By John Glidden

The Vallejo City Unified School District voted to rename a school catering to adult learners to honor a former teacher on Wednesday, despite one school board trustee calling the move “rushed,” and part of “dirty politics.”

The Vallejo school board voted 4-1 to rename the Vallejo Regional Education Center to the Vallejo Adult School at Al Berenguer Educational Center.

The lone ‘no’ vote came from Trustee John Fox who argued Berenguer’s name shouldn’t be added because the school has a 70% Hispanic student population. Berenguer, a beloved Filipino educator, died in April 2018 at the age of 89. He taught in the district for 50 years, including at the adult school, which currently has a Filipino student population of 2%.

“Changing the name to a Filipino name at the Vallejo Adult School would not promote any student achievement for Filipinos,” Fox said. “But it would not represent the 70% Hispanic students that go there daily, that person does not represent them, they have no connection to that person.”

Source: Vallejo adult school to be renamed for former teacher