Latina Announces Bid for School Board

By Jorge Casuso

In the hopes of retaining Latino representation on the School Board, Maria Leon Vazquez has announced that she will run in November for one of the three empty seats.

A longtime education activist, Vazquez announced her candidacy this weekend during a Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights steering committee meeting and at a meeting of the grassroots tenants group's woman's caucus. Vazquez will seek SMRR's endorsement at the group's convention in August.

"I want to make sure that we have equity among all children," said Vazquez, whose two children are in public schools. "I've seen how the school district can work for your child, and I want to make sure every single child has that positive experience."

Vazquez has the backing of board member Margaret Quinones, who last week announced her bid for the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees. Quinones, who completes her second four-year term in November, is the board's only Latino representative.

"It makes me less nervous and I feel more responsible knowing that Maria will be there for kids that don't have voices in the district," Quinones said. "She brings a perspective that really needs to be there. That's why I'm thrilled."

Vazquez said she hopes to bring Latino parents into the decision-making process in a district whose student body is one-third Latino.

"Latino parents especially haven't grasped and felt really comfortable in the process," said Vazquez, who is married to former City Councilman Tony Vazquez.

The Vazquez's raised their children - Tony, a freshman at Santa Monica High School, and Carolina, a first grader at Will Rogers -- speaking Spanish at home. She wants the district to offer Spanish classes to native speakers at the Middle School level, rather than only as a transition to English for monolingual speakers in bilingual programs.

"We always kept Spanish at home," Vazquez said. "Spanish (classes) have always been looked at as remedial. (The district) has looked at Spanish as just a way of catching up to English. I view it as an enrichment."

Vazquez questioned efforts by some school activists - who are encouraging SMRR to stay out of the elections -- to take the politics out of the board races.

"I think the politics in the sense of running the campaign is there," Vazquez said. "You can't ignore that. But I think as an individual, even though we get the endorsement, you can have vision and experience and can see where the problems are."

Vazquez, who has a law degree and experience in mediation, hopes to use her skills to help build consensus on the board.

"My work has given me experience in putting what I've learned into practice," said Vazquez, who also has worked for Century Housing Corporation, a non-profit, affordable housing provider in Los Angeles County. "I want to take the information and hopefully come up with a resolution."

Vazquez has a long history of involvement in the schools. She has been a member of the Bilingual Advisory Committee, the PTA and the School Congress at Will Rogers. So far, she gives the district good grades.

"I know it works," Vazquez said. I don't think people would be moving to the city if it weren't for the greatness of the school system."

Vazquez is the second candidate to announce a bid for the three open school board seats. The first was Mike Jordan, a media law teacher at Pepperdine University and a resident of Malibu.