New school to be named after Calif.’s first Fil-Am teacher

SUSD’s new K-8 school will be named after the late Flora Arca-Mata, the first Filipino American teacher in California. SUSD

STOCKTON, California – A new elementary school in Stockton, California will be named after Flora Arca Mata, the first Filipino American teacher in the state.

Mata gained prominence as the first Filipino American to graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles. She served as the first woman of color to teach at the Stockton Unified School District, where she taught for 32 years.

Originally from Honolulu, Mata at age two moved to Stockton where her older sister worked as a farmhand to pay her tuition at UCLA, where she earned her teaching credentials.

After graduation, Mata worked as a tutor and house help for the family that owned Campbell Soup. She to the Philippines with her husband in 1940 to teach and spent World War II there.

Returning to Stockton, Mata continued to teach at the schools she had attended as a child. Even after retiring in 1980, she continued to substitute teach well into her 80s. Mata died in 2013 at 95 years old.

UCLA’s “Bruin Women Firsts” newsletter noted that she was hired at a time when it was difficult for minorities to get teaching positions, and her work as California’s first Filipina teacher paved the way for other Asian Americans in education.

Mata will be celebrated for her achievements through SUSD’s new K-8 school. When SUSD welcomed name suggestions for the building, Stockton-based Filipino American organization Little Manila Rising kickstarted a successful campaign to put Mata’s name on the survey. According to Little Manila Rising’s Facebook post, Mata “overwhelmingly had the most votes.”

“Thank you for being such a beautiful community and standing up for one of our own,” the post added. “Your voices matter.”

The school is currently under construction and anticipated for June 2020 completion and August 2020 occupancy.