Jane Lathrop Stanford (JLS) Middle School

Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School, which nearly everyone calls JLS, is the public middle school for much of south Palo Alto. It sits on East Meadow Drive beside Fairmeadow Elementary, a block from Mitchell Park, in the Eichler neighborhoods that grew up around it in the 1950s. With 989 students in the 2025 to 2026 school year, according to the California Department of Education, it is the largest of the district's three middle schools.

This page goes deeper than our overview of all three PAUSD middle schools. It covers the school's history as JLS itself tells it, the electives and programs on its website, the bell schedule, attendance areas and the practical business of getting a 12 year old to class. We do not rank schools or quote test scores. For official data, use the California School Dashboard.

Location and campus

The address is 480 E. Meadow Drive, Palo Alto 94306. The campus fills the land between East Meadow and the Waverley multi-use path, with Fairmeadow Elementary on one side and Mitchell Park across the street. Middlefield Road is a short walk east and Alma Street and the Caltrain tracks lie to the west. The Mitchell Park Library and Community Center is close enough that students use it after school.

The school's history page describes the original 1953 campus as one of the most admired in California at the time. It had long classroom wings with sloped roofs and big windows, a cafetorium that doubled as cafeteria and auditorium with a full stage and a gym split into girls' and boys' sides. The stage and the kitchen are still in use. Later additions include a science building, a two-story building with 10 more classrooms, an updated student store and a TV studio. The school says the campus has been remodeled twice in the last 20 years.

History: from Wilbur to JLS

Eichler land and a 1953 opening

Before the school was built, the land belonged to three farmers named Diss. They sold it to the developer Joseph Eichler, who planned a tract of his homes there and donated the sites for both the school and Fairmeadow Elementary. Our Eichler homes history covers the tracts that surround the campus.

The school opened on August 18, 1953 as Ray Lyman Wilbur Junior High School, named for an early Stanford University president. It had 31 teachers and about 650 students in grades 7, 8 and 9. Students picked the Warrior as their mascot, with scarlet and gray as school colors. The school credits the design to Birge Clark and Walter Stromquist. Our Birge Clark profile covers the architect's long career in Palo Alto.

Changes in 1975 and 1985

Ninth graders moved to the high schools in 1975. Enrollment across the district then fell sharply. By 1985 PAUSD had closed its other two junior highs, Terman in 1978 and Jordan (today's Greene) in 1985. Every seventh and eighth grader in the city now attended this campus. With that change it became Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School. The school notes that the switch from junior high to middle school reflected the idea that students aged 10 to 14 need their own approach.

The new name honors Jane Lathrop Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University with her husband Leland, in memory of their son. The school's fun facts page also notes her support for kindergarten, primary and music instruction in the Bay Area. Our page on Leland, Jane and Leland Jr. Stanford tells her story. The mascot became the Panther and the colors changed to royal blue and white. Sixth grade joined the school in the early 1990s.

Programs and electives

Connections

JLS hosts Connections, one of the district's three middle school choice programs. The school describes it as a learning community of students, teachers and parents built on inquiry-based instruction, with an emphasis on student choice, cross-curricular units, collaboration and presentation. A parent board, organized as a 501(c)(3), raises money for the program and runs its social events. Admission goes through the PAUSD choice lottery for rising sixth graders, explained in our choice programs guide.

The sixth grade wheel

Sixth graders leave their core teachers for two periods a day. One period is the exploratory wheel, where students rotate in five-week blocks through industrial technology, drama, language transfer, computer applications, art and home economics. The other period splits time between physical education and music. Music choices include beginning woodwinds and brass, choir and continuing string orchestra or band. The school encourages students to keep playing the instrument they started in fifth grade.

Seventh and eighth grade electives

Older students choose year-long and semester electives from the course catalog. The elective staff list on the JLS site shows the range:

• Arts: band, orchestra, choir, drama and art.
• World languages: Spanish, French, Mandarin and Japanese.
• Career and technical education: industrial technology, design and technology, computers, broadcast and video production, multimedia art and family and consumer science.
• Other electives: journalism, creative writing, public speaking, current events, money matters, marine biology and leadership.

JLS also runs AVID, a program that supports students in the academic middle who plan to go to college. Offerings change from year to year, so check the current catalog during spring course selection.

Bell schedule basics

All three PAUSD middle schools share one daily bell schedule. The 2026 to 2027 version mixes a seven-period Monday with block days the rest of the week:

Brunch runs from 10:00 to 10:10 a.m. and lunch starts at 11:40 a.m. Weeks with a holiday, minimum days and the first days of school use special schedules. JLS posts them on its daily schedule page, so check it before planning a dentist appointment or an early pickup.

Attendance area and feeder pattern

JLS serves a large share of south Palo Alto, but the boundary does not follow neat lines. The only reliable way to confirm that an address is zoned for JLS is the School Finder linked from PAUSD's school placement and transfers page. New families register through the district office first. Our enrollment guide lists the documents.

After eighth grade, JLS students do not all go to the same high school. Wikipedia lists JLS as a feeder for both Paly and Gunn, which means the JLS area splits between the two. The School Finder shows the full path for an address. Families from outside the area can apply to Connections through the sixth grade lottery or ask for an intradistrict transfer, which depends on space.

Getting there: bikes, buses and safe routes

PAUSD does not run school buses for the general student population, so JLS is a bike school. The school says about half its students bike and many walk. The city's Safe Routes to School program publishes a Walk and Roll map for JLS with suggested routes and the school keeps printed copies in its office. The main walking and biking entry points the school lists are:

1. Cowper Street.
2. Mayview Avenue.
3. The Waverley bike path, which runs along the campus.
4. The bike path at Nelson Drive and Charleston Road, which connects to the Magical Bridge Playground side of Mitchell Park.

On campus, riding is allowed only in the bike lane parallel to Waverley and the fields between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on school days. Bikes go in one of three bike cages, which are locked during school hours. The school recommends U-shaped locks over cable locks. Skateboards and scooters must be carried once students reach school property. California law requires riders under 18 to wear a helmet. Our bike boulevards guide covers the city's calmer routes.

The school's commute page lists VTA bus options for students who live farther away. It still mentions the city's Crosstown shuttle, which no longer runs, so check VTA's own trip planner for current routes before relying on a bus.

Driving and the construction detour

The JLS commute page describes a Measure Z construction project that began over the 2023 to 2024 winter break. During the work it closed the on-campus parking lot and loading zone. Drivers were sent to two off-campus loading zones: one at the Mitchell Park Library by the owl sculptures, reached only from Middlefield Road. The other ran along the East Meadow frontage and was meant only for drivers coming from west of Waverley Street. Check the current version of that page before the first day, since construction phases change.

Frequently asked questions