Bret Harte Middle School

As the other reviewer said: prepare you kid to do a lot of studying because the competition is fierce. The amount of special projects is ridiculous. Also, what really got me upset: my son was an advanced saxophone player by the time we entered the school — but they would NOT give us a spot in an advanced band class, we could only enter in the Beginners band — crazy!!! After talking to the principal associate for a couple of times — nothing got resolved. My son who plays amazing is stuck in the beginners band — because supposedly there is no room in the advanced band and based on their rules they always accept entering students in the beginners band only (doesn’t matter if your kid plays advanced level). What a BS!

absolute torture. didn’t like most of the teachers here.
especially, mrs. seymour and mrs. horn, the math teachers. ugh.

Bret Harte Middle School is a good academic school with some fun extracurricular activities for your kid including sports teams, debate, and some science clubs.
All that said though, it is not the most ethnically diverse school in the city, with the student body mostly white and Asian. Plan on your son or daughter doing a lot of studying because the competition is fierce.
Still, any school in Almaden has practically no school crime, vandalism, or any of the other ugly school incidents that seem routine for middle schools in bad areas. Bret Harte’s location right next to Leland provides a good transition from middle to high school.