Bay Area Kinder Stube

For what it’s worth, this school absolutely broke our hearts. My husband is German; we are both linguists; and we had every intention, from the moment we moved to El Cerrito just blocks from this school, to send our children to preschool there.
We had our little girl on the waiting list since I was pregnant with her, and were nonchalantly rejected four years in a row. I met other families whose younger children were accepted and commute from all the way out in Lamorinda.
There were no clear admission criteria. Every year staff members advised us of ways to make our application more likely to be chosen, then contradicted themselves the following year; e.g. we were told to ask for a full schedule, then we were told that they hadn’t had room for someone wanting a full schedule so dismissed our application… never even once calling to check in with a family who had been on since the womb, to see if they would be willing to accept 2 – 3 days? We would have taken literally anything they had, and been enthusiastic participants of this school.
Every time we guessed at what else may be holding us back so that we might adapt to their criteria — e.g. our daughter was not highly verbal even in English — they waved their hand as though it were unimportant. They told us to go to the Laternenfest and mingle — we did, knew no one there, and the staff made little effort to welcome us. We felt like we’d crashed a private party.
The final year, and last year she could have attended, the director, Sybille, assured me that she would personally call me either way… instead we received the same form letter in the mail as we had three years in a row. I called and left a voicemail for her to call me… she never returned the call.
This school’s policies should reflect ambassadorship and connection to its community. Their callousness and capriciousness in such an important and valuable endeavor as a U.S. German immersion school is nothing short of disgraceful.
We are not the only family turned away, and we all collectively hope that the GISSV just up the hill continues to improve and expand their Berkeley campus to include preschool programs.
For our daughter, sadly, it is too late.