Hello Parents, I'm writing to ask about folks' experience with Bentley School, the K-8 program. I'm interested in a school that has a multicultural philosophy and curriculum, a school where social justice and inclusivity is important and noticeable, in the air- the curriculum, school culture, faculty/staff, student body, and families. (Multiculturalism to me goes beyond the number of families of color, it is an appreciation of diversity that includes race/ethnicity, socio-economic positions, and family configurations.) For those of you with direct and/or indirect experience with Bentley can you give me your honest opinion? We are currently at a school in Berkeley, and due to lack of financial aid we are looking to move. We are looking at other schools, where their commitment is more evident, but there is a question mark about Bentley, and for certain reasons at this time it remains on our list. Please give your straightforward opinion, and if you have any recommendations about a particular school please add that as well.

The only downside was that I was acutely aware of being the only poor kid at school. At least, I thought I was; perhaps I was only unaware. I never felt that race was an issue, and neither was family structure, but the economic divide was seriously harsh. I never felt that I could fully forget it. It was clear to me, all the time, that these kids had money and I didn't. There was an undercurrent of economic/class division that was impossible to ignore, at least for me.

Of course, all this should be taken with plenty of salt. It was, after all, thirty years ago. But the point is, I loved Bentley. I still do, in the way you love old stuffies that you played with as a child. But perfect? Nope, it was never that. Kathleen

Bentley provided many things for our son, including an exciting and vibrant academic environment. But no, it was not a school that embodied a multicultural philosophy in the way you define it. The positives: there have been efforts to ethnically diversify the students and faculty, often achieved by Caucasian and Asian American families, some international families, and unfortunately, only a few African American families. The school also increasingly respects diversity in terms of working constructively with children with learning disabilities. An interest in world cultures is fostered at all grade levels, and fiction and nonfiction readings on issues social justice have been incorporated into the regular curriculum. But if you are looking for a social justice oriented school culture - community projects, awareness of wealth and poverty within the student body, day-to-day problem solving related to interpersonal issues and parent involvement in dialogues on multicultural issues within the school, there are better schools to provide this in the East Bay. We don't think of Bentley as a racist institution, but we would not consider it a multicultural institution. We are Caucasian. I hope this helps you weigh the pros and cons. Bentley parent

Re: Head-Royce and Bentley lower school
We looked at 6 schools and were torn between HRS and Bentley but ultimately decided we wanted a nurturing and smaller school setting with a strong math, science and foreign language program for our family and therefore picked Bentley as our top choice. We also thought our children would probably benefit from a campus change as they grew older rather than being in the same setting for 13 years.

However, you really can't go wrong with either school. The pace of academics IN THE LOWER SCHOOL is higher at Bentley than at HRS while it still manages to have an awesome language, arts and music program as well (I know the latter two are true for HRS as well).

The teachers are extremely warm and the lower school head at the school has an open door policy. Beth Crowley is a former teacher and still loves to be in the classrooms mentoring new teachers and helping with any issues pertaining to children. I can't say what a difference it makes having someone who is so involved and the kids love her.

What is amazing is that Bentley really tries to emphasize to parents not to overschedule kids with activities and has taken steps to ensure that the children are challenged but not stressed out and I've seen this attitude in the middle school as well. I was very pleased to see how our kindergarten teacher focussed so much on the overall well being of our daughter rather than where she was academically during our first parent teacher meeting. She told us we should cut back our extra curricular activities to one or two/week and make sure our daughter had access to sand play and given opportunities to continue her imaginative play. When visiting the school, you really do see that the children are enjoying themselves but still learning at a steady pace.

Anyway, we love the school and have become a part of the active network of parents - its a very involved community and you find folks of many different backgrounds there. But again, I don't think you can go wrong with either school. We know parents that are quite happy at HRS as well and satisfied that they made the right choice for their family.

You may want to contact Arlene Hogan in the admissions office and have her set you up with a follow up tour as it really is inspiring to watch the teachers in action.

Good luck with your decision! - Pleased Bentley Parent

As a parent of Bentley Upper School for 8 years I’d like to express my appreciation for an outstanding experience for my two children. I value Bentley’s challenging academics, honest communication and skilled and caring teachers. My children were offered and enjoyed participating in many cultural, athletic and artistic endeavors that they would not otherwise have joined. I was struck by the enthusiasm, eloquence and accomplishments of Bentley alumni who came back to speak to current parents and students about the college admissions process and their college experience. I’ve seen this high school grow from its first class of students to full classes and I am grateful that my now adult children have learned academic and life skills that carry them through their years. This school is a great addition to the choices for HS and has served our children extremely well- including its growing pains. Thank you to the teachers who are talented, caring and creative- you are wonderful adult role models who will be remembered for all you gave to us. The school has been great for our family and I'm sad to have my youngest graduating. Grateful parent

