Ellwood P. Cubberley High School
| Ellwood P. Cubberley High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
|
Palo Alto, California United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| Opened | 1956 |
| Closed | 1979 |
| School district | Palo Alto Unified School District |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Athletics conference |
SPAL CIF Central Coast Section |
| Team name | Cougars |
| Newspaper | The Cubberly Catamount |
| Communities served | Palo Alto |
Ellwood P. Cubberley High School was one of three public high schools in Palo Alto, California. Opened in 1956, Cubberley High was located at 4000 Middlefield Road. It was finally closed in 1979 as a reaction to declining enrollment and decreased revenues following Proposition 13. The other local high schools Gunn High School and Palo Alto High School had been created on friendly land transfers from Stanford University and if educational use was to be terminated, the land would revert to the university for the value at the time of transfer. The Palo Alto Unified School District board, requiring an infusion of cash, determined Cubberley could be sold at more contemporary rates. Later it was discovered that it could only be sold to a non-profit organization. That has resulted in part of the campus being converted into the Cubberley Community Center, on an annual lease from the school district to the City of Palo Alto.[1] The larger remainder of the site has been leased since 2002 to the Foothill-De Anza College District for the Middlefield Campus of Foothill College. The high school was named after Ellwood Patterson Cubberley, the Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education and pioneer of educational administration.
Cubberley was the scene of the Third Wave experiment by teacher Ron Jones that was later portrayed in a film and TV special. A KQED (TV) special program from 1970 features a three day teaching conference at Cubberly High School that focused on ecology and population issues.[2]
According to Palo Alto Online, current enrollment projections done by Palo Alto Unified suggest that Cubberley may need to be reopened as a fourth middle school by 2015 and ultimately be reopened as a third high school by 2021.[3]
The Cubberley Cougars competed in the SPAL of the CIF Central Coast Section. They won the league football championship in 1973.[4]
Notable alumni
- Gerrit W. Gong (Class of 1972), general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- James Gurney (Class of c. 1975), artist and author
- Željko Ivanek (Class of 1975), actor
- Michio Kaku (Class of c. 1965), theoretical physicist
- Gregg Rolie (Class of c. 1965), musician, founding member of both Santana and Journey
- Bill Green (Class of 1979), Olympic sprinter
- Tom Melvin (Class of 1979), NFL player and coach
Notable faculty
- George Hurley, NFL offensive lineman, Cubberley football coach, taught wood shop, and driving
- Ron Jones, creator of The Third Wave social experiment
See also
References
External links
37°25′04″N 122°06′27″W / 37.417874°N 122.107544°W