About Us

The Fruitvale School District is located in growing northwest Bakersfield. Founded in 1895, Fruitvale’s enrollment has grown over 400% in the past 15 years. The District includes Columbia Elementary, Discovery Elementary, Endeavour Elementary, Quailwood Elementary and Fruitvale Junior High Schools, and has a current preschool - grade 8 enrollment of 3,200 students.

The Fruitvale School District has a long-held reputation of striving for excellence in its programs for students. All of the District’s schools have been named as California Distinguished Schools by the State Department of Education two or more times. In total, the District has been recognized by the State for exemplary schools 19 times. Three schools have all been selected by the United States Department of Education as National Blue Ribbon Schools.

The Fruitvale District School Board, staff members, and parents are committed to providing high-quality programs and ongoing instructional improvement. All five schools’ API scores are consistently in the 800 to 870 range. The District’s API score in 2011 was 854.

Specialist programs include: Title I, English Language Development, Resource Specialist Program, Special Day Class, speech pathology, occupational therapy, vocal and instrumental music, physical education and computer labs. Students are very active in history, math, science, speech and drama competitions. Fruitvale students have won numerous State History Day Championships and 16 gold, silver or bronze medals at the National History Day competition in Washington, D. C. during the past 18 years. Students have also been very successful at the annual State Science Fair.

Extended Day Class and after school enrichment programs are offered by the District. Fruitvale and North Bakersfield Parks and Recreation District cooperate in an extensive after-school sports program, and in the joint use of a pool and softball complex next to Fruitvale Junior High. A gymnasium at the Junior High is available for district-wide use.