At-risk kids fuel candidate passions

FUSD hopefuls want to aid disadvantaged students.

Published online on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006

If you want to hear Cal Johnson or Luisa Medina get passionate, ask them about students in academic trouble.

The two candidates for the Area 1, Edison High seat on Fresno Unified's school board each work in their own ways to help people who are disadvantaged.

Incumbent Medina, 52, graduated from Fowler High School in 1971. She has worked for years as an advocate for children and families. In her job as development director for Central California Legal Services, which provides free legal assistance to low-income families, Medina's duties include grant- and newsletter-writing.

Johnson, 68, graduated from Edison High School in 1956. After a stint in the Army, he worked for years in education-related jobs at the Fresno County Office of Education, community colleges and the California State University system. Now retired, he does part-time crisis counseling at the New Millennium charter school.

As a counselor, Johnson said, he has talked to plenty of students who got booted out of the Fresno Unified School District for being disruptive. He said schools aren't meeting student needs, and one way to change that is to expand vocational education.

Johnson praised Fresno Unified's existing vocational education programs, but he said the district needs to make the programs available for more "C" and "D" students who want to learn a trade.

"It appears that now we're moving away from vocational education and pushing kids to go to college," he said.

Medina agreed that career technical education could help reduce the dropout rate and that students need to see the relevance of "schoolwork to lifework."

In addition, Medina said, students need to perform academically at grade level.

Poor academic performance, she said, "is one of the first steps for them going out the door."

Medina said improving the performance of all Fresno Unified students, and retaining control over district finances, remain top priorities.

"We also have to keep a focus on the bottom line," she said.

Johnson pledged to use his years of leadership experience to help the district's students achieve.

"I believe that I'm the kind of person that can work in a difficult situation," he said.

If re-elected, Medina said, she would continue to advocate for everyone in the district.

Education is what makes it happen for folks in terms of equal opportunity," she said.

The Area 1, Edison High seat is one of four in Fresno Unified up for election Nov. 7.

Voters living within district boundaries can vote in all four board races.

The seats are assigned to areas that are usually identified by the nearest high school, and candidates run in the area where they live. Terms last four years.