Roberto Rodriguez Savedra
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Contact
Roberto Rodriguez Savedra ran for election to the Compton Unified School District school board to represent Area D in California. He lost in the general election on March 3, 2020.
Rodriguez Savedra completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rodriguez Savedra grew up in Los Angeles, California. He earned his B.A. in history and ethnic studies from the University of California at Riverside in 2010, his M.Ed. in urban education from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2013, and his M.Ed. in school administration from California State University at Dominguez Hills in 2018. His professional experience includes working as a teacher and community organizer.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Compton Unified School District, California, elections (2020)
General election
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Roberto Rodriguez Savedra completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rodriguez Savedra's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My Beginnings:
I was born and raised in South Los Angeles to two immigrant parents from Mexico. My siblings and I were raised with plenty of love and care, but very little money. In my family, education was seen as a path to success. My parents did all they could to ensure that we would succeed even regardless of what was happening in the community around us. During my high school years, I worked, ran track and organized for my community. It was this work in the community that fueled my passion for organizing for justice.
Education:
I graduated Locke High School in 2006 and went on to the University of California Riverside where I earned a degree in History and Ethnic Studies in 2010. I saw teaching as a way to help transform my community. I graduated from UCLA in 2013 with a Masters in Education with the opportunity to be a credential teacher for my community. After teaching for 4 years, I went to Cal State Dominguez Hills to earn my Administrative Credential and Master is School Administration in 2017.
I am still a teacher working with opportunity/ at-promise youth ages 16-25 in Compton as a Social Science teacher. As a teacher, I work to provide students project-based learning that has a culturally relevant and responsive curriculum. My work is trauma informed and is intended to build the workforce and leadership development skills for the student to be able to go on to college or careers that are high skilled. - Voice for the Community: Build and Maintain working relationships between the Board, staff and community members.
- Sustainable Development: Advocate for a budget that is responsive to the needs of the students, parents, teachers and staff.
- Leadership for the Future: Create a system that has the resources to prepare students to succeed in college or a career
College and Career Readiness:
Our students have to be ready for what is next in their journey whether it is higher education, a trade or a technical career. We must integrate programs within our educational system that are responsive to the wants and needs of our future community leaders.
Infrastructure:
We must ensure that ALL of our schools are kept up to code and have the necessary infrastructure to continue to respond to the increasing demands of that our advancing society calls for. We must work to ensure funds and projects that are responsive to the needs of ALL students in the District.
Trauma Informed Schools:
We must work with our schools to ensure that we break the cycle of the school to prison pipeline by using restorative and transformational practice models within our schools to address issues that arise and not simply resort to the use of police force. Our students, parents and staff should feel confident that a schools will work with our youth to ensure their success.
Supportive Services:
All of our students deserve a proper education with the necessary supports to ensure that their personal and academic success. We must work as a district to be responsive to the needs of our students to ensure that their education is one that just and equitable. A school district that will be able to fulfill the needs of ALL the students. I look up to plenty of people but I would say the guidance and support of my grandparents and their struggle for survival played a huge part into who I am. My grandfather came here in 1940 with the idea of providing more for his family in Mexico. The same would be that of my parents who came here with the idea of a better future for themselves and their family. It is this same history of doing what is right for my family that pushes me every day to ensure the future of my family and that of the community.
I believe in a government of the people, by the people, for the people and working to address the fundamental issues within our society through collaborative work.
I have some favorite education theorist:
Pablo Freire
Tana Yosso
Jeff Duncan Andrade
Daniel Solorzano
An elected official has to work to represent the community. Their work is grounded on presentating the wants and needs of the community as they are public servants. It is our civic duty to respond to the community and take responsibility for the decisions we make. We have to be able to communicate with our constituents and respond to them with facts, data and clarity as members of the community and stakeholders in the preservation of the our community.
I am dedicated to represent the community for the community not my personal agenda. I will work for the wants and needs of the community through working to implement effective plans. I love to work and communicate with different groups of people to create a sense of community and trust. I am a family man that comes from the heart and mind.
As a school board member we have to work to ensure that the school district is trsuted and sustainable; its intent is to allow for the growth and development of our society. I have to read, write, reflect, communicate, respond, work, and create for the purpose of the school district. As a school board member I am a part of the development of a plan for the school district. I have to
I want to leave a better future for my community. A life dedicated to the growth and development of the community.
The first historical event I can remeber was the 1992 Los Angeles Rebellion/Riot. It was this first memory of chaos and destruction that opened me up to the issues present in the world I was born into.
Tutor, Mentor and Advocate:
I have been a community activist since I was 18 years old in the community of Watts. I have been an advocate for justice and peace not only in my community but wherever there has been injustice. As an advocate, obtaining an education is one of the most valuable assets we can ever attain and it is this that drives me to be a teacher.
Working to overcome limited expectations of myself and others from my community. I have struggled to not doubt my decisions against what seems to be overwhelming odds. I see potential and opportunity but there are people who have tried to tell me that its impossible but then I show them it is through hard work and dedication.
A school board member support the creation and implementation of a mission and vision with the Superintendant, School Board and community stakeholders (Parents, Teachers, Students, Administrators, Business, Non-Profit, Universities, Colleges, other local, state and federal representatives) that is intentional and data driven. As a school board member you have to voice the concerns of the community and work to build, maintain and sustain the public trust in the school district by holding community meetings and events that support the public in understanding the work that is being done in the school district. As a school board member my role is that the school district is held accountable to the taxpayer and that the due diligence is being done to ensure that any liability that can transpire is handled in the most effective and efficient manner with the community in mind.
