Adult school in California renamed after beloved Filipino teacher

Lilibeth Mora, president of the Filipino American School Educators, lauds the renaming of the Vallejo Adult School to Vallejo Adult School at Al Berenguer Educational Center. YOUTUBE

An adult education school in Vallejo, California on Saturday, April 22 was renamed after a late Filipino American teacher who taught in the city for a long time.

The Vallejo Regional Education Center was renamed the Vallejo Adult School at Al Berenguer Educational Center, after former teacher Adolph “Al” Berenguer.

The district’s Board of Education approved the school’s new designation on Nov. 16 last year. The new name and signage was unveiled Saturday. The renaming process took about three years. Dr. Tony Ubalde is credited with making sure Berenguer was honored, according to the Times Herald.

The school’s principal, Laura Dutch, said that Al “worked hard and showed a lot of care for his students.”

Berenguer moved to the United States from the Philippines in 1955 to study at San Francisco State University, where he earned his master’s degree in counseling and guidance in 1960. After graduation, he started teaching speech at Hillview Junior High in the Pittsburg Unified School District.

The late educator Al Berenguer.

In 1964, Berenguer joined Vallejo’s school district, teaching Spanish at Franklin Junior High. He was instrumental in developing the Philippine Language Program at Franklin and a humanities-oriented language curriculum for Vallejo eighth graders.

Later in his professional career, he went from working with middle school children to adults when he joined the faculty at the Vallejo Adult School and taught English as a second language. He was active in the Vallejo Filipino community when he was not teaching. He was the president of the Filipino Community of Solano County from 1994-95, co-founded the Filipino-American Progressive Organization, and was a member of the Filipino-American Catholic Club, Filipino Catholic Society, Friends of Vallejo Public Library, and the Vallejo Beautification Commission.

Berenguer died on April 8, 2018, at 88. He was survived by his wife, Marie, and three children, Yvonne, Therese, and Ignatius.

The Vallejo Adult School at the Al Berenguer Educational Center has served adult learners since 1928. Adults over 18 learn English as a second language, citizenship, career preparation and earn a high school equivalency.

Career classes include union apprenticeship preparation, introduction to commercial culinary work, technology for the workplace and health care training. The location is also home to the first wellness center in an adult school in the United States. The center offers free mental health, counseling and referral services.