In November, Ligia Andrade Zúñiga and Greg Land were elected and reelected respectively to the San Mateo Union High School District board of trustees. The remaining three board members are Vice President Robert H. Griffin, Trustee Linda Lees Dwyer and Clerk Peter Hanley. Zúñiga will attend her first meeting on Dec. 17.
Board elections occur every November of even years and if elected, public officials serve four year terms. This year, voters were able to vote for two candidates of the three on the ballot, and the two contenders with the most votes were elected. Zúñiga and Land both received over 56 thousand votes, defeating Candidate Neal Kaufman, who received about 40 thousand. Trustees oversee the district administration, resolve district-wide issues and serve their constituents.
Newly elected Trustee Zúñiga will join the board this December. Zúñiga grew up in Redwood City and has two sons who graduated from the SMUHSD, and participated in the bilingual immersion program. She started the Latino Parent Group at Burlingame High School and worked in advocating for those whose voices needed to be heard. After suffering a tragic car accident in 2009 that led her to become quadraplegic, Zúñiga worked on empowering young and disabled children through nonprofit organizations.
“My biggest forte [is] making sure that we empower young kids with disabilities, kids of color and also all kids, because it’s important for the future of our communities,” Zúñiga said. “[Students] are eventually going to vote, and [they’re] going to be making decisions for us.”
Reelected Trustee Land will return to the board this December alongside Zúñiga. Land has been on the board since December of 2015 and has experience advocating for youth from being a teacher, assistant principal and currently, principal of Santa Rita Elementary School in Los Altos. Land’s main goals include equity and advocacy for all students, empowering the youth in the community, and improving and innovating the way distance learning is conducted.
“My biggest forte [is] making sure that we empower … all kids”
With her most recent term beginning in 2018, Dwyer was first elected to the SMUHSD board in December of 2005. Dwyer has had many of her own students graduate from the district and is a foster parent as well as an attorney. In the past, she worked on the Burlingame School District board before coming to the SMUHSD. Her main goal is to ensure a smooth transition from middle school to high school.
“I [am] very interested in articulation between the feeder districts and high school,” Dwyer said. “How does a middle school best prepare their students to come to high school? So coming in on the high school board, I’m looking at it from all directions.”
Trustee Griffin will become board president next term. As president, he will oversee meetings and provide closing remarks. Griffin has been on it since 1996 and graduated from the SMUHSD before returning as a board member. After witnessing his nephew’s low-quality education experience in high school, Griffin strived to improve the climate of the schools and equity.
“One of the things that I wanted was equity, I’ve always said that the key to education is equality and equity,” Griffin said. “And so I worked on that the whole time. On some things like inclusion and making sure people have access to AP classes, and it would be nice to see people getting information, getting help they can’t get otherwise.”
Hanley, the fifth board member, has served on the board since 2001. Hanley has served his community by teaching and working in charter schools. With this background, Hanley joined the board wanting to advocate for change in the district such as providing everyone with access to AP classes and advocating for an A-G curriculum. In addition, Hanley hopes to close the achievement gap.
“Increasing the engagement of students is another area that we really need to continue to work very hard on and there’s a lot being done,” Hanley said. “I think we need to look at where we’re being successful and where we’re not and figure out which approaches are working and really maximize those worlds.”
In December, the school board will make a decision on whether second semester will involve in-person learning. Proposals to go back to school for the second semester were presented and debated at board meetings for months. Their decision will be based on the evaluation of health professionals, student and parent voices and what they deem best for the community.
