why Alfredo Banuelos?
WHY I’M RUNNING
I'm running because it’s not enough for our elected representatives to simply show up to the bag-pack giveaways and Parent Nights, take their selfies, and post online about how much they supposedly care. It’s not enough to simply attend another monthly board meeting, without having actually read the agenda, challenge nothing, contribute nothing, never speak about the local issues that intersect with education, and then just go home and wait to do it all over again every four weeks for years until the next election; To expect the public to give away their vote simply because a candidate spends more money on mailers and riddles the city with signs is an insult to our intelligence.
I’m running because our current education system is not working for most Latino/Native American Students, and Black/African American students. It's not working well for students whose primary language is one other than English. It's not working for students who live in poverty, or in a rough neighborhood. It’s not working for students living near polluting industries, who breath toxins in the classroom and drink chemically laced water during recess. It’s not working for most students living in single-parent households. It’s not working for our foster youth and it's not working for students who don't have anyone to advocate for them and who can’t even count on the adults or so-called “leaders” whose job it is to protect them and make sure that their basic needs are being met.
I value education enormously and I understand how bureaucratic incompetence can ruin whole generations’ potential to live prosperous lives. I understand how an educational system that takes into consideration the full context of a student’s life environment outside of school can rescue and positively transform the lives of future generations of local families and to be a part of that solution is why I’m running.
WHY VOTE FOR ME
The only reason you need to be sure to vote for me, Alfredo Bañuelos, to be the new Paramount Unified School District Board Member for Area-3, should be the fact that even though the campaign promises of my opponent are minimal, and some could easily have already been done without contention or a vote, in all his years of experience, in all the years in the position and in all the years with a majority friendly board member count, he has never tried to advance them. Simple as that.
I truly believe that our community deserves a voice committed in action to prioritizing our students’ well-being and future, especially over the discontent of local private interest groups. For years, I’ve been advocating for the community, attending government meetings and speaking-out about the issues; vote for me because our current representative has never uttered a sound of criticism toward any of the many industrial operations endangering our students; vote for me because it is a fact that local polluting operations represent an enormous existential threat and my opponent’s silence on the issues that threaten our student’s safety make him complicit in their harm.
Vote for me because my opponent refuses to allow for safety research investigations to be conducted; because rather than voicing any safety concerns when the fuel refinery across the street from Wirtz Elementary and Paramount High School expanded their production project in 2022, current PUSD board members attended the World Energy parties and celebrated the increased risks of explosions and diseases from their emissions; vote for me because the same group of polluter-friendly corporate-politicians publicly support my opponent have finance their re-election campaigns. Vote for me because my opponent blocks any effort that may attribute safety risks to poisonous industrial operations; Vote for me because our current PUSD lacks transparency, because our PUSD board meetings lack community engagement and because it’s obviously no accident when you consider our budget and the measurable results.
The most important reason to vote for me is because more families will benefit from my participation on the board. A vote for me is a vote to address the need for basic safety and educational assurances that all parents and students deserve. I don’t ignore the fights, the racism, the bullying and the lure of street activity. As your board member, I will advocate for ALL of our students, teachers, parents and community members to assure that we can count on a voice of courage to fight for their safety and learning resources. After all, if students, parents and teachers are to confidently invest their time and energy in our schools, the Opportunity Cost of their effort has to be worth it; The student investment solutions that I am proposing are a good foundational start toward that future. Vote Afredo Bañuelos.