A private school in East Palo Alto serving low-income students is closing its doors at the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
The Primary School, founded in 2016 by Dr. Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg’s wife, offers education, health care and other resources at no cost to hundreds of students, most of whom are Latino.
On its website, The Primary School said the decision to close "was very difficult."
Parents said they feel blindsided by the decision to shut it down. They said school leaders did not provide an explanation at a meeting last week.
“My heart breaks for my autistic son crying over his school, his teachers," parent Nubia Alvarado said in Spanish. "He tells me, 'Mom, what can we do so the founder doesn’t take away our dreams?"
More than 400 students enrolled at the campus will be transferred to the Ravenswood City School District.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is also closing its school in San Leandro.
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In an email to NBC Bay Area, the nonprofit said it is committing $50 million through 2030 to support early learning, health care and parent support services in the Ravenswood City School District.
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