Sierra Elementary & High School

My son attended high school here, graduating in 2010. I was extremely happy with this school. After attending a large middle school, coming here, was, quite frankly, a breath of fresh air. The school had everything we had been looking for - small class sizes, individual attention, and a wonderfully dedicated staff. I have recommended this school to several families. This is quite a "hidden gem" in the Bay Area.

Here's what you get, or don't get, if you send your kids to Sierra. For approximately ten thousand dollars/year (more, for the esl students), you get:

No school library, no computer lab, no lockers, no gym, no auditorium, no cafeteria, no sports teams, no afterschool clubs, no instruments in music class, very few electives (all of which are held just once a week), no student newspaper, no athletic field (a city park is used for PE), one foreign language option (only Spanish), and field trip transportation either by parent volunteers or by city bus. The buildings are old and dilapidated, some classrooms are tiny, and many of the chairs and desks are worn down and should have been replaced years ago. Students either bring their lunches or buy them from a truck which pulls up every day.

The teachers must hate working there, since every summer Sierra seems to lose about half (or more) of its faculty. The "mainstream" student population consists mostly of kids who have special needs, which would be fine except that most if not all of Sierra's teachers have no prior experience or training in Special Ed.

Is this worth ten thousand or more?