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New charter approved for East Palo Alto Academy
The Board of Trustees of the Sequoia Union High School District has approved a new charter agreement for East Palo Alto Academy that will continue the high school's partnership with the Stanford Graduate School of Education and better coordinate its services with the district.
As of Aug. 1, when the new agreement takes effect, Sequoia will assume the fiduciary responsibility that had previously resided with a nonprofit organization.
Under the new agreement, the high school will operate as a dependent charter, with the district overseeing the school’s human resources, facilities management and administration. Moving these functions to the district results in economies of scale and efficiency that were not possible under the nonprofit organization.
EPAA will continue to draw on the expertise and services that Stanford University can offer in education, youth development and mental health.
"We are pleased to be able to continue our relationship with the students, teachers and administrators at East Palo Alto Academy," said Deborah Stipek, dean of the Graduate School of Education. "Stanford is deeply committed to finding ways to improve educational opportunities for all students, and our faculty’s work with EPAA has helped students who had been struggling with school to graduate high school and go on to college."
Earlier this month, 56 graduating seniors collected their diplomas from EPAA. More than half were accepted to 4-year colleges and 90 percent of the school's graduates are headed to a 2- or 4-year college.
James Lianides, superintendent of Sequoia Union High School District, and his staff worked diligently for months with the school's leadership to establish the new arrangement and welcomed the trustee’s vote in favor of it.
“We have greatly appreciated the way Stanford has provided targeted support to the teachers and students from East Palo Alto at EPAA,” he said. “The new dependent charter status will create a stronger link between EPAA and the district and new opportunities for Stanford and the district to learn from each other.”
Sequoia Union High School District includes Carlmont High School, Menlo-Atherton High School, Sequoia High School and Woodside High School. It serves about 8,200 students who live in the southeastern section of San Mateo County.
EPAA, which serves about 265 students in grades 9-12, opened in 2001, after the community had asked Stanford to help it develop a charter high school to serve students in East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park, some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in California.
Students attending EPAA predominantly come from households where English is the second language. Many students are also the first in their families to graduate high school.
Since its creation, the Graduate School of Education has partnered with the school to investigate ways to enhance learning, particularly for low-income students and English language learners.
The partnership has come in many forms. EPAA serves as a professional development site for the GSE teacher certification program, and GSE faculty work with EPAA students, do workshops at the school and run pilot programs to test new approaches to instruction. Teachers from the high school also receive professional support from programs and faculty at Stanford. Undergraduates from Stanford also tutor EPAA students.
The new agreement continues those ties. It allows Stanford GSE to focus on providing support for teaching, college and career counseling, and social and mental health services.
The charter modification comes just as EPAA celebrated its 10th graduating class, and is now preparing to open on a new campus in East Palo Alto this fall. While EPAA has been in a building in Menlo Park, SUHSD has made available a newly remodeled building in East Palo Alto as part of the new arrangements for EPAA.
The success of EPAA in preparing students for college along with the new campus should make the school an attractive educational option for East Palo Alto high school students, school officials said.
The vote by the trustees on June 25 was 4-0.
