Lucille M. Nixon Elementary School

Lucille M. Nixon Elementary is the PAUSD school on Stanford land, set into a slope off Stanford Avenue among the university's faculty neighborhoods. It serves children from Stanford campus housing and from parts of Palo Alto, some of them well to the south in the foothills. The California Department of Education counted 345 students in the 2025 to 2026 school year.

The school takes its name from a Palo Alto teacher and curriculum leader rather than a president or pioneer. This page builds on our overview of PAUSD elementary schools and covers the school's history, traditions, 2026 to 2027 schedule, attendance and its detailed traffic rules. We do not rank schools or report test scores. Use the California School Dashboard for official data.

Location and campus

The address is 1711 Stanford Avenue, Stanford 94305. The campus sits west of El Camino Real on the Stanford side of Stanford Avenue, near College Terrace and a short ride from the main campus. A back entrance opens toward Tolman Drive. Our guide to visiting Stanford covers the university around it.

The school says Nixon has the largest grounds of any PAUSD elementary school. The district's 2018 facilities profile lists a 10.3 acre sloping site terraced into three levels, with parking at the top, buildings in the middle and playfields below. About 4 acres are grass play area. The architecture was designed to give a sense of space inside and around the buildings, with the library as the central hub of school life.

The same profile notes two unusual features for the district: a cluster layout that supports team teaching and air conditioning, which it said no other PAUSD elementary campus had at the time. That was in 2018, so other campuses may have caught up since.

History and namesake

Nixon opened in 1970, according to both the school and the district's facilities records. The school's "Our Name" page tells the story of its namesake. Lucille Nixon, known as Luchi, came to the district in 1948 as a classroom teacher. From 1958 to 1963 she was the consultant for curriculum and instruction in the elementary grades. In 1956 her poetry won an award that drew international attention.

She died in 1963 at the age of 55. The school quotes the Palo Alto Board of Education's tribute, which called her "a teacher of teachers" whose work ranged across reading and writing, social studies, art, literature, intercultural studies, programs for gifted students and creativity in young children. When the school opened seven years later, parents and staff chose to name it for her.

The district renovated nearly every interior space in 2004, replaced the main roofs and stabilized the slope, with seismic upgrades to all buildings. Portable classrooms were added in 2004 and 2007.

School life and traditions

Nixon's mission is for every student to leave with an enthusiasm for learning, broader citizenship skills and a sense of being a positive global citizen. Its vision statement describes an internationally and economically diverse community with strong parent involvement and ties to Stanford University. It also commits to a Lifeskills character program, conflict resolution and green habits.

The school's traditions page lists events through the year:

• Fall: a back-to-school picnic, coffee for new families with the principal, Walk and Roll Day and a pumpkin festival with a Halloween parade.
• Winter: a book fair, the PiE fundraising drive, a skating outing at the Winter Lodge and a Freedom Fighters assembly for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Spring: family math and science nights, a student art exhibit, curriculum night, International Night with performances and food, staff appreciation week, field day and 5th grade promotion.
• Ongoing: spirit days, a Green Team for sustainable schools, noon art and science and assemblies.

Like other PAUSD schools, Nixon has district music and physical education, library time and PiE-funded enrichment. It has no choice or immersion program. Families interested in those apply through the lottery in our choice programs guide.

Bell schedule basics for 2026 to 2027

There is no supervision before school. Students should arrive no earlier than 7:45 a.m. and go straight to class. A warning bell rings at 7:55. At dismissal, students go to their assigned pickup spot at the Tolman Gate, the Mears Gate or the drive-through area. Families should collect them within 10 minutes. Families with both younger and older children wait outside the pickup areas until the 4th and 5th graders are released.

Early release days end at noon. For 2026 to 2027 they are September 4, October 30, November 20 and December 18, 2026, then April 2 and June 1 to 3, 2027. Check the Nixon daily schedule page for updates.

Attendance area and feeder schools

Nixon's attendance area surprises some newcomers. Besides Stanford housing, guides have listed it for Palo Alto neighborhoods farther south, such as Esther Clark Park and Palo Alto Hills, which are well over a mile away. Always check an address in the School Finder linked from PAUSD's school placement and transfers page.

The same guides list Fletcher Middle School (formerly Terman) and Gunn High School as the next steps. If Nixon is full in a grade, PAUSD can overflow a new student to another school in the cluster and add the child to the Nixon waitlist.

Drop-off, parking and buses

Nixon says limited parking and a large share of families who drive make its arrival rules important. It notes that the PTA, Stanford's public safety and planning departments, the California Highway Patrol and the city's Safe Routes to School task force have all worked on traffic here. Police patrol regularly and issue tickets. The rules:

• Speed: 5 mph maximum in the driveway and parking areas.
• Loading: drop-off and pickup only at the loading zone on the lower blacktop. There is no yellow curb in the upper lot.
• Parking: no parking in the driveway, the bus circle or the middle of the lot during school hours. Use visitor spaces, the lower lot or the street, such as Tolman Drive near the back entrance.
• Bus area: do not enter or block it. No drop-off in the bus circle before 8:30 a.m. or after 1:00 p.m.
• Walking to your car: parents who park must walk children across the blacktop. Students may not cross the pickup area alone.

Nixon's page also says the PAUSD Transportation Department runs buses for some students, with schedules mailed to riders' families. Call the department at (650) 329-3982 for current routes. The school strongly discourages children in 3rd grade and below from biking, scooting or walking to school without an adult. It asks that bikes be walked on school grounds and locked to the racks. Dogs are not allowed on campus from 7:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on school days.

PTA, PiE and after school

The Nixon PTA runs its own website and supports events, spirit gear and traffic safety volunteers. PiE funds staff and programs at every PAUSD elementary school. The school publishes PiE and PTA welcome materials in Spanish and Chinese as well as English.

Two independent child care programs operate on campus: Kids Choice After School Care and Right at School. After-school classes run through rental agreements with PAUSD. Recent offerings included pickleball, engineering, dance, drawing, chess, basketball, tennis, math and Chinese. See our after-school programs guide for more.

Frequently asked questions