The power goes out if a popcorn popper is plugged in, and staff share a bathroom the size of an airplane lavatory. Yet educators at Fratney are energized, because they've realized their grand vision. They've joined with local parents to create a school with a multicultural, anti-racist, bilingual curriculum for 350 students. They are people who believe in public education. Putting both English and Spanish on equal footing was critical to the school philosophy that educators and parents developed.
Children hear both English and Spanish every day.
Morning announcements and other procedures are in Spanish. All children learn to read in their first language, which for most Fratney students means Spanish. Children in grades K-2 spend the mornings reading in their native language, then learn math, science, art, and music in Spanish through the afternoon. Now, parents form a majority on all school-based councils in the district. Tenorio, a former vice president of the Association, says Fratney and the Association pushed the envelope in other ways.