Day care in palo alto: PAC : Ray Ellison Family Center

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Palo Alto Unified gets into hot water with parents over child care | News

A parent raises concerns to the Palo Alto Unified School Board about the district’s plans for before- and after-school care for the fall on at a meeting on May 10, 2022. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Parents are objecting to what they describe as a lack of transparency in the Palo Alto Unified School District’s decision making after school administrators decided to take space away from a local nonprofit child care provider and give it to a national company — a decision that was reversed this week in the face of fierce opposition.

Palo Alto Unified planned to reduce the space provided to Palo Alto Community Child Care (PACCC) on local elementary school campuses in favor of Right At School. When parents heard last week that PACCC would stop serving fourth and fifth graders in the fall, many objected and called on the district to restore the nonprofit’s current space allocation.

Parents also criticized Superintendent Don Austin for disparaging statements he made about PACCC during a panel discussion he participated in with other superintendents, which was video-recorded. Among his comments, he said he couldn’t replace PACCC with Right At School because it wasn’t “politically” feasible.

The school district ultimately acquiesced and announced on Monday, May 9, that PACCC would maintain its facilities next school year. The nonprofit has confirmed it will continue to serve students through fifth grade. Kid’s Choice, another local provider that operates at Lucille M. Nixon Elementary School, will still lose one of the three rooms that it currently has, program staff told the Weekly. District staff say the third space was only a temporary addition during the pandemic.

Parents continue to have concerns and questions about district administrators’ reasoning for wanting to reduce PACCC’s space, why parents weren’t consulted and whether the changes might still move ahead in the future.

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“These opaque decision-making processes lack transparency,” Daralisa Kelley told the school board at its May 10 meeting. “I’m a working parent — we need added resources, not taking them away.”

Austin acknowledged the concerns with the way the planned changes were rolled out but said that the intent was pure and that the district is focused on increasing access to services for all students, including those from lower-income backgrounds.

“We value the contributions of our three providers and we also value the feelings of our families,” Austin said at the school board meeting. “We could have handled some things differently this year and I’m going to take full responsibility for that. At the end of the day, it’s only me. The intent, however, has been lost in the distractions.”

Both before- and after-school care should be available without waiting lists and rates should be as affordable as possible, including free care for lower-income families, Austin said.

PACCC offers after-school “kids’ clubs” at all PAUSD elementary schools except Nixon, where Kids Choice runs an after-school program. Right at School currently operates at 11 Palo Alto school sites, offering both before- and after-school care, a company representative said.

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Due to licensing requirements, PACCC currently only serves subsidized families on three campuses, Assistant Superintendent Yolanda Conaway told the Weekly.

“We had one goal … to provide access to affordable child care for all and that meant we had to take a hard look at our existing offerings and make some tough choices,” Conaway wrote in a statement to the Weekly. “We could not in good conscious uphold our commitment to equity and leave this very obvious and impactful inequity standing untouched.”

Jamison and other parents questioned whether the district had given Kids Choice and PACCC the chance to make changes and why expanding Right At School had to come at the cost of the existing providers.

Austin declined a request for an interview for this article but said in texts and an email that Right At School’s cost and before-school care offerings are important factors for some families. He referred questions to Conaway.

In an interview, Conaway stressed that the district is committed to meeting the needs of families at a variety of income levels and said that the goal was to fill gaps in existing services. However, Conaway, who oversees equity and student services, said she isn’t responsible for space allocation decisions and directed those questions back to the superintendent, who declined to answer those questions from the Weekly.

PACCC currently has two portables on each campus, while Right At School has a single classroom at each school, which it sometimes shares with other programs, Conaway told the Weekly after this article was initially published.The plan was to provide each provider with a single portable next year, to balance things out, Conaway said. Right At School’s licensing meant it could have potentially expanded to additional spaces if there was demand. PACCC has more specific requirements, limiting the types of rooms it can occupy, Conaway said.

Now, PACC will retain its two portables next year and the district will find room for Right at School to have its own dedicated space on each campus, Conaway said.