I have read all the existing reviews on Bentley, have toured the school and am very impressed with what they offer. I just wanted to pose a couple of questions to existing or former Bentley parents:
- When touring the school we saw the 'open court' textbooks in the classrooms. We were very surprised since that's one of things we are trying to get away from by going to private school. Unfortunately, we did not ask the school about it while we were there.
- We have heard some comments that in addition to the already steep tuition there is an excessive amount of fundraising and an obligatory donation event once a year. I understand that all schools have fundraising activity, but I am just trying to gauge how much that is and whether it is more than other schools do any input is very much appreciated. anon

Now many years later, my child has 'caught' up and is reading proficiently, prolifically and is on track with her classmates. The children who were prolific earlier readers still seem to be prolific readers. I believe that the way Bentley supports such a broad range of learners is that the classrooms are stocked with a broad range of books of different levels of difficulty. When the students have assignments like their reading challenges (read as many books as you can in the Month of May) or book reports they are encouraged to read at their 'comfort' and interest level. So while Open Court readers are used I don't think that they represent the only tool in their arsenal of reading tools. As a parent of a student that was slightly 'behind' the core class we were asked to set her up to succeed by reading often with her and to encourage her to read books that were 'comfortable' and interesting to her to build her confidence and her vocabulary. In truth I don't think I remember seeing the Open Court reading books much at all. I saw lots of library books of my child's own selection.

In regards to fund raising. Yes it is a part of life with any private school that does not have some source of revenue generator like an endowment. Unfortunately I believe that for most schools the cost of annual operation is not fully covered by the already high tuitions. Like any school, Bentley would love for every family to give lots of money so that it could continue to fund growth, improvements, pay for good teachers and programs, etc., etc. There is strong encouragement to give to the Annual Fund. The more the better, but participation from all families at any level of giving is also encouraged. The annual 'Gala' is not a mandatory event. Many of us go to support the school and because it is a lot of fun!

Bentley is a great school. It has some issues as I imagine any school does. I wish I had millions to give to the Annual Fund. I don't so I give what I can. It seems to work out ok for our family and the school Bentley parent

As for your question on Open Court, Open Court is a reading series used in 3-5. They also read many other age appropriate novels. The K-5 uses the McMillan series as their anthology. They also read many other age appropriate chapter books that tie in with the Social Studies and Science curriculum. As far as financial aid, there was a letter and a follow up email asking for a donation. Definitely not overbearing and we're grateful for that. You can decide to give whatever you want whether its $25 or a lot more but we haven't felt anyone pressuring us. The school seems to enjoy great resources from existing parents as well as former families and corporations giving.

Overall, we've been extremely pleased with our daughter's happiness here and the fact that she's getting a strong overall education is definitely the added bonus! Bentley Parent

We'd be grateful for any information on Bentley (esp. 5th grade and beyond): atmosphere, teachers, workload, kid dynamics, anything. Older postings indicate concern about the administration focus on the new middle school site, problems in parent-administration communications, etc. Is this all over and done with?

The past issues with the administration seem to be resolved for the most part. In particular, the middle school head is amazing. Parents are very pleased both with his communication with them, and with the way he interacts with the students.

My daughter has lots of wonderful friends at school, although they do live all over: Oakland, Berkeley, Kensington, Orinda, and Lafayette. We have found the social environment to be considerably more nurturing than that of a typical public school. Of course, this varies class by class, but the kids in the fifth grade are supportive of one another, and have minimal social conflicts.

Bentley is a pretty academic environment, and my only caution is that it may not be right for every kid. The teachers are skilled at helping every student meet his or her potential, but the classroom pace is fairly fast. Bentley is the perfect place for bright students who want to learn. I can't imagine a better school for my daughter!
Bentley Parent

Although I agree with much that has been posted about the Bentley administration, I must weigh in with some comments about the school. My daughter is a student at the lower school, and this will be her fourth year at Bentley. We have found the school to be an enormous gift to our daughter, who is bright, highly academic, and was not challenged by our excellent public school. The teachers are wonderful, dedicated, and skilled. In our experience, they have all been highly responsive. E-mails are answered promptly, and teachers make time throughout the week to meet with parents by appointment. The students work one full grade level ahead (i.e. the third graders work from fourth grade texts). The math program is outstanding. Social studies is also very strong. For example, in second grade when the kids study pioneer life, they participate in ''Pioneer Day''. The students come to school in pioneer costumes, and experience an entire day of pioneer activities--everything from leather tooling and hoop rolling to lemonade making and ice cream cranking. Bentley students start out with exposure to both French and Spanish. In third grade, they choose one language to continue. My daughter is in the Spanish program, which is excellent. Again, the teacher is incredible, and the children love her. Bentley also has a wonderful art program. The art teacher is a much beloved character at the school--the kids adore him. The art curriculum includes art history, as well as amazing projects. The kids work with a variety of media to create sculptures, carvings, oil paintings, and much more. Often, art projects tie into what the kids are studying in other subjects (i.e. making paper mache penguins when they are learning about penguins in science). There is an all-school art show each year. The music department is also outstanding, although at the lower school it is focused almost entirely on vocal music. The kids participate in concerts twice a year. There are many other wonderful aspects of the school, but by far its greatest strength is its teachers. Even though some teachers left the lower school last year, there are many, many outstanding faculty members remaining. There were no staff departures this year, and the last year's new hires are also excellent. I believe that despite the weakness of the administration, the school is an amazing place for kids to learn and thrive. A Happy Bentley Parent

