Bessie Carmichael School/F.E.C

Hello Unilocalers! I am updating now that the end of the school year is in sight. This is the first time in my life I ever thought a place deserved negative stars. My daughter continues to be bullied, and the school still seems to think it’s ok or «normal.» I won’t be surprised if we were to meet this kid years down the line and she has some sort of personality disorder. The school defended this child and did little to nothing for my daughter… who is currently in therapy because of all this! I have to spend ridiculous amounts of time fighting for my daughter (which I do because I care about her). They do not take responsibility for their actions. Avoid this school. They’d be better off at Tenderloin Elementary if you want to stay in the area. The principal is the absolute worst, and frankly so is my daughter’s teacher in regards to the emotional component. She is a great teacher of skill though. My daughter can read, add, subtract, write, and has done very well for herself academically. I have her teacher to thank for that… but only that. If you have any questions or want to know more about the school, please don’t hesitate to ask. The real rating for this school? Negative 5 stars!

My son enjoyed his kindergarden at Bessie Carmichael and if it wasn’t for Ms. Mccormick, we probably would have really had some problems.
Pros:
this school is a block and a half away from home.
it has k-​8 (great for parents with more then 1)
Cons:
It is a PI school! Behind in english and math! School is always losing money because it can not meet the states low standards in math and english.
Also, I really hate that the area is now surrounded by bums! INfact the first day of school this year I was thankful that he wasnt going to Bessie because I noticed two police cars and people being arrested right behind the school!

Welcome to the South of Market where you don’t realize it, but a beautiful and strong community fueled by children and parents lays right next to the freeway. You know that mural you see right when you finish crossing the bridge, that’s Bessie Carmichael Middle School! And just 3 block over, is Bessie Carmichael Elementary School, home of the Unicorns.
While my capacity of working with the school is through the Galing Bata After School Program, its very easy to see that this is a community school where the surrounding community really cares. There are 3 other after school programs connected to Bessie: United Playaz, West Bay and YMCA. We all know each other, and many of the kids participate in more than one program.
Nevertheless, the school struggles but what is needed is a little more love.
Bessie needs a full time nurse and a full time social worker. They need real ice packs for injuries.
The students need better sports equipment. For example, my after school students would explain how when they play volleyball, someone always has to hold one of the poles so the net doesn’t fall over.
More eyes are needed to make sure kids cross safely through the busy intersections that have exiting traffic flooding from the freeway.
4 stars for the community. However, that 1 other star is missing because they’re isn’t enough love from the top.
Until next time, go unicorns and go wolves!

I’ve been at this K-​8 school since kinder & now I’m off to high school! I’ve made a lot off memories here. In elementary, my favorite teachers were Ms. De Guzman, where we did yoga every morning, and Dr. Alcaide, where we had no homework for 3 months. In middle school, my favorite teacher was Mrs. Kasper, she has been at this school ever since the Middle School Campus was made. She maybe a pain in the butt sometimes, but I still love her after all the hard she has done for our 8^th grade trip to Great America. Since 2009, this school has always had more loses than wins in volleyball, but this year, we changed it, thanks to our new coach, Kuya Allen. The score was 5 – 3. We almost made it to playoffs, but we got defeated by King. Next school year will be his last year coaching at this school. What I love about this school is that, it’s very small, that way, all the teachers know every single students name. I will love this school forever, but this school has now changed. Bessie Carmichael class of 2013! Bessie Unicorn and Wolf Forever!

Im glad this school is still open. I attended here as a Kindergarten in 1990. Now my nephew and nieces goes here. The staff has always been friendly you wont be disappointed!

Great work – they teach bilingually, incorporating tagalog into the curriculum. You can tell that the staff really cares about the kids. The new mural at the school is breathtaking and inspirational.

this school is in the heart of the soma
–i’ve only known this place through the eyes of GALING BATA– Galing Bata is an afterschool program that serves as a two way bridge for newly immigrated students welcoming them to the states and for those born here connecting them with their roots. A program that promotes bi-​cultural growth in their students.

I have two kids, my son & my step-​son and they both love and had a marvelous time at this school. They also go to an after school program w/​c is called ‘Galing Bata’. I enrolled my son a month before his scahool starts at Galing Bata, and I enrolled my step-​son late but Galing Bata was so nice that they took him, since they have an extra slot to fill in. This school has another school program w/​c is YMCA.
I don’t have any issue regarding this school and I’m semi-​active in regards with their PTA activities since me & my husband are working full time.
I think they mostly cater to kids and parents who are active and communicates well at school, to encourage them to get involve especially parents who only knows to complain and doesn’t even participate at all.
FYI this is a public school not a private one, if you want a very special treatment go put your kids to private school to have a very keen special treatment.
Most school now a days does not get that much fund, but I’m happy that my kids still get enough learning and attention at this school. They also gives flyers most of the time to kids and hand it down to their parents and put up flyers along the bulletin board for parents to read. Sometimes I think of it of too much spam, but I still wonder why other parents still doesn’t even bother to stop and read it?

When I thought about my daughters first school year I imagined a nice loving and supportive staff, great facilities, and since this is kindergarten lots of art and music. I did not get this.
Her teacher was fantastic, she was the only great thing about this school. The rest of the staff was pretty horrible. Here are some of my complaints.
1. Her records were mixed up with another student so I received a letter telling me that I was creating a truant and was not working with the school at all and would have to go to a special program to prevent my kindergartener from dropping out of highschool or be fined lots of money or even jailed.
2. My daughter was sick and I was not called.
3. Being told that the only way my daughter would get into the afterschool program would be if she had a sibling in the program, but since she didn’t they suggested I paid the YMCA thousands of dollars for their summer program and maybe they could squeeze me in.
4. My daughter has eczema, when it flared up the «nurse» said it didn’t look like eczema, her tone implied that I was doing something wrong to her, so she made me take my daughter to the doctor to bring back a note that said it was eczema.
I don’t suggest this school at all. This school caters more to the needs of the very low income and not at all to the needs of the shrinking SF middle class. I can’t wait to pull her out of this school and put her in a Catholic school.

After moving to San Francisco, I enrolled my son at Bessie Carmichael because it was right down the street. After doing so, I heard it wasn’t a very good school. WRONG.
This is the best school my son has ever been in. Previously he attended a highly rated elementary school in an upscale area of the red state town in which we lived. That school could not hold a candle to Bessie Carmichael.
The teachers and administration both are highly involved with their students. If anything is going wrong, you know about it immediately. I have never witnessed such caring, dedicated staff (they certainly set us up for disappointment when my son moved on to middle school, that’s for sure).
They had a wonderful music program where my son could continue his violin lessons. The staff encouraged him at every turn, making sure he participated in citywide competitions, etc. They were very involved in making sure he got into a good middle school (by SF standards, which are quite low).
I cannot rave enough about this school. I was just so impressed, I would recommend it to anyone who wanted a good, solid, quality education by dedicated, caring staff.