Worries about losing beloved child care provider

A community member holds up a sign on which the letters “EKC” (an acronym for Escondido Kids’ Club) are surrounded by a heart at a Palo Alto Unified School Board meeting in Palo Alto on May 10, 2022. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Escondido Elementary School parent Sherri Fujieda told the Weekly that when she first heard PACCC was planning to stop serving fourth and fifth graders next school year, she was shocked and worried about how she would find another after school program for her son, who is currently in fourth grade.

“I was sad and panicked because we’ve been relying on … PACCC since the kids were very little,” Fujieda said. “I love them; the kids love them. “

Ohlone Elementary School parent Sarah Parikh said she cried when she heard that older kids would no longer receive care from PACCC. Parikh said her second and fourth grade children have both loved their experiences with PACCC and that they often don’t want to leave when she comes to pick them up.

“They really enjoy being there and I think that just speaks volumes,” Parikh said. “They’re not feeling like it’s just babysitting. Instead it’s this wonderful thing that they get to experience.”

Video raises concerns

Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Don Austin criticized Palo Alto Community Child Care in a video that was posted online, and later deleted, by Right at School. Screenshot via video courtesy Right At School.

Adding to the heat and suspicions of district administrators’ motivations, parents raised particular objections to comments that Austin made about PACCC in a now-deleted video that parents shared with the Weekly. In the video, Austin speaks about child care options as part of a panel with other superintendents that appears to be facilitated by Right At School.

In response to a question from an audience member about how to approach existing relationships with community providers, Austin spoke disparagingly about PACCC’s services.

“It’s called Palo Alto Community Child Care, so that was pretty easy to get rid of,” Austin said, seemingly sarcastically. “They had everything in their title except for ‘We love your kids and we’ve been here for a long time.'”

He told the audience that PACCC had waitlists, couldn’t keep up with demand and provides no scholarships, a claim Pfab contests. The pandemic, he said, gave the district an opportunity to add Right At School as a provider.

“If we had a winner-take-all, it would be Right At School, hands down — but politically, I couldn’t do that,” Austin said.

He added that districts need to consider how they’ll make changes when they have longtime providers that “haven’t given you that really compelling, egregious reason to make the change — they’ve just been bumping along. “

Parents told the Weekly that they found Austin’s critical comments upsetting, and they also raised questions about Austin’s relationship with Right At School and whether he has any conflict of interest.

In a text, Austin told the Weekly that he apologized to PACCC for his “casual comments,” but declined to comment further on the video.

Right At School initially posted the video because it showed leading superintendents speaking about the quality and impact of its programs but took the video down to avoid causing further issues, Case said in an interview.

According to Case, Right At School began serving Palo Alto students during the pandemic and currently operates at 11 elementary schools, serving roughly 325 students. The district planned to expand Right At School’s space, but the group will now maintain its current operations next school year, Case said.

“Our mission is to serve as many families as we can, to bring these great quality programs, because we know the impact that they have on families, that they have on students,” Case said.

PACCC was founded in 1974 and has served students in Palo Alto since. It currently offers after school kids’ clubs at 11 PAUSD elementary schools, as well as care for younger kids at various community sites.

PACCC’s Pfab declined an interview request from the Weekly but emailed a statement.

“It is PACCC’s desire to maintain our historic relationships and programming for PAUSD and Palo Alto families,” Pfab said in the statement. “PACCC and PAUSD continue communications regarding concerns brought forward by families. We believe the positive relationship between PACCC and PAUSD will lead us to a solution that meet(s) the needs of Palo Alto families, PAUSD and PACCC.”

Questions and worries remain

Parent Aaron Winkler raises concerns to the Palo Alto Unified School Board about the district’s plans for before- and after-school care for the fall on at a meeting on May 10, 2022. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Some parents have raised concerns about the fact that the district has only agreed to extend PACCC’s current facilities set-up for a single year. In an email to PACCC families that a parent shared with the Weekly, Pfab wrote that her group “has requested a multi-year lease beyond the 2022-2023 school year.” According to Austin, all three child care providers will only have a single-year deal for next school year.

