Katherine Delmar Burke School

Burke's first location in 1908 was at Steiner and Pacific Streets in Pacific Heights. It then relocated to a house at 2310 Broderick Street. In 1918 the growing school moved to a new building designed by architect Julia Morgan (a friend of Katherine Burke), located at 3065 Jackson Street. The school began acquiring property in Sea Cliff in 1929. At first only the Kindergarten and First grade were located there. The rest of the property was used as a sports venue for the upper classes. There was a large grass sports field, basketball courts, and 5 tennis courts. In 1949, grades 2 through 6 were moved there after the completion of new classrooms.

The high school and grades 7 and 8 remained at the Jackson St. building until 1975, when Burke's high school closed and the building was acquired by San Francisco University High School.[2][3][4]

The school has undergone many changes and the issues of classism, mean girls, and wealth influencing leadership are detailed on the site GreatSchools.net that is a reliable source of public opinion.[5] One recent parent suggested on the site that the school leadership now is in the hands of wealthy donors, which is worth consideration as a reliable source. Others on the site say that class issues were part of Burke's past but not its present.

Some reliable media sources such as Vanity Fair describe the social set that Burke's appeals strongly to in the article Blue Bloods and Billionaires from 2013. [6] Other reliable works that speak to the social milieu around Burke's is Oh, the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey.[7] The Nob Hill Gazette[8] often chronicles the upper crust that traditionally went to Burke's and then University and Stanford, once described in San Francisco magazine as the Jet Set.

While the school is small with an enrollment of 400 in K-8, it exists with the other private girls schools in San Francisco such as Hamlin's (the rival) and Convent of the Sacred Heart. Other schools refer to the Burke's girls as "Burke's Jerks."

According to their tax forms, the school gave out $1.9 million in financial aid in the tax year 2019. Yet the cost of $40,000 a year is cost prohibitive to all but the elite.[9] The leadership is also paid well ($532,753 in compensation for the tax year ending in 2020) compared to other schools[10] in the region.[11]

One of the leadership's crowning glories has been in the introduction of pants as part of the girls' uniform options. The all-girls school has seen gender differently for decades and now is gender inclusive.[12]

While Burke's has always been a traditional school, now in its 100 plus years, and now is more progressive -- some recently started to question if the school keeps up with the modern-day requirements of public schools. As many schools locally stage walk-outs,[13] Burke's has been known to ignore serious issues such as bullying[14] and other ways students and community members can be harmed[15] as reported on at sites like niche[16] and other reliable user generated content from students, parents, and alum.

There's been a long-standing issue with mean girls that the school can't ever get a grasp on, probably because of the socio-economic realities of a school that costs $40,000. In the 1980s it was $5,000 and with inflation would be $11,000 now.

A student wrote on the school's Facebook page in 2019 that she was "bullied and picked on by teachers. Learning disabilities are HEAVILY frowned upon...It has an extreme 'rich kids are always right' mentality."

Another issue is that changes in the public system (such as Title IX enforcements)[17] are not used in the private school since it does not accept federal money.[18]

Mascot: Pine Tree

School colors: Green and Gold

• Jean Afterman '75, Senior Vice President, Assistant General Manager, New York Yankees[19]
• Marjorie Eaton 1920, painter and actress[20]
• Elizabeth Charleston, painter[21]
• Jennifer Egan '76, novelist and journalist[22]
• Vendela Vida '85, novelist and editor[23]
• Ali Wong '96, comedian, writer and actress[24]

• Katherine Delmar Burke School official website