We are planning to move to Alameda, and given our new location, have a child who would be attending kindergarten at Franklin elementary school next year. I have seen some info on the BPN site on other Alameda elementary schools, but nothing recent on Franklin. I know that Franklin has excellent test scores, but more important to me is community and a positive environment with great social learning opportunities. Do a lot of the families that live next to Franklin send their kids to private school rather than go to Franklin? If so, who is at Franklin? does Franklin have active involved parents? Is there an active PTA? art? music? are there discipline concerns? How is the principal? I would so appreciate ANY information on the school, as someone told us we should be trying to get a transfer to Paden or Otis or another elementary, and I am very confused! Thanks so much. -soon to be alamedan!

I can't tell you how fun it is to walk to school together each morning and see a parade of kids pouring out of the neighborhood on their way to school. My child loves walking to school or the park across the street and running into friends along the way. The Franklin zone includes the Gold Coast (affluent) and middle class neighborhoods, so there is a nice socio-economic mix of students. Both Franklin Kindergarten teachers are excellent, with one of them having won teacher of the year last year. The Kindergarten has its own playground on-campus and also uses the Franklin Park playground (across the street) regularly. Students learn cooking, music, art, motor fitness/PE, science, reading and math, computer skills, use the on-site library and much more. My mom is a teacher in a nearby district and she said she didn't realize that there were any schools in CA that still offered all of these programs, since most have had to cut down to the bare minimum due to budget restrictions. Franklin always has a waiting list for Kindergarten and the District is currently collecting names of prospective Kindergarteners to try to plan future enrollment. The Alameda District isn't rich, but parents make up the difference with donated money and time.