Fresno’s newest school gets its name this week. Here’s who received the most nominations

The naming of Fresno Unified’s newest campus on 10th Street and Ventura Avenue is expected to be decided Wednesday at the next board meeting.

The district sought community input, and four names made it to the top of the list with the most bids: Francine and Murry Farber; Holland Locker; Roger Tatarian; and Dolphas Trotter.

Tatarian had the most votes, 929, and Trotter came in second with 116 bids, data from FUSD showed. The Farbers had 88 votes, and Locker had 68.

There were 1,672 suggestions submitted after 149 people or geographical locations, according to FUSD’s summary of the survey results. The survey closed on May 7.

The next board meeting is on Wednesday at Gaston Middle School’s cafeteria.

There has already been strong public support from elected leaders and community members for two of the candidates.

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. He grew up in the area where the campus will sit — as did many Armenians — because Armenians faced discrimination and could only live in certain areas.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Both of the Farber programs were established in the memories of their two sons who passed.

Who is Holland Locker?

Locker was a Bullard High School graduate in 1975 and was an educator at FUSD for 36 years after graduating from Fresno State with a bachelor’s and master’s degree.

He was a teacher, coach, and administrator for the district. Locker served as an assistant superintendent for 15 of the years he worked at FUSD. He helped oversee art, activities, and athletics for the district. He was also an active member of the Association of California School Administrators.

Locker passed at age 61 in January 2019 after a battle with cancer.

Superintendent Bob Nelson called Locker a “deeply rational leader who put others first and who fought hard for our kids” on Jan. 5, 2019.

“Many times since then, Holland and I have shared some pretty incredible conversations and time together, and in every one of those conversations, it was never about him and always about someone else,” Nelson wrote. “For those of us lucky enough to have known him, he will forever be in our hearts.”

Who is Dolphas Trotter?

Trotter’s family moved from Oklahoma to Fresno in 1945, where he attended Fresno Colony Elementary School and later Washington Union High School. He attended the University of Pacific and played football, and was later drafted into the U.S. Army before becoming a Fresno Unified educator and interim superintendent.

Trotter taught at Edison High School and later became the school’s first Black principal. He was also a principal at Tr Tioga and Cooper middle schools and then became a district administrator before his promotion to assistant superintendent in 2000.

After retiring from Fresno Unified, Trotter was the superintendent for New Millennium Charter School and West Fresno School District. He was also on the board of directors for the African American Historical and Cultural Museum.

Trotter passed at age 68 in 2009.

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.

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.