JB Jones Elementary Principal Velasco helps ease families’ burdens to facilitate academic progress

Many of the young students who attend Juanita Blakely Jones Elementary School in San Bernardino are in want of basic needs such as food and permanent housing. It has been Principal Ramon Velasco’s mission since he started five years ago to help alleviate some of those needs by establishing relationships with key partners that include the Food Bank, St. Adelaide’s Church in Highland, Tzu Chi Foundation, and Molina Healthcare.

“For many of our families academics are not a priority, finding food and shelter comes first,” Velasco explained. “If I can take care of the food and provide resources for shelter, then hopefully (families) will be more apt to take care of the academics.” An inner city school located off Baseline on F Street, Juanita Blakely is known for being one of the most impoverished schools in the county. Of its 450 students, 110 are homeless, 55 live in nearby motels, and 22 are fostered youth.

“Together with the community we have made great strides among this neighborhood,” Velasco said. During his first year playground equipment and school structures were often tagged with graffiti. “There are no parks or playgrounds close by, so I opened up the school’s play area to the neighborhood everyday, all day, as long as they are respectful.”

Three years later the neighborhood’s perspective of the school shifted and residents started to take ownership of the campus. According to Velasco the community slowly came to realize the elementary school stands committed to its students, and serves as a safe haven that strives to improve the lives of their children, and by extension, themselves.

Some families reside in the nearby motels, doubling or tripling up with as many as a dozen people sharing a room. To merely provide enough food for the single student is “illogical,” Velasco said. “We send home enough food that will feed the entire family who is a part of our larger family.”

Over summer break Velasco coordinated a food drive that provided underprivileged students with a backpack and brown bag to take home each weekend with items that included instant noodles, frozen pizza, canned vegetables, fresh fruit, granola bars, rice, beans, and macaroni and cheese. Items, he said, that are easily prepared in a hotel room.

In that similar sentiment, the school hosted a Christmas breakfast for homeless, foster students and their families on Dec. 15, where each student received a backpack, toy, jacket and groceries. Participating partners in addition to those mentioned above were Santa Claus, Inc. DigiCOACH, Durham School Services and SBCUSD Family Resource Center / Homeless Program.

“It has been challenging to identify all the needs of our families, but we and our partners are working to understand and help meet those needs,” Velasco said. “There are many of us who are vested in this school to make hope happen, and I want this community to know that hope is there and we are here for you.”

By way of the campus students and their families can find a myriad of services. Partnering agencies provide emotional and social support, as well as healthcare through Molina and the Tzu Chi Foundation, and dental services courtesy of a neighboring facility.

Velasco was proud to announce that academic scores for Juanita Blakely have steadily improved over the past three years. For more information about getting involved or supporting Juanita Blakely Jones Elementary School, please call (909) 362-6223.