Esther B. Clark School - Palo Alto

Esther B. Clark School describes an individualized, therapeutic teaching approach that meets students where they are academically, socially, and emotionally, combining small classes, specialized academic instruction, therapy, and behavior support to help them reconnect with learning. Its philosophy treats behavior as communication and emphasizes proactive, student-centered support that builds self-regulation, social skills, confidence, and readiness to transition back to a less restrictive traditional school setting. (chconline.org)

Esther B. Clark School’s Palo Alto campus serves grades K–12, but it does not use a direct parent application; enrollment begins with the student’s home school district, whose IEP team must decide to pursue nonpublic school placement and then send a referral to EBC. (chconline.org) After the district referral, EBC speaks with caregivers, and the student plus caregiver(s) tour the campus and complete an intake with the leadership team to assess fit. (chconline.org) The posted requirements say students must already have an IEP, with listed primary eligibilities of Emotional Disability, Other Health Impaired, Specific Learning Disability, or Autism. (chconline.org) I did not find a published admissions deadline, waitlist process, lottery, or priority categories on the official EBC pages reviewed; instead, once EBC, the family, and the district agree on placement, the district is notified, the IEP is amended, and an individual start date and transportation are arranged. (chconline.org) For school-year timing, the posted 2025–2026 EBC calendar lists August 7, 2025 as the first day of school for students, which suggests enrollment is handled case-by-case rather than on a standard private-school deadline calendar. (chconline.org)