Created in 1958, Ravenswood High School served the East Palo Alto area of San Mateo County California until its closure in 1976. During its lifetime, East Palo Alto was the low income area in the shadow of its more affluent neighbors Menlo Park, Atherton and Palo Alto. The city of Palo Alto, while adjacent and sharing the same zip code is a completely different city in a different county (Santa Clara County). Ravenswood was part of the Sequoia Union High School District which serves the southern San Mateo County cities of Belmont, Redwood City, San Carlos, and Woodside.
During the early 1960s, the enrollment in the school increased from initially less than 800 to over 1,200 students. With white flight, 60 percent of the student population was African American. The next decade continued this trend. Almost a decade after Brown v. Board of Education decision, the conditions at the school drew the attention of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In the early 1970s, the school board instituted a district wide bussing program to increase the diversity of all its high schools. This was successful for a few years, but by the mid-70's volunteer students wishing to attend Ravenswood became harder to find. Enrollment declined and facing the financial burden of keeping the school alive, Ravenswood was closed in 1976. The location was demolished in 1995 to make room for the Gateway 101 Shopping Center.
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