John Blacow Elementary School

I have had three children attend Our Lady of Guadalupe School (aka :OLG)--one is now in high school, and two are still there. If I had to describe OLG in only one phrase, I would say the it is a special place. In fact, "a special place" is how other current and former students, parents of students, faculty and former faculty have most commonly referred tp the school as well when we've discussed it. The school is small but has energy and a sense of community far beyond its size. It is amazing how much it offers for a small school, including a Chess Club, Choir, school band (and Music and Art classes as part of the curriculum for all students), and a wide variety of extracurricular sports through the CYO. There is even support for students with learning disabilities (although if your child's special needs are more severe, of course, you will need the services of a public school). One nice traditional OLG has is "Faith Families" in which students from different grades meet monthly in small groups so that older students are encouraged to care about younger ones. By the way, another wonderful thing about OLG is that it returned to fill-the, in-person learning a full year before Fremont Unified schools did so! That saved our family's sanity not to mention our children's educational progress. You do not need to be Catholic to atteOLG also offers reasonably-priced before- and after-school care, and even if you pay the full cost of tuition, it is a bargain compared to any other private school, religious or not, in the area. However, if you are worried about the cost, OLG also offers good sibling discounts if you have more than one child enrolled and also offers scholarships and financial aid.I am saddened that the previous principal, who was there for several years, contributed in a major way to the decline of enrollment of the school, which it is still recovering from. She was simply a deeply unpleasant, unkind person, and she turned off a lot of parents. (We loved the teachers and other aspects of the school so much that we kept our children enrolled despite her.) However, the good news is that the current principal is excellent--she has also been a teacher at the school for several years and has her own children enrolled there, so she truly cares about and is passionate about the school and its students. I strongly encourage anyone looking for a safe, caring alternative to public school to check out OLG.