Fresno’s newest school named for Farbers, other candidates could get campus buildings

After a lengthy debate over the past month, Fresno’s newest school, which is expected to be built by the summer of 2023, will be named after philanthropists Francine and Murray Farber.

Fresno Unified School District board members voted 5-2 to name the campus after the Farbers, a couple who moved from the East Coast to Fresno in 2003 to be closer to family. Trustees Veva Islas and Terry Slatic cast the “no” votes.

During their time in Fresno, they have given FUSD students more than $100,000 in college scholarships and have launched various programs that benefited thousands of young people.

Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, who represents the area where the campus will be built, publicly supported naming the campus after the Farbers because of all the students they’ve helped in that area. She also spoke about the division the naming of the campus has created in the community and said “in the spirit of coming together,” she proposed some of the campus buildings be named after three other people.

A proposal was made to name the administrative building after Dolphas Trotter. The early education center could be named after Dolores Huerta. The career and technical training building could be named after Roger Tatarian.

The board is expected to vote on the proposal regarding the remaining three candidates at its June 2 meeting.

Hundreds of community members submitted names to a district survey, Tatarian receiving the most bids at 929. There was a huge push in the Armenian community to name the campus after Tatarian, in part because there isn’t any FUSD campus named after somebody in the Armenian community. About half a dozen people showed support for Tatarian during public comment.

Slatic said he was “befuddled” that the board wasn’t considering naming the whole campus after Tatarian because many people showed support for Tatarian based on the district survey. He said the district had named buildings after people in the Hmong, Black, white, and Hispanic communities.

“But somehow, we don’t have one named after an Armenian person,” Slatic said.

Tatarian, who grew up in the neighborhood where the new campus is being built, graduated 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.

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. 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.”

Longtime FUSD educator and administrator Trotter received 116 bids. He was the first Black principal at Edison High School. Multiple people showed their support for Trotter during public comment and spoke about the differences he made in FUSD students’ lives.

The Farbers received 88 votes. Jonasson Rosas’s husband, Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez, who was also an FUSD school board member, sent a letter to the district on Monday that said “there is no one more meritorious” than the Farbers.

“The Farber family did not have to invest in that community/school, as the odds were not in favor of a great success rate, yet that is the reason they did,” Chavez wrote. “They never gave up on our neediest children.”

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

Holland Locker, who passed at age 61 in January 2019 after a battle with cancer, had the fourth most votes, 68. He was a teacher, coach, and administrator for the district and served as an assistant superintendent for 15 years. He also helped oversee art, activities, and athletics for the district. He was also an active member of the Association of California School Administrators.

There were 1,672 suggestions submitted after 149 people or geographical locations.

Late push to nominate Dolores Huerta

About 20 people spoke during public comment. About half a dozen people demanded the district reopen its survey because they have the right to participate. Multiple people also said this is an example of how the district has historically disenfranchised Hispanic, Latino, and Spanish-speaking families.

“I understand this is how you’ve always done it,” said Carmen Zamora, a parent leader for Fresno’s Go Public Schools. “That does not mean it’s the right way. This is not OK. You must include other families who speak languages other than English.”

Zamora said she knows more than 60 parents she works with that did not receive the survey the district sent out.

Jonasson Rosas suggested one of the buildings be named after Huerta, a longtime civil rights activist who lives in Kern County. She said it was her understanding that some people who didn’t get a chance to submit a name wanted Huerta to be considered.

Huerta and Cesar Chavez co-founded the National Farmworkers Association that merged with Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers. She continues to be heavily involved in activism around the Valley, especially through her foundation, the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

Islas attempted to postpone the vote and reopen the survey so Latino, Hispanic, and Spanish-speaking families would get the chance to participate in the process. However, she didn’t receive support from her fellow board members.

Fresno Unified’s newest campus

The campus sits on Ventura Avenue and 10th Street and will house students from Cambridge High School, J.E Young Academic Center, and the eLearn Academy. Employees in district departments, including early learning, special education, the department of prevention and intervention, and professional learning, will also work at the facility.

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.

FUSD purchased the 12.5 acres in October 2018 for $1.2 million. The district has $60 million in Measure M funding to complete the project, 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-built two-story building is expected by the summer of 2023, in time for the 2023-24 school year.

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 May 19, 2021 at 9:47 PM.