Hillbrook Upper School - Fall 2023

We believe ALL STUDENTS deserve to have an extraordinary educational experience in high school that builds upon the exceptional foundation we provide for our JK-8 students.

The Foundation of Our Belief

Hillbrook Upper School builds upon the exceptional foundation we provide for our JK-8 students. Our program places choice and engagement at the center of the learning experience - an integrated, real-world education that challenges students to reach beyond and make a difference in the world, and a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Each and every day on our San Jose Campus, students will be challenged to live out our Core Values - be kind, be curious, take risks, be your best - as they engage with an exceptional team of educators committed to helping each student reach their highest potential in school and in life.

Why Hillbrook?

Our Journey

For years, members of our community have wondered, “What would it take to create a Hillbrook high school?” After the extraordinary success of Vision 2020, our program has strengthened and evolved; we have successfully met the unprecedented challenges of the past two years. The time is right to bring our approach to education to the Upper School level.

Our Vision

At Hillbrook, we recognize that students need to be equipped with skills in communications, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity to adapt to any challenges that they face. While there are a variety of high school options in our market, there are no models that look like Hillbrook Upper School - a high school experience that creates a pathway for students to excel both in school and life.

Our Community

Hillbrook’s mission and vision will serve as the foundation of our high school program. While we will be on two campuses, we will remain one community and one school. From JK through 12th grade, all students will be reminded of our core values - be kind, be curious, take risks, be your best, as we strive to help each student reach their highest potential in school and in life.

Signature Programs

PASSION-DRIVEN ACADEMICS

Hillbrook Upper School will feature a rich, engaging curriculum driven by students’ passions and talents - an incubator for the potential of natural curiosity that encourages each student to design a path for themselves. Our program would move beyond the limitations of Advanced Placement, featuring challenging courses and advanced studies comparable to college-level work. The education we envision blends academic study and the excitement of learning in a diverse campus community.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, JUSTICE, & ACTION

Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, Justice, & Action education at Hillbrook School, in collaboration with the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship, prepares students to see the world as it is, imagine what it might be, and develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to build a more equitable and just future. Every day, in all domains of the school, we strive to make sure that our students are known, respected, and valued. We teach children that actively addressing inequity and taking action against injustice are the most profound ways to make meaningful differences in our communities. The Upper School – located in the heart of San Jose – activates and empowers students to make immediate and lasting social impact during their high school years, launching them into a lifetime of social impact work.

THE HUB

Like its JK-8th namesake, The Upper School Hub will be a place where students come together to design, create, imagine, and explore. From graphic design to filmmaking to furniture design to 3D printing, students will have access to the tools and experts they need to create any thing, solve any problem, and imagine any future. The Hub will be the place where engineering and the arts come together, providing a real-world learning opportunity unlike any other school in San Jose.

REACH BEYOND IMMERSIVES

These three week courses, created in partnership with The Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship, provide authentic, immersive opportunities that extend learning far beyond the confines of a classroom, transforming the way students see themselves and the world around them. By bringing students outside of the classroom, immersives provide students an opportunity to engage in place-based learning—complex and interdisciplinary by nature, and thus calling on students to develop as systems thinkers.

View our Course Catalog

Faculty, Staff, & Leadership

Hillbrook Hires Exceptional Teachers

We have a well-earned reputation as a destination workplace for educators, with a collaborative and collegial culture that supports ongoing professional development and growth. Our founding faculty will be leading-edge high school teachers, with a deep understanding of adolescent development and pedagogy and a commitment to creating challenging, interdisciplinary learning experiences that foster student engagement and growth.

Our Hillbrook faculty and staff are a vibrant community of highly trained educators who come to Hillbrook from around the world, bringing a rich mix of backgrounds and experiences. As our Upper School team grows, cross-functional staff will act as "culture carriers" to help us embed the school’s longstanding values, including a commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Action (DEIJA) and social impact education.

UPPER SCHOOL STAFF & FACULTY

Mark Silver

Head of School

Michael Peller

Head of Upper School

Charlotte (Charley) Burkly

Founding Director of College Counseling

Tim Downes

Founding Athletic Director, Hillbrook Upper School

About Mark

About Mark

Mark Silver is the Head of School at Hillbrook School, a JK-12 independent school located in Silicon Valley. Since his arrival at Hillbrook in 2009, Mark has deepened the school’s connections to its historical roots as a leader in innovation and best practices in education. As part of the school’s ambitious strategic plans, Visions 2015 and 2020, Hillbrook has launched the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship, established itself as a leader in the use of technology, earning designation since 2012-13 as an Apple Distinguished School, and placed itself at the forefront of conversations about the Maker’s movement, social entrepreneurship, learning spaces, and co-teaching. Today, the school is embarking on its most ambitious undertaking ever - expanding from a JK-8 into a two campus JK-12 with a new Upper School campus in downtown San Jose.

