On site of former juvenile hall, Fresno’s modern new alternative school opens its doors

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After three years of construction, a new Fresno Unified complex to house the district’s alternative school programs under one roof is finally a reality.

The Farber Educational Campus is ready to welcome its first students on Monday at the start of the new school year. The site of the campus used to be the infamous juvenile hall, which was torn down in 2019. A Fresno Bee investigation two decades ago uncovered savage conditions and labeled it a “hall of shame.”

Now, the district is hoping the new campus can be home to a crown jewel of alternative education to prepare students for the real world. The Bee got a preview of the facility that the district says offers state-of-the-art educational programming using a progressive philosophy, in addition to modernist architecture with an emphasis on natural light and collaborative spaces.

Located at the corner of E. Cesar Chavez Blvd. and 10th Street in southeast Fresno, the $65 million project consolidates three alternative education programs: Cambridge Continuation High School, J.E. Young Academic Center and the eLearn Academy, which are also given new names as Farber Credit Attainment, Farber Independent Study, and Farber Online.

The new building uses a lot of glass to bring natural light into the lobby, classrooms, and cafeteria, providing plenty of open seating areas for kids to socialize and learn on their own. Rooms are lined along the hallways that have warm yellow walls: traditional classrooms decorated with posters and signs welcoming kids back to school, counselor’s offices and teacher’s offices with extra desks and chairs for students taking online classes to discuss homework and study under supervision, and a P.E. classroom with large mirrors and sports equipment.

“For too many years, there has been some negative connotation around alternative education, and for this community (southeast Fresno), the whole Fresno uses the term ‘disadvantaged,’” said Principal Carson Wood.

He says that there are two things in the mindset of alternative education: to honor and respect each student for their specific background, challenges, and barriers; and not to give them a “less-than” institution.

The expectations are not only for the programs to help graduates land well-paying jobs and break the cycle of poverty, but also to nurture “good human beings to serve the community,” says Wood.

Farber adopts four CTE pathways: cyber security, public services, multimedia and video production, and logistics and warehouse management. He says Farber has already established some partnerships with community organizations and companies, including California Food Bank and Amazon. For the next school year, CTE instructors will lead students to apply what they learn to real-world cases, such as distributing food to three neighboring elementary schools.

“If you go to our CTE logistics, you hear that once students turn 18, they can get a high-paying job, now we just flipped that and our kids walk in and they’re the ‘advantaged,’” Wood said.

The campus hosts more than 1,900 students from the three programs, says Pete Pulos, administrator of alternative education. Depending on their needs and study plans, some students might come to school five days a week in a traditional setting, some three days a week, and others might take online courses. The campus provides resources and facilities to help them learn, and teachers are always on standby to answer questions for those who struggle to understand the material, he says.

Pulos, who was the principal at Cambridge High, says alternative education once referred to children who were sent off campus because of difficulties in their lives, who fell behind academically and who ended up staying in some portables on a high school campus. Students were lucky to have a sink in the science storage room, he says.

Now Farber offers a full set of facilities for them to learn “true chemistry and real experiments,” he said. The investment will help kids feel valued and encouraged to realize their potential.

“This is gonna be a destination, and by choice, folks are gonna want to be here,” he said.

The campus is named after philanthropists Francine and Murray Farber, who have given more than $300,000 in scholarships and launched various school programs that have benefited thousands of Fresno children and youths.

“This certainly makes us feel very proud, but it’s very humbling to that that all these enormous, fantastic facilities are going to have our name on it. Think about all the students that are going to be affected by this,” said Francine Farber.

“I thought about the highlight of my life, and I thought that’s it, coming out here to see the kids meeting faculty, and just getting excited about the school system,” said Murray Farber. “It turned out so well.”

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