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Most Palo Altans know Cubberley as a community center, a sprawl of low buildings on Middlefield Road where children take ballet and book lovers line up for the monthly sale. For 23 years it was a high school. Cubberley opened in 1956, when the city could barely build classrooms fast enough. It closed in 1979 after one of the most bitter school fights in local history. In between it gained a national reputation for experiment and turmoil.
This page tells the history of the school and its namesake. For what goes on at the campus today, from rentals to the redevelopment plan, see our guide to the Cubberley Community Center.
Ellwood P. Cubberley
Ellwood Patterson Cubberley was born on June 6, 1868, in Andrews, Indiana. He studied physics at Indiana University, taught in a one-room schoolhouse and became president of Vincennes University in his twenties. After a term as superintendent of schools in San Diego he joined Stanford's faculty. He earned a doctorate at Columbia in 1905 and returned to Stanford as a professor of education in 1906.
From 1917 to 1933 he was the first dean of Stanford's School of Education. He is remembered as a founder of school administration as a field. Before him, school superintendents learned on the job. Cubberley wrote textbooks for them, ran detailed surveys of city school systems from Portland to Oakland to Salt Lake City and used statistics to judge what worked. His Public Education in the United States taught generations of teachers the history of their profession. He died on September 14, 1941.
A contested legacy
Cubberley's reputation has not aged well. Historians since Lawrence Cremin in 1965 have criticized his heroic, top-down story of American schooling. A 2020 Stanford Daily series on eugenics at Stanford examined how his ideas of school "efficiency" were tied to theories of inherited intelligence and how his writing described non-white and immigrant groups as inferior. Stanford's education library and an auditorium in its School of Education have carried his name. In 2017 the Palo Alto school board voted to rename two middle schools named for other Stanford figures tied to eugenics, David Starr Jordan and Lewis Terman. The community center on Middlefield Road still carries Cubberley's name.
The school opens in 1956
Palo Alto's school enrollment exploded after World War II. Superintendent Henry M. Gunn oversaw growth from about 5,500 students to more than 14,000 between 1950 and 1961. New schools opened almost every year. Cubberley High School opened in 1956 at 4000 Middlefield Road in south Palo Alto, near the new Eichler tracts. It joined Palo Alto High School, which opened on its current campus in 1918. Gunn High followed in 1964.
At first Cubberley served grades 10 through 12. It added ninth grade in 1975. Its teams were the Cougars and competed in the Central Coast Section. The student paper was the Catamount. Our postwar growth page explains the boom that filled its halls.
A school of experiment
Cubberley became known for trying new things, sometimes with unexpected results. Three episodes put it in the national spotlight:
- The Third Wave, 1967. History teacher Ron Jones ran a classroom experiment to show students how easily people could be drawn into a fascist movement. He gave it slogans, a salute and rules. It spread through the school within days before he shut it down. The story later became the basis for books, films and television.
- Hassling, 1970. Sylvia Berry Williams's book Hassling described the social tensions that played out at Cubberley from 1967 to 1969. It gave the school national attention.
- Ecology, 1970. KQED broadcast a special on a three-day teaching conference at Cubberley on ecology and population, early in the environmental movement.
Wikipedia's list of alumni includes Santana and Journey keyboardist Gregg Rolie, actor Ċ½eljko Ivanek, critic Wendy Lesser, illustrator James Gurney, mountain bike pioneer Tom Ritchey, jazz musician Jon Jang and Olympic sprinter Bill Green.
Falling enrollment and Proposition 13
District enrollment peaked at 15,576 in 1967. Then the baby boom aged out. By 1979 enrollment had dropped about 30 percent from the peak. Terman Junior High closed in 1978.
Proposition 13 made it worse. The June 1978 ballot measure cut property taxes and capped future increases. Wealthy districts like Palo Alto lost the local revenue they relied on. By 1979 the district was about $2 million in the red, according to PaloAltoHistory.org. Superintendent Newman Walker concluded that one high school had to close. Our page on Palo Alto in the 1970s puts this in the wider context of the decade.
