I first decided to run for the school board after working in the Fontana Unified School District for 15 months (January 2015 to March 2016). During that time, I experienced firsthand the culture and climate of destructive and fear-based leadership, and frankly, that didn’t fit my personal values. I believed our students and families deserved better. So, I made the choice to run for the Board of Education in 2016 with the hope of bringing about positive change.
I didn’t win that first election, but soon after, a seat became vacant when Jesse Armendarez won his campaign for Fontana City Council. I sought an appointment to fill the vacancy, but the board deadlocked in a 2–2 split. That decision forced a special election in November of 2017, where the voters put their trust in me, and I was elected to serve.
Over the past seven years, I’ve been proud to see real progress in shifting that culture. We’ve worked hard to create a climate where students come first and where our schools are places of growth, opportunity, and belonging. But the reality is, school board politics often drifts away from children and toward adults, caught up in power, control, and agendas that don’t always serve students.
The role of a school board member should be simple in theory: to ensure that every student in the district has access to a high-quality education in a safe and supportive environment. But in practice, I’ve watched politics creep into the boardroom in ways that shift the conversation away from students and toward ideological battles. What was once a nonpartisan space, meant to serve as a bridge between schools and communities, has become another arena for partisan conflict. Instead of debating how to expand career pathways or strengthen mental health services, we’ve seen debates consumed by “hot button” topics pushed down from the national stage. The danger in this is that it divides communities. Parents are forced to pick sides, staff feel caught in the middle, and students see the adults in charge arguing over culture wars instead of focusing on their futures. The real question of “what helps our kids learn, thrive, and succeed?” gets drowned out.
When politics becomes about adults winning or losing, students are the ones who pay the price. Unfortunately, this isn’t just a national problem; it’s happening in our own backyard. In Chino Valley, school board meetings turned into shouting matches when trustees passed a policy requiring staff to notify parents within 72 hours if a student requested to change their name, pronouns, or use facilities aligned with a gender identity different from their birth certificate. The room was packed with parents, educators, and even state officials. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond was escorted out of the board room for speaking against the policy. The policy ended up challenged in court, with parts later struck down as discriminatory. On top of that, Chino Valley banned Pride flags and even removed rainbow “safe space” cards from classrooms, all while students begged for support.
In Redlands, marathon meetings have centered on banning all flags except the American and California flags and pushing stricter book policies. Parents lined up for hours to speak, boardrooms overflowed, and tempers flared. The focus shifted from building up student opportunities to fighting over symbols and censorship. In Murrieta, a similar parental notification policy passed by a narrow margin, again putting schools in the middle of divisive politics rather than fostering safe environments for learning. And in Temecula, perhaps one of the most visible flashpoints, the board rejected a history textbook simply because it mentioned Harvey Milk. At one meeting, the board president referred to Milk as a “pedophile,” sparking outrage statewide. The district also attempted to ban “critical race theory,” only to have the courts strike the policy down for being vague and unconstitutional. On top of that, lawsuits over free speech and recall elections consumed time, energy, and millions of dollars that could have been spent on classrooms.
These are not examples of politics focused on students. They are distractions, fueled by national culture wars, that divide communities, trigger costly legal battles, and send the wrong message to young people about what leadership should look like. And these requests aren’t limited to Chino, Redlands, or Temecula; they show up in Fontana, too. But every time, I continually ask the same question: how does this help our students learn and thrive? If the answer is that it doesn’t, then it’s not where our focus should be.
These days, it feels like we can’t talk about education, or anything else for that matter, without it turning into a fight about identity. Red or blue. Donkey or elephant. Democrat or Republican. Conservative or Liberal. But life, and especially education, isn’t supposed to be that polarized. Our schools aren’t battlefields for political parties or cultural wars. They are places where children come to learn, to dream, and to discover who they are. The more we label each other, the more we forget that the labels don’t educate a single child.
Despite the noise of politics, I remain hopeful. Over my years of service, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when we set aside division and put students at the center of our decisions. Families, educators, and community members all want the same thing at the end of the day: safe schools, excellent teaching, and opportunities for their children to succeed.
That’s why I believe family and community engagement is one of the strongest antidotes to political division. When we build authentic relationships with parents, when we listen to the voices of students, and when we invite the community to the table as partners, the conversation shifts. It stops being about who is “right” politically and instead becomes about what is right for kids.
We don’t have to agree on everything to agree on this: our students deserve the very best we can give them. Every decision, from budgets to policies, should be measured by a simple question: How does this help our children learn and thrive
When I first asked, “What happened to politics being about issues instead of red vs. blue?” it wasn’t just a rhetorical question; it was a challenge. A challenge to myself, to my colleagues, and to our community to remember why we serve. Politics should never be about winning points for adults. It should be about solving problems for children. It should be about ensuring every student, regardless of background, has the chance to succeed. As a school board member, I don’t claim to have all the answers. But I do know this: the work becomes clearer when we strip away the partisan noise and focus on what truly matters, students, families, and the future of our communities. If we can do that, if we can come together around the issues that unite us, we can build schools and communities that reflect the very best of who we are.
Disclaimer: The views and reflections shared in this blog are my own and do not represent the official positions of the Fontana Unified School District Board of Education or the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.
reporting from planetmars 