The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has announced that it is preparing to shut down The Primary School, a tuition-free private school that serves hundreds of children in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park.
The school will shut down at the end of the 2025-26 school year, according to an announcement that The Primary School posted on its website. The school declined to respond to questions about the closure or to provide any additional comments about the decision.
“This was a very difficult decision, and we are committed to ensuring a thoughtful and supportive transition for students and families over the next year,” the school said in a statement.
Since opening in 2016, the school has been serving more than 200 students per year. According to the school’s website, its Clarke Street location in East Palo Alto has 443 children enrolled, about 58% of whom receive either individualized education programs or specialized support services.
Spearheaded by Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician and wife of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the school strived to combine education with health care and other types of support services. According to the school’s website, 61% of the students in its East Palo Alto campus are Latinx, 7% are Black and 7% are Pacific Islander.
While the school is shutting down, CZI has announced that it plans to invest $50 million in the East Palo Alto, Belle Haven and East Bay communities, which will include investments in 529 education savings plans for all students and transition specialists to help families navigate their switch to new schools.
It has also pledged to collaborate with the Ravenswood City School District as it welcomes many of The Primary School’s families.
“Over the years the District has added dedicated family engagement roles, strengthened health programs, and expanded early childhood care,” the school’s announcement states. “We look forward to sharing our learnings to support their bolstering of crucial student and family services.”
The school also expressed gratitude to members of the community who entrusted it with the well-being of their children as well as appreciation for its “local partners in East Palo Alto and East Bay.”
“We know that our partners in the Ravenswood City School District and the East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and East Bay communities will work to ensure our students and families are cared for, and we appreciate that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will support those efforts through a $50 million commitment, over five years, that invests in parent engagement programs, early childhood education, and healthcare services across these communities, and helps maintain critical support for TPS families that join the District,” Jean-Claude Brizard, board chair at The Primary School, said in a statement.
The closure comes at a time when Zuckberberg has been winding down programs at Meta that pertain to diversity, equity and inclusion.
