The nonprofit Stanford New Schools, which runs the East Palo Alto Academy, welcomes the opportunity to keep operating its elementary school and high school.

The Ravenswood City School District board of trustees last week denied a five-year renewal of the Stanford New Schools charter, citing dissatisfaction with state test scores in its new elementary school grades, but left open the possibility of extending the charter for a shorter period.

Deborah Stipek, dean of Stanford's School of Education and president of the nonprofit Stanford New Schools, which runs East Palo Academy Elementary School and East Palo Alto Academy High School, welcomed the opportunity to continue operating the schools.

"While the trustees were very enthusiastic about the high school, they expressed concern about the elementary school, which had only two years of data when the charter came up for renewal," Stipek said. "If the district extends the charter, that would give us the chance to demonstrate that we can succeed with the elementary school in the same way that we have succeeded with the high school."

The East Palo Alto Academy High School opened in 2001 as a joint project of Stanford, a Bay Area nonprofit organization and the school district. Stanford assumed full responsibility for the high school in 2005; it now has 300 students in grades 9-12.

Stipek said the high school has an 86 percent graduation rate, compared with the state average of 80 percent. More than 90 percent of the students who graduated from the East Palo Alto Academy High School last year were admitted to colleges...Read more