There also have been questions about whether the district’s plans for Kids Choice, which operates at Nixon Elementary School, will stand. Kids Choice administrators Nery Barrios and Lorene Scatena wrote in an emailed statement that their program is losing one of three rooms that it currently rents. The third room was added two years ago to help accommodate a long waitlist, Barrios and Scatena said. According to Conaway, the third space was a temporary addition during the pandemic to accommodate social distancing requirements.

“We are heartbroken by this decision and hope the district will reconsider so we can continue caring for these kids and their families with whom we have developed deep and trusting relationships,” Barrios and Scatena wrote.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information about the child care providers with respect to subsidized care and space allocations on the school campuses, as well as the district’s goals for its child care program. This information was provided by the district and Right At School after the initial article was published.

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Both before- and after-school care should be available without waiting lists and rates should be as affordable as possible, including free care for lower-income families, Austin said.

The district’s explanations of its reasoning haven’t satisfied some parents, who emailed the district and turned out to speak to the Board of Education on Tuesday.

Kelda Jamison, who has two children participating in Kids Choice at Nixon, told the Weekly that she’s fully onboard with the district’s attempts to improve equity but doesn’t understand why that means prioritizing a national provider at the expense of local groups.

“(It) felt like fronting goals that almost all of us align ourselves with and will stand by as cover for pretty unclear decision-making and shoddy execution and communication,” Jamison said. “That was very frustrating and very dismaying.”

Right At School does offer lower rates than PACCC and Kids Choice, including a 50% discount for any students who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. Additional subsidies can make care free for some families and over 60% of the more than 300 students Right at School currently serves in Palo Alto receive a subsidy of at least 50%, spokesperson Adam Case told the Weekly.

PACCC, for its part, stated in a May 6 email to parents that it offers scholarships and manages the state, city and PACCC subsidy programs, serving 72 district students through the programs this school year. The letter from Executive Director Lee Pfab also stated that the provider would be able to expand enrollment in the coming school year.

Due to licensing requirements, PACCC currently only serves subsidized families on three campuses, Assistant Superintendent Yolanda Conaway told the Weekly.

Now, PACC will retain its two portables next year and the district will find room for Right at School to have its own dedicated space on each campus, Conaway said.

Worries about losing beloved child care provider

“I was sad and panicked because we’ve been relying on … PACCC since the kids were very little,” Fujieda said. “I love them; the kids love them.”

Video raises concerns

In response to a question from an audience member about how to approach existing relationships with community providers, Austin spoke disparagingly about PACCC’s services.

“If we had a winner-take-all, it would be Right At School, hands down — but politically, I couldn’t do that,” Austin said.

In a text, Austin told the Weekly that he apologized to PACCC for his “casual comments,” but declined to comment further on the video.

“Our mission is to serve as many families as we can, to bring these great quality programs, because we know the impact that they have on families, that they have on students,” Case said.

PACCC’s Pfab declined an interview request from the Weekly but emailed a statement.

Questions and worries remain

In-Home Daycare and Group Home Child Care in Palo Alto CA

The Palo Alto home daycare options below are dedicated to providing families
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HERNANDEZ, MARIA DEL PILAR

3181 Bryant Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (650) 704-6266

We are a licensed Daycare & Preschool in Palo Alto. We service families with children ages 6 weeks – 5 years. Tikiland is an excellent choice for working parents who can rest assured that their children are being cared for in the best possible manner while . ..

Just 4 Kids Childcare

Miller Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (650) 960-5859

Just 4 Kids Childcare is a licensed childcare located in the Monroe Park neighborhood , Palo Alto, Ca. Our belief is that every child we care for deserves a calm, loving, safe and secure environment in which they can learn through play.

LARA, VENUS

Oregon Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (650) 714-6173

A Bilingual and Multicultural Family Daycare. Inspired by Reggio Emilia. Spanish Immersion, safe, loving and lots of experience. A teacher at Heart!

