Homeless people living in RVs were evicted near the future site of a school funded by Mark Zuckerberg

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November 16, 2017 7:32 PM

The city of East Palo Alto evicted residents from RVs near the future site of a school funded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

City officials in East Palo Alto evicted about 50 residents, including some school-aged children, from parked vehicles on a residential block.
The area is located near the future site of a school funded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. The Primary School serves low-income families in the city.
The wealth gap is worsening in East Palo Alto, where nearly 60% of students in the school district are facing homelessness.

Homeless families and others living in RVs were forced to leave a street in the Silicon Valley city of East Palo Alto on Wednesday, sparking protests aimed at the tech industry.

City officials emptied a block of Weeks Street located next to the future site of The Primary School

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current location in East Palo Alto. The preschool is private, but tuition is free. Chan, a pediatrician and CEO of the school, based the curriculum on a model that provides health services as part of the experience.

Teachers receive training on how to spot and manage a child with asthma — one of the top reasons students stay home from school, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and dentists offer cleanings on site. Parents of students partner with coaches and teachers to measure and track a child's health, education, and social-emotional development.

The Primary School hopes to add more students (who are selected through a lottery) and teachers, with the goal of reaching 700 families in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park's Belle Haven neighborhood. Eventually, it plans to serve preschool through eighth grade.

Residents of East Palo Alto gathered on Weeks Street on Wednesday to protest the displacement. They claimed the city gave residents fewer than 24 hours to pack up and leave.

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"It's very unreasonable," Marlayna Tuiasosopo, a protester and leader of the Real Community Coalition, told The Mercury News. "It's also inhumane."

The city cited residents' actions, not the , as reason for the eviction. It said people living in RVs on Weeks Street were illegally dumping their chemical toilets into storm drains, creating a potential health hazard ahead of detrimental rain storms.

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