Assemblymember Wilma Chan Adopts Fruitvale Elementary School

by Judith Klinger, summer intern to Wilma Chan

Picture healthy, happy little children. Picture them with glasses so they can see their books or the teacher's face. Picture them with dental care so their mouths don't hurt. Picture them with full stomachs, well nourished and able to focus.

This is Assemblymember Wilma Chan's goal. Chan recently adopted Fruitvale Elementary School. According to Chan, her goals for adopting Fruitvale are "to increase students' school readiness, which in turn will reduce absences and increase learning in the classroom."

Fruitvale's 730 students are racially and linguistically diverse. Many qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches. The recent release of SAT-9 test scores shows that Fruitvale improved so much that it has been taken off the state's underperforming school list, an achievement which has delighted the school community and energized Chan even more about where the school can go.

The focus of the adoption is to partner with Principal Cherie Ivey and Healthy Start coordinator Stuart Richardson to augment current school programs by locating additional resources and connecting the school with them. For example, Chan has linked up Fruitvale to eyeglass providers for some students. "It does a child little good to be told she or she needs glasses if the family cannot afford to buy them," she said. She has also put the Jewish Coalition for Literacy, which does tutoring in reading, and the school in touch with each other.

Chan will join the school staff in assisting families to prepare their children at home for learning. Research shows that children who are read to and played with have a far easier time learning at school. She will be working with the PTA to bring programs to the school that help families learn how they can better prepare their children for school.

This spring she and Oakland School Board member-elect Gary Yee together arranged for a new child development center at Fruitvale. The preschool will open in mid-fall.

At a campus "Spruce-Up Day" on Saturday, September 28, children, parents, community groups, and neighbors will come together and do landscaping, painting, and general tidying. Anyone interested in helping out should contact Garrett Dempsey at 286-1670 by September 27 to sign up.

Fruitvale Elementary School is at 3200 Boston Avenue.