July 2024 • Issue 81 • California Association for Bilingual Education

Important Dates and Deadlines

• July 1-3—Summer 2024 Dual Language Education Institute in San Diego
• July 26—Deadline for CABE 2025 Workshop and Institute Proposals

CABE Legislative Advocate Report

by Jennifer Baker

• Revised Budget Passed
• CABE Co-Sponsored Bill Update
• CABE BIll Update
• Remaining Legislative Calendar

Cynthia Vásquez Petitt was born in Lynwood, California, into a family of four, that included her parents and older sister. Her father, a Mexican American, tragically died in a car accident when she was very young. Her bilingual grandparents understood the value of their primary language and spoke only Spanish at home with their children. Cynthia had learned when her father began his first day of school as a Spanish-speaking kindergartener, he was sent home and told not to return until he had learned English. From that point on, her grandparents spoke mostly English with him and his younger siblings never learned to speak Spanish. Cynthia fondly remembers her father sometimes speaking Spanish to her and her sister and singing songs in Spanish

while he played his guitar. Her mother is a multilingual immigrant from the Philippines who speaks English, Spanish, and the Filipino languages and dialects of Tagalog, Chavacano, and Visayan. Cynthia's childhood was steeped in Filipino culture, highlighted by large family reunions and celebrations. When her mother remarried, the family grew from two children to ten—she was blessed to have six new sisters, one brother, and a baby sister on the way! 

Cynthia grew up in Whittier and Cypress, California in an ethnically homogenous neighborhood. Her elementary classes included very few students of color, and at age 12, her uncle taught her to pronounce her last name correctly, which she had heard her teachers and classmates mispronouncing for years. Knowing that she and her sister were the last in her family with the surname Vásquez, Cynthia wanted to learn about and connect more closely with her father’s cultural heritage, so she decided to learn Spanish through her secondary and college Spanish classes. She loved

school and excelled in math and science, receiving awards in Algebra, Science, and Spanish, thus in ninth grade, her classmates selected her as "Most Brain" for the yearbook. In high school Cynthia’s counselor told her about a new degree in Computer Science Engineering, a field with few women at the time. Recognizing Cynthia's strengths, the counselor encouraged her to apply. After starting the program at Long Beach State, she later switched her major to Communicative Disorders. She explains, "I was interested in helping children and wanted a more humanistic career." While in attendance, she got married, had her first child, and bought a five-acre ranch in Riverside. When her second child was born, she took a break from her studies to raise her children and tend to the one pig, eight horses, 20 chickens, five turkeys, one rabbit, 20 cats, and three dogs on the ranch. While working part-time as a bilingual instructional assistant, she was encouraged by the district's director of bilingual education to apply for the Bilingual Teacher Training Program (BTTP). She got accepted at CSU San Bernardino, where Dr. Bárbara Flores, now a CABE Board Member, was her professor in the credential program. She graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Studies with a bilingual/cross-cultural emphasis and later got an M.S. in Educational Leadership at CSU Fullerton. Cynthia was the only sibling in her family to attend university and obtain a degree.

After graduation, Cynthia began her teaching career at the elementary level, later transferring to a high school in the same district. She had six preps: Sheltered Algebra, ESL 1, 2, and 3, ELA, and a newcomer advisory class, while also serving as the designated LEP coordinator at the school. Cynthia remembers seeing many immigrant students who were very advanced in math and other subjects being placed in “sheltered” classes or were not able to enroll in honors classes until they learned English. Remembering how this impacted her father and her own learning of the Spanish language, she found herself advocating

for the students to have access to such courses and hoping to shift the mindsets of many teachers and counselors along the way. She says, "That's where my life-long journey of advocacy for an equitable education for immigrant and multilingual students really kicked into gear." When her family returned to Orange County, she was hired as a high school Spanish/ELD teacher. Soon after, she became the district's EL curriculum specialist and was trained by Estella Acosta for SB 395 to ensure that over 450 in-service teachers received their EL authorization.

Cynthia was trained as a teacher, coach, and lead trainer for the Title VII Project Write (now called WRITE) by Laurie Miles, who is currently CABE's Communications Manager. As the EL Coordinator and later the Director of EL and Multilingual Services, she expanded WRITE districtwide in both English and Spanish, worked to create closer collaboration between teachers of ELD and World Languages, and established the district's 7-12 Dual Language Academy. Cynthia also collaborated with Dr. Fernando Rodríguez-Valls at CSU Fullerton to develop the Summer Language Academy for newcomer students, which started with 70 students and now serves over 600 students from all over the world. Today, she serves CSUF in the College of Education as a clinical coach for preservice teachers in the World Language Program and supports those pursuing bilingual authorization.

Cynthia's first experience with CABE was when she was an instructional assistant in Riverside and was sent by the district to her first CABE conference circa 1987. "It was an amazing experience, and I was greatly influenced and inspired when my district then brought in experts in the field of English learner education-—Dr. Aida Walqui and Dr. Stephen Krashen-—to provide professional learning!" She continued to go to every SoCal CABE conference and served as an officer for the CABE Riverside Chapter and as secretary for the North Orange County CABE Chapter.  She also served on

the planning committees for various CABE conferences. After encouragement from CABE's then-CEO, Jan Gustafson-Corea, she applied for and was hired as CABE's Deputy Director from 2018 to 2020 and currently serves as CABE's Senior Program Advisor. When asked why working for CABE is important to her, she replied, "CABE's vision and mission align perfectly with my personal and professional values, and I have learned so much from the organization over the years. I feel very fortunate to work with many great directors and staff to support our teachers, administrators, students, and families statewide."

In her free time, Cynthia enjoys spending time with family: her husband Jeff, a retired commercial plumber; her son, Jordan; her daughter, Britton; her stepdaughter, Lauren; and her three angelitos, Knox, Declan, and Blake. She and her husband love camping and taking road trips all over the country, going hiking, tandem bike riding, and wine tasting. At home she enjoys quiet and peaceful moments reading, doing puzzles with her hubby, and raising chickens (again!).

This newly launched newsletter aims to be a daily news, commentary and audio outlet. It will cover everything through a specific lens that the Latino community demands. Subscribe for free below:

Announcing the theme of the upcoming Fall 2024 edition of Learning For Justice magazine: “Dialogue Across Difference.” This all-new edition of LFJ magazine will be packed with articles, resources, ideas, artwork and more. 

You Are Welcome Here (Free Poster from Learning for Justice)

All of us can benefit from feeling included, safe, seen and valued. These are simple but powerful concepts, and they are foundational for learning, mental health and well-being. Showing support and solidarity, even in relatively small ways, can make a big difference. By printing and displaying this new poster from LFJ—available in English or Spanish—you can offer a much-needed message of welcome.

The Center for Equity for English Learners is offering an innovative specialized course for Mandarin teachers in Multilingual/English Learner programs. Teachers can earn University Credit and Digital Badges! 

Our other CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS:

• Leadership in Equity for English Learner Education 
• TK/ECE Certificate Program & Practicum Academy |  
• Certificate for Teaching Academic Spanish in Grades PreK through 12

SIGNATURE INSTITUTES FOR FALL 2024

• Formative Assessment for Multilingual/EL Learners 
• Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL)
• Journalism for English Learners 

Contact the editor: Laurie Miles, Communications Manager, laurie@gocabe.org