ALVAREZ, YISSELA

Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301 | (650) 331-0770

ALVAREZ, YISSELA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

ALVAREZ FALCONI, KARLA

Maddux Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (408) 806-0403

ALVAREZ FALCONI, KARLA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

BARRENECHEA, JOHANA

Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (408) 806-4794

BARRENECHEA, JOHANA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

CHACON SANCHEZ, NOLVIA

Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (650) 493-1127

CHACON SANCHEZ, NOLVIA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

CHEKENI, MAHJABIN AND AHMAD

Stanford Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (650) 326-2695

CHEKENI, MAHJABIN AND AHMAD is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

CORONA HEREDIA, OSCAR

Palo Alto, CA 94301 | (650) 630-9010

CORONA HEREDIA, OSCAR is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

CORONA, ESTHER & CHAKMAKCHI, MOHAMED

Palo Alto, CA 94301 | (650) 739-5962

CORONA, ESTHER & CHAKMAKCHI, MOHAMED is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

GASPAY, MAYBELINE

Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (650) 857-0126

GASPAY, MAYBELINE is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

HEREDIA ANTON, MARIA

Palo Alto, CA 94301 | (650) 630-9036

HEREDIA ANTON, MARIA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

HUANG, XUECONG

Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (650) 627-6848

HUANG, XUECONG is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

LASHKARI, KHADIJEH & KHOSROW

Montrose Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (650) 855-9351

LASHKARI, KHADIJEH & KHOSROW is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

MAZA-OCHOA, MICHELLE

Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (650) 391-9663

MAZA-OCHOA, MICHELLE is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

MENESES MILLAN, CLAUDIA

Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (650) 468-1788

MENESES MILLAN, CLAUDIA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

MISHYNA, HULIZAR

Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (415) 937-4543

MISHYNA, HULIZAR is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

PEREZ PALMA, KATIA

Waverley Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (650) 283-3805

PEREZ PALMA, KATIA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

PRISACARU, SORINA

Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (650) 960-5859

PRISACARU, SORINA is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

TERRAZAS, AMOR

Wilkie Way, Palo Alto, CA 94306 | (650) 468-1788

TERRAZAS, AMOR is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

TZUGARIS, CHRYSTIE & FELSCH, SHAWN

Ross Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 | (650) 493-0665

TZUGARIS, CHRYSTIE & FELSCH, SHAWN is a FAMILY DAY CARE HOME in PALO ALTO CA, with a maximum capacity of 14 children. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

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Where the Silicon Valley Teen Suicide Epidemic Comes From – The Secret of the Firm

Technology

5:16 pm, November 26, 2015

Why Palo Alto Children Are Killing

The Secret publishes the main excerpts of the article – about how suicide clusters arise and where children in Silicon Valley are vulnerable

Over the past ten years, teenage suicide in Palo Alto (the historic center of Silicon Valley) has been four to five times more common than the US average. This area is considered a technological paradise and the birthplace of the largest IT companies, but life here is not as attractive as it seems. There is an eternal race for success in the Valley, and the children involved in it do not always cope with the pressure. Why is suicide the only option for some? The Atlantic magazine published an investigation by Hanna Rosin, and The Secret publishes the most important of it – how suicide clusters arise and what makes Silicon Valley children vulnerable.

Suicide clusters

All the kids who bike through Caltrain want to get home as soon as possible, but they know the rule. Slow down. Wait for the train to pass. Children wait for the blast of air from a speeding train to touch their skin for the last time. For a few more seconds, just in case, a warning signal sounds and red lights flash. This signal can be heard in all corners of the city.

On November 4, 2014, only a few days had passed since school began, and the crazy college application season was still months away. In one of the classes at Gunn’s school, a teacher read a statement that contained the words “committed suicide last night” and the name Cameron Lee. First of all, one of the students in the class, Alyssa Si-Tu, thought: “There is another Cameron Lee in the school, it’s probably about him.” Because the Lee she knew was a popular athlete, didn’t seem to be busy studying, and was one of those people who turned other people’s backpacks out for fun.

That morning, District Superintendent Glenn McGee called Palo Alto High School Principal Kim Diorio to warn her that this incident would hit everyone. Over the past ten years, suicide rates at Gunn and Palo Alto high schools have been four to five times higher than the national average. Since the spring of 2009, over the course of nine months, three students, one applicant and one graduate of the Gunn School have committed suicide by throwing themselves under Caltrain trains. He took his own life and another recent graduate. 12% of Palo Alto high school students surveyed in 2013-2014 admitted to seriously contemplating suicide in the last year. Three weeks before Cameron Lee’s death, a girl from a local private school jumped off a roof. A day later, a graduate of Gunna’s school killed himself on the same railroad tracks.

