550 Kingsley Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301

Walter Hays is a fantastic school that offers a lot of opportunities to all students. Our child is in Special Education and we feel that her progress is remarkable. Additional Parent organized activities (Makerspace for sewing, sawing and art work, Ice Skating, etc.) make it fun for the families to join in. It is great to be part of this professional and friendly organization!

If you have any choice in the matter, I strongly advise you not to send your teenager to Palo Alto high school. The level of toxic stress at this school, exacerbated by miserable teachers, and under- educated administrators, is a recipe for distress amongst the students. The students grade-shame each other. My daughter was actually told by her fellow classmate that she was at risk of not graduating with a 3.7 GPA. And the sad part is that the child actually believed that. One notably unhappy teacher has a “dunce corner” where she humiliates students by having them stand in the corner if they’ve asked a question that the teacher feels is “stupid.” Another teacher keeps her room lights off and has students play videos at different volumes at different speeds - many without headsets - in the classroom. When some students cannot learn in this environment, they are penalized and blamed for not paying attention. When the administration is asked to step in, not only does stonewalling occur, but threats to the family are made. Our realtor told us that as many families leave Palo Alto for the schools as move into Palo Alto for the schools. This makes sense to me now that we have experienced that firsthand. There is enough stress placed on students without the unnecessary chaos of this dangerous school. We could not get out fast enough.

There were nice experiences with some teachers and these teachers get burned out. But overall, not a good education if you need help from teachers and you end up in real trouble for high school. It's very easy to fall behind in a few weeks and you will not catch up all year.