Prior to his arrival at Hillbrook, Mark spent a number of years as an administrator, teacher, and coach in independent schools, including Holland Hall School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California, and Francis Parker School in San Diego, California. Mark graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Amherst College with a degree in American Studies, and later earned an M.A. in American History at Stanford University and a Ph.D in Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego. Mark was a fellow at the Heads of School program at the Klingenstein Center at Teacher’s College Columbia University, and also is a certified Executive Coach through the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute. He has served on many Boards, including the California Association of Independent Schools, the Elementary School Heads Association, Crystal Springs Upland Schools, and, currently, the Girls Middle School in Palo Alto.

Mark has three children and his wife, Carla, is the Executive Director of Leadership & Design, a non-profit organization that “designs experiences for the people who design the future of education.” Outside of work life, you can find him walking his beloved dogs (Duke and Izzy), hiking and running, reading, watching sports (especially English Premier League), and beekeeping.

About Mike

About Mike

Mike Peller joined White Mountain School in July 2018 as the Assistant Head of Teaching and Learning, where he has served as the chief academic leader of the school. During his time at WMS, he led the design and implementation of the Inquiry, Innovation and Impact Lab, developing a Design Engineering department along the way; he led a schedule redesign to prioritize inquiry learning , engagement and community wellness; he supported enrollment management initiatives, including travel to China; and, he developed a system and strategies to transition to a competency-based learning environment, so as to develop learner experiences and assessment tied to the school’s transferable competencies. To do the latter, Mike drew from his work experience at Nueva, where he served as the Assistant Head of Upper School, as well as the site director for Global Online Academy and the Mastery Transcript Consortium. His focus while at Nueva was on building and refining a standards-based grading system, which evolved into a competency-based learning system. He has led numerous workshops on this and has presented at a number of national conferences including: NAIS, O.E.S.I.S., and Nueva’s Innovative Learning Conference. Relevant conferences include:

Building Teams, Breaking Paradigms: Human-Centered Approaches for Implementing Mastery Learning, NAIS 2022
Accelerating through Crises, NAIS 2021
Leading Across Schools: Co-creating a Competency Roadmap, NAIS, February 2020
Leading Change in the Mastery Revolution, NAIS, February 2019
What is a B+, Anyways?, NAIS, March 2018
Changing to CBE: A Bottom-Up Approach, O.E.S.I.S., March 2019
A Transition to Competency Assessment, O.E.S.I.S., October 2018
An Evolution of Interdisciplinary Competency-Based Assessment, O.E.S.I.S., April 2018
Transforming your Math Program with Standards, Innovative Learning Conference, October 2017

Prior to Nueva, Mike worked as the Math Department Chair, director of Project Outreach, and the Assistant Director of the Senior Honor thesis at Holderness School in New Hampshire. He was also one of the founding faculty of Sonoma Academy, where he was a science and math teacher, ninth grade dean, and a member of the admissions committee. Mike earned his BA in environmental engineering at Harvard University and his MA in Independent School Leadership at Columbia University. Mike, being a child of two boarding school teachers, grew up on the campus of Northfield Mount Hermon: independent schools are part of his DNA.

Mike is a proud and adoring parent of Mira (6.5) and Wendell (3). His partner, Kelsey, is a middle school Humanities teacher, and a remarkable homeschool teacher and mother!

About Charley

About Charley

Charlotte (Charley) Burkly is our founding Director of College Counseling. Before joining Hillbrook Upper School, Charley spent six years at University School (OH) as Associate Director of College Counseling. Previously, Charley served as Assistant Dean of Admission at Princeton University and Assistant Director of MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School. She started her career teaching middle school science as part of the New York City Teaching Fellows program.

In addition to her main work in college counseling, Charley has been an active member of her campus communities, most recently serving as a leader within student life and advising, coaching Track and Field and Cross-Country, and facilitating diversity, equity and inclusion programming for both students and faculty. She currently serves on the leadership team for the Association for College Counselors in Independent Schools (ACCIS) as Colloquium chair.

Charley’s work in college admissions, college counseling, and classroom teaching ensures that she understands how best to support students as they navigate high school, apply to college, and prepare for the next stage of their education. At Hillbrook Upper School, she is excited to play an active role in laying the foundation for an exceptional educational experience - one that prepares students not only for school, but for life.

Charley graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Colgate University with a BA in Chinese, and later earned an MS in Science Education from CUNY-City College and an MA in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Charley joins the Hillbrook community along with her husband, Woli Urbe, and their two children.

