15401 Thomas Street
Glen Ellen, CA 95442

I am continually impressed with Sonoma Charter School. My daughter is in 1st grade and is so happy to go to school every day! The most important asset this school has, in my opinion, is a genuine sense of community. Parents are encouraged to join in and volunteer for different activities and programs and in doing so, everyone becomes close, and that helps me feel that my child is safe at school. I can tell my daughter feels safe too because my seriously shy, quiet kid has completely opened up-to the point where she asked her teacher if she could read one of her favorite books aloud to her entire class! And she did, and the kids loved it! Academically, we’ve been very impressed as well. I really appreciate how well the teachers all know the kids and are so good at identifying the kid’s needs. If someone needs extra help, they get it. If someone is performing way above grade level, they get assigned more appropriate work for their abilities. My kid is never bored. I don’t think kids would be able to get this kind of attention at bigger schools. I also think the smaller school size contributes to the overall culture and conduct which has resulted in the *nicest* group of students! The kids care about each other. The middle school age kids are fantastic role models for the younger kids. I have never seen a fight there. I have never heard kids being mean to each other-it truly blows my mind! Can’t recommend this school enough-this school is doing amazing work for our kids!

I would like to first point out that the best way to learn about the school is to talk to the principal and take a tour. That being said, I'll still contribute my own review...My daughter is starting 8th grade, and we have been very pleased with Altimira. My daughter is a GATE student, and we've been impressed with the level of challenge provided by the advanced courses. Altimira offers an excellent choice of electives. The technology and yearbook classes fostered creativity and developed my daughter's computer skills way beyond what my husband and I could have done. There are also great horticulture and drama classes; in fact, my only complaint is that my daughter wishes she could squeeze more classes into her schedule because she is so interested in the offerings. The principal is very warm and funny and seems to know all the students well. The staff was very supportive to my daughter when we had a family tragedy last year. We haven't seen any signs of bullying, and she's made great friends. Any time you have 6 teachers per year, you're not going to love all of them, but we've been satisfied and/or impressed with the vast majority of the teachers here. We love Altimira!

The community was good but some of the teachers were very bad. There was an AP Biology teacher that wanted to be a friend over getting us ready for the exams. But overall, not a horrible expirience.