A new location could be a big benefit to students at East Palo Alto Academy, which is operated by the Stanford Schools Corporation, an affiliation of Stanford University's Graduate School of Education.
San Jose Mercury News/Palo Alto Daily News
With enrollment continuing to grow since it opened in Menlo Park a dozen years ago, East Palo Alto Academy charter high school could relocate to a site in the city of its namesake.
On July 30, the Sequoia Union High School District bought a nearly one-acre site at 980 Myrtle St. in East Palo Alto for $1.3 million next to a campus it currently isn't using.
The new site and adjacent property are large enough to accommodate as many as 400 students, according to district documents.
East Palo Alto Academy officials say the existing school at 475 Pope St. in Menlo Park is too small. It is bracing for 285 students this fall and expects to enroll 350 to 400 students within about five years, said school COO Kia Darling-Hammond.
"I think our school has become increasingly attractive, we offer a very personalized education," Vice Principal Jeffrey Camarillo told The Daily News on Monday. "Our current facility is suitable for now, but we'd like to grow the school out."
By using prefabricated buildings, the newly purchased East Palo Alto campus could be ready by the 2014-2015 school year, district Superintendent James Lianides said Monday. The buildings would cost $5 million to $6 million and when combined with those at 1050 Myrtle would provide up to 22 classrooms, he said.
The campus at 1050 Myrtle -- which currently is used by nonprofits such as Sobrato Foundation and One East Palo Alto -- includes a library and a multipurpose room. The district built it a few years ago with East Palo Alto Academy in mind but the charter school was already too big by the time it was finished, Lianides said.
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