Outdoor school could avoid closing if it moves to Cupertino

The Walden West Outdoor School in Saratoga could temporarily relocate to Cupertino next school year after uncertainty about the science camp’s future — and criticism of the Santa Clara County Office of Education over poor planning.

Superintendent of Schools David Toston’s office initially roused uproar over plans to close the camp for two years for a long-anticipated renovation of Walden West’s aging facilities, while issuing preliminary layoff notices to its 26 full-time employees. But officials have since said Camp Via West in Cupertino could host the program — with a lease available from September 2026 through May 2027 — while renovations are made in Saratoga. Local school districts who utilize the camp need to sign off on the temporary site, and the office of education would need to reach an agreement with Camp Via West by April 30.

“Santa Clara County Office of Education remains fully committed to sustaining the Walden West Outdoor School for students across Santa Clara County,” reads a Tuesday statement from Toston’s office. “For the 2026-27 school year, (the office of education) also intends to increase Walden West General Fund support, exceeding $1 million, to facilitate this alternative option.”

A spokesperson for Toston’s office told San José Spotlight the number of anticipated employee layoffs hasn’t changed, as the relocation hasn’t been finalized.

That concerns Susan Salop, a Sunnyvale Education Foundation board member whose son has attended past Walden West programs. She said while the relocation announcement shows things are moving in the right direction, there has been no information about the fate of employees.

“Community members and Walden West staff would like to see a definitive plan in place as soon as possible to ensure students can participate in Walden West programs next school year,” Salop told San José Spotlight.

Walden West is a 75-year camp in the Saratoga Hills off Big Basin Way, where the region’s students often steal their first glimpses of woodland fauna, spend their first night away from home and slip through moss-covered redwoods and Douglas firs on winding hikes. The program serves approximately 6,000 children a year countywide through its renowned summer science camp and outdoor school programs.

Education officials have had years to prepare for the much-needed renovations on the 35-acre site, as planning began in 2020 and faced delays from the pandemic and an extended permitting process.

Yet parents were blindsided last month upon hearing initial plans for a full closure for as long as two years, which was announced around the same time the office of education obtained permit approvals for the project. The announcement also alarmed community members for stating the office of education wouldn’t have the resources to backfill Walden West’s lost revenue if the camp can’t operate during renovations.

Officials did not respond when asked about Walden West’s yearly revenue, which comes from summer programs and facility rentals. The school’s fundraising nonprofit reported $61,487 in net income to the IRS last year.

Parents and teachers have lambasted Toston’s office for not alerting them sooner or coming up with a proactive plan to adjust camp sessions around construction.

“Many schools have already reserved their spots at Walden West for the next school year,” Cortney Jansen, a Sunnyvale Education Foundation board member and parent, told San José Spotlight before Tuesday’s relocation announcement. “There was little communication to the schools. Why was there no plan to do the renovations in stages, so it wouldn’t get to the point of total closure for two years? Once construction is done, is the county actually going to reopen Walden West if all the staff is gone? This will affect thousands of kids.”

There are also doubts about the office of education’s long-term commitment to the outdoor camp.

“This is a big experience that a lot of students who don’t have the resources to go camping look forward to. This is like the biggest thing in their lives,” Salop said. “The school districts were not notified until the last minute. This all could have been managed a lot better.”

Walden West employees who spoke to San José Spotlight said the facility has financially struggled in recent years, especially after the COVID pandemic. Workers also noticed a mood shift at the office of education in late 2025 after the Board of Education fired former Superintendent Mary Ann Dewan, who they said was one of the camp’s premiere champions. Now the office of education is in the throes of mass layoffs that have separately rocked the special education system under Dewan’s successors, who say the cuts are necessary to address a budget crisis.

“We have had to ask our management if there is a true want to continue the program after construction happens,” Moriah Wright, a health and safety leader at Walden West, told San José Spotlight. “What we’ve received is a ‘yes’ but … it’s very noncommittal. They haven’t given us solid guarantees that Walden West will actually return in its original form.”

Penelope Kirby, 24, has been part of Walden West since she first camped there at age 12. She returned frequently for later programs as she got older. Eventually she became a volunteer and then a permanent employee where she and fellow educators — who refer to each other during programs by animal names such as “Badger” and “Owl” — would sing songs about banana slugs to kids by the campfire and teach them hands-on environmental science lessons and nature skills.

“The sentiment we’ve gotten from (the office of education) has very much been, ‘We as the county aren’t going to come up with a solution even though we’ve known about this for 10 years,'” Kirby told San José Spotlight before Tuesday’s relocation announcement.

Kirby was among a handful of workers who were called in for a Feb. 24 meeting with an assistant superintendent at Walden West. What started as a celebratory presentation on the status of the renovation — saving an estimated $3 million to $5 million in construction costs — turned into a progression of troubling information about a planned closure and layoffs.

“It felt very shady. How did you not have a plan?” Kirby said. “Why are you now putting it on us as staff? It was really scary to be told we wouldn’t have a job and there was no support system for us after we were told this information. There wasn’t much reassurance happening.”

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.