March 2023 • Issue 66 • California Association for Bilingual Education
Biliteracy, Multicultural Competency, and Educational Equity for All!
Download free César Chávez teaching resources for CABE members, compliments of CABE and WRITE/SDCOE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1M1jpA2vz8zKEx5cXaN0b75LHpJN4JSGk?usp=share_link
Discover free teaching resources for Women's History Month here: https://womenshistorymonth.gov/
Important Upcoming Dates in this Newsletter:
March 10—Deadline to register online for CABE 2023
March 18—Deadline to save on CABE 2023 flights at Southwest Airlines
March 21—Deadline to sign up for CABE 2023 University Credit
April 12—Early Bird Registration Deadline for CABE Riverside Parent & Paraeducator Conference
April 12—Call for Proposals Deadline for CABE Riverside Parent & Paraeducator Conference
April 13, 20, 27—CABE Racial Equity Series
Help us spread the word...
What's new in Sacramento that impacts education? Find out here...
CABE Legislative Advocate Report
by Jennifer Baker

  • CABE 2023 Sponsored Legislation
  • LAO Projects Additional Shortfall
  • Legislature Introduces a Multitude of Bills
This Friday at noon is your last chance to register online for CABE 2023...
Reminder—CABE members receive a 15% discount on registration!
Online January through May—register for all four and get a discount...
Join us—rescheduled in April...
Parents and Paraeducators! Join us in Riverside...
The CABE Board of Directors is proud to honor...
Meet Dr. Karling Aguilera-Fort...
Born in Ciudad Bolívar, Dr. Karling Aguilera-Fort became a special education teacher in Venezuela, where he taught for seven years. From a young age, he always wanted to be a teacher to help the kids that needed additional support and he used to practice by helping a family member who had learning differences. "I used to watch how the special educator tutor was teaching her, and then I would go home to practice what I saw her doing. I knew this was what I wanted to do, and I never had the desire to do anything else."
Later he worked with la Universidad de la Habana, Cuba, on an international research project on educational practices to teach reading and writing to students with disabilities. While presenting the study results at the Pedagogía conference, he met educators from the Bay Area who invited him two years in a row to present in San Francisco. He later accepted an offer to teach in a bilingual special education classroom there. Karling started implementing instructional strategies in Spanish and, along with his general education partners, successfully transitioned almost half of his students to bilingual general education classes.
Karling was a member of the first cohort of the Principal Leadership Institute at UC Berkley, became an assistant principal and principal at San Francisco USD, and later, assistant superintendent and superintendent at Rancho USD. Currently, he is the superintendent at Oxnard SD. While his first love has always been teaching, many of his peers saw leadership qualities in him and encouraged him to go into administration. He was initially doubtful but soon realized that he could have an even greater impact as an administrator. He says, "I really loved being a principal and the concept of the principal as a master teacher. I was able to continue honing my craft while leading a school. My goal has been to not only promote multilingualism in education but also to create inclusive environments at the same time to ensure that those who receive special education services have the potential and skills to be completely biliterate."
Karling first became involved in CABE during its campaign against Prop 227 because he felt it was an attack on culture, families, and learning. He attended his first CABE conference in 1997 and in 2000, was recognized as the CABE Teacher of the Year. As a special education teacher, he conducted monthly Saturday sessions with parents, practicing math and reading games to help families and kids. After three years, he decided to stop the sessions, but the parents saw the value and pushed him to continue the program. He recalls, "That work with multilingual students and their families connected me even more with CABE." Karling went on to serve CABE as a board member, first as the Director of Parent Relations, then as President in 2007 and again in 2015, and later as the Director of Community Affairs. He currently serves as the Director of Financial Affairs. He says, "I don't think I could ever relate to any other organization the way I relate to CABE because of its level of commitment to students and families. I want to be a part of this organization in a very active way, and serving on the board is how I choose to do it."
In his free time, Karling, a history buff, loves to read historical fiction and non-fiction related to history and social justice. He loves music and dancing of all kinds. Reflecting on his journey, he says, "I am a mama's boy at heart and through the lens of my mom, I learned that a parent wants the very best for their child. Every day I feel compelled to honor that commitment and fulfill the promise to our families that we will do our best for kids....not just the best that we can do, but THE absolute best."
Meet Antoinette Hernández...
Antoinette "Toni" Hernández, the youngest of four siblings, was born and raised in southern California to loving and caring bilingual parents who were born in California to immigrant parents from Mexico. She was very engaged in extracurricular activities while growing up, participating in student government, drama class, basketball, cheerleading, and choir. Her love of teaching and language learning started at the young age of 9 during a summer trip to visit family in Mexico. She returned speaking and singing more Spanish and filled with curiosity to learn more about her Mexican culture.
