Ellwood P. Cubberley High School (1956–1979) known locally as "Cubberley", was one of three public

high schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The site of the closed school is now named

Cubberley Community Center Cubberley Community Center known locally as "Cubberley", is a community center in Palo Alto, California that has been in operation since 1990. It is housed on the campus of the former Ellwood P. Cubberley High School. Space is available for rent by ...

and used as a community center and used for many diverse activities.

History

Opened in 1956, Cubberley High was located at 4000 Middlefield Road. The high school was named after

Ellwood Patterson Cubberley Ellwood Patterson Cubberley (June 6, 1868 – September 14, 1941) was an American educator and a pioneer in the field of educational administration. He spent most of his career as a professor and later dean in the Stanford Graduate School of Educat ...

, the Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education and pioneer of educational administration. The school was finally closed in 1979 as a reaction to declining enrollment and decreased revenues following

Proposition 13 Proposition 13 (officially named the People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation) is an amendment of the Constitution of California enacted during 1978, by means of the initiative process. The initiative was approved by California voters on J ...

. The other local high schools

Gunn High School Henry M. Gunn Senior High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California, the other being Palo Alto High School. Established in , Gunn High School was named after Henry Martin Gunn, who served as the Palo Alto superintendent fr ...

and

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School, commonly referred to locally as "Paly", is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two schools in the district, the other b ...

had been created on friendly land transfers from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and if educational use was to be terminated, the land would revert to the university for the value at the time of transfer. The

Palo Alto Unified School District The Palo Alto Unified School District is a public school district located near Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. It consists of twelve primary schools, three middle schools, two high schools, and an adult school. History The distric ...

board, requiring an infusion of

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-imm ...

, determined Cubberley could be sold at more contemporary rates. Later it was discovered that it could only be sold to a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. That has resulted in part of the campus being converted into the

, on an annual lease from the

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

to the City of Palo Alto. The Cubberley Cougars competed in the SPAL of the

CIF Central Coast Section The Central Coast Section (CCS) is the governing body of public and private high school athletics in the portion of California encompassing San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County, Monterey County, San Benito County, S ...

. The school won its only CCS Championship in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

in 1979, just days before it would close forever. Cubberley was the scene of

The Third Wave (experiment) The Third Wave was an experimental social movement created by California high school history teacher Ron Jones in 1967 to explain how the German population could have accepted the actions of the Nazi regime during the rise of the Third Reich an ...

by teacher Ron Jones in 1967, which was an elaborate social experiment to better understand

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

. The experiment was later portrayed in a film and television. A

KQED (TV) KQED (channel 9) is a PBS member television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by KQED Inc., alongside fellow PBS station KQEH (channel 54) and NPR member KQED- ...

special program from 1970 features a three-day teaching conference at Cubberley High School that focused on ecology and population issues. Numerous societal tensions played out at Cubberley from 1967 to 1969 that were the subject of Sylvia Berry Williams' 1970 book ''Hassling,'' which gave the school national attention. For many years the use of the Cubberley location has been subject to local community debate. According to local news in 2011, enrollment projections done by

suggested Cubberley may need to be reopened as a fourth middle school by 2015 and ultimately be reopened as a third high school by 2021. However these plans were delayed by the city, and the city and the school district have been in discussions.

Notable alumni

This is listed in order by occupation, and listed in alphabetical order by last name.

Athletics

* Bill Green (class of 1979), Olympic sprinter *

Art Kuehn Arthur Bert Kuehn (born February 12, 1953) is a former American football Center in the National Football League (NFL) for the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. Kuehn was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He attended high scho ...

(class of 1971) Football Center *

Tom Melvin Tom Melvin (born October 1, 1961) is an American football coach who is the tight ends coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). His cousin, Bob Melvin, is manager of the San Diego Padres. Playing career Early yea ...

(class of 1979), NFL coach *

Tom Ritchey Tom Ritchey (born 1956) is an American bicycle frame builder, Category 1 racer, fabricator, designer, and founder of Ritchey Design. Ritchey is a US pioneer in modern frame building and the first production mountain bike builder/manufacturer i ...

(class of 1974), mountain bike pioneer and founder of Ritchey Design

Arts and entertainment

Donny Baldwin Donald Baldwin (born June 22, 1950/1951) is an American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship (1982–1984; 2008–present) and its continuation Starship (1984–1989). Early life Baldwin was raised in Palo Alto, California. He at ...

(class of 1969), drummer with

Elvin Bishop Elvin Richard Bishop (born October 21, 1942) is an American blues and rock music singer, guitarist, bandleader, and songwriter. An original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a membe ...

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albu ...

, Cold Blood,

Jerry Garcia Band The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly tour ...

* Michael Finney (class of 1974), ABC 7/KGO television and radio consumer reporter *

Željko Ivanek Željko Ivanek (né Šimić-Ivanek; ; ; born August 15, 1957) is an American actor, known for his role as Ray Fiske on ''Damages'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award. Ivanek is also known for his role of Ed Danvers on '' Homicide: Life on t ...

(class of 1975), actor *

Jon Jang Jon Jang (; born March 11, 1954) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. Of Chinese ancestry, he specializes in music which combines elements of jazz and Asian musics, and is known for musical works exploring international as we ...

(class of 1972), jazz musician *

Gregg Rolie Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947) is an American singer and keyboardist. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group The Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His All ...

(class of 1965), musician, founding member of both

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

and

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

Authors and journalists

James Gurney James Gurney (born June 14, 1958) is an American artist and author known for his illustrated book series ''Dinotopia'', which is presented in the form of a 19th-century explorer's journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs. ...

(class of 1976), illustrator and author *

Neil Howe Neil Howe (born October 21, 1951) is an American author and consultant. He is best known for his work with William Strauss on social generations regarding a theorized generational cycle in American history. Howe is currently the managing direct ...

(class of 1969), author *

Michio Kaku Michio Kaku (, ; born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, futurist, and popular science, popularizer of science (science communicator). He is a professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New ...

(class of 1964),

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

and author *

Wendy Lesser Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

(class of 1969) critic, novelist, and editor

Business

Brendan Eich Brendan Eich (; born July 4, 1961) is an American computer programmer and technology executive. He created the JavaScript programming language and co-founded the Mozilla project, the Mozilla Foundation, and the Mozilla Corporation. He served as ...

(class of 1979), creator of JavaScript, co-founder of

Mozilla Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, wi ...

Law

Bruce Fein Bruce Fein (born March 12, 1947) is an American lawyer who specializes in constitutional and international law. Fein has written numerous articles on constitutional issues for ''The Washington Times'', ''Slate.com'', ''The New York Times'', '' ...

(class of 1965), constitutional law attorney.

Religion

* Gerrit W. Gong (class of 1971), member of the

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

Science

(class of 1964) Theoretical physicist, futurist, science speaker/presenter.

Notable faculty

George Hurley George Hurley (born September 4, 1958) is a drummer noted for his work with Minutemen and fIREHOSE. Music career Early years Originally from the East Coast, Hurley and his family moved to San Pedro, California, when he was six years old. ...

, NFL offensive lineman, Cubberley football coach, taught wood shop, and driving. * Ron Jones, author and creator of The Third Wave social experiment.

References

External links

The Cubberley Closing: A Tough CallThe Cubberley Catamount
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1956 Educational institutions disestablished in 1979 Defunct schools in California Buildings and structures in Palo Alto, California High schools in Santa Clara County, California 1956 establishments in California 1979 disestablishments in California