Sanchez Elementary School

I was a student at this school for the last 2 – 3 years of my elementary education (Im in high school now). When I was there, I had a pretty interesting experience. The student body is really diverse and the school itself seemed a bit underfunded. Both my female teachers were umm well I’m pretty sure were lesbians. They made it pretty noticeable. I could tell that all the staff there really tried their best though. I still have some pretty great memories from the field trips to all the museums we visited. All other things aside, I still believe this was the best elementary school that I ever went to.

Disclaimer: I am not a parent, nor do I know anyone with kids here.
However, I did spend a semester here doing a Speech Pathology internship when I was in school & I was thoroughly impressed with the environment I found. This is a school that is working very hard to fulfill the needs of it’s students. There’s a huge hispanic population here, so there are lots of bilingual classrooms. And it seems like 80% of the employees (from the principal to the bus-​drivers) are bilingual Spanish/​English. (Too bad my Mandarin skills didn’t come in handy here.) They’ve been steadily improving on those evil proficiency exams, which, I guess, means they’re doing well. But more importantly, I really felt that the majority of the teachers here were really try hard & truly enjoy their jobs. That’s saying a lot in today’s frustrating No-​Child-​Left-​Behind world. Further, as funding is continually being cut for all schools for diverse education experiences (e.g. music, art, sports), Sanchez manages to keep some of these classes in tact. Plus, they have what seems to be bi-​monthly musical performances from local artists, like the San Francisco Symphony. Pretty cool. Of course, nothing tops the garden that the students maintain & harvest, which lines the outside on Sanchez street. When it’s too muddy, they take off their shoes, roll up their uniform pants & squish around in the mud. LOVE THAT — right here, in the middle of the city.
Though I’d like to see more diversity here, this school looks like it has a bright future. If I ever decide I can afford kids here, I would probably consider this school as an option.