Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan to Open a Private School For Underprivileged Kids
To help educate the overwhelming number of disadvantaged students in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are opening a private school for preschoolers and students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
On Thursday, the multi-billion-dollar couple announced their new initiative called The Primary School, according to San Jose Mercury News.
The project is directed at assisting children who suffer from the effects of poverty, which has been Chan’s passion ever since she worked at a Boston Housing Project during her time as an undergraduate at Harvard.
Although the exact amount Chan and Zuckerberg will be donating is unknown, the Primary School is almost guaranteed to be a multi-million dollar project since it will be one-quarter larger than Luther Burbank School District in San Jose, which currently runs on a $4.9 million budget.
The school will be able to accommodate roughly 700 students and their families. Each class will be comprised of 50 students, all of whom will receive free schooling.
Meredith Liu, president and chief operating officer of the school, said:
“We want to dramatically improve education and health outcomes of underserved children in East Palo Alto and Belle Haven.”
Many are excited about the opening of the school next August. Superintendent of the Rosewood City School District, Gloria Hernandez-Goff, believes the school and district will become a collaborative force that will focus on serving children. She said:
“[Zuckerberg-Chan] are not acting like an outside group coming in. They’re developing an insider approach.”
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