Palo Verde Elementary School

3450 Louis Rd.

Palo Alto, CA 94303

    Palo Verde Elementary School has just under 400 students, kindergarten through fifth grade, from an area formerly served by five elementary schools. The school neighborhood is bounded by Highway 101 on the east, Middlefield Road on the west, Oregon Expressway on the north, and Charleston Road on the south. Approximately 8% of the students come from other areas in Palo Alto and 7% from outside the district, including voluntary transfers from Ravenswood School District.

    The ethnic composition of the school is 20% Asian, 7% Hispanic, 5% African-American, and 68% Caucasian. The area encompasses a social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity that is valued by the school community. Twenty-five different languages are spoken in students' homes. The most common foreign languages are Russian, Korean, Japanese, and Spanish. Eight percent of the students are classified as Limited-English proficient.

    Over half of Palo Verde parents are engaged in professional, technical or managerial employment, and the balance are engaged in trades and services. Although the majority of families are home owners, a sizable number of students live in rental properties, including apartments. 

Palo Verde has a positive and supportive learning environment with clear and consistent standards for behavior. Through the cooperative learning environment, the school helps students develop leadership responsibilities, problem solving, and teamwork skills necessary to be successful and productive members of the community. 

    Palo Verde maintains a staggered schedule for literacy instruction in grades 1-3, four days each week. Teaching loads are being generally maintained through cooperative efforts among schools to accommodate an increasing student population.

Students' Needs:

    Some students have special needs. Palo Verde has many programs to satisfy these needs. These programs include:

Reading Recovery: One-on-one instruction to identified first graders. Paid partially with State funding through the Miller-Unruh program.

GATE: The district Gifted And Talented Education teacher assists teachers in designing and implementing independent and small group projects.

English Language Development: provides intensive English language instruction to students whose native language is other than English. Students learning English also receive some tutorial support in their native languages.

Classroom Teachers: parents, the principal, the resource teacher, speech and language teacher, and school psychologist work together as a Student Study Team to develop strategies to support children with needs that require special attention.

The Speech-Language and Resource Teachers: attempt to team-teach to provide a language arts program four days a week that parallels the classroom program so that students do not miss what is happening in their classrooms. 

Palo Verde's Scores on California Standardized Tests

Scores range from 1-99. A score of 99 indicates that the school scored higher than 99 percent of the other public schools in California. Scores are from "McCormack's Guides '99."

School Safety:

    Palo Verde School rules are based on respect for ourselves and others, personal safety and responsible behavior. Specific guidelines are provided to students during the first week of school and in the Palo Verde Handbook produced by the PTA. The playground is supervised for 15 minutes before school by a teacher aide. Teachers provide supervision during recess, and four noon supervisors provide supervision over the lunch hour. Noon art is also regularly scheduled.

    The PTA Traffic Safety Officer is responsible for providing safety information to parents and students. Students also contribute to a safe school. Fifth graders participate in the Safety Patrol before and after school to assist students with crossing streets and other safety issues. Third-grade children also participate in a bicycle safety program presented annually by the Palo Alto Fire Department.

    Earthquake preparedness is a priority at Palo Verde. They have a comprehensive disaster plan and the PTA stores emergency equipment and supplies on campus. Regular earthquake and fire drills are held, and First Aid and CPR training are provided for the staff.

Palo Verde Elementary School's Mission Statement:

"We believe that mastering academic skills, engaging in cooperative problem-solving, enjoying and participating in the arts, applying human relations skills, and increasing physical skills, strength, and endurance in a safe, supportive environment are vital to the full development of each child.

Palo Verde staff, parents, and students are working together to develop minds, build skills, enrich experiences, increase strength, solve problems, expand horizons, and encourage caring, responsible relationships."

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