Peralta vs. Chabot Elementary

I went to Chabot as a child (many years ago!) and my kids went to or are at Peralta.  I think most people would agree that both are great schools with high test scores and very involved parent communities that do a lot of fundraising to provide extras (library, music, art) that are no longer covered by basic education funding.  Both are great for walking to if you live in the neighborhood.  Chabot has nicer facilities (some brand new and beautiful) and much more expansive grounds, while Peralta is small and intimate with colorful art and gardens.  Chabot is larger, with 573 kids while Peralta has 329.  I think Chabot currently has a much more affluent population, while Peralta is much more economically diverse.  Peralta also seems more ethnically diverse, though it gets less so as the neighborhood continues to gentrify and as fewer out-of-district families are accepted due to more neighborhood families attending.  I can't speak to specific programs at Chabot, but Peralta has a very intensive arts focus (including 2 artists-in-residence) that permeates most subjects (even science!), and that was a hugely positive aspect of Peralta for us.  I loved Chabot as a kid and was initially bummed my kids were not in that district, but we have loved Peralta.  Finally, Chabot's most-excellent principal of 9 years, Jonathan Mayer, left to be principal at Claremont Middle School 3 years ago (where, by the way, he is rocking it), and Peralta's rock-star principal of 20 years, Rosette Costello, just retired, so both schools are probably going to be experiencing some similar adjustments to new leadership.  Overall, they're both great choices, but hopefully these details and what you glean from other responses will help you choose.

Congrats on your move to Oakland! We live in Rockridge, and our kids attend Chabot. We have a number of friends whose kids are at Peralta. I can tell you that Chabot only fills about 65 - 70% of its space with in-neighborhood families. So if you move into the neighborhood, you will definitely get in to Chabot. My understanding is that that has not been the case in recent years with Peralta. I have heard of neighborhood families failing to get in, because the school isn't big enough to accommodate everyone in the neighborhood. (Hopefully, some current Peralta parents will chime in with the latest intel, but that's what I heard as of two years ago.) 

Chabot is a large school (~570 kids) with many fantastic programs - art, library, music, science, kindergarten Spanish (and optional, for-a-fee Spanish in grades 1-5). It has an incredibly dedicated community of parents. And I have been impressed with the way the current administration remains focused on in-classroom equity and on creating an inclusive community at the school. There are a number of truly excellent teachers at Chabot as well; I'm genuinely blown away by some of them. And ALL the teachers at Chabot are solid. 

My one complaint about the school is that I wish there were more emphasis placed on social/emotional well-being on the yard. I think the school does a good job of this in the classroom, but our child has had some struggles on the yard, and I wish that there were more resources available so that we could have more caring adults on the yard at recess, tracking what's going on with the kids. (To be clear, the yard staff is great. They are just wildly outnumbered by the kids on the yard and can't really track everything that goes on.)

My other complaint about Chabot is really a complaint about OUSD as a whole: it is not as diverse as I would like. (I think Peralta is pretty similar in demographic terms. Possibly even less diverse than Chabot these days. You can check numbers on OUSD's website.) Oakland has never truly integrated its schools, and it's pretty shocking to me that in this day and age, our schools are so segregated, by both race and class. To be honest, if I had to do it all over again, I would probably live in Berkeley, where the schools are all socioeconomically integrated, and the elementary class sizes are smaller. Sure, you may or may not get into your closest school in Berkeley, but they won't send you all the way across town either. We have lots of friends in Berkeley, and their public schools sound great. In terms of neighborhood, we are talking about a difference of a few blocks from Rockridge into Berkeley. Maybe worth considering? 

Feel free to get in touch if you have specific questions about Chabot. I have been a very involved parent at the school and don't mind sharing what I've learned over the past few years. Thanks. 

My daughter was at Peralta last year and I had a foster daughter at Chabot a number of years ago. if you are in the Peralta neighborhood, you do have priority, but you are not guaranteed to get in. Chabot is considered easier to get into. During the first weeks of school, historically, most parents on the waiting list have been able to get into Peralta, it is just that many aren't willing to make the switch so late in the game.

The biggest difference between the schools, from what I can tell, is that Peralta is a much smaller school. Of course, there are positives an minuses that go along with that. We made a lot of friends easily at Peralta, but it is a smaller pool of kids. There is a serious focus on art and the gardens at Peralta, which we loved. By the way, Peralta's principal of, I think 20 years, did leave this year so there is some transition.

The advantages of the schools are engaged parent volunteers and lots of extras-like art, music. Some disadvantages of both schools are that the socio-economic diversity is limited  and neither are the most progressive of schools. They both have a "culture of homework" and there is more worksheet/rote learning than I expected.