Need help finding a school for our bi-racial son!
Hi! I am on an East Bay tour of schools, looking for our son, who identifies as Black. Any thoughts on Bentley, Redwood Heights (OUSD), Grass Valley (OUSD) or Glenview (OUSD)? This whole thing has been super stressful. He will be entering 3rd grade in the fall.
Jan 27, 2025
Parent Replies
My Son is a sophomore at Bentley but went to Escuela Bilingue internacional from preschool to 8th grade. If you havent checked out EBI its an amazing school with a diverse faculty representing over 20 countries filled with POC. They recently opened up their program so teach Spanish at any grade. My sons middle school was the first to trial the LAT - language acquisition program for incoming 6th and 7th graders and by the end of their 8th grade year the kids were pretty fluent after 2-3 years of consistent Spanish. Its pretty cool that they opened it up to all grades and I cant say enough great things in how they prepared my 2 kids (we're Filipino and we're usually not represented in the independent school community and we just felt embraced by this school community!) happy to chat if you have additional questions!
Our daughter went to Bentley in Lafayette for high school. It was surprisingly very diverse, and I suspect the elementary school is similar but I am not sure. Our daughter is mixed middle eastern and white, but had several mixed black friends and classmates, as well as those of several other ethnic backgrounds. I think Head Royce is also fairly diverse. I do not know about the public schools.
I recommend looking into charter schools. My daughter (also black, in 3rd grade now) went to a small charter school in Oakland for K-2 and now goes to Berkeley Maynard Academy (in Oakland). I’ve been really happy with her experience there.
The school is free and anyone who lives in California is eligible to attend.