Send this story Print this story

Adjust text size

Uploaded: Monday, September 21, 2009, 9:10 AM

New school campus rises on motel row
Facility will serve as middle school campus for 36-year-old private Keys School

by Chris Kenrick
Palo Alto Online Staff

Posted by jardins, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 10:28 am

This is a wonderful addition to the school options in Palo Alto!

Personally, I prefer the adjective "independent" to "private" for describing such schools as Keys--independent of the one-size-fits-all attitude of PAUSD's bureaucracy at 25 Churchill. And independently endowed so that a number of deserving students get scholarships to attend.

I'm only disappointed in the words of Keys's middle school director, Michael Thompson, that put Ohlone School (my children's elementary school) and Walter Hays School at opposite ends of the spectrum. Ohlone has a perfectly rigorous academic program along with its EQ and developmental philosophy. That's the brilliance of the school!

Posted by los altos, a resident of Los Altos, on Sep 21, 2009 at 11:27 am

Bullis Charter should follow this example. There are creative solutions when you want to expand other than lawsuits!

Posted by Change can work... with mitigations, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 11:30 am

I hope Keys School is RENTING the Ventura site space they are using. PAUSD could use the revenue. It's interesting how many of these private schools use our public parks, libraries, instead of building their own playground space and libraries as our public schools do.

First, I hope PAUSD is getting revenue from Keys for use of their facility.

Second, I hope that the traffic impacts of 2/3 of their student population coming from out of town in CARS are being mitigated. The El Camino Way/El Camino intersection is a school crossing for Gunn and Barron Park students. It must remain safe for those kids.

Posted by Chris Kenrick, Palo Alto Weekly, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 11:45 am

Yes, Keys pays rent to the city, which owns Ventura, for use of playing field space, according to Jon Ninnemann.

Posted by mom, a member of the Walter Hays School community, on Sep 21, 2009 at 12:04 pm

I've toured Ohlone, Keys, and Walter Hays. What is this article saying about Walter Hays? I can't figure it out. Can anyone shed some light? Thank you.

Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Embarcadero Oaks/Leland neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 12:19 pm

Not that it is true, but Hays has a reputation of being a competitive, very academic school. Its actually a great group of parents, teacher and kids (ok, they are a little competitive...)

Posted by Preschool Dad, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 12:36 pm

I think Michael Thompson thinks Ohlone is academically rigorous, and Walter Hayes offers a "whole child approach", whatever that means.

Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 1:50 pm

I don't know Keys School in particular, but I generally recommend looking into private schools at each stage of one's educational life. Our kids had a wonderful education at a private high school.

Posted by don't read too much into it, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 5:00 pm

jardins, you're a bit touchy. I read it as characterizing their school as somewhere between a traditional neighborhood school & Ohlone. Wasn't Walter Hays is ranked around 7th in the most recent results?

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 6:04 pm

I wouldn't be too surprised if the article didn't use the schools names as styles of education rather than the particular schools. We often talk about the Hoover style or the Ohlone style in Palo Alto and generally everyone knows what we are talking about. The Hays style could just mean regular, traditional style.

Posted by rhody, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2009 at 7:14 pm

But speak of ugly behemoths of buildings. This one looks just like a prison!

Posted by Observer, a resident of another community, on Sep 22, 2009 at 4:02 am

The only concern that immediately popped into my mind is the proximity of this school to these seedy hotels and their mysterious inhabitants. I just hope the state is not using any of them as halfway houses for parolees.

Posted by workingmom, a resident of Los Altos Hills, on Sep 23, 2009 at 11:09 pm

My child attends Bullis Charter. None of the parents asked for the facailities lawsuit against Los Altos School District or knew it was being filed; it was announced on the LAST day of school (June 10, 2009). However the parents have been "invited" to attend the court hearing via electronic newsletter, and the details are prominently displayed on the BCS website; the court date is Tues. Sept. 29th. This strikes me as incredibly odd. The parents are not personally responsible for this, nor are they paying for it (that they are aware of). Why anyone would want to watch such an excrutiating proceeding which can only serve to further disrupt community ties is baffling to me as a parent. There MUST have been a better way, a road not taken.

Furthermore, BCS uses Everyday Math which does NOT teach to the individual and which my students (present and past graduate) found incredibly boring and redundant. It CANNOT be individualized and if your student is bright they will feel trapped; if they are average they will be bored. If they need help, the entire class will "spiral" along through old material with them. Good luck Palo Altans!!

Posted by Erin, a resident of the Leland Manor/Garland Drive neighborhood, on Sep 24, 2009 at 2:48 pm

The difference is that Keys is not a charter school like Bullis. Bullis has every right to demand a suitable building if the district approved the charter. Why do you think PA continues with the choice schools? Because the alternative of a charter school is not something the district wants to deal with.

Posted by Mary G, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Sep 26, 2009 at 12:07 pm

i agree that the Keys School looks like a maximum security prison. It doesnt even have room to plant some vies to soften the walls. I don't understand how the city can restrict homeowner who want to remodel or cut down messy street trees and then allow Keys to be built on the sidewalk and cut down 60 plus trees on California Ave. What does it take to get approval for such things?

Posted by OhlonePar, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Sep 26, 2009 at 12:36 pm

I read Thompson's remarks as a sort of sales pitch. Keys has a new building to pay for and it needs to fill a middle school. What better way to do it than to mention selling points--academic rigor, but whole-child; Singapore, which has devotees, instead of EDM, whose implementation here has been so controversial.

What I actually hear about Keys is that it's pretty traditional and quite academic. The smallness means that, yes, kids will get individual attention as a result. Not a good school for kids with academic issues and not developmental. More like Harker than the Peninsula School.

Posted by Even a small school is a big place, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Sep 27, 2009 at 12:17 am

Actually, I know of several kids starting with academic issues who have thrived at Keys. But I don't know anyone who thinks it is much like Harker, though it's history dates to a spin off from Harker when Harker moved to the South Bay.

It has more respect for social and emotional development than Harker, and more room for development in ways that are not strictly aligned toward the current popular view of what college prep is about. It promotes a parent/school community much more than Harker and considers that community to be an important part of sustaining a culture associated with its educational philosophy.

It has far less formal academic acceleration and formal differentiation than Harker. It is small enough to handle talent on an individual basis.

I think Ohlone is the public school in PA closest to Keys in educational approach, but Keys probably has a more diverse ideological community.

Teachers have a lot of freedom at Keys; based on my kid's very limited exposure to Harker it seemed that teachers had their work spelled out for them rather carefully.

Posted by Catherine, a resident of Mountain View, on Oct 12, 2009 at 4:34 pm

"The school recently discarded the controversial Everyday Mathematics textbook series, which is newly adopted in Palo Alto Unified School District K-5 classrooms this fall, in favor of Singapore Math."

This is part of why I like Bowman's long-view Montessori approach. It's great to see my 5-year-old learning the same way that his older brother learned. Switching kids in and out of various programs mid-stream in their educational process is part of why our school system doesn't always "work".

Posted by Julie, a resident of Mountain View, on Jan 20, 2010 at 10:47 pm

Those people who complain about private schools use of public facilities forget that the parents of those students also pay taxes, and do not get to use any budget allocated to public schools.