Should we stick it out with BUSD?

We had this debate last year after the horrendous distance learning during the spring semester in 2020. We decided to stick it out at our local public school because we believe in public schools and we did not want to contribute to depleting resources for our public schools. With our departure, our local school loses yet another middle class family who donates to the PTA. However, after a whole year of distance learning that feels mostly like a waste of time; the uncertainty about school opening in the fall; lack of trust in schools' ability to keep the schools clean and sanitized adequately; and concerns over the learning gap that will force teachers to teach to the bottom to try to catch up kids, we have decided that we need to switch to a private school. The thought of paying $30k/year is daunting and makes me feel sick to the stomach sometimes, but we do not want our child to hate school. They did not enjoy school pre-pandemic, and they now scream that school is stupid. So, it's time. They may need to take out a huge student loan to attend college, but they need to start developing good academic habits and love of learning. So, we will pay the cost now. We feel bad 

Do you rent or own?  How easy/difficult would it be to replicate the things you like about Sylvia Mendez in another school?  I'd start to make an objective/quantifiable list of the factors in play and think about which ones can be controlled and which ones can't.  You could try one of the neighboring public schools in a different district but there is no guarantee that you won't have some of the same problems.

If you were happy with Sylvia Mendez before, then I personally think you should stick it out. I believe the district is making every effort to be fully open in the fall and in fact (as I'm sure you know) will be offering 5 days a week starting April 12th. We are also a SM family and have been pretty disappointed in the distance learning program, to be honest, but still plan on continuing to send our son there. We believe in public education, don't want to spend our money on private school (would rather save for college), and still believe in the value of a bilingual education. Good luck with your decision -- it has not been an easy year and I think all the options for parents (and educators) have been super crappy. Here's to better days ahead!

Mostly likely school will be full time next fall. I wouldn't worry about that. It will probably be mandated by the state at that point.  As a person that went to private schools in the bay area my whole life, I personally don't think it is worth it. To me it is more important to have my child be in a diverse school as it is the most anti-racist action I can take as a parent. And my annual donation goes a lot farther that 30,000 tuition would. Public vs private safety measures are all Safety Kabuki at this point. Don't mistake paying for school with safety. 

Hoping by now you've seen the news that BUSD elementary schools are resuming in-person, 5 day a week education in April! Opt-in or Opt-out, this provides me with a lot of hope for the fall.

This is such a tricky question. I am also a big believer in public school education. Both of our daughters attend public charter schools in Oakland that have really been amazingly great at pivoting for distance learning. Our 4th grader attends ASCEND and our 7th grader goes to EBIA now, although she could've stayed at ASCEND because that school is tk-8. (But she wanted a "real middle school" experience after 6 years at ASCEND... Ironic, right? So much for that.) EBIA is 6-7-8 on their lower school campus and they have a HS as well.

Anyway, both of these schools have done much, much better than all the others I've heard of in OUSD, BUSD, private schools, and even the wonderful little school in Canyon (where residents all over the East Bay are allowed to attend; it's a public K-8). Our daughters are both getting REAL learning- in-depth, complete with PE, art, science, etc. And it's full-day! I know other kids who're attending only a couple hours of online school each day and the rest is "independent" learning, which I imagine is super-hard for parents to be able to constantly supervise and supplement, etc. 

That being said, we're ALL dying for them to be back IN school and we're probably going to have to wait until fall as well. As far as I know, ASCEND won't be in-person again until the fall. EBIA might start trying some experimental small, outdoor groups sooner for families that want that... We do! (fingers crossed)

For us, there's no decision to be made because both of their schools are doing stellar jobs- they just can't fulfill all of their needs, of course. But for you, if distance-learning has been crappy then I can see why you might want to make a change. However, if your kid's school was acceptable before the pandemic then I would suggest waiting it out. We will go back to "normal" (ish) in about 6 months or so (probably). If you bail now and it ends up not being as good of a choice as you thought it'd be, then you're going to be kicking yourself in 6 months.

Too bad you can't just pull out your child for "independent study" and take a 6-month road trip with them. This would be a perfect time to become a temporary nomad and learn about our country by actually visiting all those cool places... That's what I want to be doing right now! But you probably have to work and don't have the extra time or extra money to fund such as adventure... haha

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about ASCEND or EBIA. I love our schools, but I'm also happy to share their weaknesses as well.

Full-time instruction is resuming in BUSD on april 1 of this THIS year.

OUSD parent here.  I have heard that BUSD will be returning 5 days/week at the end of March, so this may be moot for you at this point.  In any case, I just wanted to say that we have been having a lot of the same thoughts about private school over here and have decided to stick it out through 5th grade (1 more year).  We are strong believers in public education, but are just worn out from dealing with OUSD.  We have concerns about being able to afford private school, but have decided to do what we can to make it happen.

Full-time instruction for BUSD Elementary schools is resuming in a couple weeks, on March 29th. Not sure why you would think it won't (also) be full-time in Fall '21? We had initially heard that going back on 3/29/21 would just be a hybrid model (2 days/week on-site), but the Superintendent's last letter on March 8th indicated we are now offered a 5 day/week schedule of on-campus learning. 

Fight for schools to reopen! There is no excuse to allow distance learning to continue. The science is clear - schools should fully reopen. Please don't give up, for the sake of your kids, for kids who don't have other options, and for the future of public education.

We are in OUSD, so this isn’t directly relevant to your question. But, we are VERY envious of BUSD that will be welcoming back students 5 days a week!!!!!! OUSD is offering measly two 2.5 hour afternoons a week. This triggered a hot debate between moving to a different school district or paying for a private school. I began looking at Zillow for houses in Berkeley, Albany,  Lamorinda, and Marin.

After dealing with the chaos and uncertainty every year and then COVID-19, we are fed up with OUSD. We are exhausted beyond belief. We supported the teachers through the strike which was hard as we were suddenly thrown into juggling full time work and remote working. Little did we know that those weeks were a piece of cake and just a taste of what is to come except it’s 10 times harder now because we can’t even share care with others.

Public schools were acceptable enough before the pandemic. Our child didn’t love the school, which by the way is one of the most popular elementary schools in Oakland, and we always felt it was a good enough option for lower grades and we would be better off saving money for private middle school, college and retirement while praying that the child ends up choosing Oakland Tech HS (our zoned school). We felt good about supporting public education and became active in PTA.

However, with guilt and tails between our legs, we have decided to leave OUSD and will be enrolling our child in a private school. My mental health can’t handle the way public schools work anymore and my child cannot handle online schooling any longer. It’s a huge sacrifice for us financially and we discussed with our child that this means we will have less money for vacations, toys, sushi dinners. That second bathroom we wanted will have to wait — 3 people sharing 1 bathroom while being home full time hasn’t been easy. A dream to have a hot tub in the backyard isn’t going to happen. The overdue HVAC upgrade and roof replacement will also have to wait.

you mentioned that you loved your school before the pandemic, So I think sticking with it seems to make sense. If you didn’t like it and it’s causing you a high level of distress, changing to another option may make sense. 

I think CA schools will be back full time in the fall. But, things are uncertain with the pandemic and our child requested to go to school in person. OUSD is not making any commitment about the fall and I fear that prolonged and difficult negotiations will ensue between the district and the union causing uncertainty into the fall as was the case for distance learning in the fall of 2020. We gave OUSD a chance for 4 years and I absolutely hate change. But, we are leaving OUSD while we continue to discuss whether we should move out of Oakland all together or not.