The school search: Avoid the lottery blues -- check out lesser-known prospects

November 28, 2:15 PMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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  Sutro Elementary: A gem in that boxy building?

Families who want seats in San Francisco’s most popular public schools need to get in line – or, more precisely, into the lottery. The odds are against them and the process is off the top of the stress-o-meter.

So what’s a parent looking for a good school to do?

The obvious answer is: Don’t follow the herd.

Be a little skeptical about the playground scuttlebutt, and keep an open mind. Every year since I’ve been an SFUSD parent, more and more schools have made the “A” list. This is a great thing for our schools and kids overall, but it means that the school your neighbor easily got her kids into 5 years ago now has a long list of names in the wait pool.

Blogger “Kate,” owner of the popular blog The SF K Files, posted her own list of possible “hidden gem” SFUSD elementary schools the other day, and invited posters to add their own suggestions. When I first looked at Kate’s list, I thought wow, she’s being optimistic to include some of those schools. Then I realized that she has a better feel than I do for the promising elementary schools – my oldest started kindergarten in 1996, and hers is in kindergarten now. And by the way, Kate applied to both public and private schools; her child was accepted to ultra-elite Marin Country Day, but the family opted for the new Mandarin immersion program at SFUSD’s Jose Ortega Elementary in the Ingleside – and they love it. Even two or three years ago, Jose Ortega was mostly mentioned in some circles only by outraged parents who hadn’t hit the lottery for their chosen schools and had been assigned there by default.

(From Jose Ortega, high on a hill in the southern part of the city, you can see Aptos Middle School on the next hill over. Aptos, my kids’ middle school alma mater, was like that too, only two or three years before my son started there in 2002.)

Anyway, Kate knows from hidden gems. The idea that a family turned down Marin Country Day (which is where the really rich kids went when I was growing up in Marin in the ‘60s) for Jose Ortega – happily and successfully – still amazes and delights me. One thing I like about this list is that some names on it make me think, "Oh, that one's already obvious," and others, "Reallllyy??" Of course there's no guarantee that every parent will like all of these schools, but it's "the start of a conversation," Kate says.

I can think of more, too -- both schools that are already successful but aren't that well known, and schools with obvious potential. I'll post some of those soon.

So here’s Kate’s initial list of hidden gems. I decoded the initials below.

1. Bryant GE

1050 York @ 22nd Street, Mission District

2. Cesar Chavez GE

825 Shotwell @ 22nd Street, Mission District

3. Cleveland GE

455 Athens @ Persia, Excelsior District

4. Cobb GE

2725 California @ Scott, Lower Pacific Heights

5. Daniel Webster GE and SI*

465 Missouri @ 20th Street, Potrero Hill

6. Garfield GE

420 Filbert, Telegraph Hill/North Beach

7. Glen Park GE

151 Lippard @ Bosworth, Glen Park

8. Harvey Milk GE

4235 19th St. @ Collingwood, Upper Noe Valley

9. Hillcrest GE

810 Silver @ Cambridge, Portola

10. John Yehall Chin GE

350 Broadway, North Beach

11. Jose Ortega MI* and GE

400 Sargent @ Arch, Ingleside/Oceanview

12. Junipero Serra GE

625 Holly Park Circle @ Highland, Bernal Heights/Outer Mission

13. Leonard Flynn GE

3125 Cesar Chavez @ Harrison, Bernal Heights/Mission

14. New Traditions GE

2049 Grove @ Clayton, Panhandle

15. Paul Revere GE and SI

555 Tompkins @ Folsom, Bernal Heights

16. Rosa Parks GE and JB

1501 O'Farrell @ Hollis, Western Addition

17. Sheridan GE

431 Capitol @ Lobos, Ingleside/Oceanview

18. Sunnyside GE

250 Foerster @ Flood, Sunnyside

19. Sutro GE

235 12th @ Clement, Richmond District

20. Visitacion Valley GE

55 Schwerin @ Visitacion, Visitacion Valley

General education – the standard program.
Spanish immersion
Mandarin immersion
Japanese bilingual – this is not the same as immersion, in which instruction starts out entirely in the “target language,” but the program includes bilingual-bicultural education for part of the day.