Such “cluster suicides” (several deaths in a similar manner and at the same time) are due to the viral spread of the news. McGee and his colleagues were concerned that too many vulnerable teenagers would read about Cameron’s death and identify with him. According to Kim Diorio, the past outbreak of “cluster suicides” in 2009-2010 was different from this one. Now there are smartphones and social media. By the end of the second lesson, many had already read that the cause of death was again Calthrain. As on any other day, the warning signal was heard in all classes. One of the students later told me that this sound was perceived as a cannon shot, in the movie The Hunger Games, announcing the death of a participant in the arena.

Suicide prevention experts have come to the school district. The main thing that the teachers learned at the trainings is that children should not be allowed to romanticize death. The night after Cameron’s death, his classmates snuck onto campus and chalked “We love you Cameron” and “Rest in peace Cameron”. The administrators spoke to the students and convinced them to erase the inscriptions. In the end, several students decided to hold an off-campus memorial service at a local elementary school. One of the students who was planning the service returned home after the service and said to her mother: “I am 15 years old and I have just organized a wake.” In her phrase, the main question did not sound: why? How is it possible that they all live in a place where the best gadgets and ideas are born, where optimism is endless, where people work to stop aging and perhaps stop death, and yet a high school student is so familiar with the funeral of others teenagers?

The Race to Success

Three months after Cameron Lee’s suicide, Gunn alumnus Harry Lee killed himself by jumping off a roof. One outbreak of “cluster suicides” could be an anomaly – five “cluster suicides” among young people occur in the United States a year. But this was the second case in Palo Alto. You have to be blind or stupid not to see this as a pattern, and the parents in Palo Alto were neither blind nor stupid. 75% of students at the Hun school had at least one parent with a degree. They moved their families to the school area because they knew the situation well: Gunn’s school was ranked among the top 5 math and engineering schools by the U.S. last year. News & World Report. Every year, 20 of her students go to Stanford. The Hun School, and to a lesser extent the Palo Alto School, are known throughout the world. Parents sacrifice vacations and budget carefully to afford a home in the area.

But in the letters that parents exchanged in the weeks after Cameron Lee’s death, they worried about what effect the perpetual pursuit of success that thrives in the area has on children? The night after Cameron’s death, Gunn’s sophomore Martha Cabot posted a video that confirmed most of the parents’ fears about themselves. “Students are under unrealistic stress,” Martha said. “They feel they have to constantly keep up with the achievements of others. But everything will be fine if we get a B- on this chemistry test. And no, I don’t want to join a debating club for you.”

After the suicide of the fifth child, Byron Zhu of Palo Alto High School, who committed suicide under a train, University of Arizona professor Sonia Luthar came to Silicon Valley. She presented the results of her research, which shows that rich young people are a new unrecognized risk group. The participants in her study are children from families with an annual income of more than $200,000, as well as students from schools with tuition fees of about $30,000 per year. It turned out that rich students from middle and high schools abuse alcohol and drugs more than poor students. Depression and criminal behavior are two to three times more common than the national average. In the long term, money and education can protect these children. But during adolescence, the culture of wealth poses a threat.

Parents in response

One of the two main causes of suffering, says Luthar, is the pressure children experience to succeed in academic and extracurricular activities. From the responses of the subjects, Luthar created a portrait of American teenagers from the elite: they see their worth only in their achievements and consider them a catastrophic disadvantage if they do not meet the highest standards of success.

The second reason for stress is that children do not feel close to their parents. They see how parents watch what they do, but do not show sincere warmth. Parents like their success in school or in sports, but they seem dissatisfied when they do not succeed. Often children hide their failures – real or imagined – so as not to disappoint their parents.

“Part of you cringes when you see that your friend has been studying for SAT tests since last summer and is already scoring 2000,” wrote Palo Alto student Carolyn Walworth. How about a girl who takes an intensive summer program to learn advanced French in her second year of school? Or a best friend who is an intern at a Stanford professor? You can’t get out of this system of competitive madness. We are not teenagers. We are sick… Why doesn’t anyone get it? Why does this madness continue in our schools?”

