Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
I am running to continue the good work that we have been doing over the last few years. We have been preparing our children not just to be college ready, but to be ready for their chosen profession. We have done this while being culturally sensitive and welcoming diverse backgrounds into our district. I am especially proud of my passion for serving my community which translates into everything I do for the district. My background, being born and raised in the city, is to ensure that the community is as ingrained in the district as possible. We have various community members volunteering their time as PTA members, parent liaisons, summer school learning loss prevention teachers, walking school bus members, and many other critical roles which pour into our children. I’m the community guy. The community has to be part of the solution for any problem. We face in the district. Additionally, I am a lawyer. With my legal background, there are many times that I am able to take the legal lease from our board council And help explain it in Layman’s terms to my fellow board members so we can best make a decision. I’m thankful for all my background and talents, and most importantly the ability to use them to serve our children.
I most want to continue to expand our professional training programs for our children. Over the last few years, we’ve partnered with various community organizations and our local universities to expand out our plumbing program, our mechanics program, our carpentry program, our electrical engineering program, our environmental justice program which is training our children for the jobs not of tomorrow but of today such as solar panel installation and wind farmers, state recognized bilingual certifications, tech training, AI training, drone training, aviation and commercial pilot training, and so many more! These are programs that will start our children in six figure jobs. These jobs will give our communities, neighborhoods, and eventually entire city the boost it needs to thrive. This is why I am investing so heavily, not just in college readiness, but in giving our students the opportunity to go into their chosen profession
We should be protecting the resources to allow our immigrant students to succeed. Our district is especially impacted by students from Central and South America, West Africa, and the Caribbean. As such, we have been hiring many with those cultural understandings and/or background to teach a students and make them feel welcome. The results cannot be easily put on an Excel spreadsheet, but you know they are there. You see it when, despite an ICE raid, students are still coming to school because they trust their favorite teacher or administrator who told them it’s safe. You see it when normally absenteeism would not be a big deal in a family, but their child is excited to go to school and make it a point to do so. You see it when we integrate students of different languages into English speaking classes and slowly but surely, these non-English speaking students not only learn English, but their English speaking counterparts start learning another tongue. These intangible benefits pay dividends in our students’ lives and each dollar is worth its weight in gold.
After listening to both sides, I will make it a point to understand what the true issue is that the parents are having. It is my ultimate goal to be able to solve this issue if it is possible to do so, but I cannot do so if I do not understand the issue.
Then I will take it to the superintendent (or designee) to better understand the history behind a specific policy. Sometimes a policy was created to serve a specific time; and now that time has passed. Other times, this policy only affects a small minority of people (who may be vocal) while there is a silent majority who are better served with this policy in place.
After I better understand what the policy is, I would make a point to explain to whomever needs to change whether that be the board or the group of parents.
I am thankful that we as a board pass this policy back in 2017 and reaffirm the policy this year in 2025: we as a district will NOT cooperate with ICE in any capacity. They are not allowed on school grounds. They must have a judicial warrant specifying whom they are looking for. And even with this in place, no action will take place into reviewed by our board counsel. While we will comply with the law, we will ensure that ICE is doing the same before they disrupt any functioning of the district or one of our students lives.
Unfortunately, we are bound to state standards of testing. And unfortunately, these state testing standards Take into account, the unique circumstances that our Trenton students are facing. We have a large population of Eun house students. We have a large population of immigrant students. We have a large population of students under the federal poverty level. We have a population of students who are exposed to violence of all kinds on a regular basis. None of this is accounted for in the academic programming or state testing standards. Although we do a lot to focus on trauma informed care, we have to continue this work to “look better on paper” and ensure our students are meeting the testing standards of the state.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
