Ellwood P. Cubberley High School

History

Ellwood P. Cubberley High School (1956 – 1979) known locally as “Cubberley”, was one of three public high schools in Palo Alto, California. The site of the closed school is now named Cubberley Community Center and used as a community center and for many diverse activities.

Cubberley opened in 1956 and was located at 4000 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. The high school was named after Ellwood Patterson Cubberley, 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.

The Cubberley Cougars competed in the SPAL of the CIF Central Coast Section. The school won its only CCS Championship in track and field in 1979, just days before it would close forever.

Cubberley was the scene of the “The Third Wave” (experiment) by teacher Ron Jones in 1967, which was an elaborate social experiment to better understand Fascism. The experiment was later portrayed in a film and television.

Students in grades 10-12 attended Cubberley from 1956-1975. From 1975 to closure of the HS in 1979, students in grades 9-12 attended.

The name of the school newspaper was the “Catamount”.