Why Cubberley and not Gunn
The choice came down to land. Walker told the board that Paly and Gunn sat on land acquired from Stanford in "friendly condemnations." If either school closed, the land would go back to Stanford at the original price, just $26,000 for Paly and $358,000 for Gunn. Cubberley's 35 acres, by contrast, might sell for about $11 million.
On February 6, 1979, in front of about 600 people and several television crews at the Paly auditorium, the board voted 3 to 2 to close Cubberley at the end of the year. Just before the vote the superintendent had to concede a key point. Sale money could only go into the general fund if the land went to a nonprofit or public agency.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| February 6, 1979 | Board votes 3 to 2 to close Cubberley. |
| Spring 1979 | A group called Take Time to Plan gathers more than 6,000 signatures for a citywide vote. |
| March 30, 1979 | A county judge rules the decision can go to a referendum. |
| May 30, 1979 | The state Court of Appeal overturns that ruling 3 to 0. |
| June 1979 | Final graduation. The track team wins the school's only section title days before closing. |
| Fall 1979 | About 950 former Cubberley students enroll at Gunn or Paly. |
Cubberley supporters had argued that their school had more capacity, a bigger cafeteria and the only equipped classrooms for some special education programs. They lost. Over time, PaloAltoHistory.org notes, many of them came to accept the decision. See our pages on Gunn High School and Palo Alto High School for the schools that absorbed its students.
What the campus became
The district could not sell the land at the price it hoped. Instead it leased much of the campus to the City of Palo Alto, which turned it into a community center. Early tenants included Mid-Peninsula High School, a small private school founded in 1979 after the closure, which leased space at Cubberley before moving. Foothill College classes, dance schools, artists and nonprofits followed. The city says it has run Cubberley since 1990.
The question of whether Cubberley would become a school again never went away. As enrollment rose in the 2000s the district studied reopening it. In December 2024 the city and the district agreed that the city would buy 7 acres, giving it 15 acres in all. A half-cent city sales tax that the city links to rebuilding Cubberley, Measure J, is on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Results will be posted by the county after election day. Our voting guide explains how to vote.
Visiting today
The old school buildings still stand at 4000 Middlefield Road, just south of Mitchell Park. Walk the covered breezeways and you can still picture class changes in the 1960s. The theater, the gyms and many classrooms are in daily use. The Friends of the Palo Alto Library book sale is the easiest excuse to visit. Check the community center page for current uses and rentals.
Frequently asked questions
When did Cubberley High School close?
The Palo Alto school board voted 3 to 2 on February 6, 1979 to close Cubberley at the end of that school year. Supporters won a lower court ruling for a referendum, but an appeals court overturned it on May 30, 1979. About 950 students moved to Gunn or Paly that fall.
Why was Cubberley closed instead of Gunn?
Enrollment had fallen about 30 percent since 1967 and Proposition 13 left the district roughly $2 million in the red. The superintendent argued that Paly and Gunn sat on land acquired from Stanford, which would revert to the university at its original low price if either school closed. Cubberley's 35 acres were expected to bring far more.
Who was Ellwood P. Cubberley?
He was the first dean of Stanford's School of Education, serving from 1917 to 1933. He was also a pioneer of school administration. His textbooks shaped how American teachers learned their field's history. His legacy is contested because his work promoted eugenic and racist ideas about intelligence.
What was the Third Wave at Cubberley High School?
In 1967 Cubberley history teacher Ron Jones ran a classroom experiment called the Third Wave to show students how ordinary people could be drawn into a fascist movement. It spread quickly through the school before he ended it. The experiment later inspired books, films and television.
What is at the old Cubberley High School site now?
The campus at 4000 Middlefield Road is the Cubberley Community Center, which the City of Palo Alto has run since 1990. It holds dance studios, artist studios, nonprofits, a theater and gyms. The city and the school district share ownership and plans to rebuild it are under discussion.