History
Palo Alto Friends Nursery School (FNS) was started in 1955 by a group of mothers from Palo Alto Friends Meeting. The mothers wanted to provide a program based on play and social interaction for their children and also invite children from diverse backgrounds to enjoy that experience without cost to them. They exercised the non-violence principles of Meeting in the playground and activities. The program was a success and grew. The Old Meeting House was adapted to accommodate it's new purpose(no more passing children through the window into the yard). Mostly it was run by the mother's of Meeting, but as the news got out ,parents without Meeting affiliation wanted to join the group. They were "At home" mom's and enjoyed the co-op aspect of the program which kept costs at a minimum. Friends opened their doors to them. The school expanded adding programs as needed and teacher's once it was apparent that they needed them.
In 1968, Friends became an independent non-sectarian program. But true to its Quaker roots, it maintained a philosophy of non-violence and a policy of decision making by consensus. Meeting allowed the school to remain on their premises on the condition it provide scholarships for needy families. They've continued to sponsor the school by providing our facilities and helping with the cost of building upgrades. It's Meeting's generosity that allows us to keep our fees within a reasonable range. The Nursery school reciprocates by respecting the Meetings ideals of "hand on heart rather than in pocket" and all of our families put their energies into fund-raising events through the year to raise money for our scholarships, and participate in workdays.
A variety of configurations for morning and afternoon programs were tried. FNS became a cooperative, with parents working on the Board, in the programs, and on fund-raising to support the scholarship fund. During this period the children's programs were excellent but the business side of the school was unstructured, and the facilities were badly in need of maintenance and updating. A play ground specialist was hired to build a backyard structure( from telephone poles etc) in the 70's. The parents worked with him to construct the whole yard, giving up weekends and evenings to complete the work. Inside the school ,shelves,cabinets, tables and chairs from a closing kindergarden etc were collected to house the ever expanding classes and equipment. Alumni helped by donating their toys as the children outgrew them.
In the late 80's Social Services picked up the frequency of inspections to all centers. Title 22 was enforced and Friends with a lot of other schools had to comply. The whole parent and staff body came together again and in 1991 removed the old climbing structure(Old and tired), replacing it with a new exciting version in metal and wood, surrounded by soft forgiving sand. It took 2 years and two parent engineers to come up with the design, hours of writing a grant request from Hewlet Packard for funds for our structure and a sister grant for equal funds to build a new room in an East Palo Alto Day Care, and intense fund-raising to raise the $30,000. It took 3 weekends to take out the old, auger holes and set uprights, and finally put in the new. All done by parents and staff. The children got to help move the mountain of sand into the pits around the structure on the last night, and the next day there was a huge celebration with the whole school there!.
Parents and staff looked into the business side of Friends. Much needed to be done. Whenever there was a need, we always seemed to be able to come up with a plan or person who could help us to accomplish it from our present or alumni families. Our business practices were overhauled, we became computerized, and efficient. The staff are very loyal to the school. They maintained the stability in the programs and the highest quality of care whilst the school was evolving.
Over the next 20 years, each facet of the school was inspected and through the concerted efforts of the staff, Board, parents and fund-raising events, we have been able to completely renovate the yard, refurbish the playrooms, and build much needed storage for our supplies and toys. The school building is up to code and passes all inspections with top ratings.
We now have three Morning Programs and two Afternoon programs, serving potentially 95 families. There are 11 staff members, all highly qualified with as many as 23 years at the school. Creativity abounds, enthusiasm is high and committment to quality and caring deep. All children are respected for who they are, their individuality recognized, their socialbility encouraged, and the freedom to choose insured. Over the years there have been many theories about how to offer a preschool experience we look and listen and adapt somewhat but we always keep in mind what every child is entitled to in our school, an unhurried experience, with lots of choices, a joy in unfolding their life pattern.
Throughout the years we've maintained our close knit community, even as we've improved our business practices and extended the number of children for whom we can provide a quality nursery school experience. It's this "mom and pop" feeling that makes Friends the wonderful school it has been, is, and will be in the future.