Platforms
School Safety
To create true school safety, we must approach security issues in a comprehensive and holistic way. In my experience collaborating with the San Mateo County Office of Education, I’ve seen how regularly convening the Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities has led to positive outcomes for safety. Currently, districts in Alameda County deal with school safety issues in a piecemeal way. At the County, I will create recommendations and toolkits to improve countywide safety protocols and increase community engagement by modeling those more comprehensive frameworks.
Fiscal Accountability
As board liaison to the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP) Committee, our local parcel tax that funds ~20% of our schools, I believe firmly in fiscal transparency and accountability, ensuring tax dollars are spent effectively for our students. I would like to continue building on the proactive oversight work that the Alameda County Office of Education is doing to ensure that districts have financial advisers in place as they navigate challenging financial times.
Defend Immigrant
Students & Families
As we face an unprecedented assault on our Latino and immigrant communities, it's critical that our schools are a safe place for students and their families. As a former English Language Learner and former homeless student, I bring a personal lens to this work. We must ensure that the County Office of Education has a plan in place to support immigrant students who may need emergency independent study options if they cannot safely travel to and from school due to immigration enforcement activities. We can also create protections for the citizen students of non-citizen parents by organizing community interventions so that these parents do not need to put themselves at risk to get their kids to school. Supporting these students also means investing in their education outside of this moment of crisis and closing the education gap for Latino students and other immigrant populations.