Rocina Lizarraga

This page was current at the end of the official's last term in office covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Rocina Lizarraga

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

National Elementary School District Governing Board

Successor: Cindy Lopez

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Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Juan de Dios Batiz Walls

Associate

Universidad de Occidente, 1996

Personal

Religion

Christian: Catholic

Profession

Advocacy

Contact

Campaign website

Rocina Lizarraga was a member of the National Elementary School District Governing Board in California. She assumed office on December 11, 2020. She left office on December 13, 2024.

Lizarraga ran for re-election to the National Elementary School District Governing Board in California. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Lizarraga completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Rocina Lizarraga was born in Mazatlan, Mexico. She earned a high school diploma from the Juan de Dios Batiz Walls and an associate degree from the Universidad de Occidente in 1996. Her career experience includes working as an advocate and community organizer. Lizarraga has been affiliated with the Childhood Obesity Initiative and USD Center for Community Health.

Elections

2024

See also: National Elementary School District, California, elections (2024)

General election

General election for National Elementary School District Governing Board (2 seats)

Cindy Lopez and incumbent Michelle Gates defeated Maria Miranda and incumbent Rocina Lizarraga in the general election for National Elementary School District Governing Board on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Cindy Lopez (Nonpartisan)	30.5	6,400
✔		Michelle Gates (Nonpartisan)	27.8	5,841
	Submit photo	Maria Miranda (Nonpartisan)	21.6	4,544
		Rocina Lizarraga (Nonpartisan)	20.1	4,223

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,008
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Lizarraga received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Lizarraga's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here.

• San Diego County Democratic Party

2020

See also: National Elementary School District, California, elections (2020)

General election

General election for National Elementary School District Governing Board (2 seats)

Michelle Gates and Rocina Lizarraga defeated incumbent Barbara Ann Avalos, Zachary Francisco Gomez, and incumbent Brian Clapper in the general election for National Elementary School District Governing Board on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michelle Gates (Nonpartisan)	31.8	8,617
✔		Rocina Lizarraga (Nonpartisan)	20.7	5,602
	Submit photo	Barbara Ann Avalos (Nonpartisan)	19.9	5,384
	Submit photo	Zachary Francisco Gomez (Nonpartisan)	15.2	4,116
	Submit photo	Brian Clapper (Nonpartisan)	12.3	3,338

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 27,057
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Rocina Lizarraga completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lizarraga's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a woman of action and strong believer of collaborative impact. I value the power of connecting to act upon a meaningful purpose of a community like National City California , rich in culture, cultural identifiable food justice, ethnic diversity and family values. Mother of four children, all product of public schools and that does not define the capacity of accomplishment a successful higher educational level. I an convinced that acceptance, integrity and teacher support contribute the raising of good moral character child as united community.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Teacher and peer acceptance awareness campaign developing in the entire school district.
• Teacher and students scratch cooking as part of the curriculum to increment healthy options and healthy food exposures.
• Special education mainstreaming and additional mental health support and continuous support for siblings and families.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Different abilities children and behavioral intervention support, food as a family bonding.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Being volunteer at public schools realized the positive impact on engaging in your children education, After having a community base organization programing in my community of food behavior it was an eye opener of how the social determinants of health impact families. and despaired the cultural food and increase the risk of chronic conditions of obesity, hearth disease and lung conditions, since then I became involved in the root causes and became very vocal on the community about those disparities comparing other communities in the region to my community.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The world needs more purple people.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

be realistic and humble.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I an very vocal on raising and voice validation on community health. I am present, aware, research and base my statements on realistic input and feasible solutions with key people.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Be transparent, mindful that we are also vulnerable but strong and we need to use the decision power for the benefit of the children as priority.

What legacy would you like to leave?

The leadership and the accomplishments of the vulnerable unrepresented communities that now have a voice and that together we can break the threshold of social equity and justice for the minorities that are a majority on a community like mine.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

When I became bilingual fluently thanks to my firs job, then I valued the Dual Language ability

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I was a clerk on a private post office that was directly mail to US in Mazatlán Mexico, the majority of our clients were US citizens, I had it for 3 years right after high school.

What is your favorite book? Why?

El Conde de Montecristo from Luis Dumas

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Don Quijote. I am a dreamer.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Die with a smile. from Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

The responsiveness and disconnection of the city of national city and the way of collaboration effectiveness of both entities.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

To advocate for the children's right to have a supported elementary educational materials, programs, food and extracurricular activities for a academic success, for all the students with visible and non-visible disabilities.

Who are your constituents?

All the community that voted in good faith for a position like this.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

Evaluating and revising existing policies, contributing suggestions, being present and responsive, being clear and objective, but the most important one valuing a family integrity on their uniqueness.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

Finding other types of engagement, the academia, other cities, attending conferences, having the mindset of learning opportunities, and identifying key people or organization that will be crucial to a goal.

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

Credentialed individuals that are capable to seek beyond teaching academics and identify skills on children regardless their background, capable to empower and experience their individual potential.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

Outside school internships and shadowing on computers , engineering, entrepreneurships, and other resources that an actual college can bring. Exposure to other trade options.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

become part of the delegation to advocate the governor's decision on educational funding.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

In total support of safety measures, funding allocation, input consideration from all parties. The safer the better learning environment.

How might you support the mental health needs of students/faculty/staff?

Complete support. I contributed a sensory room for all the 10 schools in the district, open to who ever needs it, including assistants, teachers, office staff and the principal.

Tell us your favorite joke.

The Taco Shop Mexican food! they put yellow cheese in every meal!

What existing district policies would you like to change, or what new policies would you like to implement?

Food Policy. Inclusion and mainstreaming policies. Dual Language Schools

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

SD County Democratic Party & Democratic and Democratic Educational Alliance.

Describe your ideal learning environment for students.

Well feed students, nurturing campus, behavior support and well communicated learning ability between with parents and teachers, principal, a strong leadership and the board!

How do you feel like your school district handled the coronavirus pandemic? What, if anything, would you do differently in the future?

We follow strategic guidance from Rady's Children Hospital by the CDCP that protect the children and family's health per protocols of the County Health Department. We provided at home remote support for quarantine students, technical equipment, internet and academic support to all students . We were aware of the post consequences of this remote education about academic loss and take steps to mitigate that loss and to recover from it in the following two years.

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district?

Being present and connect without biasing and being a good listener with an open hearth, but letting them know that you might not promise but find a resource or connect with some who can help. This is key to increase trust.

What are your preferred strategies for faculty, staff, and administration recruitment?

We need people that shows interest in family values and respect for a children academic success. Those are the ones that are ideal to increase student academic success.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

The finances and the fiscal state on the district needs to be fully transparent and understandable friendly , promptly updated and posted publicly so public can observe transparent outcomes of the moneys that fund the schools and open a communication venue to questions from the public.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Rocina Lizarraga did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

See also

2024 Elections

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Candidate

National Elementary School District Governing Board

Website