About Us:

Fernangeles Elementary School, which opened in 1946, is located in the new District 2, formerly the Polytechnic-North Hollywood Cluster, of the Los Angeles Unified School District in the East San Fernando Valley. It is a few minutes away from Hansen Dam, and the Whiteman and Burbank Airports. The community has shifted over the last 10-15 years from a largely Anglo community to a predominantly Latino and immigrant community. The majority of students have Spanish as a primary language. Other languages spoken by the students include Armenian, Chinese, Punjab, Tagalog, Tongan, Thai and Vietnamese.

Fernangeles is a 1st phase LEARN (Los Angeles Alliance for Restructuring Now) school. Fernangeles has fully restructured its Kindergarten-3rd grade classes, all of these now have 20 students per class. This school has made the use of technology in learning a priority and has a large Macintosh computer learning lab through the support of a Model Technology grant. Both students and parents enjoy regular use of the lab. In addition, each classroom has at least three computers for student use.

Literacy is another priority, through a grant from the Wonder of Reading we have been able to expand and remodel a quite outdated small library. Our library is now the size of two large classrooms. It is staffed by a full time Teacher Librarian, a full time assistant and both parent and student volunteers. It has been named a Model Library for 2 years in a row by the LAUSD. Literacy is also supported by a full time Open Court Coach and a half time upper grade Literacy Coach.

Fernangeles is one of the few schools which has maintained a bilingual program, through the waiver process. We have been a Project MORE school since 1994. Project MORE is based on a curriculum developed at Eastman Elementary in East Los Angeles (LAUSD). We have found that our children make a rapid and successful transition to an English Instruction Program using this method. Standardized test scores indicate that this group of students do quite well.

Fernangeles has two district funded pre-Kinder classes and one state funded pre-Kinder class. When Fernangeles students graduate in the 5th grade, they attend Byrd Middle School for 6th grade. In the 9th grade students attend Francis Polytechnic High School. Some students may elect to attend other schools in the San Fernando Valley or may elect to attend magnet schools.