Re: Which private school?
As a parent who has had a child in Bentley and in Piedmont (and examined several of the other alternatives you mention), I would emphatically recommend against Piedmont for a gifted child, and especially a shy one. Being a public system that must take all residents, and hew to state and federal goals, Piedmont's focus is on the average (or, really, slightly below ave! rage) child. ... Before you decide against Bentley, please visit. For my child, Bentley was freeing, and a place where her interests and talents were valued and supported. Bentley fan

We are looking for the right Kindergarten/Elementary school for our daughter.

I have heard some good things about Bentley but also some questionable things about the new administration and would love to hear from parents who already have kids there about what is really going on.

Specifically, is the school well run? Are teachers happy and are retention levels a Bentley similar to other schools? When there are issues, are parents able to give feedback to the Bentley staff and is it responded to?

We would be in this for the long haul and wouldn't want to get our daughter enrolled if the school isn't clearly headed in a positive direction. Many thanks, Ian.

Among those are many good teachers. The classroom experience is still wonderful. Really dedicated, passionate talent. The enrichment activities, art, music, foreign language, are fantastic. The lower school campus is lovely and well maintained. Our question is how much longer this great classroom experience can last. Sixteen teachers and staff left last year.

The focus of the new headmaster and the Board seems to be on building a new middle school: parents hear a lot about raising money, but it is telling that in presentations to parents, almost nothing is mentioned sustaining and building a great learning environment that supports and nurtures teachers. (There seems to be no understanding that if you have a happy school that is on fire with learning that parents will send in money by the buckets-many families are not contributing to the annual fund this year as the only way they have of making their discomfort felt.)

We've also found that at Bentley, there is no way for the parents to express concern. Letters to the Board signed by large groups of parents have gone unanswered. The old "Headmaster's Forums" where the Headmaster would meet with Parents have recently been renamed "Community Nights" and the Headmaster does not take any questions or open discussion. Parents are told to not talk to one another and trust that they Board will handle all, but we have no insight into the process of how things are being resolved.

There has been a clause inserted into parents' contracts stating that if there is not a "positive and constructive working relationship between Bentley and the parents" Bentley can suspend or terminate a student at any time (plus the parents is still responsible for the full tuition). Teachers were asked to sign a document stating that they wouldn't talk to parents privately about the school.

My son spent nine years at Bentley, and the experience was very good for him. He was a serious, academically-oriented child who fit in reasonably well. In retrospect, I think that the math program may have stifled his creativity somewhat, but all in all it was a good fit.

For my daughter, however, Bentley was a disaster. She didn't respond well to the rigidity of the academic program. In the later grades she developed health problems related to depression. Ironically, my pediatrician had warned me about ''Bentley burnout'' when my daughter was younger, and I had paid no attention.

I don't know whether Bentley was to blame for my daughter's problems, but I believe the counseling staff handled them very badly. Although my daughter was never disruptive in any way, both she and I sensed a spirit of blame rather than compassion.

The moral of all this may be that you should be really sure that your child is a Bentley child before you choose it. You should also be more watchful than I was for signs it isn't working out.

To protect my daughter's privacy, this has to be ... Anonymous

I knew that Bentley would be a good school for my son when he was in the 8th grade and went to Bentley for a visit day. He was so excited about the classes he sat in that he had taken pages of notes! Later, when my husband took him to the open house there, the teachers remembered him. In middle school my son was more of an introvert, but at Bentley he has competely blossomed.

A Bentley mom

Re: Middle Schools with a strong math/science department
There are two middle schools that I can say with certainty have fantastic math programs: Black Pine Circle and Bentley. They both have fabulous dedicated math teachers, Mr. Gulimovskiy at Black Pine, and Mr. Lubliner (I think that's his name - they call him Mr. L) at Bentley. Both schools just placed first and second in the East Bay Math Counts competition and will be sending teams to the State competition. This has been the case for years now. Lucy

My daughter has been going to Bentley for two years. I was hesistant at first about even applying to the school, because it did not seem to address diversity in any way. I live in a community where diversity only means White and Asian ( I am not implying that these groups are less meaningful - but in the Bay Area getting to know and learn about these cultures is a bit easier). Anyway, what I have found is a place that wants to produce well educated and informed, responsible, well rounded students.

