Where the school board candidates stand on critical race theory

(Photo by Vincent Medina)

NORWALK – The Norwalk La Mirada School District has an upcoming election on July 20, with five candidates campaigning for a place on the school board. Five candidates, including Richard Legaspi, Jesus Urquidi, Dr. Robert Cancio, Janet Martinez and Narcis Brasov, are competing for the two available seats on the board.

Some of the candidates took a moment to explain their platforms and their views of the controversial Critical Race Theory. CRT would teach students how systemic racism affects everyday life, specifically the American judicial system.

While CRT would not be directly taught in K -12 schools, it could affect the way teachers illustrate American history and government.

Congresswoman Linda Sanchez has endorsed Legaspi, Dr. Cancio and Urquidi.

Richard Legaspi, 58, has resided in Norwalk since 1986 and served on the NLMUSD school board from 1999 - 2007. Two of his children have graduated from the school district.

The Norwalk resident is chairperson for the social service commission, and is an area manager for TNT Fireworks, covering cities such as Carson and Inglewood.

Legaspi says if he returns to the school board, he will tackle the issue of fiscal responsibility and raise the GPA requirement for graduation. The current school board lowered the required GPA to 1.1.

“As a resident, you want your children to have the best education they can and we need to offer them that,” Legaspi said. “Lowering the bar is not the right way to go about it.”

Legaspi is not in favor of CRT, saying it might “pit neighbor against neighbor.” He says it should be an elective instead.

Dr. Robert Cancio, 34, moved to Norwalk in 1993 and attended school in the district. He served as a Navy cryptologist and earned numerous awards including the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

He attended East Los Angeles College, UC Berkeley, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Miami.

Cancio says he would end fragmentation and rebuild the district by balancing the budget and work to ensure better education for students. He would also raise the required GPA to graduate and work to achieve transparency between the school board and the community.

He says that it is important to teach students to respect other cultures and recognize the similarities between each other, however, Cancio disagrees with CRT.

“CRT is not a curriculum but a theoretical lens from which to view legal precedent and history. Now I am not in the business of teaching or implementing one single theoretical lens,” Cancio says.

Cancio is endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and the Teachers Association of Norwalk-La Mirada Area Education Improvement Fund Political Action Committee.

Janet Martinez, 36, grew up in East LA, and worked two jobs to assist her parents and move to a better community in Norwalk. During that time she attended Cerritos College and the University of La Verne.

She now has a young daughter who will soon attend school in NLMUSD.

“Part of my job is to ensure that cities are being transparent. That includes being in compliance with the Brown Act and Public Records Act, which are mainly laws that allow the public to see how cities are spending taxpayer dollars,” says Martinez.

She went on to criticize the current board over its lack of information during board meetings for parents and residents.

“We want to make sure parents are able to understand the material to allow them to ask questions as the decisions of the board affect our children’s education,” said Martinez.

Martinez did not directly address Critical Race Theory, but did state that the way to change racism would start by implementing laws that are not directly affecting minorities.

Narcis Brasov, 43, immigrated to the U.S. from Romania, and moved to La Mirada in 2008. His wife now teaches science at Norwalk High School and his daughter will soon start kindergarten.

Brasov taught Spanish at Norwalk High School for 15 years, and saw the effect of the school board’s decisions in the classroom.

“I’m the only candidate that has taught K-12,” said Brasov. “So I have the experience of being on the receiving end of district decisions. I can look critically at the proposed measures to see how they would affect the classroom.”

He now teaches at Trinity Law School, where he earned his degree as a lawyer.

Brasov is firmly against CRT, saying, “dividing society into oppressors and oppressed is Marxism.”

Brasov is endorsed by the Teachers Association of Norwalk-La Mirada Area Education Improvement Fund Political Action Committee.

Jesus Urquidi did not respond for a comment.

The Voting Center for the school board election opens on July 10. Voters can mail-in their ballots or drop them off at a drop-box location.

The last day to vote is July 20.