19-year-old Hoover High grad running for Fresno Unified trustee. ‘I’m using my voice to advocate for my peers.’

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Fresno Unified Elections

This November, Fresno Unified board has three open seats. Click the arrow below to read the profiles of the candidates running for school board positions.

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The youngest candidate on the Fresno Unified ballot this election says he’s running to give students a voice on the school board.

Joseph Aquino, a 19-year-old Fresno State sophomore, is challenging incumbent Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas to represent the district’s Roosevelt area on the school board. He served as a non-voting student trustee on the Fresno Unified board in 2022 as a senior at Hoover High School.

Aquino says his experience as a former student in the district gives him an intimate understanding of students’ needs. He said students lack involvement in Fresno Unified’s decision-making and district leaders don’t understand the challenges students face on a daily basis.

Aquino said he plans to focus on improving safety, mental health, and literacy, if elected.

“I’ve seen a third grader who struggled spelling her own name, that broke my heart,” said Aquino, recounting a recent experience as a teacher’s aide at a Fresno Unified summer program. “I can’t imagine me, my cousins, my little brother, not knowing how to spell your own name. It should have been caught early on.”

For Fresno Unified’s school board races, The Fresno Bee sat down to talk with every candidate. Here are five questions for Aquino. Answers are edited for length and clarity.

What’s missing from the current board?

Throughout my time walking through neighborhoods in the Roosevelt area, speaking with educators and a lot of our students, they feel they are unheard and unseen. If there’s an issue going on, they don’t know who to turn to. People should know who their leader is and who to go to when they need bold change in the district.

We don’t need the bare minimum on the board, especially for an area like Roosevelt. We really need someone who is rooted within the community and has strong experience being in a classroom, like me.

What are the things you would like to advocate for?

Mental health is extremely important. During my time as a student, I have witnessed so many of my friends, even myself, experience mental challenges where I felt that the school wasn’t there for me. I failed tremendously during high school because I lost my grandmother, who was a mentor to me. It was one educator, my campus culture director at Hoover, who saved me. So I was in a deep hole, and I felt like there was no one that I could turn to for the support that I needed. I don’t think any student should ever have to feel that way on campus.

As an LGBTQ student, I’ve also struggled through challenges within my own personal life and my academic life. I know what it’s like being bullied. Mental health is extremely important, and students can’t focus on academics if they are not in their right mental space.

I have a really strong passion for math and literacy. The Roosevelt area is performing extremely low. We are the lowest in the district and we really need to find some way to work with our educators and our community, especially our parents, to ensure that we catch these issues early on. The district is very low with English language learner graduation rates. We’re at 77% and that’s unacceptable.

Why are you running for a seat on the school board?

I have years of experience of being in the classroom. I have years of experience being an advocate for our students and our most vulnerable population in the district. I come from public education. I come from the exact same struggles that my neighbors go through in southeast Fresno. Southeast Fresno is very marginalized and predominantly low-income.

People my age feel like they can’t run for office because we have older individuals who are holding onto these positions. I constantly say to my peers, if you meet the age requirement on the ballot, register, vote and use your voice, because the only thing someone has to make bold systemic change is their voice.

As a young brown, 19-year-old gay male who has come from public education, I’m using my voice to advocate for my peers because it’s crystal clear that not enough is getting done. Someone needs to step up, and I’m very happy to be the one stepping up, even at my young age.

What’s your long-term career goal?

My long-term plan is to continue to advocate. I love being an advocate for my community. I’ve gained that during my time as a class president at Hoover High, the student advisor board representing my high school, and as a student trustee on the Fresno Unified school board, the highest any student can go in advocating. I’ll continue to stay strong and work with our kids at Fresno Unified.

I’m a first-generation student, and I was the first in my immediate family to graduate high school. I have broken some barriers. My parents and all of my uncles and aunts really got to see another side of me when I was speaking up for our kids, and they understood that was my calling. From the moment I graduated high school, I knew exactly what I was going to do, and that was running for Fresno Unified school board.

What are you looking for in Fresno Unified’s next superintendent?

Whether it’s an internal or external search, I’m a firm believer in having representation from someone who has been in the system, just like this race that I am in now. I have been in the system. I have been in public education. So I think one of the qualities that I would look for in the superintendent is their background of education and their story.

Misty Her is a phenomenal interim superintendent. She comes from the system, was a student, teacher and administrator in Fresno Unified and is now our interim superintendent. I think our students need a champion. I think Misty is a champion. I can’t wait to see her continue to expand on the work she’s going to do. In terms of the superintendent search, whether it’s Misty or not, I’ll continue to work closely with the community, our students, and educators.

One thing I’ve noticed is that educators don’t have a say in what is being implemented in the district. A lot of the things are assigned to teachers when it should be a collective effort. I will always cherish teachers in my heart because they shaped me for who I am today.

This story was originally published September 26, 2024, 9:56 AM.