An Armenian icon vs. a generous family? Competition emerges over Fresno’s new school

As the Fresno Unified School District receives recommendations on what to name its newest campus, two candidates have garnered support from community members and local elected leaders.

The campus on Ventura Avenue and 10th Street, which will be almost 13 acres, will house FUSD’s three alternative education schools and various district departments.

A grassroots effort from Fresno’s Armenian community is pushing for the campus to be named after H. Roger Tatarian — a renowned journalist, professor, author and Fresno native.

Michelle Asadoorian, who had Tatarian as a professor at Fresno State, said he grew up in the area where the campus will sit — as did so many other Armenians — because Armenians faced discrimination and could only live in certain areas.

“It’s an area of town where Armenians dominated, and coming up with the name was so easy,” she told The Bee’s Education Lab. “So many in the community thought of Roger.”

Some elected officials, including Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas who represents the area where the campus will be built, support naming the building after Francine and Murray Farber, a couple who moved from the East Coast to Fresno in 2003 to be closer to family. During their time in Fresno, they have given FUSD students more than $100,000 in college scholarships and have launched various programs that thousands of young people have benefited from.

“They are absolutely humble and wonderful human beings who care about Fresno and about our future and have dedicated a lot of time to making Fresno better, be it through community service, through the League of Women voters, in the arts, and in educational endeavors,” Jonasson Rosas said.

The Farbers also contributed to The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab.

Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez, who is Jonasson Rosas’ husband, is sponsoring a resolution supporting naming the campus after the Farbers that will go to a vote during Thursday’s regular meeting. Councilmember Mike Karbassi showed support for naming the campus after Tatarian in a Facebook post on April 15.

Community members have until May 7 to submit a recommendation to the Fresno Unified board. To fill out the survey, visit the FUSD website.

Fresno Unified’s new school campus

In 2016, Fresno Unified decided to better support students in alternative education schools. During a January board meeting, district officials said there was a lack of engagement and limited career technical education, or CTE, opportunities at alternative schools.

FUSD purchased the 12.5 acres on Ventura Avenue and 10th Street in October 2018 for $1.2 million, spokesperson Amy Idsvoog said. A juvenile hall center used to be on that land. The district has $60 million in Measure M funding to complete the project, she said, but the final price won’t be known until after the bidding process.

The district is expected to recommend a bid to the school board in the fall, and the soon-to-be two-story building is expected by the summer of 2023, in time for the 2023-24 school year.

The campus will house students from Cambridge High School, J.E Young Academic Center and the eLearn Academy.

Students at all three schools will have access to the resources at the new campus, including CTE pathway programs and service-learning experiences. CTE programs will focus on technology, business and engineering. Night classes also will be offered.

District departments that will also be at the campus are early learning, special education, the department of prevention and intervention, and professional learning.

Who are the Farbers?

Francine and Murray Farber told the Ed Lab they were “excited” and in “shock” that FUSD could name a building after them. Two programs they created for students were in memory of their two sons who passed away.

The Farbers’ son, Steven, passed away from a heart attack at the age of 42, Francine Farber said. Their son Michael had a rare type of cancer and passed at the age of 35.

“They chose Fresno to be their home, and I think that says something about who they are,” Jonasson Rosas said of the Fabers. “They adopted the community and became staunch supporters of Fresno as a whole. When tragedy affected their lives, they decided to give back and took something that is horrific for any parent … and found a way to honor their memory in a way that was going to benefit the community.”

Steve’s Scholars is a program for Tehipite Middle School students funded by the Farbers and gives eligible students a total of $2,000 for their first two years of college.

“Ever since we moved to Fresno, we’ve been pleased to work with children, especially kids in Tehipite, Roosevelt, and Bullard,” Murray Farber said. “It’s a wonderful feeling being in a place like the Save Mart Center, and one of the kids comes up to you and recognizes you … and thanks you. It’s a very warm feeling to do something right.”

The Farbers also established Mike’s Books and sponsored children’s libraries at two housing authority sites in Fresno. One is a stand-alone library, and the other is part of the housing site’s community center.

Every year the Farbers also raffle off bikes for Tehipite students.

“They don’t just give money and forget about it,” Jonasson Rosas said. ‘They are actively participating, making sure kids are benefiting from these investments.”

The Farbers also have sponsored a play at Roosevelt High School about the Revolutionary War that all FUSD fifth-graders are invited to. About 25,000 fifth-graders have seen it so far, Francine Farber said.

Before moving to Fresno, Murray Farber worked as an editor for a newspaper in Connecticut and at Fairfield University. He currently sits on the board of the Jewish Federation of Central California and promotes college scholarships.

Francine Farber was a school psychologist, a school administrator, and was in charge of preschool programs when she lived on the East Coast. While she was on the board of the League of Women Voters in Fresno, she led a campaign to get better access to quality preschool education in Fresno County.

“I remember every child as a school psychologist,” Francine Farber said. “I feel strongly for those kids and families. To be able to help them, it’s a way of continuing to validate our existence after losing our two sons. We had to do something meaningful, and, to me, this is very meaningful. It’s in their memories.”

Who was H. Roger Tatarian?

Tatarian put Fresno on the map in many ways, said Asadoorian, who was an FUSD board member for eight years and is currently Trustee Terry Slatic’s community liaison.

“He mentored so many people and taught us how to write well,” she said. “He’s the most gentle, unassuming man you would want to meet. He was just a very kind, generous spirit. He would sit with you until you got it right. He wanted your work to be top-notch, and he was the kind of man to spend time with you to make sure that it was.”

After graduating from Fresno State in 1938 with a political science degree, Tatarian began his journalism career at the United Press International, a worldwide news organization and competitor of the Associated Press.

During Tatarian’s 34 years at UPI, he was in leadership positions worldwide, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, London, Rome and Washington, D.C. He worked his way up to being the editor and chief of UPI.

After retirement, he taught journalism at Fresno State for 15 years and did some newspaper consulting for various papers, including The Bee, where he also had a regular column.

Out of Fresno Unified’s 106 school campuses, Asadoorian said, none are named after someone in the Armenian community. She said it’s time for that to change.

“Armenians have been left off the list of being recognized, and it’s been quite disturbing to us,” Asadoorian said.

Berj Apkarian, the honorary consulate of the Republic of Armenia, describes Tatatrian as a “giant” and an “icon.” He said the influence Tatarian has had locally and globally can resonate with many people, not just the Armenian community.

“His contribution in the field of journalism and at Fresno State and around the nation speaks loud by itself,” Apkarian said. “We’re not floating a name just for having an Armenian name on campus.”

Tatarian passed in 1995 at the age of 78. A year later, a book of his essays was published, “Day of Mourning, Day of Shame.”

Fresno State established The Roger Tatarian Journalism Grant and The Roger Tatarian Endowed Chair in Journalism in his honor. Tatarian was awarded the Elijah Parrish Lovejoy Award and was named a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi. He was also among the first people to be inducted into the New York Society’s Hall of Fame.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.