Emperor Elementary School

Emperor Elementary School is a traditional seven-year K–6 elementary school, or primary school, located in San Gabriel, California, in the west San Gabriel Valley and is part of the Temple City Unified School District.

Awards

This elementary school won the following awards:

• A California Distinguished School
• National School of Character
• Title 1 Academic Achievement School
• California Business for Education Excellence Award

Arson Incident

Around 11:00 PM, on January 11, 2006, a former student purposely started a fire in the school, burning four classrooms and causing over one million dollars in damages. The arsonist also spray painted an insult to the school principal on a wall. Following the incident, the school tried to maintain a normal routine for the students by continuing classes as usual. Counseling was provided if needed to any children in the school.

A $25,000 reward was offered for "information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the arson fire...", $12,000 of which was approved by local law enforcement.^[2] The remaining $12,500 was provided by the school board's Special Reserve Fund.^[3]

The community helped to raise money to rebuild the school's damaged classrooms, while portable classrooms were used in the time between. The local ValuMart held a benefit fund-raiser, serving hot dogs and other food and donating all money earned to the school. A local McDonald's held a "McTeacher Night" and donated 20% of that night's sales to the Emperor PTA Fire Relief Fund. The local Kiwanis Club held a Pancake Breakfast and donated the proceeds of the funds raised to the fire relief fund as well.

References

External links

• City of Temple City (Official Website)
• Emperor Elementary School (Official Website)
• Temple City Unified School District (Official Website)