art, music, French and
PE teachers! Don’t think you can’t find that anywhere else (I promise!).
My son is so incredibly happy here, he actually doesnt want to go home after school. And I think this is pretty common.
It is rigorous, a good amount of homework. But for the right kid, it’s perfect. He has learned amazing skills in focusing, personal control (raising hand before speaking, sitting calmly during classwork, etc), time scheduling (I’ll do my homework first so I can play until dinner…).
Like most schools, children go to a «tryout» where they spend a day «shadowing» in a classroom, and complete a brief test with an admissions person. It is all very non-​threatening and relaxed, but meant to enasure that children admitted will be comfortable and happy with the pace and level of academics.
Strongly encourage anyone to look at this school for K-​5^th education.

We toured a number of East Bay private schools – Head Royce, Bentley, Black Pine Circle, Prospect Sierra, and The Academy – for kindergarten. There was no question that The Academy was our first choice because of its academic atmosphere and accelerated, integrated curricula. We were especially impressed with the fact that French was taught four times a week starting in Kindergarten, Science was taught by a specialist K-​8, and Latin was part of the regular upper school curriculum. This kind of program offering was unparalleled among peer schools. Plus, The Academy has always been the most affordable among comparable private schools.
Two years into the program now, we are extremely happy with our choice of school and the overwhelmingly positive experiences we have had so far. Here are some highlights of what we like:
1. Fabulous Teachers. Ms. Crippen (kindergarten) and Mrs. Labarca (1^st grade) are both top notch teachers who have been with The Academy for over a decade. Kids love them and find them caring, funny and approachable. Ms. Crippen’s classes are fun and creative. Mrs. Labarca’s classes have more structure, more singing, and more international flavor – the students sing greeting songs every morning and they count numbers daily in 8 different languages! The daycare «Mama» Ms. Sampietro is many kids’ favorite character, who is very talented in sports and music, and has a special way to engage and entertain kids. The music teacher Ms. Alexander provides excellent music classes and organizes high-​quality annual events like the holiday show, spring concert, and 4^th– 5^th grade musical. My son also loves Mrs. Drobny’s art classes and Ms. Manson’s P.E. classes. The list just goes on and on.
2. Talented and Kind Students. Because of the school’s reputation and screening process, as well as self-​selection by parents, the students here tend to be academically oriented and motivated. This makes the accelerated teaching possible. My son’s class is blessed with an ideal size and perfect gender balance – 5 girls and 4 boys in kindergarten and 5 girls and 5 boys in 1^st grade. The kids in his class are all very active, bright, and well-​behaved. They have different talents and interests, yet they all get along really well and are kind to each other, which makes every school day and birthday parties very enjoyable.
3. Rich and Effective Programs. Each day in kindergarten and 1^st grade is packed with age-​appropriate activities and exercises aimed at improving the students’ academic, social and physical skills. The phonics and math textbooks they use are all one grade-​level higher. The majority of the work is done in the classroom. Homework is very manageable. There is no homework on Fridays in kindergarten – during the weekends, the kids are only supposed to share with their family their Poetry Journal, in which they have collected new poems and songs learned during the week. This leaves ample room for them to pursue extracurricular interests or activities. There are many special occasions and events – monthly library visits, holiday fun centers, rehearsals and performances for various holidays and assemblies, field trips, international month, spirit week, French day, Science Fair – all serve to enrich the students’ school life and make their educational experiences more memorable.
4. Warm Friendships across Grades. Because of the small school size, kids across all grades play together in the backyard during the recess and after school. Each week, the 1^st graders have one P.E. class with the kindergartners, one with the 2^nd graders, in addition to two P.E. classes by themselves. The kindergartners and 2^nd graders are reading partners, and so are the 1^st and 3^rd graders. Thanks to these unique opportunities, warm friendships are forged across grades. It was very pleasing to watch a couple of 8^th graders patiently helping my son and his classmates improve their basketball skills after school. My son also got very interested in geography just by watching a 4^th-​grader friend doing his homework in daycare.
5. Manageable Parent-​Participation Expectations. Many of the parents here are busy professionals. The school’s parent participation policy and requirements – 20 hours or $ 400 a year – is very reasonable and manageable.
In my opinion, The Academy offers the best environment and programs for academically-​oriented, «gifted» kids in the area. Even though we have not toured the GATE Academy in San Rafael, I have checked out their website. The fact that their classes are mix-​aged with no grade levels, their school year consists of six self-​directed seminars, and they do not believe in homework or tests is unappealing to me. I think «gifted» kids, if left alone, have the tendency to follow their interests and develop unilaterally. The Academy provides an advanced yet balanced structure for educating an all-​around scholar accompanied by intelligent and similar-​aged peers.

When I was at the school it was absolutely terrible. The english/​latin teacher (Mr. Lynch) spent all of his time trying to relate the poems/​books we were reading to his own ridiculous and often offensive political views. He taught us all that boys are always the aggressors in every situation and are always to blame and are terrible. Whichever lombardo sister that was in charge at the time fired the good headmaster (Ben Mohammed) and then put herself in place. And was not responding to any of the complaints of the parents (particularly where Mr Lynch was involved). I could go on for hours and hours about how terrible my experience there was.
HOWEVER, it seems that Dana Weld is now in charge (should be much better) and Mr Lynch is far gone, as well as the very rude french teacher that we had. Ms Ruff, Ms Manson, Mrs Jondle, and Ms Alexander are still there. They are all very good at their jobs! It’s too bad that Mr. Aho had to go but I believe there were health complications involved. I don’t know anybody who has gone through the school recently (I graduated in 07) but you’re in much better hands now than I was.

The Academy is exactly what the name implies. It is an academy. It has quite the curriculum at least when I was there as a part of graduating class of 2006. Class size is small as I had a class size of 12 for three years (grade 6 – 8) And for a middle school it offers a rigorous curriculum with Math, Science, English, Social Science, P.E., French, Latin, Art History, Music History, and Art Studio. Don’t let the school’s appearance fool you. It really prepares you for high school through its academic rigor. I had an okay time there as I went in for the 6^th grade and since the class of 12 was all friends from preschool it made it hard to fit in truly and there was always a harsh detention policy for even being late in the morning even if it was because of traffic. Also it is hard entering at 6^th grade because you get tossed into 2 languages all at once with French and Latin while the rest of the class has already taken french for the past however many years they attended the academy. However Ms. Ruff’s «fashion show» is always a highlight each year as well as playing basketball on the basketball team as it was fun for middle school.
Overall I give the school 3 stars for my experience there from the random detentions to not fitting in easily with a close knit group of 12 kids making up your entire graduating class but I add 1 more star now that I am older and have learned to appreciate the academic rigor the school applies. So good school overall though not the best way to fit in and make friends for middle school kids when you enter the school for the 6^th grade.