Carolyn Torres – the People’s Choice for Santa Ana School Board!

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Carolyn Torres is, hands down, the best candidate for Santa Ana School Board.

Santa Ana finds itself divided over what should be an easy election decision: Carolyn is the most qualified school board candidate the city has seen in at least ten years. She is NOT a career politician. She is a TEACHER who wants the best for ALL students.

None of the other SAUSD candidates have true education experience. Cecilia Aguinaga is a REALTOR who has previously run unsuccessfully for school board. Voters have already made up their minds about her.  Extremist Gisela Contreras is a small business owner and charter school enthusiast who is against sex education curriculum and was disqualified from being appointed back in January.

What about David Benavides, the candidate who edged out Carolyn by only one vote for the endorsement of the insiders at the Democratic Party of OC?  David is a non-profit director, career politician, and realtor.

• His job at Kidsworks was inherited from someone who previously established the non-profit’s success.
• While on city council he took no position on the Townsend gang injunction that criminalized the same young people Kidsworks tries to serve.
• He backed the 2525 Main St. development which Park Santiago residents oppose.
• He also established a 2020 mayoral PAC prior to this run for school board – can you say “career politician?”
• And he voted to expand a charter school while on the planning commission.

Carolyn Torres understands what students of all ages need to be successful. Carolyn has worked in public education for the last 15 years starting in afterschool programs, and currently teaches 7th grade. She also taught high school for 4 years.

As a successful teacher, she understands what educators need to develop effective instruction.  For the past three years she has helped run professional development for educators across the state. She helped develop courses for the Santa Maria School District. She can be a valuable asset to the board in areas of curriculum and instruction and will advocate against wasteful spending on expensive consultants.

Carolyn will advocate for smaller class sizes. She knows the problems that accompany having too many students in a class. Students don’t receive a quality education in crowded classrooms. Bringing down classroom size creates safer schools and helps students of all capability levels thrive.

She understands the importance of allocating more resources for special needs students. While she is supportive of integrated classrooms, she also sees the difficulties they can create when not implemented correctly. SAUSD parents are very frustrated with the integration.

Her teaching is rooted in literacy and socio-emotional instruction. Carolyn understands the mental health needs of students and how it affects their ability to learn. This is something that some current school board members are barely discovering. Carolyn will advocate for more counselors because she understands their importance on school campuses.

Carolyn is a practitioner of Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice is often implemented top down. Consequently, many teachers get frustrated and it becomes a hindrance to instruction instead of a catalyst. This is another area where her expertise will be helpful.

Her ability to manage 200 personalities every day is an asset when dealing with difficult board members and hard decision-making. Her daily dealing with parents also improves our district’s ability to interact with parents who are not happy with SAUSD.  As a teacher Carolyn cannot duck hard conversations with parents the way some board members do. She must listen to their concerns and work with them. This is something that we can count on from Carolyn Torres.

We need to start trusting EDUCATORS with running our schools, instead of realtors and career politicians.  Santa Ana students deserve more than to be stepping stones for political careers. Let’s vote for the candidate that will advocate for their best possible educational experience. It’s time to start ignoring internet trolls and face the facts:  Rank and file teachers and classified employees support Carolyn. Teachers like Carolyn Torres are the best choices for school boards, that just makes common sense.

[This has been a guest post from Benjamin Vasquez, and Orange Juice Publisher Vern Nelson agrees with it!]