Jewish Community High School of the Bay

Jewish Community High School of the Bay is a pluralistic Jewish high school (see details below) that is a local gem attracting students from around the Bay Area. With around 45 kids per grade, the school caters to a variety of academic levels with personal attention to each student. Because it’s a small school, students feel that they matter. Teaching is high quality based on learning, with constructive feedback along the way. Stress is kept down by allowing edits of essays and second takes of some exams; only year-end grades are kept in the final transcript. This system allows the students to make mistakes, learn, grow, and improve without being afraid to fail. Full disclosure, my son attends the school. 

Academics 

What makes JCHS special? As a small school, JCHS can pay attention to each student’s needs. For example, JCHS freshmen meet with their dean 1:1 each week throughout their 9th grade year, which provides personalized attention at an unusual level. Teachers provide specific feedback on essays, tests, and classwork.

JCHS students typically take 7 classes and a study hall. Each day, they attend half their classes, and the schedule rotates, so students always have at least 2 school days to complete assignments. Classes are high caliber, with the teachers focusing on the quality of learning. For instance, essays can be edited for improvements, and teachers are available to meet with students who want feedback. 

Math, foreign language, and Jewish Studies are placed by level, so students can be challenged at an appropriate level. All students take the same 9th and 10th grade English together, as well as conceptual physics, chemistry, biology, and Modern Jewish History. Students interested in advanced curriculum will find a plethora of advanced placement, honors, and electives. Senior year, students complete year long passion projects. All students volunteer, and the school organizes volunteer fairs to find matches.

The school’s Learning Support Department employs a dean and two full-time learning specialists to help neurodiverse students. Needs range from accommodations to services for those with learning differences. 

Types of Students Served

JCHS students represent an array of ability and achievement. Gifted students enjoy the advanced electives and placement policy, as do native speakers of Hebrew and Spanish. Neurodiverse and 2E students utilize the learning specialist to obtain services or accommodations (see above). 

Pluralistic Jewish School – What does this mean?

JCHS is a pluralistic Jewish Day School. This means that they serve students with a range of Jewish backgrounds, whether they are cultural Jews, practicing Jews, or Orthodox Jews. To accommodate the students who follow shabbat, the school ends earlier on Fridays in the winter, which allows the students and faculty to commute home before dark, and truth be told, all students enjoy their early Fridays. 

The school is welcoming of Jewish families that value a Jewish education. Judaic Studies class is required for all students, so it’s important that families embrace this aspect of the school. The required tefillah program each morning offers students many options ranging from fairly secular to spiritual to traditional Jewish religious. During difficult times post October 7th, the school has been a haven where Jewish teens feel safe, and where they can discuss issues around antisemitism and the war in Israel.

JCHS teaches three required Jewish studies classes, and students choose one Judaic studies elective. Several JS electives are certified as a history by universities. The topics in required courses include the Jewish bible, rabbinic literature, and Jewish philosophy; electives include topics such as ethics, social justice, Jewish culture, writing in Jewish New York, and the Holocaust. In addition, students complete a Jewish engagement requirement by participating in a Jewish learning or leadership program such as the Diller Teen Fellows Program or JFCS Impact year, or, they can choose to take an additional Jewish Studies elective or a fourth year of Hebrew.

Sports, Arts, Clubs, Food, Transportation

During the school day, JCHS offers classes in arts, music (including a musical ensemble), and robotics (which competes as a team). After school, JCHS’s theater program stages an annual musical. The school also has several sports teams, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, and tennis.

Lunchtime clubs represent a variety of interests, including chess and coding. 

The school’s kosher kitchen produces a variety of freshly cooked lunches onsite and also caters events like Back to School Night. 

Shuttles help students commuting outside of San Francisco with service to Marin, BART, and Caltrain. 

College and Gap Year Counseling

Students begin their journey towards college or gap years with discussions in junior year, and ramps up their senior year. Parents rave about the Dean of College and Gap Year Advising, who meets with students 1:1 multiple times to direct their search and application process. The process is tailored for each student’s goals and achievements. Some students each year gain acceptance to the most competitive schools in the country; whatever the student’s achievement level, the school works with the student towards a positive match. 

Tuition and Financial Aid

JCHS tuition is currently $62,000, and the school offers need-based financial aid. 

Role of a K-12 Consultant 

A consultant can help you craft your school list to be sure of a balanced list offering a match of services with the student and parent’s interests. A consultant can also review all admissions materials, in particular student and parent essays, to help focus them to each school’s admissions goals. A consultant can directly work with your child to brainstorm, draft, and edit their own essays. The consultant can provide feedback on whether the essays read as genuine and how to shine during the application process. 

Want more input on K-12 schools?

Vicky consults with families to help select, apply to, and communicate with public and private schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Vicky maintains a principle of non-judgment. Hourly, VIP, and Season packages include a discussion to review school options, applications, essays, and key decisions. Vicky offers a limited number of packages each year to assure her availability. 

Vicky’s own children have attended both public and private schools, and have received both accommodations and curriculum changes; her elder is in high school, and her younger in middle school. New clients can email to learn more about her services, or see her website to learn about her packages.