The one?

Today's school search took me to Benchley-Weinberger, a communications magnet that's about five minutes away from where we live.

I wasn't expecting much, especially since Hearst is pretty much the star of our neighborhood. It's also, in the back of my mind, where the girls will probably end up going and where we'll eventually move so we can get in.

So I walk into the Benchley auditorium and they're playing this video about how great the school is, and the music it's set to is that ukelele version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," you know, the one they played on ER when Dr. Greene died? Ever since that episode, that song just gets me.

In the talk, they mentioned all these awards and test scores and blah blah blah. They talked a lot about communication, which means, yes, the kids do put out a newspaper and also a news broadcast.

But! Wait, it's not like that. I certainly do not want to encourage my children to work at a place where you devote hours and hours and can barely afford to pay the rent.

But I did like the communication aspect where they pair up younger kids to work with older ones, as well as doing class plays and school assemblies. I was surprised to see that they had some pretty cool after-school programs, too, like yoga, art and . . . Spanish classes!

Yes, it's already looking perfect.

The kindergarten is a bit separate from the main school - they have their own playground, garden and even little bathrooms. And it was hidden from the street, which is something I didn't like about Longfellow. At Longfellow the kindergarten playground was totally visible and any old creepmaster could just come right up and talk to the kids. Not that this happens or anything, but it happens in my imagination.

Inside, there was no chaos. The rooms were clean. The kids looked happy. I didn't have the feeling that the teachers were overwhelmed and not totally in control, which is sort of what I felt at Longfellow.

They showed me a music room and met the new music teacher, Miss Marina (see? perfect!) and inside she had everything from xylophones and triangles to bongo drums and maracas.

But what got me was the library. You don't even know.

The library at Benchley is, like, 100 times nicer than the Kensington library, where we usually go. They have rows and rows of books, all neatly arranged and cozy. They even had some Roald Dahl books I've never even seen before and got a vision of Marina sitting in a chair, reading it one day.

I loved this school. It felt warm and friendly and happy.

Of course, there's bad news. Because I live so close to it, the chances of me getting in are very low. I am in cluster one, which is the cluster they pick the fewest students from. But, after a quick search on Craigslist, it seems that living in San Carlos is so much cheaper than living in Del Cerro, anyway.

Next stop: Museum School on Oct. 20. There's going to be a lot to say about this one, which, right now is where I really really want the girls to go.