Let’s Talk

My roots run deep here in Oxnard and Ventura County. Generations of my family have built their lives here. My family history consists of working in the Oxnard fields, serving in law enforcement, running small businesses, and working in blue-collar trades. Today, I am raising my own children in the same school district they attend. As a mom, an educator, and a student myself, I know firsthand what it takes to balance work, school, and family. You can find me volunteering in our classrooms, helping with field trips, and cheering at school sports. I am living the same everyday joys and challenges as so many of you. Oxnard is my home, and I want to continue giving back to the community that has given my family so much.

I am running for the Rio School Board because I believe every student deserves a fair opportunity to succeed, and every family deserves to feel heard, informed, and supported by their school district. To me, improving our schools is not about focusing on just one issue. It is about looking at the whole picture: our students, families, teachers, classified staff, paraprofessionals, and the community surrounding them.

One of my biggest priorities is strengthening special education. Every student deserves access to the individualized services and support they need to thrive. That also means making sure our teachers, paraprofessionals, and families have the resources, proper equipment, service providers, training, and open communication they need to support our students safely and effectively.

Educational equity is just as important to me. A child's opportunities should not be determined by their disability, family income, background, home language, or circumstances outside of school. I want us to identify the real barriers affecting our students and work toward solutions that meet the different needs of the families we serve.

I also strongly believe in transparency and meaningful community involvement. Families should understand how and why major decisions are being made, and they should have opportunities to provide input before those decisions are finalized—not after. I want parents, staff, and community members to feel comfortable asking questions, sharing concerns, and even disagreeing without feeling ignored or left in the dark.

The same respect needs to extend to the people working in our schools every day. Our teachers, classified staff, paraprofessionals, and other employees are helping raise and educate the next generation. They deserve leadership that listens to them, values their experience, and creates an environment where they can ask for guidance, advocate for what they need, and raise concerns without feeling like they are walking on eggshells.

When it comes to student achievement, academic data absolutely matters, but we also have to understand the story behind the numbers. Attendance, learning gaps, family circumstances, disabilities, mental health, financial challenges, childcare, transportation, and access to resources can all affect how a student performs in school. If we only look at test scores without asking why students are struggling, we are missing an important part of the conversation.

Finally, I want to strengthen the bridge between our schools and the community. Schools cannot solve every challenge a family faces alone, nor should they have to. By building stronger partnerships with local organizations and community resources, we can help connect families with academic support, mental health services, financial assistance, childcare, and other resources when they need them.

I am not running because I believe one board member can fix everything. I am running because I believe I can listen, ask questions, bring people together, and help make sure the voices of our students, families, educators, and community are part of the conversation. Real improvement happens when we stop working separately and start working together toward the same goal: giving every Rio student the opportunity and support they need to succeed.

This is something I really encourage our community to pay attention to. Not everything that impacts our schools will have “education” written across the top of it. State and local propositions can affect funding, housing, healthcare, public services, taxes, and other resources that directly or indirectly impact our students and their families.

As a school board candidate, I think part of serving our community is helping families understand those connections without telling people how they have to vote. I encourage everyone to look beyond the title of a proposition, read what a YES and NO vote actually means, consider who will be affected, and ask how it could impact our schools and neighborhoods long-term.

An informed community is a stronger community, and I want our families to feel confident walking into the voting booth knowing what is on their ballot and why it matters.

My biggest hope is that whoever is elected, we come to the table ready to work together. We may have different backgrounds, experiences, and opinions, but at the end of the day, we are all being trusted with decisions that affect the same students, staff, families, and community.

I hope the new board creates a culture where it is okay to ask hard questions, respectfully disagree, and have honest conversations without making things personal. I would also love to see stronger communication between the board, district leadership, staff, and families so people feel included rather than hearing about important decisions after they have already been made.

More than anything, I hope we can move forward as a team while still maintaining our individual voices. I’m not running to always agree with everyone. I’m running to listen, learn, bring a different perspective to the table, and work with whoever our community chooses to serve alongside me. Our students deserve a board that can put differences aside and get meaningful work done together. Let’s be the change!

Before we ask how we can convince more families to choose Rio, I think we first need to understand why some families are choosing to leave and why others continue to stay.

That means actually asking them.

I would like to see us gather honest feedback from current families, families who have transferred out, teachers, and staff. Are families concerned about academics? Special education services? After-school care? Communication? School climate? Or is it something completely outside of the district's control?

Enrollment is more than a number because every number represents a family making a decision about where they believe their child will be best supported. Instead of assuming we know why enrollment changes, I want us to collect the data, listen to the experiences behind it, and use both to determine where we can realistically improve.

I want families to choose Rio because they genuinely feel confident sending their children here—not simply because we did a better job advertising ourselves.