Private Schools in Sacramento (Davis, Folsom: neighborhood, catholic schools, college)

[mamazeem]

Hello All -

Was looking for a bit of guidance on an upcoming move we are making to Sacramento, from Chicago. Currently, our kids in an extremely small, diverse district. I don't think we will find anything similar for our 3 children in Sac, so we are exploring the idea of private schools. We know about Sacramento Country Day, and the Waldorf School, but is there anything else that stands out as a fantastic private school? Our kids are in KG, 2nd, and 6th - and they are all different, of course! My eldest needs a structured academic setting, but also loves music. I am looking for an environment that fosters that.

Also, with Waldorf, are kids well prepared for high school and college, after matriculating through the school? Can they adapt to a more traditional high-school tract? Any opinions or offerings will be greatly appreciated! I am starting to freak out a bit!

[xeney]

I don't know what "extremely small, diverse district" means so I can't say whether you will find that here.

What part of Sacramento are you moving to, do you know? There are a number of private schools but some of them you probably don't want to commute to.

Here are a few to look at:

Courtyard School
Bergamo Montessori
Merryhill Elementary
Brookfield School
Camellia Waldorf

In Davis:

Peregrine School

That covers a range of educational approaches. We also, of course, have several Catholic schools.

[mamazeem]

Thank you Xeney -

We are in a district where only one elementary school feeds into the junior high. The elementary school has less than 300 students, and the junior has less than 200. By diverse, I mean that there are many nationalities at this school - which I find to be a treasure.

We are not Catholic or Christian, so I would like a school that would be a non-affiliate school, or where religion isn't a huge component of the curriculum. Even if the school is Catholic or Christian, I would like it to be embracing of students from different relations, if they choose to attend.

My husband will be working at the UC Davis Medical Center, and we would like to stay close. However, we are open to moving as far out as Folsom or El Dorado Hills. I like Sierra Oaks and Fair Oaks in the city. Davis would be nice also, but not much comes on the market, to accommodate our need of 4 bedrooms.

[xeney]

The first five there would all be reasonably convenient to UC Med, particularly Merryhill. I don't know a lot about Merryhill, but it is a brand new school opened in a beautiful old public school building, fully restored and really lovely. None of these have religious affiliations.

I left out Franklin School, but they don't have a website. There may be some info on greatschools.org.

My kids go to public school and we did not seriously consider any of these except for Courtyard, which is in our neighborhood. Most of the private schools seem to be either too academically intense for my tastes, or too "alternative" (Waldorf would not be a good fit for my second grader). We were interested in the small class size at Courtyard but ultimately opted for the greater diversity of our neighborhood school. It's still academically intense, but it seems like there is a little more fun mixed in and less pressure.

[xenxes]

1. Commute to UCDMC from Folsom or El Dorado would not be fun. Even Fair Oaks (local commute) has some crazy suburban traffic. Idk what role / hours your husband is coming on as or how big of a factor that is, but take a drive at rush hour before you decide on anything. Unlike Chi-town, not much public transit here.

2. Sac is pretty diverse wherever you go, if anything, the private factor would make it less diverse? Why not East Sac? I hear good things about Phoebe Hearst (public, but see their scores Phoebe A. Hearst Elementary School in Sacramento CA - SchoolDigger.com). Did you have a particular reason you wanted private other than diversity? Sac was rated, and probably still is, America's most "diverse" city (Welcome to America's Most Diverse City - TIME)

[mamazeem]

I was looking at private schools because the class sizes seem really large to me, in the public schools. I am also not a fan of the new common core standards that public schools are implementing.

I am so happy to hear that Sacramento is diverse! Thank you for sending the link to the TIME article!

[xeney]

After a lot of initial skepticism, I absolutely love the common core standards. I think they are brilliant and the best thing to happen to public schools in decades. Not a fan of testing, but the new curriculum is great. My kid particularly loves the math. She finds it fun, challenging, and intuitive -- the fact that it makes no sense to my 45-year-old brain is not what matters!

No getting around the class sizes, though. Sacramento City seems wedded to 32 kids per class, and it is too many kids. We love our school, and there are a number of otherwise great public schools in the central city, but 32 kids is too many kids, anyway you look at it.

[xenxes]

Yikes, 32 kids? I can't remember what the ratio was when I was in public school, but it seemed a lot fewer, I want to say maybe 20. That still beats a college lecture hall though.

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by xenxes

1. Commute to UCDMC from Folsom or El Dorado would not be fun. Even Fair Oaks (local commute) has some crazy suburban traffic. Idk what role / hours your husband is coming on as or how big of a factor that is, but take a drive at rush hour before you decide on anything. Unlike Chi-town, not much public transit here.

Daily driving to UCDMC would not be fun. Of course, if your husband is doing shift work, he may be able to drive during non-commute hours which would be fine. I made the trip today from Folsom at 1015 & it took 25 minutes. Folsom does have light rail service to 34th street, so there'd be a short walk (a couple of blocks) to the med center. It's doable except during the summer afternoon heat, or winter storms. I used to live nearby, and have walked those blocks many times.

[NinaN]

We average 28 kids. I grew up in 30 kid classrooms and survived. I suppose some students need the smaller class sizes but most are fine.

I agree that private schools will probably bring less diversity.

My neighbor has her kids at Waldorf. I think that K-4th would have a hard time transitioning to public school but the curriculum comes back together after that.

Look at the schools where you want to live. You can find the ethnic breakdown on state web sites (search API scores, it's all together). That might be a good place to start.