Zuckerberg Closes Education Institutions in Communities of Color Amid Trump's Crackdown on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives
The End of The Primary School:
Remember back in 2016 when billionaire duo, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, opened The Primary School? This tuition-free private institution was established with a noble goal – to aid low-income families and communities of color by offering not just education, but healthcare and social services as well. Over a decade later, it's 2025 and they're closing up shop – supposedly due to a funding crunch, which rubs us the wrong way considering they're billionaires.
Ever since its inception in East Palo Alto, The Primary School has been a beacon of hope for families who may not have had access to quality education. On its website, it openly acknowledges the challenges these families face due to systemic racism and limited access to resources. With a diverse team of educators, healthcare professionals, and family support specialists, the school aimed to extend services to overlooked communities.
Fast forward to now, and it smells a bit like DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) has gone out of fashion. Earlier in the year, Zuckerberg herself announced Meta was cutting its DEI programs, and that same purge hit the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that originally funded The Primary School. The philanthropic arm of the Zuckerberg fiefdom wiped clean references to inclusivity and economic justice from its website, according to The Guardian, and also reportedly disbanded its DEIA team. Sounds eerily familiar to Trump's crackdown on such programs, which also tried to withhold federal funding from schools that bothered to prioritize inclusion.
The school's closure is undoubtedly devastating for the families who've grown to rely on it. Veronica Van Leeuwaarde, a mother of two students who attended The Primary School, shared with the San Francisco Standard that the school's staff helped her get an appointment at Kaiser Permanente for her son's learning difficulties, which resulted in his ADHD diagnosis. Without the school's support, navigating the process would have been challenging. "It's just impacted my family so much," she told the Standard.
The school has promised to offer families between $1,000 to $10,000 to help with enrollment in another school, but that money won't go far compared to the average tuition cost for private elementary schools in Palo Alto – around $35,000, or $16,500 across California, as per Private School Review.
As for lack of funding, the Chronicle did note a sharp decline in donations from $8 million in 2022 to $3.7 million in 2023, which certainly strains the school's financial resources. Given that the CZI alone is worth nearly $200 billion, it seems like The Primary School could use a few extra bucks to keep operational.
All in all, despite the generous backing from Zuckerberg and Chan, The Primary School struggled to keep its doors open due to a significant withdrawal of funding and a drop in contributions, leading to its unfortunate closure. This decision carries heavy emotional and practical repercussions for families who depended on the school's comprehensive, tuition-free support.
- The closure of The Primary School, a tuition-free institution dedicated to providing education, healthcare, and social services to underserved communities, raises questions about the commitment of tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan towards education-and-self-development and general-news.
- Gizmodo reported that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic arm of the Zuckerberg fiefdom, has significantly scaled back its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, which were once a cornerstone of its mission statement, much like politics has increasingly forgotten about the importance of these programs.
- In the future, it will be essential for technology companies to recognize their role in promoting tech for the betterment of society, ensuring equal opportunities for education and resources for all, rather than abandoning programs designed to uplift overlooked communities.
