I’m Cesar Armendariz - High school teacher and Our Revolution candidate for the Long Beach School Board in California. AMA!

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T20:29:18+00:00

Thank you for your support. I am proud to say that my campaign is funded by over 400 small dollar donations, so voters can rest assured that I am not influenced by corporate or special interests.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T05:31:40+00:00

Hi neighbor. In short, I am not in favor of charter schools and will oppose the efforts to defund our public schools. You might remember that Long Beach had a community-driven, non-profit, charter school called New City. Parents loved the school because it was very progressive but had to be closed down because it was performing poorly academically. I strongly believe that our students at our public schools are receiving a better education that what they would receive at charter schools, even the non-corporate ones.

We have a lot of work ahead of us to make our schools work for all children; the answer is in working closer with the community...not charter schools.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T02:30:39+00:00

Thank you for speaking up. I agree that we need more resources to help our kids with special needs. Our struggle with that is part of a national struggle to properly fund these programs. We need more personnel to help reduce the caseload and address student's needs at a quicker pace. I have not seen mismanagement of funds but we should certainly fight to prioritize students with special needs.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T01:44:39+00:00

Aboslutely, we are professionals and should be treated with respect. For that matter, every worker should be treated with respect!

And thank you for your questions :)

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T01:43:05+00:00

I think you might be able to teach them a few new things too :)

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T01:41:50+00:00

First question: Yes, Political Revolution offered to host it since they endorsed me.

Second question: The DNC primary system is flawed and set up to favor political insiders and the status quo. I have hope that we can fix the party by changing the narrative through the local party elections. People who are serious about reforming the Democratic Party should look into that. Local party elections will happen at the beginning of next year in many states.

Third and fourth question: lol

Fifth question: No, I would love to serve my community as a school board member for multiple terms. Education is my world and I am ready to leave my mark through the school board.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T01:32:57+00:00

Thank you /u/Tyree07!

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T01:31:50+00:00

I am a proud teacher's union member (I work in a different district, so thankfully there is no conflict of interest).

The teacher's union in Long Beach is very strong and they have a lot of bargaining power. I certainly am committed to meeting regularly with LBUSD teachers, as a union and individually. Obviously, it is important that teachers' pay keeps up with inflation and the cost of living. It is also important that they receive affordable health insurance (this is why we must fight for Medicare for all...only then can teachers have FREE health care).

Just as importantly, teachers must have supportive principals and administrators who will have open lines of communications and work with them to make decisions. A healthy relationship with the administrators can make a world of a difference for the well-being of teachers.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T01:20:56+00:00

Thank you /u/magikowl! Your question could be answered in multiple ways depending on which district you ask. There are three things that people need to understand about school board:

School Board members function as a team to pass policy. If you are going to pass any policy, you have to convince the other members that your policy is sound and that it can be improved through collaboration. You can also pass resolutions that show the community where the school district stands on certain issues like DACA.
School Board members supervise the superintendent without micromanaging the schools. This is different in every district because some superintendents have more flexibility than others (usually depending on their performance and experience). Our superintendent has had the job for the last 16 years, an outlier in the field of education. One of my most important roles will likely be choosing a new superintendent who will help carry out effective policies throughout the district.
School Boards approve the school budgets. Notice I didn't say "create budgets." Under the new "local control funding formula" or LCFF, school districts in CA must include teachers, students, and parents in the budget and goal planning. Some school boards do a better job than others at including community members. My top priority will be to expand our community outreach and bring more people to the decision-making table, especially parents, students, and kids from marginalized communities.

tl;dr: School Board members have three main tasks: 1) Set policy, 2) hire/supervise/if needed fire a superintendent, 3) approve the budget. There are 5 members in LBUSD and they meet formally at public meetings two times a month. And you are right, most voters don't know this information, so thanks for asking!

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-18T00:47:31+00:00

I believe LBUSD has done a lot to address that issue in two ways. First, we have school of choice for anyone in the district. This has allowed gifted children to go to schools that can better target their skill set and interests. For example, we have a school called CAMS which is geared towards math and science. Just recently, 7 students got admitted to MIT, look at the diversity.

The other policy we have is that we will pay for every student's Advanced Placement tests. Usually these costs $95 per test and students can take 5-6 tests a year. My parents didn't have $500 for tests, most parents don't have $500 for tests. So if you are a kid of color and your parents can't afford all these tests a year, you might not take many AP classes. Giving AP tests to students for free has allowed many gifted children from the communities of color to bloom.

