School assignment when moving to Berkeley in the summer
Hi all, my family is relocating to Berkeley this summer from the Peninsula. We've read as much as we could find about school zones and assignments. We're curious: For folks who moved to Berkeley over the summer (or late in the enrollment process), are you willing to share which elementary school you were assigned to? Are there schools that consistently have more capacity than others? Do you know of families whose kids were assigned to schools outside their zone? We're prepared for our child to go wherever she's assigned. We're just not sure what to expect. We're looking to move to either Westbrae/North Berkeley Bart area or South Berkeley. So, for example, if Malcolm X tends to get a lot of late enrollees or something, that's helpful to know. Admissions wasn't able to share any info. Thanks for any guidance!
Parent Replies
Hi. I work in the district and my child attends a BUSD school. There’s not much insider information beyond what is on their website. You can begin your enrollment process as soon as you are actually living in Berkeley. Since you’ll be moving here in the summer, the main school assignments will already be done. There’s no way to plan for which school you’ll be assigned to because enrollment varies based on factors like siblings. So you’ll just have to rank your choices and hope for the best. They try to assign within zone first, and then outside zone. I’d really recommend ranking school in order of convenience— start time, proximity, commute, etc. Elementary school is pacing for a marathon. Good luck!
I wasn't in your exact position but have heard from many families in our neighborhood that were able to waitlist into the school they wanted if they didn't get assigned there originally. There is a lot of shifting around during the first few weeks of the school year. We are in the Northwest zone.
You shouldn't be assigned to a school outside your zone, but you can request one (we considered this since we are actually closest to one that's not in our zone). In this case you would just be prioritized behind all the families who are in that school's zone.
A few other things to consider: some schools have 8am and some have 9am start times, so try to pick one that works for your morning schedule; also living further away from a school might be a blessing in disguise if it gets you a spot on a bus. Kids can sit on the bus for over an hour in Berkeley, which is a long time for young kids... but on the other hand, free childcare, and I've heard the kids usually like it. We live too close to our school for a bus (<1.5 miles) and drop-offs are a pain. If you are considering afterschool care, this will not necessarily be at the same location as the school. Also you should not count on getting into the public aftercare, the waitlist is very long.