After graduating, Toni married Rafael, her husband of 45 years, and moved to León, Guanajuato, Mexico, returning after one year to pursue a career as a language teacher in the Ontario Montclair School District as a bilingual teacher aide specialist in the Bilingual Resource Center. There she met and was inspired by the director, María Quezada. Together, they conducted language assessments for 27 schools in the district. Her family later returned to Mexico where she served as a certified English language teacher for the Tecnológico de Monterey Campus León. Her love and passion for teaching continued through her work at various bilingual institutions in Mexico. At the Instituto Cumbres León, she developed the English curriculum for a 50/50 Dual Immersion preschool and elementary program in her role as the director of the English Department, leading a team of 17 English teachers.
Taking part in many community events, Toni especially loved volunteering for the Hospital Materna Infantil, mentoring young mothers and their newborn infants. She later became a Montessori Guide at her daughter's preschool where she taught and developed the English curriculum. While always keeping family life and the bilingual education of her three daughters as a priority, she became a high school and university English teacher, developing curriculum to assist students with passing the TOEFL and GMAT exams, while also serving as a counselor to connect parents and teachers to ensure that students reached their potential.
After 30 years in Mexico, her family returned to California, where she reconnected with her lifelong inspirational leader, María Quezada, then the CEO of CABE. Dr. Quezada offered her the opportunity to work on the project later known as Project 2INSPIRE. This is where her passion for working with families throughout California was put into action.
Toni reflects, "I am very honored to be part of CABE and its Family and Community Engagement (FACE) team where I can share wisdom circles with families and schools to build community and the leadership of parents to support the success of their students, schools, and communities. It is also an honor to work for CABE alongside an inspiring team of FACE facilitators, leaders and colleagues. " She has built strong partnerships with districts statewide, and her support of the development of the Community Engagement Initiative has been instrumental in leveraging family and community strategies in districts for transformational change that promotes equity and inclusion.
Toni and Rafael are very proud of their bilingual, multicultural, and university-educated daughters: Jennifer (41), an international business Iberoamericana graduate and mother of three multilingual children—Samantha (15), Andres (11), and Mathias (9); Natalie (31), a psychology/social work Humboldt State graduate ; and Daniela (29), an educational leadership Harvard graduate. As a mom, she believes that everything begins with a vision and a dream and that if we support the dreams of our families, then our schools and communities will thrive!
CABE is honored to recognize...
Submit your article, narrative, poem or artwork by June 30th...
CABE Summer Spanish DLI Institute registration coming soon...
Is it time to renew your CABE membership?....
Learn about what's happening in local CABE Chapters....
CABE Congratulates 2023 Chapter of the Year Award Recipients!
Click below to read the
February 27th CABTE Report:
CABE Pepperdine was selected as Chapter of the Year with Honorable Mention for 2023! The chapter will be recognized at this year’s annual conference in March in Long Beach. The chapter also nominated an MAT a candidate for a Teachership. Finally, CABE Pepperdine continues to support future teachers by setting up a CABE table at the teacher recruitment fair for the teacher candidates completing their credential and masters program in March at Pepperdine University.

Faculty and graduate students at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) are presenters at this year’s annual conference:
Dr. Reyna García Ramos, is a featured speaker and her presentation is entitled: Tome la iniciativa: Preparándose para ser un padre/madre proactiv@ en el desarrollo académico de sus hijos
Dr. Kevin M. Wong, Yi Lu, Feidana Yalikun, and Xintian Ji (CABE Pepperdine chapter president). Online World Language Teaching: Lessons from Chinese Early Immersion Contexts.
Xuanyi Chen, CABE Pepperdine, chapter Director of Excellence is presenting on Dual teacher hybrid collaboration in K-6 STEM classes.
Día del Niño y de la Niña—The event will take place from 3 pm to 6 pm on Friday, April 28th at Ferns Park located on 750 W. Southwood Drive, Woodland, CA. Each child in attendance will receive a free book and a take home craft kit. Many community agencies will be available to provide families with information and resources. 
Check out the latest issue of SFABE's newsletter...
Other items of interest to the CABE Community...
A new guide intended for English learner and dual language learner advocacy organizations and individual advocates that provides guidance on how to approach and implement narrative change...
Comic Corner...
Contact the editor: Laurie Miles, Communications Coordinator, laurie@gocabe.org