I never expected what a life changing experience it would be to send my kids to the new-at-the-time Juntos Spanish immersion program at San Miguel Elementary in Sunnyvale School District in 2016. It was a process of shifting my ideas on what it meant to send my kids to a “good school.” It meant thinking critically about school scores and rankings and what I really wanted their learning environment to look and feel like. It meant valuing a school community with families from different racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds that reflects the real world my kids will grow into. When we build meaningful relationships across differences, we make the world a better place for our kids and better prepare them to navigate a diverse world. We also find that we can’t continue to ignore the disparities and injustices that have always been present but can easily remain invisible if we remain in the social silos that typically separate us.

In spring of 2023, I was asked by both a school board member and a Juntos parent who happened to be a former administrator in the Fremont Union High School District to apply for an appointment to a board trustee vacancy for the FUHSD. This would be my children’s future high school district and where the first cohort of Juntos students was on the cusp of transitioning to. I’m incredibly grateful to the people who believed in and supported me throughout the process of submitting my application and participating in two interviews in open public meetings broadcasted over Zoom.

Stepping up to try to bring representation for the historically underrepresented northern Sunnyvale community where my kids attend school and I have been actively involved in establishing a PTA based in equity and inclusion was a new experience for me. I had enthusiastic and strong support from community members throughout Sunnyvale and Cupertino. San Miguel parents showed up in a boardroom where they weren’t sure they belonged and shared their stories of the difference I had made at our school. Many were monolingual Spanish speakers who spoke from their hearts, with a friend translating for them since they still don’t have regular translation services at board meetings. It was the first time these families had stepped foot into the boardroom to speak to those in power who make decisions about their children’s education. Half of the room was full of my supporters and more spoke out via Zoom. I held my own as a PTA mom with a track record of equitable community building, who could articulate educational justice issues, and was present daily on the feeder school campuses of the district’s most historically underrepresented and underserved areas. In the end, I was one of the top two finalists of eight highly qualified applicants, against the political heavyweight former mayor of Cupertino, who was from an already highly represented part of the district and whose own children had long aged out of the high school district. The deliberation looked like an old boys’ club decision that attempted to avoid all discussion of education, equity, or representation. The four trustees were deadlocked between the two men and two women until almost midnight when one vote flipped in my opponent’s favor in the final exhausted hour. Supporters in the audience left that night questioning whether board trustees really represented their values or community. It was hard to see some of the most underrepresented people in the district dismissed after coming out so courageously.

With strong community support and FUHSD elections still being at-large with an unconfirmed timeline for redistricting, I filed to run the FUHSD board that summer for the 2024 election. As a mom with young children, working part-time, and a political unknown with no big donors, I knew I would need more time to learn how to run and raise the money I would need going into the 2024 election season. I held a kickoff on my birthday in August that was attended by over 200 people, many of whom are not typically politically engaged, as well as with endorsement speeches by SSD school board trustees, the current and former mayors of Sunnyvale, a city council member, and community leaders. I held a series of events that fall and winter, steadily raising money while building a community based on anti-racist and community centric fundraising values. I was accepted to and graduated from the Emerge program for training on how to get elected and became part of a very diverse sisterhood of Californian women with strong backgrounds in service and social justice planning to run for office.

Simultaneously, that winter, FUHSD was moving forward with its plan for redistricting to bring better representation across the district and comply with the California Voting Rights Act. There were many regional agendas at play. The map I could have run in for 2024 was coincidentally the most legally viable map that the demographer created that prioritized the voting power of Latino/Hispanic community of interest. This was a community of interest that is a protected class under the CVRA and the district’s most historically underrepresented and persistently underserved demographic. That map was not one of the final maps that made it to the board to vote on. Ultimately it is a reminder that our systems are made up of people. The aggregate effect of people’s good intentions, subconscious biases, and competing political agendas often results in the inadvertent perpetuation of the same systemic disparities that leave certain people behind over and over again.

It was deeply disappointing to not be able to run in the new trustee area for 2024, especially as I was just starting to feel like I was ready, that I was a strong candidate, and that I had a valid perspective to bring to the table. Based on the location of my home, I was drawn into a trustee area with a well respected social justice oriented incumbent that I don’t intend to run against. Nevertheless, it was an eye opening experience and I’m grateful for the lessons learned.

I’m taking a step back for much needed family and personal time. As the Juntos program transitioned from SSD to FUHSD this year, I supported efforts for the separate districts to coordinate and collaborate in support of all students. I believe strongly that the Juntos program will continue to be a catalyst for academic achievement and a sense of belonging for students who tend to be underserved by traditional school systems as well as all students. In supporting some campaigns and getting involved with the League of Women Voters this election cycle, I sought to invite people not typically part of the process to be involved. I’m still active on the boards of my kids’ school PTAs and the Cupertino-Fremont-Sunnyvale PTA council. In everything I do, I try to be aware of who is and is not at the table. I invite others who might not be stereotypically engaged to be a part of it, to have a voice, to feel like it’s for them, and hopefully have fun too.

I know we’re already making a difference. We’re shifting the narrative about who shows up and cares about education. We’re keeping the focus on chronic achievement gaps that persist even in excellent schools and acclaimed school districts. Many more people in the community are now engaged in the process and paying attention to school board leadership and whether it reflects their values and what they want in their children’s educational systems.

Our democratic institutions need to represent our values and know the entirety of our communities. We need leaders who can bridge persistent achievement gaps in historically underserved communities by knowing, understanding, and engaging the communities’ cultures, languages, and histories. When our systems center and serve the most vulnerable and marginalized in our community, our systems get better at serving everyone. I want my own kids to grow up into a world where ALL kids have the opportunities to do well.