Bret Harte Middle School

Our +2-year-old joined GLMS Oakland in Aug 2019. The school had high ratings & this being our first child, we believed those ratings came from other parents. However, after our experience, we're now dubious. We're writing this review so other parents have at least one source from a family who didn't have a 5-star experience. We expected the start of preschool to be a challenging adjustment, however, our child cried and dreaded going everyday for 7 months until CA went into lockdown during Shelter-In-Place. No matter what special event, birthday party, or pizza day was happening, he wanted to stay home. Stranger still, he preferred being with a new part-time nanny we hired over going to school to see his teachers or friends. When we would pick him up, his entire face would light up, and he would cling to us for an hour once we got home. He did the same to this new nanny he barely knew, on the nights we worked past 6 PM & couldn't pick him up. Our nanny, an empathic & well-educated professional, said in 20 years of experience, said had never seen a little one so reluctant to go to preschool & play with friends. She said a month or two of an adjustment period was normative, depending on the temperament of the child, but for this to continue without any signs of letting up for 7 months was extremely concerning for her, especially since she'd only been with our family since a day or two before school began. She was worried about what the daily stress might be doing to his developing brain. Our nanny also had some concerning incidents. The 2nd week of class, she dropped our child off for the first time & an administrator (Carrie) grabbed him out of her arms & took him into the classroom as he was crying & reaching out for her. When we picked him up, he told us about the scary lady who grabbed him before he got to say goodbye. Our nanny said she was soothing his fears when "some woman" she'd never met grabbed him as she was holding & hugging him. She said it was not only abrupt, unprofessional, & assaultive, but also callous & lacking in empathy for a toddler's feelings. Another occasion, our child reported a bullying incident to our nanny & when the nanny asked the teacher to listen to our son's concern, his teacher laughed at him.Zoom "classes" for 2-year-olds were a JOKE. We lost 5 months of 2020 tuition and ALL of 2021; no refund AND had to hire a F/T nanny at home. The administration said, "We have to pay our teachers." That's manipulative.