Mark Zuckerberg is shutting down schools he launched for communities of color

Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chen launched The Primary School in 2016 to help serve under-served students and families. 
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is shutting down his initiative that launched schools for communities of color, citing funding problems. 
Earlier this month, The Primary School, a private school launched by Zuckerberg and his partner Priscilla Chen nearly a decade ago, announced that it would close for good next year, CNN reported.  
“After much deliberation, our schools in East Palo Alto and the East Bay will be closing at the end of the 2025–26 school year,” school officials said in a release. “This was a very difficult decision, and we are committed to ensuring a thoughtful and supportive transition for students and families over the next year. To sustain The Primary School’s legacy, [Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)] will make a $50M investment over the next few years in the East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and East Bay communities.”
Immediate support through this investment includes the 529 education savings plans for all of the school’s students to support future learning and transition specialities to help families as they attempt to find other schools. 
In 2016, Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, opened The Primary School, a tuition-free private school that endeavored to help low-income families and people of color have greater access to education, healthcare, and other social services. According to the statement, the school was founded “on the guiding principle that raising a child is a team effort,” and brought together all of the adults in a child’s life, including healthcare providers, to further empower families.  
The closure of both locations, currently upending the lives of families who had come to rely on the school and its resources, is reportedly due to funding problems. After the $50 million donation to help the families transition, CZI is ultimately pulling its funding. 
The school’s also comes in the midst of the Trump administration’s attack on anything deemed to be in service of diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially among schools and universities. The Trump Administration has taken an aggressive stance on eliminating DEI in K-12 schooling, the government, on college campuses and in the business sector. In the beginning of the year, Zuckerberg announced that Meta would be ending it’s DEI initiatives.
While he does not have a formal role in Trump’s Administration in any capacity, the tech CEO clearly expects to spend more time in Washington as he recently purchased a home in the Nation’s Capital. 
“Though The Primary School as it exists today will be coming to an end, we sincerely hope that what we have learned and shown to be possible will live on,” the school’s statement continued. “We will entrust our partners in this work — both our direct collaborators and our compatriots across the education and health fields — to carry the torch for all families, but especially the most vulnerable. Our belief in our guiding principle has not wavered, and we know that it will take all of us to work toward a future where our children and families can grow, learn, and thrive no matter the circumstances.” 
More About:Lifestyle Education
Weekly New Episodes
Stream Now

source