A Bay Area summer plan: programs, work, a college class, or independent study

Use this page if you are choosing how a Peninsula student will spend a summer, and you need to tell a finished program year from one that has not been announced.

Checked September 27, 2026. The PAUSD summer school page still describes summer 2026. Those sessions ended in June and July 2026. Nothing on that page is a registration link for summer 2027. Treat 2027 as unannounced until the district posts a new page. Do not use the 2026 response deadlines as if they were still open.

Students: pick the option by what you will do most days, and what you will learn. Parents: check eligibility, cost, transportation, and whether a seat is invitation-only. The junior summer logistics sheet is for that parent check. It does not rank programs.

What the 2026 high school section actually offered.

Students had to be attending a PAUSD school. Summer School is described as condensed: attend every day, three tardies count as one absence, and three absences drop the student from the course. For Living Skills and Economics, the student also had to attend the first and last day to keep the seat and receive credit.

At Gunn, the published high school rows included:

2026 program	Who	How a seat worked	Status on September 27, 2026
Bridge to High School	Rising 9th, by invitation	Opt in. Interest responses were due April 3, 2026.	Dates were June 15 to July 2, 2026. Finished.
Credit recovery, two sessions	Rising 10th through 12th who received a D, F, P, or NM	Invitation only. Session 1 was opt out.	June 15 to July 2, and July 6 to July 24, 2026. Finished.
Living Skills or Economics, session 1	Rising 12th graders from Gunn and Paly	Opt in. One of the two, not both. Lottery if demand exceeded seats.	Same June dates. Finished.
Living Skills, session 2	Rising 12th graders from Gunn and Paly	Opt in, same interest window.	July 6 to July 24, 2026. Finished.

The page says Living Skills and Economics enrollment depends on interest, staffing, and an even split of spots between the two high schools. Gunn's off-campus page adds that Economics and Living Skills seats in summer school are not guaranteed from year to year. A rising senior who needs one of those courses should ask the counselor what is published for the coming summer, not assume last year's lottery will repeat.

Location lines for those high school sessions name Gunn. One Living Skills line on the page is truncated as "Henry M. High School." This guide treats Gunn as the named site and does not invent a second campus from that truncated line.

A small local comparison.

This is the maintained set for this page, not a directory. Each row was checked on September 27, 2026. A closed or historical row stays here so a family can see what the last published cycle was. Nothing below is a 2027 registration link unless that operator's page says so. Recheck that page before you treat a later date as open.

Category	Operator and program	Who, when, where	Cost or aid, and time	Status on September 27, 2026
School	PAUSD summer school, high school rows at Gunn	Students attending PAUSD. Bridge to High School was rising 9th, by invitation. Credit recovery was rising 10th through 12th with a D, F, P, or NM. Living Skills or Economics was rising 12th from Gunn and Paly. Sessions ran June 15 to July 2 and July 6 to July 24, 2026. Attend every day.	The summer page does not list a tuition charge for these rows. Seats were invitation or lottery, not open registration at this check.	Closed. The 2026 cycle is finished. Summer 2027 is unannounced on that page.
College	Foothill College special admit	Grades 9 through 12. On campus, online, Sunnyvale Center, or a participating high school. A special-admit form each quarter.	Enrollment and basic fees are waived only inside a unit limit the Foothill pages do not state the same way, including summer. Books and materials can still cost extra. Foothill's Fall 2026 parking page requires a digital permit. Currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff can get one free. Visitors register for a separate daily permit, which may be purchased or completed with a pre-approved complimentary code.	Current process. Not a dated 2027 summer program. Confirm the term before registering.
Public institution	City of Palo Alto, Counselor-in-Training, through Mitchell Park teen services	Ages 13 and 14. Application and interview. Sessions were June 15 to June 26, June 29 to July 10, July 13 to July 24, and July 27 to August 7, 2026, at Foothills Nature Preserve or Mitchell Park Community Center.	The page lists $320 a session. It describes the role as volunteer, not a wage. Apply-by date on the page: April 19, 2026.	Closed for 2026. The page does not post a 2027 session.
Nonprofit	Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, Summer Teen Internship	Rising high school freshmen through seniors, age 14 or older. Sites are the club's own. Minimum of three weeks, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to noon, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., or both. The page says June through July.	The volunteer page describes classroom support, not a wage. Age 14 and older also needs a Social Security number and a background check on that site.	Next application is announced, not open. The page says the application opens March 2027.
Employment	PAUSD work permit for a paid job the student already has	PAUSD students under 18 who are not high school graduates, after a paid offer. Not a blank permit, and not a private-residence job except for a parent's own home. Gunn and Paly lockboxes are in the main office. CDE Form B1-1. Each job needs its own permit. Permits expire five days into the new school year.	No wage is set by the district page. The student needs an offer first.	Current rule, with a conflict. The work-permits page says not to take the form to the District Office and that processing runs year round except holidays and breaks. The Work Experience page says school-year processing is at the school and summer processing is at the District Office. Ask the school which desk applies to the dates you mean.
Student-designed	The student's own project	Any grade the family can supervise. No operator, no campus, and no application date.	Cost is whatever materials the family chooses. Time is the plan they write.	Available whenever the student starts it. Not a 2027 program.

The Foothill row is a college-class decision, not a summer-school seat. The enrollment path, the fee conflict, and the high school's approval are in college classes during high school. The activities profile guide is about how activities read later. It does not require a selective program. The independent research guide is the method for the student-designed row. Service, if that is the project, is covered in hours versus impact. Living Skills, when it is the PAUSD course, has its own community-service rule inside that course. Do not mix that requirement with a separate service project unless the instructor says the hours count.

An outside summer course in math, if the goal is to skip ahead, is a different decision. Paly's math page says summer courses earn regular-lane credit, not honors credit, and that pre-approval is required after Algebra 2. That is a lane rule, not a reason to take the class.

If money, a ride, or a weekday is the limit, the rows that do not depend on a new announcement are a paid job the student can already reach, and work the student designs. The City of Palo Alto session and the 2026 PAUSD summer rows are not those options. They are closed.

A junior example, without a program trophy.

A junior who does not need credit recovery and is not a rising senior has no Living Skills or Economics row on the 2026 page. The live choices in that situation are an invitation if one exists, a college class with the high school's approval, paid work, or self-directed work. Wanting a selective program's name on a list is not one of the published eligibility rules.

Option	Ask this	Do not assume
PAUSD summer	Is a 2027 page posted, and is this student invited or a rising senior?	That 2026 dates and lotteries repeat
Foothill class	Which term, and which fee line the college is using for that unit load?	That books and materials are free. Parking is separate: a digital permit is required. An enrolled Foothill student can get the free digital permit. A visitor registers for a separate daily permit, which may be purchased or completed with a pre-approved complimentary code. A class does not raise admission chances.
City CIT or BGCP	Is the page still describing 2026, or has it opened the next cycle?	That April 19, 2026, or a past June session is still open
Paid job	Is there an offer, and which office the two permit pages mean for these dates?	That the district will name an employer or a wage
Independent project	What the student will make or learn, and how they will record it	That a university name is required

Students: circle one option you could start without a new announcement. Parents: circle one cost or ride that would make that option fail.

If you want help choosing among the options that are actually open, book an Ivy Ready consultation. Tell us the grade, the school, and whether the limit is time, money, or a missing seat.