Greenleaf

I'm afraid I don't have experience at MLA but my second kid is in TK at Greenleaf right now. While their Spanish immersion program doesn't technically start till K, since the majority of students are Spanish speaking much of his classroom time has a Spanish component. The main teacher only speaks English but teaching aid is bilingual and does at least 30 minutes of Spanish instruction a day. My child had also been in a Spanish immersion preschool and he has continued to increase the letters and sounds he knows in Spanish along with his English pre-literacy skills. And if your kid is there for TK, you've automatically got a spot there for K. My oldest is in second grade there now and we've been very pleased with the school and the education they've both gotten. Would recommend to other families looking for bilingual education in OUSD. Happy to chat more about the details. 

(I believe that Manzanita SEED also has TK but I'm not sure how their program is set up and don't have personal experience with it.)

I hesitate to write this as I know what works for one ADHD kid might not work for all and that you said that a traditional environment will not work for your kid, but I just thought I'd share that my two kids (one with diagnosed ADHD and anxiety and one with suspected ADHD, both of who present pretty differently) are at Greenleaf,  another OUSD Spanish immersion school and we've had a good experience so far there. My oldest, a second grader, has been on a 504 for a while and were just now moving to a IEP, mostly so he can get OT at school for disgraphia. The process of supporting him through zoom kindergarten and reentry into first grade was full of support,  understanding and creative problem solving by the teachers. They have tried hard to help us as we've struggled to find timely outside therapy and OT too. It's not been perfect but as a parent who worries about her kids who don't fit on traditional "good" or "easy" kid boxes, I've been grateful for Greenleaf. Happy to have you message me for more info if you feel like stating in OUSD might be possible at a different school.

We also looked at Spanish immersion schools in Oakland. I don't think there are any charter schools that offer that option.

While MLA and Manzanita SEED were also on our list, I'd encourage you to also look at International Community School and Greenleaf as well. (We've now got two kids at Greenleaf and really pleased for a variety of reasons.) ICS was by far the school I was most impressed with when I toured a few years ago but we ended up ranking MLA and Greenleaf higher because both of them go through middle school, which gives our kids more years of dual language education.

Welcome (soon) to Oakland! My son is soon to be a first grader at Greenleaf. We're also currently waitlisted (again) at Melrose. I can share some about our experience with waitlists and with Greenleaf.

Waitlists: last year for kindergarten we were waitlisted for Greenleaf. I think somewhere in the upper teens or low twenties to begin with. We were offered a spot pretty early on in the summer. We are not in the neighborhood and had nothing to bump us up the list. Melrose last year we were in the thirties, move up a bit but not significantly. This year for first grade there we were 11 and are now 9. I'm guessing we won't get in but we'll see.

We have had a mixed but over all positive experience at Greenleaf this last crazy year. I think this next year will be even better with a return to in person school. My son is fluent in Spanish and English and had done Spanish preschool. Most of the kids at Greenleaf are bilingual to begin with and live in the neighborhood around the school. Our teacher was excellent and creative. She obviously loves what she does. The other families, from what we could tell online, are committed to learning and supporting their kids. This is no small feat when doing zoom kindergarten. When in person school resumed my child really struggled with classroom expectations. He is high energy, resistant to change and smart. His teacher and the other school staff really came along beside us, have several really productive and helpful meetings. I was impressed with how well they all seemed to understand him, their creative ideas for addressing what was happening and their commitment to making school a positive, nurturing experience for my kid. The only negative, which may be the confluence of the pandemic and the principal being out parental leave, was that communication from the school was really poor. We often got information very late or in part. Trying to juggle multiple kids and work that was really difficult. I'm hopeful that some of that will be ironed when we return to campus and a more regular school year.

I would recommend Greenleaf. We've been happy there so far. I think my kid is being taught well, nurtured and welcomed. We're on the waitlist for Melrose again because it's within walking distance of our house, but I'll be happy with our kid remaining there.

Just on a side note, if you're looking for another Spanish immersion school to get on the waitlist for International Community School seems great. The only reason we didn't put that at the top of our list was that is only goes through 5th grade. But I was really, really impressed with them when I toured (more than Greenleaf). You might want to check them out too.