Sankofa United Elementary Reviews
Hello,
We are planning on moving to the Rockridge neighborhood mid-school year (January 2022). We're hoping to enroll our children in public school and have been informed that once we have an address that the school district will place us in a neighborhood school based on open spaces available. We have heard good things about Chabot, Peralta, and Hillcrest, but have read not so great things about Sankofa. We were hoping to talk to some parents (instead of just on-line rating reviews) about their experience with Sankofa (both good and bad)
Thanks so much!
Sep 14, 2021
Parent Replies
We have a child in K at Sankofa United. Our neighborhood schools are both Peralta and SU, SU was our first choice for multiple reasons. Closer to home, small classes (less than 20 students, they are undersubscribed), great facilities (huge outdoor space with at least 4 outdoor classrooms, basketball courts etc.), and diverse. SU offers a music program with a dedicated music teacher, and a gardening program. Their onsite after school program is free and runs until 6p. Admin team seems great so far, and able to compensate for some of the mess coming from the district. PTA focuses on community building, not fundraising. New this year: full time arts instructor/ artist in residence from MOCHA (Museum of Children's Art). Obviously it's only week 6, so our experience is pretty limited. My child seems happy, made lots of new friends and seems to be learning. Happy to talk/ answer any questions -- just send me a PM.
https://oaklandnorth.net/2019/12/18/a-tale-of-two-schools-what-merging-…
granted the article is 2 years old but you may find it helpful
Hi! I'm the president of the PTA at Sankofa United and would be delighted to talk with you. Sankofa United is an amazing school with a truly diverse student body and leadership, and across the board is very focused on community-building and inclusion of all students and families. The principal, other site leadership, and teachers are extraordinarily tenured and caring. I feel very lucky to have landed there. Really--please reach out if you'd like to chat.
I think this article does a nice job of summarizing the spirit of Sankofa: https://oaklandside.org/2021/02/25/sankofa-kaiser-merger-coronavirus-pa…
(Also...as a side note...There are a lot of great district-run elementary schools in Oakland, and a lot of them don't pop up on those lists of "top" schools. Emerson Elementary is another example of a North Oakland school that's doing some amazing work and has great leadership, but I hear from a lot of happy parents there. There are others--I name Emerson just because it's feasible the district would suggest that as a local school for your kids.)
Just a note that most of the online reviews (and all of the state test scores) are for Sankofa Academy, which is different from Sankofa United Elementary, the current school at this location. Sankofa Academy merged with Kaiser Elementary to create Sankofa United in 2020, and has a different principal (came from Kaiser) with a mix of students and teachers from the two schools that merged. Hopefully current families will weigh in, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to any online reviews from before Fall 2020, since they are reviewing a different school. (The reviews of Kaiser from that period are equally relevant since many teachers came from there.) One big thing that Sankofa United has going for it this year is that the class sizes are very small compared to the other three schools you listed.