Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Baldwin Park Unified School District

I believe students of Baldwin Park have the capacity to succeed, but I also realize there are many factors that contribute to academic success. My parents, the Rev. Aureliano & Armida Flores first settled in Baldwin Park in 1963. Me and my 5 siblings were raised in Baldwin Park and educated through the Baldwin Park Unified school District. My father as a Mexican immigrant traveled from Texas and met my mother in East Los Angeles. They had a dream for the six of us. That dream has realized 4 bachelor degrees, 2 masters degrees, and one doctorate degree. Students of Baldwin Park can learn.

I think I can bring to the Board a healthy perspective on students. Students are not just an ID number, but they belong to someone. Students are real people that have parents, parents with dreams. They are not just a subject or a seat in a class, they don't belong to the teacher or to the district but belong ultimately to God. We are called to be stewards over our students. We don't own them, but we help guide them. My own children are students that belong to real parents. I find great satisfaction that the teachers my children have had view them as human beings with a purpose in life.

Research indicates that a college degree translates into more opportunities and generally greater financial potential. Education can be liberation. Education is power. Education creates dreams. Education helps bring dreams into realities, and education helps people to be productive citizens in our communities. This begins in our elementary schools. I am a product of public education. I began my education experiences in Baldwin Park at Foster elementary. This journey took me through Walnut Elementary, Olive Middle School, and Baldwin Park High School. The education I experienced helped to open doors to the brick buildings of the University of Southern California to complete a Bachelors degree from. The journey has taken me to a Masters of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Claremont Graduate University. Education has taken me from the classrooms of Baldwin Park to the hall of debate in Oxford England where I presented on the benefits of dual-language immersion.

Education has opened the doors for the professional positions I now occupy. As a professor and director of Liberal Studies at Azusa Pacific University, I teach future teachers. Though I teach subject matter, I really teach students through the subject matter. My desire is to form attitudes of future teachers that will promote the proper teaching behavior in the classroom. My experience in administration includes:

• Administration role as director. Hiring faculty, overseeing the budget, and advising students from freshmen to graduation.
• Administration role as Pastor. Developing mission, developing leaders, encouraging service.
• I believe we are all called to serve and this is an opportunity to serve my community, serve the school district that gave me an education, serve the children of the city, including my own, and serve the parents that make up the fabric of Baldwin Park. Parents like my parents. I believe in service.