Palo Verde Elementary School

Great Schol. Exceptional staff - the principal Eric Goddard is simply wonderful ! The school has the right balance of academics and other activities. They integrate kids with special learning needs very well.
--Submitted by a parent

Great, caring teachers. Eric Goddard is an excellent principal who clearly appreciates children and is very approachable and visible. He knows all the childrens' names and runs a great weekly morning assembly where children are praised for doing well. The office staff is excellent too. It seems that there are many working parents so there are not many volunteers. The early/late readers program (grades 1-3; half the class begins at 8:15 and leaves at 1:55 and half the class begins at 9:05 and leaves at the end of the school day, 2:50) could pose a problem for some parents. If there were more parent volunteers, perhaps the program would be unecessary.
--Submitted by a parent

Great School: great teachers, much parent involvement, active and extremely active PTA. Small class sizes (~20max). Principal and teachers are very accessible and caring. Early/late reading program gives 45min/day with 10:1 student teacher ratio. (10 kids start 45 min early, the other 10 stay 45 min later 4 days/week) Extra funds thru many PTA acivities bring in teaching assistants to each class for a couple of house/week - they help students in marking assignments and give extra one-on-one time. There is a real sense of community at Palo Verde: there are frequent student or family activities (several per month, and include such events as an international fair, science fair, fall harvest fair, skating party night, movie night for the kids, Dining Out Fundraisers, bookfairs, pancake breakfast, so that parent and students get to know each other - and several of these also raise funds for extras at the school)
--Submitted by a parent

Palo Verde Elementary is a high-quality K-5 school in Palo alto. The teachers are good and very concerned and the principal has started special initiatives for math ability amongst students.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter was a student her from Kindergarten through 5th grade. Here experience was wonderful, with very caring and devoted teachers. The parents actively volunteered and were very involved in each classroom. The school was involved in wonderful art program, afterschool program and participated with children's theater. In the six years she attended school here, I don't think there were any major problems.
--Submitted by Brian Co, a parent

Palo Verde offers an excellent education with very responsive teachers and principal! Parents are very involved.
--Submitted by a parent

This school is very good with the Kindergarten level kids. It has been a great year for my daughter and even though we are moving away. I am sad to leave the school because even the principal knew my daughers name.
--Submitted by Rhonda Blue, a parent

My daughter came to Palo Verde knowing practically no English and within 1 year she reached the top of the class. The principal and his staff were very helpful, considerate and encouraging. The PTA was also awesome. In short, greatly recommended!
--Submitted by a parent

Palo Verde is a good school with excellent parent involvement. They have an excellent on-site after school program. All 3 kindergarten teachers are excellent. My son has extra needs and the school has been great about accomodating him. The special education program for this school is excellent. The principal is very involved with the students and comes up with great ideas for accomodating children with special needs. The prinicipal gets to know each child individually. My son is a challenging student for his teachers and his Kindergarten and 2nd grade teachers were able to handle him extremely well. The school secretaries leave a lot to be desired as they have seem to have attitude problems. The quality of education is excellent but there are no gifted education programs until third grade.
--Submitted by a parent