(From Press Release) – Dr. Melissa Moreno, who holds a doctorate in education, is pleased to announce that she intends to run for Trustee Area 2 of the Yolo County Board of Education. Dr. Moreno said, “I am honored to have been asked by my community to run for this position and to have earned widespread support at this early stage.”
Born and raised in central California, Dr. Moreno is a mother, educator, community advocate, and professor. She has volunteered and worked in k-12 and higher education for over twenty years. She earned her degrees from the University of California at Santa Cruz and University of Utah. After earning her doctorate, she returned to California to serve as a research fellow focusing on youth leadership at the University of California at Davis and to teach at Woodland Community College. Dr. Moreno has been a professor and director of Ethnic Studies with expertise in creating and sustaining educational curriculum, courses, policies, and programs for over ten years. Prior to being a professor, she worked as the coordinator of a teacher incentive program for high school students, outdoor educator for junior high students, math and science program staff for junior high students, and as a bilingual teacher’s aid for first graders. In addition, she has experience teaching student teachers and providing teacher professional development as well.
“I have mentored hundreds of students to continue their educational and leadership career paths. In this process I have come to know their K-12 experience and understand their educational needs,” 
Dr. Moreno says. “If I am elected as a Yolo County Board of Education Trustee I want to support the work of our five school districts to meet the needs of all students.”
Current Area 2 Trustee Bill Owens states that, “Dr. Moreno has demonstrated deep commitment to our most vulnerable students. She is well prepared and committed to building effective partnerships with colleges, universities, and county agencies to bring increased educational opportunities to our diverse students to prepare them for cooperation and problem solving in the 21st century.”
Dr. Moreno is an active parent at Cesar Chavez Elementary in the Davis Joint Unified School District. She serves on the Woodland Joint Unified School District Ethnic Studies Committee. Dr. Moreno has collaborated with California State University Sacramento College of Education and University of California at Davis Ethnic Studies programs and faculty. Her experience has prepared her to understand the real needs of students, teachers, and schools. When she is not in the classroom, Dr. Moreno is with her family—her two young daughters and her husband whose family settled in Davis over 100 years ago.
“I am excited that Dr. Moreno will bring her professional training in educational research, experience with educational equity policies and practices, commitment to shared governance and transparency. The YCOE serves many students who will benefit from having a Trustee with her background and bilingual expertise and presence in education to the YCBOE”, said Don Saylor, YOLO County Supervisor for District 2, which covers the same area as Trustee Area 2.
Dr. Moreno is proud to earn the endorsement of several leaders such as:
- Yolo County Board of Education Trustee Bill Owens
- DJUSD Trustee Madhavi Sunder
- West Sacramento WUSD Trustee Norma Alcala
- Former Woodland School Board Member Rogelio Villagrana
- Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor
- Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza
- Davis Mayor Pro Tem Gloria Partida
- Davis City Council Member Lucas Frerichs
- Davis City Council Member Will Arnold
- Winters City Council and Hispanic Advisory Committee Liaison Jesse Loren
- Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada (former)
- UC Davis Sociology Professor Carl Jorgensen
- UC Davis Chicana/o Studies Associate Professor Natalia Deeb-Sossa
- Cesar Chavez Climate Committee Representative Pilar Gonzalez-Grey
- Davis Member and ARC Counselor Dr. Rick Ramirez
- Cesar Chavez ELAC Representative Agustin Antunez
- Davis Community Leader and Parent Cindy Pickett
- International House (Davis) Executive Director Rijin Sahakian
- Recreation & Parks Commissioner Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald
- Davis Community Leader and Parent Anoosh Jarbig
- Muslim American Community Leader Khalid Saeed
- Woodland Community Leader and Parent Lori Perez
- Beamer Elementary School Parent Deborah Bautista Zavala
- Executive Director of the National Coalition of Hispanic Organizations Keda Alcala-Obledo
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This is great news! Melissa Moreno would serve Yolo county well in this role.
I read the announcement in The Enterprise, the announcement above, the website of the other declared candidate, David Murphy, and so far have found -0- information on what the CBOE does or what either candidate would do if elected.
County Board of Education oversees the other school districts within the county as to their financial solvency, manages the small schools that are not in a local school district, and hears appeals of actions taken by local school districts. They basically provide oversight to the local districts. If a district is not solvent, the county board can literally take it over.
When DJUSD sought to terminate all interdistrict transfer agreements in the 1990’s, including those of my children, we appealed the decision to the County Board of Education, and we won. If I recall, it was the County Board of Education that had the final say when teachers at Valley Oak sought to establish a charter school there rather than see it closed. The County Board determined that their financial projections were not adequate and ruled against them.
That’s all off the top of my head; open to corrections. Except that I became quite informed about the interdistrict transfer aspect at the time.
Don:
The website lists
The County Board of Education has responsibility for:
Approving the annual county office budget
Adopting policies governing the operation of the Board
Acting as the appeals board for student expulsions
Acting as the appeals board for inter-district transfers
Acting as the appeals board for Charter School petitions
Establishing the County Superintendent’s salary
And may serve as the landlord and owner of property
It does not sound like a whole lot. Wonder if there is a stipend associated?
Then, there’s this…
http://www.ycoe.org/ed-services/special-ed
In my opinion, the raison d’etre…
Of the two announced, I’d go with Moreno. No question…
Just wish she had mentioned the special ed programs…
The biggest thing that the county board of supervisors are in charge of is budget oversight and special education. Under the current Superintendent, they are working on a funding mechanism for universal preschool.
Where were hey during the debacle described in today’s topic?
I can’t really answer that. Most of what happened was before I got involved. Not sure that the county board of education would have much of a role in it anyway.
Based on the May minutes it looks like they are preparing a big salary increase for the superintendent.
“On behalf of the Superintendent’s Compensation Committee, Board Vice President Shelton Yip reported that the Committee will continue to meet on this topic and will bring information and updates to the Board. Tami Ethier distributed and reviewed a handout titled, “EMS Compensation Study results and relationship to Superintendent Salary” (a copy can be found on file with the official records of this meeting). During the discussion, it was noted that due to the continued growth in student enrollment at Washington Unified, the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) has just recently moved the YCOE out of the Class V service region (serves under 30k ADA) to Class IV service region (over 30k ADA).”
How is that related to electing a Trustee? Might be, but cannot connect the dots…
Oh, and City of Davis has basically eschewed other-agency comparisons for setting compensation… Apparently the educational system, including County and DJUSD education folk still closely embrace that (other agency comparisons)… makes sense… they’re “special”, and “it’s for the kids”…