Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan to close – Business News
A tuition-free college based by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his spouse, Dr. Priscilla Chan, for low-income communities of shade within the Bay Area is abruptly shutting its doorways — solely a decade after it opened.
The Primary School, based in 2016 by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, sought to present free education, health care and social work assets to households within the East Palo Alto space, simply a few miles from Meta’s headquarters.
It decried the systemic results of racism and poverty, and Chan, a pediatrician married to Zuckerberg, and her late educator good friend Meredith Liu typically mentioned how low-income kids had been more probably to expertise impactful trauma early of their lives.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative opened The Primary School in 2016 within the East Palo Alto space. Google Maps
But The Primary School, and its sister campus within the East Bay, despatched shockwaves all through the group final week when it introduced it could close on the finish of the 2025-26 college 12 months.
Though it didn’t present a purpose for the closure, it comes as Zuckerberg has executed a sturdy political about-face as he tries to curry favor with the Trump administration.
The Primary School and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative didn’t instantly reply to The Post’s requests for remark.
Earlier this 12 months, simply weeks earlier than Trump’s inauguration, Zuckerberg killed Meta’s DEI applications and scrapped the social media platform’s fact-checking insurance policies in favor of a “Community Notes” model. Trump ally Elon Musk makes use of a comparable word system on X, arguing that content material moderation insurance policies infringe on free speech.
Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund via Meta, and, alongside Chan, sat upfront at his inauguration.
Meta additionally agreed to pay a whopping $25 million to settle a lawsuit Trump introduced towards the company for suspending his account after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. About $22 million of that determine will help fund a Trump presidential library.
Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos at President Trump’s inauguration. Getty Images
Emeline Vainikolo, a mum or dad with kids within the district, informed The New York Times that she and different mother and father had been invited by college directors to a breakfast of bagels, fruit and Starbucks espresso once they dropped the information of the closure, however got no purpose.
Her son, a kindergartner at The Primary School, later shared what he had gleaned from his trainer.
“‘Mommy, the guy who’s been giving money to our school doesn’t want to give it to us anymore,’” he informed his mom, in accordance to the Times.
Zuckerberg and Chan’s nonprofit, CZI, plans to invest $50 million within the college’s surrounding communities over the following few years, donating to schooling financial savings plans for all Primary School college students, in addition to assist for households transitioning to new districts.
In February, the initiative introduced it could concentrate on science and “wind down” its social advocacy work – together with investments in immigration reform and racial equity grantmaking, in addition to inner DEI applications.
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg on the 2025 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony in Santa Monica, Calif. Getty Images
Families at The Primary School, nevertheless, mentioned CZI’s sudden departure is simply one other slap within the face from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who’ve contributed to a housing scarcity thanks to an inflow of highly-paid tech staff.
The Primary School “was highly publicized as a gift to the community,” one mum or dad informed the San Francisco Standard. “They were already taking our homes because of Facebook, landlords pricing us out. Now they’re gonna take this away too. It seems unfair.”
