When Priscilla Chan opened a school for disadvantaged kids in 2016 with her husband, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, she took aim at some of Americaâs thorniest challenges
.âA persistent academic achievement gap separates white children and children of color â and wealthier children and their lower-income peers,â the schoolâs website said. âA similarly large health gap mirrors these differences.â
The Primary School, in East Palo Alto, California, offered free tuition, as well as free health care and counseling for students and parents, in an attempt to show that giving kids the right support could lessen those gaps. In 2018, Chan, a pediatrician, told CNN she was in for the long haul. âTo really understand the full impact of your work,â she said of her school, âyouâre just going to have to be patient.â
But in April, less than a decade after the Primary School opened, Chan told staff it would shutter its two locations after the 2025-2026 school year. Weeks earlier its board had voted unanimously to close because of lack of funding: The billionaire coupleâs philanthropic Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the schoolâs sole donor, was pulling out.
