Bel Aire Elementary School

Read the negative reviews below. All very true, and telling.

I'm not sure why many of these reviews are poor. My son has thrived here. He spent K-1 at a private school in Oakland, and Bel Aire (and his 2nd grade year at Reed) has been a better experience for him on every dimension. There have been a few differences (like he learned Spanish instead of being able to pick between Mandarin, French and Spanish) but the teaching has been outstanding, and he has turned into a confident student who enjoys school. I'm glad we moved here.

Outstanding teachers, staff and top rated education. This is the best public elementary school in Marin and the test-scores and achievement reflect this. My child is a 4th grader so this is our second year and the school last year won an award as one of the top elementary schools in the country. Not sure where the negative reviews are coming from but seems idiotic - visit the school and you will see beautiful facilities, ipads for every child, thoughtful teaching staff who teach subject matters plus art, spanish, PE, music, chorus, theater, etc IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL. Get a little perspective people - this is an amazing school and the proof is in the pudding - happy kids, happy staff and an extremely active parent community. only negative is you have to live in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the SF bar area to be able to send your kid here!!!

The school teaches to the middle and lower end. Higher achieving students are used as teacher aides to help the under achieving students. Students are not held accountable for homework and the curriculum is not well taught. They actually taught the same curriculum my dc had the year before in private but the private did a much better job at the grade below! Some teachers have 28-29 kids in a class! I'm so surprised that such a high achieving community would tolerate such mediocracy.