Chicago for Johanna

School boards are important because they represent the community they serve in decision on the school budget, policies, testing standards, taxes, curriculum materials, edtech purchases, and contract negotiations.

2017 marked a milestone for U.S public schools, it was the first time the majority of enrolled students would be from minority groups. Still over 80% of teachers are still non-Hispanic white and only 9% are Latino. These numbers are even worse at the school board and superintendent level. So I crunched some numbers to figure out where we could make a difference, you can check it out here.

The 9th largest school district in the U.S, with over 42% of its population being Latino students has zero school board or superintendents like them. Orange County Public Schools is the 4th largest growing city in the U.S with over 700 Puerto Rican students enrolling in the past year after being displaced by Hurricane Maria.

The district has an amazing candidate running for it: Johanna Lopez, she is a Puerto Rican afro-latina candidate. In 2016, she became the first Latina to win the Teacher of the Year award from Orange County Public Schools (OCPS). In that role, she was recognized as one of five recipients of the Governor’s Shine Award for Inspirational Teachers. She has already been making history but we can be part of this new milestone on behalf of the community.