930 Van Auken Cir
Palo Alto, CA 94303

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.

I was bullied here even to the point of a girl excessively peeking at me in the bathroom. Another girl skipped class constantly and I had to go with her (bathroom buddy rule), copied my tests, and made me tease other kids when I didn’t want to. The teacher I had didn’t help with that and didn’t try to either.Another teacher made me and another student cry at different times: me for saying “ok” in a small tone she didn’t like!!Special education doesn’t help anyone: for speech therapy they just tell the kids they're saying it wrong without giving improvement tips, and with social skills they just have you play board games and color without helping you with social skills.

If your child ends up having any problems out of your control, the staff will be relentless in their handling of the situation while treating it as if it is the parent's or student's fault for their unfortunate circumstances. In my time here I have also witnessed mistreatment by both faculty and students toward students with disabilities, not understanding the accommodations required for those students to excel in a safe environment. I have friends who still talk about JLS staff and teachers in their therapy sessions well into their college years.