Many parents immediately distance themselves from the image of a tiger mom [demanding mother]. They prefer to raise a child with applause rather than swearing. But in fact, this generous praise for achievements has a bad effect on the psyche of the child. Avi Assor, a professor of psychology at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, found through research that this is how a child is convinced that parental love depends on good grades or success in sports. According to Assor, children should not only be praised for the trophies they have collected, and self-esteem based on unrealistic achievements should not be encouraged. Parental love should be separated from pedagogical instructions.

We must admit that we cannot really know why teenagers kill themselves. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prevent suicide. And one possible way is to take a break and question that feeling of absolute certainty about what the child should do and who he should be. Because it is this feeling that is part of what led us to tragedies.

Author: Viktoria Charochkina

Tags:

Silicon Valley

Psychology

Steve Jobs – photo, biography, personal life, cause of death, founder of Apple

Biography

Steve Jobs is an American entrepreneur, industrial designer and inventor, one of the founders of Apple Computer Co. He was a pioneer of the information technology era, the founder of NeXT and Pixar, the largest private shareholder and a member of the board of directors of Disney.

Childhood and youth

Steven Jobs was born on February 24, 1955 (zodiac sign Pisces) in San Francisco, California. His biological parents are of different nationalities. His father, Syrian Abdulfatta Jandali, was a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin. Mother Joan Schible, who has German roots, was a young student at the same educational institution. Joan and Abdulfatta were not married: the girl’s family was categorically against the relationship of young people. Therefore, the expectant mother was forced to leave to give birth in a private California clinic, and then give her son to be raised by foster parents.

Paul Jobs and his wife Clara could not have children of their own and gladly adopted the baby. Joan put forward the only requirement – the boy must receive a higher education.

After 2 years, Steve had a sister, Patty, whom Paul and Clara also adopted. Soon the family left San Francisco and moved to the small town of Mountain View. Here it was easier for the head of the family, who was an auto mechanic, to find a good job and save money to pay for their children’s college education. The adoptive father tried to instill an interest in mechanics and his son, but he was much more attracted to electronics. Mountain View is a high-tech hub, so you could say Steve’s future was sealed at an early age.

In elementary school, the boy caused a lot of problems for the teachers. The education system itself seemed to the child boring, formal and soulless. Only after one of the teachers was able to find the right approach to the student, he began to study diligently and even jumped through 2 classes. While studying in high school, Steve attended the radio electronics club, independently assembled an electronic frequency meter, and even worked part-time on an assembly line at Hewlett-Packard.

When the young man turned 16, he began to have conflicts with his parents, especially with his father: Steve became interested in hippie culture, the music of Bob Dylan and The Beatles, smoked marijuana and used LSD. But drug addiction did not come. Then he met his namesake Steve Wozniak, who was 5 years older. The guys became best friends, as both were fond of computers and electronics.

The first joint invention of Jobs and Wozniak was born when the future billionaire was still in high school. They made a device they called the blue box to hack into the telephone network by picking up tone-mode signals. At first, the guys just had fun, and then they began to sell their product and made good money.

In 1972, Jobs entered the private liberal arts college Reed, which had a rich curriculum. Just six months later, the young man dropped out of school, because he did not see the point in wasting time on uninteresting activities. During this period, he was much more attracted to Eastern spiritual practices, vegetarianism, veganism, yoga and Zen Buddhism.

Personal life

In his youth, Steve was affectionate, as it should be in hippie culture. The first notable woman in his life was Chris Ann Brennan. The relationship was difficult, the couple often quarreled and diverged. In 1978, Chris gave birth to a daughter, Lisa Brennan, whom Jobs did not initially acknowledge. But after a DNA test, he agreed to paternity.

Later, the man was in a relationship with Barbara Jasinski, an advertising executive, folk singer Joan Baez, and computer consultant Tina Redse, whom he broke up with after the girl refused to marry him.

