870A College Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94306

Overall, this is a great school, with tremendous parent involvement. There is some room for improvement, particularly around the math curriculum - although there is a supplemental math program which is great. Not all of the Spanish language teachers are native speakers, but they are all committed and hard-working and care a lot about the kids. There is some differentiation in the classrooms, and quite a lot of technology available to this kids (iPads and laptops are brought in semi-regularly to the classrooms). There is a lovely school garden, but so far the garden hasn't been worked into the curriculum. There are also social cliques, and some social tensions between the Spanish and English students.

If you have any choice in the matter, I strongly advise you not to send your teenager to Palo Alto high school. The level of toxic stress at this school, exacerbated by miserable teachers, and under- educated administrators, is a recipe for distress amongst the students. The students grade-shame each other. My daughter was actually told by her fellow classmate that she was at risk of not graduating with a 3.7 GPA. And the sad part is that the child actually believed that. One notably unhappy teacher has a “dunce corner” where she humiliates students by having them stand in the corner if they’ve asked a question that the teacher feels is “stupid.” Another teacher keeps her room lights off and has students play videos at different volumes at different speeds - many without headsets - in the classroom. When some students cannot learn in this environment, they are penalized and blamed for not paying attention. When the administration is asked to step in, not only does stonewalling occur, but threats to the family are made. Our realtor told us that as many families leave Palo Alto for the schools as move into Palo Alto for the schools. This makes sense to me now that we have experienced that firsthand. There is enough stress placed on students without the unnecessary chaos of this dangerous school. We could not get out fast enough.

There were nice experiences with some teachers and these teachers get burned out. But overall, not a good education if you need help from teachers and you end up in real trouble for high school. It's very easy to fall behind in a few weeks and you will not catch up all year.