OUSD grass valley elementary and Carl Munck

I used to live in the Carl Munck zone.  The problem with Carl Munck is that there aren’t many elementary age kids living in the school zone, and the kids that do live there attend other OUSD schools or private schools.  When we toured it, we were told that only 5% of the students live in the catchment area.  The principal said that she feels like she is building a school to help underprivileged kids escape from gang violence.  

Most parents do not consider Carl Munck to be a “hills school”, and most people have never even heard of it.  It is located in a safe and beautiful setting.  It’s worth touring the school if you are considering it.

I have been trying to find an answer to this same question for months now.  I went and toured Carl B. Munck and met with the Principal. She indicated that the school is a commuter school and that local children typically do not attend. I got the impression because it is right off the freeways parents who commute to Oakland and San Francisco for jobs drop their kids at this school. Local children are sent to private. Are you zoned for Carl B. Munck or Grass Valley? I could chat about this for a really long time. Let me know if you are interested as I have been trying to connect with local parents.

My child attended both. We started at Carl Munck and transferred to Grass Valley. Both schools have a very high composition of students that are not from the local neighborhood. Many of the students are from areas like East Oakland where the parents are wanting to escape the schools in those neighborhoods. When you visit both you will see that the facilities are suffering from lack of funds and unfortunately the PTAs for both do not have the same deep pocket books that the hills schools do in the northern part of Oakland. Both also have very large average class sizes.

On the surface the schools look very similar. but between the two I would, by far, recommend Grass Valley over Carl Munck. I could give you a very long list of why we left Carl Munck but instead here is what I really like about Grass Valley

• They figured out the formula for teaching the kids how to respect themselves and others. All of the bad behaviors, bad words, attitude that our kiddo would pick up at school totally disappeared after we made the transfer to Grass Valley.
• The teachers and staff are not burned out, they really care about the kids and are doing their best with the limited resources they have. I have been impressed with every staff member I have met. I also get the sense the staff are all friends and have a lot of mutual respect for each other which in turn creates a great community at the school.
• Their PTA is growing. They may not have a ton of funds, but they have heart. The school community outreach director is head of the PTA and Dad's Club and is a strong leader for the school. They throw a few events each year (pancake breakfast, fish fry, holiday party, harvest festival) that seem to be just as much about bringing the community together for fun as it is about fundraising.
•  Coach Justin leads the after school program. He and his team have put together a great program that builds character, teaches the kids new things and gets them moving in fun ways.
• Anytime my child had academic or behavioral needs to be addressed my voice was heard and supportive solutions were proposed by staff and administrators.
• There are adults available to my child when he needs it - I can list at least 4 different adults that my kiddo feels comfortable going to at any time to seek help for emotional support.
• I wouldn't say that they have a super robust arts program, but I've seen Grass Valley do more with their funding than other schools.