The only wife of a businessman – Lauren Powell, at the time of their acquaintance was an employee of the bank. It is curious that, having made an offer in 1990, Jobs forgot about the bride for several months, as he plunged into another business project.

Nevertheless, in March 1991, the lovers became spouses, and in September their first child, Reed, was born. After 4 years, daughter Erin was born, and in 1998 – Eve. Interestingly, Steve forbade his children to use computers for a long time, limited the time of “communication” with iPhones and iPads.

In the mid-1980s, Jobs tracked down his biological mother and met his sister, Mona, with whom he became friends.

In contrast to the style of his technique, Stephen was extremely unassuming in his choice of clothes, like Bill Gates. For 13 years, the billionaire wore a thin black sweater, light-colored Levi’s 501 jeans, and New Balance sneakers. This can be seen by examining the photo of a businessman from official meetings and speeches.

Spectacles are an integral attribute of the legendary entrepreneur. The favorite accessory of the genius was the Classic Rund model from the German manufacturer Lunor with perfectly even round lenses and thin, elegant temples. They became incredibly popular thanks to Jobs.

As for the watch, Steven had two models – a casual “Seiko M159-5028 Quartz LC” on a metal bracelet and a luxury vintage gold Baume & Mercier Hampton on a brown lizard leather strap. The man had one quirk – he drove a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG without license plates.

The billionaire’s name has never been associated with charity, but Steven and his wife have anonymously donated money to charitable causes. To do this, Lauren Powell-Jobs opened a limited liability company, Emerson Collective. Since the organization was not declared as a charity, tax benefits did not apply to it, but the spouses did not advertise their activities and could more responsibly approach the allocation of funds. By the way, Jobs’ fortune reached $7 billion.

Apple

Steven got a job as a technician at Atapi, a start-up computer game company. At the same time, Wozniak worked on the creation and improvement of boards for a personal computer. As the idea began to take shape, Jobs suggested to a friend that they start a joint computer firm. Thus began the success story and the later legendary Apple was born.

By the way, Apple initially had three co-founders – in addition to friends, Jobs’s Atari colleague Ronald Wayne also owned it. But he sold his share (10%) for $800 3 months after the company was formed.

When working on the first version of the Apple I computer, Stephen proved to be an authoritarian, somewhat tyrannical and aggressive, but at the same time a manager who knew how to organize things.

Trailer for the movie “Steve Jobs”

The first computer, assembled in the garage – an extension of the house of the parents of a brilliant guy, was primitive and more like an electronic typewriter. But the new board, which Wozniak developed in 1976, already knew how to work with color, sound, and could connect external media.

Jobs showed leadership talents in promoting the device and was able to reorient production to create computers for the inexperienced user. It is to his ideas that the new Apple II owes a beautiful plastic case and a neat appearance. Steve also hired a professional advertising specialist, Regis Macken, and everyone started talking about the new computer.

Apple III, Apple Lisa and Macintosh followed. From a commercial point of view, the firm prospered, but discord and scandals reigned among the leaders, largely due to the difficult nature of Stephen.

NeXT and Pixar

As a result, Jobs was suspended from work, and in 1984 he left his offspring, but immediately organized a new company, NeXT Computer. The computers of this company offered the market exclusively advanced novelties, slightly ahead of their time. But, like at Apple, the innovation proved too expensive for the mass consumer.

In parallel with this project, Steve, who just got carried away with computer graphics, bought the Pixar studio from George Lucas for $ 5 million. Initially, his idea was to use animation as an advertisement for the capabilities of computers offered by NeXT. But after being released at 19In 1987, the animated film The Tin Toy won an Oscar, Jobs changed his mind. Later, this studio created such famous full-length animated films as Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and others.

In 2006, Steve sold Pixar to Disney for $7.5 billion while remaining a shareholder.

Return to Apple

In 1996, Jobs sold NeXT to his first company for nearly $0.5 billion and returned to Apple as an advisor to the chairman.

The first achievement in the new quality was the serial production of the new monoblock computer iMac, which attracted with its unusual futuristic design. This device became the best-selling device in the history of Apple, with about a third of the copies bought by users who did not previously own computer equipment. Consequently, Steve was able to find a new market for the company.

