Many of you know that one of the biggest reasons we moved to Sonoma was because we wanted our kids to attend Beard. I think by the time we closed on our new home last June, John-Michael was on a waiting list to get into 1st grade but Melanie was in easily. Luckily, we got a phone call the night before school started that a spot had opened up for him. Although my street has turned out to be pretty lame, we are thrilled with the school. The teaching is fabulous, we've met so many nice people, and the parents are extremely involved. It's accountability rating by Texas standards is "exemplary" once again this coming year. This grade is not that easy to achieve in this area. I think there are only 3 elementary schools that earned it.