Glenview Elementary Experiences and Learning Environment

Glenview, as you probably know it's currently being torn down and re-built, so the school is at a temporary location at the old Santa Fe school in North Oakland. We're nearing the end of the first year at the new location and considering the changes, it's honestly gone better than I would have expected. Glenview's strengths are the parent community involvement and teacher retention rates.

My son went to Montessori pre-school and my daughter went to a play-based pre-school, but in general our experiences were about the same. It's an adjustment in that it's bigger, more kids, more noise, and more socio-economic diversity than we saw at either of our pre-schools. Ms. Toller, our principal, is great. She doesn't try to put on appearances of who she is or how the school is, but I feel like she works hard and listens to concerns sincerely. I went to her when I had concerns about my son's social emotional adjustments to school and she responded right away with suggestions and even followed up on his progress. The teachers? I think you will find some are amazing and some not as much. In general they do a good job in trying to work with the kids and their different learning styles. They certainly appreciate parent participation and response -- and I think that has worked for us in working with our son's needs. What I've found at Glenview is that we've gotten out of it what put into it. They also really strive to make sure all kids know that they are included. We made big efforts with our work schedules to help out in the classroom as much as we could. It gave us a little insight to the dynamic of the classroom, the various students, and the teachers. My husband spent much of kindergarten volunteering for an hour one day per week after drop off -- just helping with reading groups. He loved it and we were able to access the teacher more and consequently work with them on concerns.

I will say that the things that have not been so great at Glenview have been that parents have lost touch with the school and each other a bit due to the bussing. Most of the students bus from Edna Brewer Middle School to the Santa Fe site. At the old location, parents would check in with the teachers, staff, principal, and each other much more in the mornings. Efforts are being made and it's coming back a bit, but it's not the same as walking up the block to your neighborhood school Our new school won't be open until July 2019 - another frustration. The other issues that some parents have had is that they don't care for the neighborhood in North Oakland. The neighborhood isn't as clean or probably as safe as the old Glenview location, but Ms. Toller has taken quite a number of measures to make sure students are safe. Glenview has also acquired a few students from that neighborhood -- some of whom struggle a bit more with school. Some parents have felt that this diversity has affected the learning. I take issue with that, because I think the teachers, staff, and principal have done an impressive job in trying to make this change and transition smooth. A teacher admitted to me that this past year has been challenging with some of the neighborhood students. But in the same conversation, she also said that the teachers and principal have been discussing better ways of integrating the new students into Glenview. Overall, we're happy!

My daughter is a first grader there. Kindergarten was wonderful, the teachers were very engaged and very experienced but both retired and the K teachers are new this year, I believe. It's very "by the book" curriculum, lots of worksheets, homework every night etc - but that's more about the district than the school. Principal Toller is great, she's constantly reposnding to parent concerns on the school community forums and she's very warm. However, her hands are tied on so many things with district budget cuts, and it's only going to get worse...

Would like to add that Glenview Elem also makes a lot of efforts to have some really nice arts and music programs. My kids really enjoyed those.