The second successful step was the creation of the Apple Store, a specialized store selling Apple equipment.

Stephen’s uniqueness lay in the fact that he did not just keep abreast of the times, but he himself created a new time and dictated the fashion laws in the IT industry. Realizing that the new century is becoming fast, he launched the production of miniature, but perfect in their capabilities devices: iTunes media player, iPod music player, iPhone touch mobile phone, iPad Internet tablet. Each of them appeared earlier than analogues and imposed a standard and parameters on competing companies.

In 2007, during a personnel purge, Jobs personally tested candidates for dismissal, asking a riddle that had to be solved in 30 seconds. It was required to find a way out of the blender if a person was reduced to a coin of 5 cents. The riddle has at least four correct answers.

Illness and death

The last time in his life a man spoke in public on June 6, 2011. A few years earlier, the businessman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was he who caused the death of Jobs. The billionaire fought the disease in various ways, including alternative ones, but she won. The current head of Apple, Tim Cook, offered a colleague a fragment of his liver – they have the same rare blood type. But before his death, Steve flatly refused the operation and died on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56 with his family.

After the funeral of the founder of Apple, social networks were flooded with quotes from Steve’s dying speech. They went something like this:

“I have reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. Many people think that my life is the epitome of success. But I confess, apart from work, I do not have many joys. And in general, wealth is just a fact of life to which I am simply accustomed…”

However, the point is that the last words of a dying person could not sound exactly like that. In the last hours of his life, Steve lost touch with reality and practically did not speak, which is confirmed by numerous witnesses: wife, children, sisters of Jobs. Moreover, the speech appeared only in 2015. An attempt to find the original source failed, as the text quickly spread through social media posts.

By decision of the family, no memorial was placed on Jobs’s grave. To say goodbye to the idol, fans carried cards, flowers and lit candles to Apple’s Palo Alto campus and even to regular Apple Stores. Stephen bequeathed to be buried next to his adoptive parents in Alta Mesa. Due to the influx of people who wanted to find the burial place of the entrepreneur, the cemetery management allocated a special book for memorabilia from fans. In a number of countries there are already monuments dedicated to the talented inventor.

Memory

Many books have been written about the billionaire and a large number of documentaries and feature films have been shot. The most interesting print publication is the authorized biography “Steve Jobs”, published in 2011. The author of the book is American journalist Walter Isaacson. Another work of Steve Jobs. Lessons in Leadership by William Simon and Jay Elliot was published in 2012.

In 2015, journalists Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli wrote the book Becoming Steve Jobs, in which previously unknown details from the life of an entrepreneur were made public. In 2016, the list of biographies of the co-founder of Apple was replenished with the book by Boris Sokolov “Steve Jobs. Legendary person”.

Of the films, it is worth highlighting the documentary “iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World”, which was filmed by the Discovery Channel, “Steve Jobs. The Lost Interview”, “Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippie” and the feature film “Jobs: Empire of Seduction”, where actor Ashton Kutcher played the role of the legendary inventor.

2015 saw the premiere of the documentary biography Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine directed by Alex Gibney and the feature film Steve Jobs by Danny Boyle starring Michael Fassbender.

In 2017, the construction of the company’s headquarters in Cupertino was completed. The circular 4-storey building occupies a total area of 260,000 m² and accommodates over 12,000 employees. The official name of the campus is Apple Park, and the name of the inventor’s personal auditorium sounds like “Steve Jobs Theatre”. In the last year of his life, the billionaire was actively involved in this project, participated in the development of a general concept. In a recent public appearance, the billionaire said the company “has a chance to create the best office building in the world.” The cost of the land plot alone amounted to $160 million, while the cost of the entire project was over $5 billion.

Recent years have been a crisis for Apple. Sales of “iPhones” are falling, and the technology itself no longer arouses trepidation among users. Moreover, in July 2019, the company lost the brand’s chief designer, Jonathan Quince. According to unofficial information, the designer left the firm due to creative differences with Tim Cook, who replaced Jobs as CEO.

Interesting Facts

In 2010, an inspection revealed that one of the Chinese factories that supply components for iPod and iPhone gadgets uses child labor.