Anna Yates Elementary School

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April 2015

Dear all,
my husband and I, currently based at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, will work at UC
Berkeley from August 2015 till June 2016.
We are moving with our kids (8 and 10) who currently do not speak English.
We might have found a nice place to rent at Emeryville but wonder about the elementary school
Anna Yates.
We would really appreciate to hear personal opinion from parents of kids attending this school.

Many thanks for your valuable help.

Cheers,
Géraldine

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Hi there - I am an educational therapist who works with different students at public
schools in the Emeryville/Oakland area. While I think that Anna Yates has a good
staff and principal, it might not be the best school for your children. It can feel a
bit chaotic - especially at recess time. I often heard teachers yelling, and the
cafeteria scene is overwhelming for me. You may want to look for a smaller school,
with a better support staff especially if your children don't speak the language.

Just my 2 cents!
S. L. P. 

 

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Nov 2010

We are looking at Anna Yates as our neighborhood public school. My daughter would start K in 2011, but we are not entirely convinced yet. Could anybody give a feedback about the morning + afterschool program? What was your experience with the Kindergarten teachers? What does the school offer in regards to PE/art/music? How is parent involvement? Reviews for the upper grades and general functioning of the school are also much appreciated. Thanks! -Emeryville parent

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Anna Yates has been very good for our daughter (started K this year). They have a full-time, very active art teacher, who even comes to campus some weekends in order to allow children to work in the studio. Even kinders get PE, and they also have activities over at the Rec. The Rec offered swimming lessons during the Fall.

There are some things that I would like to see improved, but that are, I believe, improving. The first would be communication to parents. It's difficult to make sure that your kindergartner gets home with everything in her backpack, so I'd like more consistent communication so that, with multiple attempts, we get the fliers, reminders, etc. I'd like to see a more formalized way for parents to interact outside of the PTO meetings--many of us are there on the playground during the morning dropoff. The school principal is on the grounds, watching the kids and talking with parents almost every morning, and she is very invested in the success of the school.

I would like less homework for our kindergartner. But actually, my husband doesn't agree with me on this. They get homework M-Th (not a lot--15 mins?), and often get it done at the Rec with the teen leaders they work with. I'd like the Rec to spend their time doing activities rather than homework, but that's just me. At Rec they also work on art, foodcraft, and other projects in addition to playtime. My daughter loves the leaders at Rec. She often doesn't want to leave when I come to pick her up. The teens that work there are simply wonderful with the kinders. Good energy, patience, and real kindness with the little kids. Responsible, thorough--the kind of young people that have a real talent for this. I'm grateful to them. We don't use the morning program, but we see the morning Rec kids walked over to the school (with absolute diligence about safety) and then they go to the cafeteria for breakfast--as many of the AY kids do.

I think more and more E'villers are sending their children to AY, and I believe there's good reason for this. The facilities are also very nice--we have a small library, a wonderful school garden and a science lab. I'd be happy to talk to you about any of this further, address specific questions, or try to connect you with other Kinder parents. jacqueline

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We live in Oakland on the Emeryville border and had an easy time getting an interdistrict transfer to Anna Yates. Our daughter is in kindergarten and is generally loving it. We looked into Peralta and NOCCS -- didn't get into NOCCS and got into Peralta the 3rd week of school and decided to keep her at Anna Yates because she was already settled and happy. We kept her there because the school is well run, feels safe, has a very down to earth community and family feel to it, we can walk to it, it's much more diverse racially and socioeconomically than either Peralta or NOCCS, won't be facing the same degree of budget shortfall as Oakland (which needs to cut 13% next year), and has more resources through the Emery Ed Fund (which raises money from local businesses so that the PTO isn't as responsible for supplementing the budget as it is at Peralta or NOCCS). Most PTO's at high performing schools in Oakland raise between $300,000 and $400,000 per year, which is great but which means a lot of work and financial contributions from parents. Emeryville has also maintained class size reduction in grades K-3 so our daughter's kindergarten class has 18 kids in it. It's a district with a good amount of resources -- librarian, art teacher, garden teacher, science teacher, school nurse -- all of which are sadly now considered extras in many schools, so are either cut or have to be paid for by the PTO.

