Hey, Could This Be a Hidden Gem?

Away out in the foggy Sunset District of San Francisco, there is a school no one ever talks about.

Its test scores are tops. It's in a pretty red brick building with Art Deco accents. So why aren't people lining up to get their kids into this school? Is it the fog and the remoteness of the Sunset District? No, that couldn't be it. The Big Three are out there too.

Then the doubts creep in. What's wrong with this school? Wait, wait: maybe this is one of those hidden gems we're supposed to be constantly looking for! And the closer I look at this school the more convinced I become that it really is a hidden gem.

Here's how I discovered it. When I searched on GreatSchools for all the middle schools, the True Hidden Gem showed up, right there near the top of the list, but I didn't see it for what it was. Why? Because no one I know talks about it and there were already too many schools on my list.

However, on the very last week of the touring season, I decided that I really had to make time to look at this school. I've been a tiny bit curious about it for years, but never made the time to go check it out. It was now or never.

Alex and I show up frazzled from all the school tours we've been on and not exactly eager for another one. I try to block out thoughts of how much work I'm missing. Alex says he's missing his spelling test at school. I notice that there are only a handful of other parents on the tour, unlike the usual throngs I've seen for the "hot" middle schools.  I hope this is worth it.

I perk up when I see how clean and orderly the place is. In fact, it's the neatest, cleanest school I've ever set foot in. All the student work on the walls is, without exception, tidy, well-proportioned, detailed. Are the teachers hired based upon their ability to train students to produce neat work and to create immaculate bulletin boards? Do they have an art director on staff?

Our guide hands out packets of school information and I am particularly impressed with the pages from the PTA listing their accomplishments. It's the first time I've noticed the PTA distributing such a list to touring parents, and what a list it is. To name a handful of their accomplishments, last year they:

• completed work on a new play structure (this is a K-8 school)

• completed a mural of endangered species

• started an after-school foreign language program

• sponsored many events, including a haunted house at Halloween, two middle school dances, a spring carnival and several teacher appreciation events

• funded musical instruments, plays, field trips, dictionaries, study kits and a new copier

Having experienced several schools' PTAs over the years, I mentally tip my hat to the leadership of this group. Nice job communicating to prospective members! If Alex ends up at The True Hidden Gem, I definitely want to be involved with these high-functioning adults.

There is only one thing about this school that concerns me. I'm so enamored of The Big Three's music programs that I constantly compare them to all other schools and sadly the music program at The True Hidden Gem doesn't stack up. It's because it has a much smaller pool of students to draw upon, hence it offers fewer opportunities for the students to explore the literature of big bands, orchestras and jazz, fewer opportunities to perform, fewer opportunities to play or hear odd instruments. (At His Sister's Old School, my daughter fell in love with the tuba and the "bari sax," the instruments the cool geeky kids played in her section. She played trombone.)

Here are some other notable qualities of The True Hidden Gem:

• A free after-school enrichment program for fourth- through eighth-graders

• An artist-in-residence program

• A psychotherapist who works with kids and families twice a week

• Spanish and Mandarin classes after-school, for a fee

• Algebra for all eighth-graders

• Alliances with the California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium

• An API score higher than The Big Three's

• Recognition as a California Distinguished School in 1989, 1993 and 2002. That's one award for three decades running!

This little gem needs no polishing. It's ready to go. And you know what? I'm afraid of spoiling it by trumpeting it as a hidden gem. If the hordes come, the magic might be lost. Yes, I think I'll keep the secret. I'll describe it in such a way now that nobody will be able to figure out where it is. I'll throw an Invisibility Cloak over it.

As usual, Alex has his own opinion. Will we ever agree on a school?

Alex: "When I first came in I thought it was way too quiet and there wasn't enough going on. There weren't enough kids outside having fun. Everyone was crammed inside their classrooms. It just doesn't fit me."

Comments

[A Parent]

Your hidden gem is very much like the school I finally found for my son (after the crunchy granola/shabby bohemian school disaster that I posted comments on). Our new school is a hidden gem because its reputation among parents in this county is that it's expensive and exclusive. It IS expensive, but it is only exclusive in that students should be intelligent and well-mannered. Our new school also has a very small "auditorium" for music and drama performances, but the music and drama teachers are very creative.

I think a K-8 would be better for a middle-school aged child if the school promotes leadership of the middle-schoolers in relationship to the younger children--in other words, if the middle-schoolers are responsible for being examples for the younger children. Community service and responsibility are as important as "enrichment" activities.

I would recommend finding out more about fundraising activities. Some schools REQUIRE a certain financial or volunteer commitment. Our new school's PTA is run by a nice, calm, highly-functioning (but not manic) adult with a small committee of like-minded, generous parents. A recent teacher appreciation week (wisely set before Open House) provided teachers and staff with fresh snacks and lunches daily and a catered luncheon on the last day. Appreciation was given at the classroom level, with the creative organization of room-parents.

Lastly, I can understand your son's point of view about this school. When we took a tour of our new school it was classroom time, and the students were working quietly at their desks. However, at recess, the uniformed kids are laughing, running, and playing nicely with each other. Try to visit again when the kids are outside.

We've found our hidden gem. I say go with yours!