Bridges Academy

Very bad they treated me as a parent extremely rude and there is 0 communication amongst the principal and parents

I'm a former substitute teacher. Bridges might not be the highest testing school in Oakland, but the community and enrichment it offers, considering their circumstance, is unparalleled. Of all the schools I worked at, Bridges stands out apart from the rest for exceeding expectations. There are certainly challenges with the demographic of students that come to Bridges, but the teachers and administration manage to form students with academic and life skills that exceed many of the other schools I worked at. This was apparent when working at some of the middle schools that Bridges feeds into - students from Bridges are often more mature than students from elsewhere. All the teachers I got to know at Bridges are passionately involved in the well-being of their students. They have an awesome PE and music program. Bridges offers more community events and enrichment than some schools I worked at with large PTAs. I think part of their success is in the small class sizes and high academic and behavioral standard that the entire faculty hold their kids to. If your child has your (a parent's) support at home, Bridges will take care of their part set him or her on a course for success.

My son had a great experience at Bridges Academy. His teacher, Ms. Zerme o, was excellent! She welcomed parent involvement & embraced the various cultures represented (although in this limited review we are all lumped into the category of "Hispanic", there were different cultures from several countries (Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, etc.). I hope that families do not make their decision on whether to take their child(ren) here merely based on the ratings/test scores, as they fail to adequately represent the brilliance of our children & the societal realities beyond their control. The one drawback at this school is that there is constant fundraising that takes place, but it is not the school's fault since Bridges is in a wealthy state, California, whose priorities are skewed resulting in extremely limited budgets for education. Regardless of the limited funding, my son gained valuable social skills (appreciating others' differences by learning to sing not only in English, but also in Nahuatl and Mum, in addition to Spanish & French. He left this school with a sense of cultural pride & very self-confident, being able to communicate fluently in both English & Spanish.

This school needs much improvement the classes are week and do not prepare you for university, also there are too many kids that have serious mental and social issues making it very hard to socialise with any of ones piers. Luckily Los Angeles is large enough to have friends from other schools/ The classes at this school are also okay and there are some great students, but the teachers can not teach to their potential due to the students that go their.