Gladys Soto

Age: 48

Occupation: Non-Profit Administrator

Education: Master Degree in Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy from San Francisco State University

Neighborhood: St. Mary’s Park/Bernal Heights

Why are you running for School Board? I am running for the School Board to bring representation for Latinos and English as Second Language speakers to the San Francisco Board of Education. Currently the Board of Education is without Latino representation, despite the fact that the student population of the SFUSD is 23 percent Latino. Furthermore, second language learners are 27 percent of the SFUSD student population. My communities make up a quarter or more of the student population and yet our families do not have a voice in creating policy in our public schools. As stakeholders we need a voice on the School Board to develop policies that affect our children.

Why should Mission residents vote for you? I am a member of the Mission community and worked at non-profits in the neighborhood providing social services for families, adults and youth for nearly twenty years. I am a Latina parent of two students in San Francisco’s public schools who speaks English as a second language and immigrated to the United States twenty five years ago. Mission residents should vote for me because we need representation for Latinos and Second Language Speakers in the Mission and throughout the city on the School Board. I will provide leadership for our communities on the Board of Education and give us a substantive voice regarding the implementation of polices that affect our children’s education. My policies will impact the Mission’s public schools in that they will work to make the schools equitable for all students. I will impact the schools and students in the Mission positively because many students and families will finally have representation on the School Board.