The enviroment is warm, fun, and friendly to students. The teachers are supported in an environment where students want to learn. The students form a community or better yet a neighboorhood with aftercare, (which is included in the tution) afterschool activities, forums, town halls, communication committees. The parent association is very active and you can get as involved as you have skills and time (no Mandatory volunteer hours yet).

The Diversity of the students, staff, and faculty is also flourishing. The academic curriculum is fun and challenging to keep my child stimulated and working on applying concepts to the real world as she grows. It is worth checking out the school for your child. Parent in 2A

I'd like to invite all parents of fall 2002 kindergartners to the Bentley Kindergartners' information sessions on Saturday, Nov 10 from 10-12 pm and Thursday, December 6 from 7-9 pm at their Hiller Campus, located at the juncture of Tunnel road /Ashby and the entrance to Highway 13, just past the Claremont Hotel. Hiller is a sharp left. Bentley's Hiller campus is a private K-8 grade school. I hope to be at one or both session with my prospective Kindergartner.

My older daughter is in her second year there after spending three years in public school. She had a good experience in public school but she loves Bentley. She enjoys all the students in her class, both the boys and the girls. She cannot wait to go to school each day, and she even enjoys doing her homework-- complaining occasionally, but never failing to do it.

The parent groups at the school are very active. I am a part of the Diversity Committee and the parents on this committee are incredible. All have the same values and principles I hold important for my children. Community. Family. Education. Diversity. As the parent of biracial children, I am very concerned that my daughter continues to have a positive self-image. So far so good.

I must admit, prior to applying to the school, I read the information about Bentley on this website and I was a little discouraged. My husband and I both wanted a more structured academic environment than our public school had to offer but we didn't want to sacrifice the richness, diversity and sense of community our local public school had to offer. While Bentley still has a ways to go in that regard, The new headmaster and many committed parents have made it their goal to ensure the richness of the Bay Area is reflected in the school.

To refute the previous comments about Bentley School, my daughter not only cares about the academics, she enjoys the music, arts and language programs as well as her girl scout troop. She also enjoys the healthy competitive atmosphere of the school and their athletics program. Last week, she decided she wanted to win one of the fitness awards and now does sit ups in the evening.

My 4th grader is a normal healthy child who loves soccer, scooby doo and all manner of cartoons--not an exceptional genius, but given the stimulation and supportive atmosphere at Bentley, my husband and I feel she will certainly grow up to be an exceptional person.

Audrey

My daughter is currently a third grader at Bentley School. We have been extremely happy with the school. She started as a kindergartner. The school has an undeserved reputation as a tough, unfeeling school. That couldn't be farther from the truth. The school places a very high emphasis on academics, and the kids generally work at about one grade level above (for example in 2nd grade the math book was grade 3, this year in 3rd grade the math book is for grade 4.) However, all of the teachers have been great, kind, caring individuals who watch out for the whole kid. there is a new headmaster this year who is fabulous. He talked in the beginning of the year about how Bentley has a reputation of only working with kids from "the head up" meaning only emphasizing academics and avoiding the social, developmental aspects. I do think this was the emphasis of the past headmaster, although it was not the case with the teachers. Anyway, this headmaster in maintaining the high academic standards, but making sure that the social elements are not forgotten. the last comment I will make is that while academics are emphasized, the art and music program are also excellent!! Holly

Bentley is divided into the lower (K-8) school in Oakland and the upper school (9-12 --highschool) in Lafayette. Although I know little about the lower school , I can speak about the upper school, which opened about 3 years ago. My daughter is a 9th grader there, and its been a positive experience. The teachers are well-qualified, and professional, many with Masters degrees. Classes are small, and there are about 50 students altogether in her grade. The classwork is rigorous, but not overwhelming. The focus is on a "traditional" education--for example she is learning ancient history and is reading The Odyssey in her English class. There are many school activities and clubs, so I don't feel the focus is just on academics. For someone who likes a small, intimate school environment where all the teachers and students know each other, a classic education, and a fair amount of nurturing and oversight, Bentley is a good choice. Because this high school is so new, teachers are willing to try new things and the students are from all over, most have not attended Bentley lower school. The lower school has a much longer history, and a more intense academic and social environment. As the upper school grows, I suspect it will probably become more in line with the lower school. I rather enjoy this phase, where its growing and defining itself. -- dorfro

About Bentley...from the two years that my older daughter went there, your observations seem right, lots of pressure to learn and test well. We say that Bentley does a good job from the neck up, but what about the whole person? It's a good school but lots of pressure and the community is very status concerned. - Anon.