My constituents are the community stakeholders: Parents, Teachers, Students, Administrators, Business, Non-Profit, Universities, Colleges, other local, state and federal representatives. I respond to their wants and needs with the support of the rest of the school board.
We must work to create school district that is sustainable for the future. Our school district needs to ensure that its budget and expenditures are planned and carried out effectively as we plan for the future of our community. Options to create holistic or community schools like other school districts should be an option versus the current trend of public charter options that take away from our traditional schools.
I want to hold monthly community townhalls or be present at the city townhalls to listent to the issues that are present in our schools. I would want to schedule meetings with our administrators and teachers to work on how the school board can better support the schools through resources and implementation of a sustainable plan. I would work with school administrators and PTA to ensure that the LCAP surveys and community response is provided to reflect the wants and needs of the community. I would work on creating community events with other local representatives to allow for multiple opportunities to interact and provide feedback and the mission and vision for the school district.
I would go to PTAs but also do townhalls and community events to interact with parents as much as possible to get that critical feedback that we need to build the trust and sustain the development of our school district and community. I will reach out to parents at an individual level to also engage them in the process of maintaining the vision and mission of the school board.
I strongly believe that we need to work to recruit the best possible faculty, staff and administrators by creating a policy of diversity recruitment not only with Universities and Colleges but work on creating a pool of ready faculty, staff and administrators through professional development opportunities and programs that intend to develop the skills of the aforementioned to create the supportive, inclusive education system we want.
Poverty, homelessness, transportation, trauma, overpolicing, and discriminatory practices get in the way of quality education. From my experience, issues within our society effect the behavior within the schools so it become paramount to work to create the supportive system to esnure that the students within the school have as much support as they can get to be able to get the quality education they deserve. Our schools have to be community schools, grounded on the plan to have supportive services present for what students need. We need to have counselors that help guide our students and parents as well. We need to be able to support the growth and development of the whole student. This will take working to get the resources with support of community stakeholders as well as other government entities to be able to address the systemic issues that effect the ability for students to get a quality education.
As a teacher, we plan and set expectations for students to meet certain state and federal standards. This process is done with collaboration from other teachers and administrators through planning time and professional development. Good teaching requires good practice and guidance to be able to meet the needs of all students. In order for us to bring all students up to the expectations we have in place requires that we work constitently to plan effectively. This is measure not only through state testing but also the outcomes that our students get in college and careers as not all students will go to college. This can happen only happen if we work with our staff, teachers, and administrators to develop the skills that they need to be able to provide a quality education that prepares students for college and careers. As a school board member, I would advocate for teachers, staff and administrators to get opportunities to improve and develop their teaching practice to address the ever changing needs of the students and community.
Employability skills are the skills and capabilities that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations as they navigate their way through a dynamic labour market.
To be competitive, they will have to demonstrate to employers that they have the discipline-specific technical skills they require, as well as the broader range of employability skills. Their employability skills provide the link between your academic studies and graduate employment.
1. Communication
2. Teamwork
3. Problem solving
4. Self-management
5. Planning and organising
6. Technology
7. Learning
8. Initiative and enterprise
These skills arer fundamental to compete in the 21st century and we need to work to include these skills in their growth and development.
The 21st Century Diploma must include the ability to use technology proficiently. They have to be able to learn and adjust to the ever-changing technological needs within our society and learn to decipher their use. A high school diploma has to provide other employable skills that they can use in their near future to compete the ever-changing economy.
Career Training and Employment opportunties need to expand to the point in which the students have opportunities to develop their work skills while finishing their high school education. I would plan to work with our local colleges and universities to provide opportunities for our students to get connected and engaged in the gaining advanced technical skills; with our unions to provide advance training for those who would like to go into an apprenticeship program; big businesses and local job placement centers to provide internship opportunities for our young people to gain experience in customer service or leadership development. I would like to provide opporunities for our students to be able to develop not only their academic skills but also their skills to be workplace and career ready.
We have to do a better job on advocating for more resources for our community by working with our other local, state and federal representatives. LCAP was intended to be a communal process that was intended to include the community in working to address the wants and needs of the community. As a member of the school board, I would work with the superintendant, board and community stakeholders to create a sustainable plan for our district that would work to address the wants and needs of the community and plan to develop all of our district to be ready for the future. This plan would require work to integrate the supports necessary to ensure that the plan is feasable and accounts for the unforseeable future of not only our community but our society.
Justice and rights drive my policies for safety in schools. I believe that the implementation of restorative and transformative practices in our schools that are guided by trauma-informed practices allows for the development of school spaces that are safe and inclusive for all students. If we come from a principle of justice and rights, the past of criminalization and punishment as a way of providing safety is overcome since all it does is reciprocate the social conditioning of criminalization and punishment we see in our community. Safety should not come fear, it should come from establishing strong relationships with all of our students, staff, teachers, and administrators as a community.
We need to have trauma-informed practices in place at of our schools. We must work with our schools to ensure that we break the cycle of the school to prison pipeline by using restorative and transformational practice models within our schools to address issues that arise and not simply resort to the use of police force. Our students, parents and staff should feel confident that a schools will work with our youth to ensure their success.
Our schools and educators must have the technology and training necessary to incorporate all the new and increasingly technology reliant skills to prepare our youth. As a school district we must work to ensure ALL SCHOOLS are reflective of that expectation and prepare our youth to enter the high skilled workforce.
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See also
External links
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 6, 2020.
