The school search: The not-short list of favored SFUSD schools

January 13, 12:48 PMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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  Is the hidden gem on this list?

An obvious solution to the angst of applying for San Francisco public school is to list schools that aren't oversubcribed. For years the notion that "there are only five good schools in SFUSD" ruled, but only the poorly informed give that any credibility now. But now it looks like there are more promising schools than even the savviest parent might have thought.

A reader of both the  SFKFiles blog  and the  Parents for Public Schools  listserve has compiled all the schools various posters mentioned listing on their applications for next fall. By definition, participants in discussion on both those forums are concerned, involved and informed, so it's a good sign for a school when those parents are seeking it out.

That list of schools is below. I know it seems unproductive to post it the week after the SFUSD first-round lottery deadline -- the list came from comments posted right up to the deadline -- but actually it's potentially valuable to applicants who don't get one of their choices in the first round.

In addition, there were schools that sounded to me at least worth checking out that weren't on this initial list, so I applied a simple pair of criteria and added six more names. My criteria were: located In a thriving, non-scary neighborhood; and achieving  an Academic Performance Index score over 800. Also, a veteran PPS member pointed out that her kids' highly regarded school, Moscone, wasn't listed either. So the additional names are at the end of the original list.

1. Alamo
2. Alice Fong Yu
3. Alvarado General Ed (GE)
4. Alvarado Spanish Immersion (SN)
5. Argonne
6. Buena Vista
7. Claire Lilienthal GE
8. Claire Lilienthal Korean Immersion
9. Clarendon GE
10. Clarendon Japanese Bilingual-Bicultural Program (JBBP)
11. Commodore Sloat
12. Creative Arts Charter School
13. Daniel Webster SN
14. Dianne Feinstein
15. Fairmount
16. Francis Scott Key
17. Frank McCoppin
18. George Peabody
19. Glen Park
20. Grattan
21. Harvey Milk
22. Jefferson
23. Jose Ortega GE
24. Jose Ortega Mandarin Immersion (MN)
25. Lafayette
26. Lakeshore
27. Lawton
28. Leonard Flynn GE
29. Leonard Flynn SN
30. Marshall
31. McKinley
32. Miraloma
33. Monroe SN
34. New Traditions
35. Paul Revere SN
36. RL Stevenson
37. Rooftop
38. Rosa Parks JBBP
39. SF Community
40. Sherman
41. Starr King MN
42. Sunnyside
43. Sunset
44. Sutro
45. Ulloa
46. West Portal GE
47. West Portal Cantonese Immersion
48. Yick Wo

Add Moscone Elementary, as mentioned above.

And here are the six additional that met my off-the-cuff criteria, with neighborhood and API:

• John Yehall Chin, North Beach -- 869
• Garfield, North Beach -- 867
• Gordon Lau, Chinatown -- 836
• Longfellow, Outer Mission -- 825
• Jean Parker, North Beach -- 846
• Spring Valley, Russian/Nob Hill -- 833

I'm well aware that API isn't the be-all and end-all, and there are great schools with APIs far lower than 800. I was just using it as shorthand for a list aimed at parents new to the process, the kind who are more likely to use it as their first criterion.

And I still don't think this is a complete list of schools that are at least worth checking out -- not that I'm eager to fuel the frenzy for parents who feel they have to visit 30 schools. I'd just like parents to know they don't have to go nuts thinking they must compete for a tiny number of select schools when there are so many good options in our district.