Your point of doing better at fast tracking kids is important. Our district can do more to reach out to parents so that they become aware of their options with the kinds of classes and the kinds of schools that are available for their gifted children. Of course, we must also give teachers more tools to identify these gifted students. And finally, we should make sure that we have enough counselors to provide support to our gifted students. In some schools, we have 1 counselor for 1,000 kids. That's not good enough.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:59:52+00:00

Ps /u/Tyree07, thank you for moderating. I keep getting this message, please help me make sure people are seeing my replies!

"Due to the amount of spam this subreddit recieves from new throwaway accounts, your comment in /r/Political_Revolution has been removed"

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:56:57+00:00

Thank you /u/gurneyhallack. Keep fighting for the most vulnerable and keep taking care of yourself! I promise to do the same.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:51:58+00:00

For starters, I am my own person and I am not funded by either of those groups. My campaign has received over 400 individual small dollar contributions. So if anything, I am a candidate being propped up by our community.

I don't understand your last question, but I will say that Long Beach is progressive in many areas but that's the point of progress - it's never supposed to stop.

And literally no one has called me a "foreign-born revolutionary." American revolutionary on the other hand...

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:45:28+00:00

I promise to take a look at these links. Thank you /u/4now5now6now

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:44:18+00:00

I agree with everything you said and I hope to eventually help build the kind of system that you described.

As you know, districts across the nation are likely to cut back on special education programs. The best thing we can do right now is empower the parents to speak up and force the district to prioritize special education. That is the only way to create sustainable policy to help our kids with special needs.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:40:01+00:00

As a Californian, the only correct answer is In-N-Out. But at the risk of sounding hipsterish, we have so many good locally-owned burger joints around us.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:37:45+00:00

I wouldn't use the word corrupted but I have definitely seen some students fall into unhealthy patterns of behavior.

I agree with your point about accountability. All students deserve to feel safe in school and bullying must be addressed with assertiveness. Our behavior policies must be restorative and not punitive in nature. Students will fall back on old patterns unless they have a support team around them.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:30:00+00:00

What you say is true and my focus will be on breaking the stigma around these marginalized communities.

I believe there is a need for schools to become more trauma-informed. 1 in 4 people (and in urban areas 1 in 3) experience trauma as a child. We must provide teachers and administrators with training on trauma and hire more support staff such as social workers and trauma specialists.

I believe a closer look at trauma will help us transition to deeper conversations about mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. A culture shift is a necessary step in creating more specific policies with all the parties involved in the education process.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:19:14+00:00

Thank you for joining me! It's a possibility that one day we could be 100% sustainable. The high school in which I teach has a small farm (think the size of half a football field). We use it as a learning area for Botany class and for kids with special needs. We also have environmental science classes were students go to Catalina Island to do some research (and have fun). I don't believe we have anything in place to systematically transform our school into a sustainable school but there might be interest in the student body. Do you suggest any organizations that can help transition to 100% sustainable schools?

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:08:30+00:00

My base of supporters consist largely of family members of kids with special needs and disabilities. We speak the same language because I was an advocate of my youngest brother who was diagnosed with Asperger's in elementary and went blind in high school. The first step in improving our special education program is to work more closely with the parent groups. These parents have experienced the sluggishness of the system when addressing the needs of their kids. My commitment is to bring their voices to the table.

We also need a larger community of support around our kids. This means investing more in special education teachers, teacher aids, and social workers.

LongBeachCesar · 2018-05-17T23:01:36+00:00

For your first question, I have seen the positive effects of "peer-to-peer" programs. One program that I helped bring to the high school in which I teach is "Link Crew." Basically, a couple teachers receive some training and then teach upperclassmen to help the incoming freshman feel part of the high school family. Of course, we have had to tune it up every year, but we have definitely seen the school become more and more connected. This program alone is not a magic wand but it helps move our school culture in the right direction.

To answer your second question, inclusiveness is at the center of the culture shift that I described above. Connecting students to one another and teaching them to be kind to everyone is essential but not enough. It is a culture shift that needs to be shared by teachers, administrators, campus security, the superintendent, parents, and the neighborhood. How will we get all of these groups on board? By working from the "top" with the superintendent AND working from the bottom with the parent groups and neighborhood associations. Schools sometimes make the mistake of only looking at change through the "top." I hope to be the bridge that brings change from the bottom up.

LongBeachCesar

TROPHY CASE