I have mixed feelings about the curriculum and classroom management approach -- the curriculum is pretty prescribed and regimented, which I don't love, but our daughter is already learning to read and seems to be responding well to the structure. The classroom management approach in her class is less collaborative than I'd like, but again she seems to feel contained by the structure and isn't herself complaining about it.

The SES of the parents is very mixed, but it feels like one of the only schools I visited with a decent sized proportion of middle class parents. There are probably 3 kids from upper middle class families in each of the two kindergartens I know well. There are a lot of parents on the playground in the morning, particularly from the kindergarten classes, and parent involvement in our class has been high (on a recent fieldtrip there were 8 parent chaperones, from a class of 18).

These are entirely subjective impressions and I'd be happy to talk more via email if you'd like. Leslie

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January 2005
 

Does anyone have any information on Anna Yates Elementary school in Emeryville (i.e., general impressions, parent involvement, special programs)? We've heard of the poor reputation and are concerned about sending our child to this school. Also, if we choose to enroll in another district, how hard is it to obtain a transfer? Any information would be appreciated.

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Anna Yates is a terrific elementary school, and it's really a shame that there's still such a different perception out there. My daughter started kindergarten at Anna Yates this year, has been having a great time and is learning a lot. Her weekly curriculum, in addition to literacy and math, includes earth sciences, PE, art, computer lab, and library time. Here are just a few reasons why I'm happy having my child at Anna Yates:

1) Emery Unified is not working under a constrained budget. Two years ago the City of Emeryville passed a parcel tax that has contributed extensively. As a result, Anna Yates has, for example, a newly renovated library and a full-time librarian just for the elementary school (the same has happened at the secondary school). The district has also hired math and literacy coaches who work exclusively to train teachers in the district.

2) Emery Unified is supported by the non-profit Emery Education Foundation, which enables the district to excel in areas such as math, science, and the arts with grants from among others, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Bay Area Coalition for Essential Schools. See 'www.emeryed.org/programs.php' for more information about their support for Anna Yates and the Emery Secondary School.

3) Anna Yates is a teaching school, so graduate students in education from local universities are in the classroom with the credentialed teachers. That means the ratio of adults to kids in my daughter's kindergarten classroom is 1-10.

4) Anna Yates works hand-in-hand with the City of Emeryville's Recreation Department to provide before- and after-school care (from 7:30am to 6:00pm) in their brand new facility located one block from the Anna Yates playground. Rec Dept. counselors walk the kids to school in the morning, and pick them up when school lets out. The after-school program makes specific time for doing homework, and they provide additional activities including sports and environmental programs.

5) Anna Yates has a fully funded computer lab with a full time computer teacher.

6) Last year Emery Unified had the most improved test scores of any district in the State.

7) There is an active Parent/Teacher organization, and parents from each grade are active on the School Site Council.

8) Anna Yates has an extensive visual and performing arts program including: Artists from the Kala Art Institute teaching weekly art classes (www.kala.org), dance instruction from Nancy Karp modern dance troupe (www.nancykarp.org), a jazz band program beginning in 4th grade led by renown Bay Area musician James Carraway, an animated movie project on-site at Pixar for 5th graders, and a Shakespearian drama program for 6th graders (this year is Macbeth). You can read the entire Visual and Performing Arts plan at: 'http://www.emeryusd.k12.ca.us/publicdocuments/eusd_vpa_plan_03-04.pdf'

9) The kindergarten day goes from 8:30am to 1:30pm, but there is an optional after-school enrichment program for kindergartners extending until 3:00 that includes international dance or cross-curriculum science and math.

10) Ms. Allen, the principal at Anna Yates is on the playground every morning when I drop my daughter at school, and I speak with her often. Last year the district came out from under State control, and hired a new superintendent who is hands-on and very accessible to parents. The school board is made up of parents and people active in the Emeryville community. They are also very accessible.

11) Each teacher has a direct phone line and email access in his or her classroom. I am in regular email contact with my daughter's teacher about her school progress, and more than once her teacher has called me directly from her classroom because she had a question or my daughter wasn't feeling well. We don't have to rely on office staff to get messages to each other.

This is really a small slice of what's going on at Emery Unified. You can find more information at: www.emeryusd.k12.ca.us, www.emeryed.org , and www.emeryednet.org. The question should not be how to transfer out of the district, but how to get in from other local districts. I would be happy to discuss Anna Yates with you further. Feel free to email me. Ruth

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