About Tim

About Tim

Tim comes to us from Westminster School in Atlanta, where he has served as the Athletic Director since 2015. Westminster finished the 2021-22 school year ranked #1 in the country according to MaxPreps, a program designed to rank and recognize the top high school athletic programs in the country. Prior to Westminster, Tim served as the Athletic Director at several colleges and universities between 1999-2015, including Emory University, Franklin & Marshall College, and the California Institute of Technology. Tim graduated from Dartmouth University with a BA in English and Government, where he was a four-year varsity lacrosse starter, and later earned a JD from Washington & Lee University with a focus on Title IX and intercollegiate athletics.

Tim was drawn to the opportunity to take his many years of experience at top schools building and refining athletic programs that coexist with top academics and apply it from the ground floor in our expanding high school program. His reference spoke to his work as a relationship builder, his connection with students, and his ability to combine big picture, visionary thinking with attention to the smallest details. During his interviews it became clear that Tim understands the invaluable role that an athletic program plays in an independent school, and that he has the experience and expertise to help us design an exceptional program to build on our existing JK-8 program.

In addition to Tim, we are excited to welcome his wife, Beth, to our community. Tim also has three older children - Kelley, a senior at the University of Georgia, Drew, a sophomore at Rhodes College, and Will, a junior at Westminster.

While Tim will not begin his role full-time until July 1, 2023, he will be starting to partner with Upper School Head Mike Peller in the Spring to design the programs for our first year and to start the hiring process for founding coaches. He is excited to build connections with the members of the Class of 2027 and their families, and to start laying the foundation for what we know will be an excellent high school athletic program.

View All Founding Faculty

Why Downtown San Jose?

Downtown San Jose represents a strategic decision for what we believe a high school experience – from the program to the people – can and should be. From the beginning, we were drawn to the idea of an urban environment for our Upper School, serving as a perfect complement to our JK-8 campus. In the same way that our Los Gatos campus is the perfect place for children to run, play, learn and grow, a downtown setting for our Upper School is the ideal location for our oldest students to stretch their wings, gain independence, and thrive.

San Jose is a city poised for rapid growth, and the city will serve as an extension of the classroom - providing proximity to public transportation, local companies, nonprofits, governmental agencies, art institutes, and universities. It is an ideal location to extend our Reach Beyond programming with the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Downtown San Jose will be a destination for a broad range of families in the next 15 to 20 years, and building our Upper School campus there will enable us to attract a student body that fully reflects the extraordinary diversity of the Bay Area.

A part of local history: The Moir Building

Located next to a VTA light rail line, the historic Moir Building - also known as the St. James Hotel - dates back to 1894, and is filled with classic and modern touches, with natural light from a large central skylight. When searching for a home for Hillbrook School, we all wanted a building with a presence and character; additionally, the adaptive reuse of a Nationally Historic building aligns with our school's values, especially around sustainability. The Moir will be our main classroom building after our first year.

A part of local history: The San Jose Armory

The San Jose Armory was constructed in 1934 to house the California National Guard, and is a Spanish Revival-style building half a block away from St. James Park. The Armory will serve as classroom space for our first year, as well as the school’s gymnasium and community gathering space. The Armory’s large central floor will become the future home of Hillbrook’s athletic program, and possibly a theater space. The upper floors will be used as art labs and classrooms.

Connect, Visit, & Learn More

Weekly Podcast

Listen to "The Education All Students Deserve," Head of School Mark Silver's weekly short podcast on JAM.ai!

New episodes are uploaded every Wednesday.

Webinars

Join us for an upcoming webinar to hear key insights, perspectives, and inside info on the founding of Hillbrook Upper School.

Our webinar series has concluded for the year - please click below to view our playlist!

SCHEDULE A TOUR

Create a free Ravenna account to schedule your tour of the Upper School Campuses!

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>> Watch webinar playlist

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Press & Media

Read news stories and other press coverage of Hillbrook's new high school here.

LOS GATOS PRIVATE SCHOOL EXPANDING INTO HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SAN JOSE BUILDINGS
by Sal Pizarro, San Jose Mercury News
May 15, 2022

Read the article

Download the PDF

PRIVATE HILLBROOK SCHOOL IN LOS GATOS EXPANDING TO HISTORIC SAN JOSE BUILDINGS
by Len Ramirez, KPIX-5
May 16, 2022

Watch the story

A NEW HIGH SCHOOL IS COMING TO DOWNTOWN SAN JOSE
by Lorraine Gabbert, San Jose Spotlight
June 16, 2022

read the article

Download the PDF

For press and media inquiries, please reach out to:

Micaela Youmans

Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Hillbrook School

(408) 356-6116 ext. 576
myoumans@hillbrook.org

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