June 2023 • Issue 68 • California Association for Bilingual Education

Important Upcoming Dates in this Newsletter:

TODAY! June 5 at 11:59 pm—CABE Board Election Voting Deadline (Members: check inbox for ballot!)

June 12—Registration Deadline for CABE Summer Spanish DLI Institute

June 15—Deadline for Sponsor/Exhibitor Registration for CABE Summer Spanish DLI Institute

June 15—Budget Call to Action Deadline for Contacting Governor and Legislators

June 28-30—CABE Summer Spanish DLI Institute

June 30—Submission deadline for 2024 Multilingual Educator magazine

July 1—New CEO joins CABE Tean; current CEO transitions to Senior Advisor position

July 28—Submission deadline for CABE 2024 Call for Workshop and Institute Proposals

CABE Legislative Advocate Report

by Jennifer Baker

• CABE/Californians Together 2023 Co-Sponsored Legislation Update
• CABE Responds to Governor's Reading Screening Proposal
• Legislature Begins Formalizing Budget Votes
• Legislative Analyst's Office Raises Fiscal Concerns
• CABE-Supported Legislation Moving Forward

Born in East LA, Gloria Ulloa Rodríguez, grew up in Keystone, an urban barrio in Carson, the 2nd oldest of 11 children. Her mother's family immigrated from Mexico in the 1920s and settled in Redondo Beach, where they worked as farmworkers. Her father came to the US via the Bracero program and met her mom on a farm where they were both working. In the 50s and 60s, the LA County schools did not meet the needs of the Mexican American community, but she and her siblings were able to maintain their culture and some of their Spanish because of their parents, who also pushed education.  Her parents encouraged the children to participate in the public library and neighborhood program activities. 

The summer before her senior year, she was invited to participate in one of the youth leadership programs held at university campuses that began during the Chicano civil rights movement. She notes that this inspired her more to improve her education and that of her community. She began tutoring other students in local schools and neighborhood programs. After graduating from high school, she worked for a year to contribute to the family, she then enrolled in LA Harbor College. She later transferred to UC Santa Barbara, majoring in sociology, and ultimately pursued a teaching credential. After graduating, she landed a position as a kindergarten teacher in a new bilingual program and later served as a multicultural resource teacher and a 3rd/4th-grade bilingual classroom teacher. Gloria says that she felt very supported by CABE conferences which provided her with critical information and strategies for her classroom.

In the early 80s, her family moved to Woodland, where her husband got a position at CSU Sacramento, and she obtained a teaching position at Beamer Elementary School in the Woodland Joint USD. Gloria worked as a Title VII resource teacher, expanding the DL program into middle school, implementing a large technology grant, and providing parent education. After getting her administrative credential, she transferred to the child development program, creating infant/toddler programs at the district's high school, continuation, and adult education programs, and expanding the state preschool program. 

Gloria retired in 2010 and began serving on the board of trustees for the Woodland public library and on the WJUSD's Equity Committee. She works with CABE Yolo/Woodland Chapter 76 to provide scholarships to students wanting to become bilingual teachers. This CABE Chapter also collaborates with other agencies to do the annual Día del Niño fair, the monthly Club del Libro, and other projects.  Gloria has served as chapter secretary/treasurer, vice president, and president. She explains, "Being involved in CABE is important so that we can support our students and families and promote CABE's vision and mission. CABE is a vehicle for taking action at the local and state levels, bringing awareness to important issues, and having a collective voice. CABE's advocacy efforts were critical during difficult political shifts. In the aftermath of Prop. 227, our district was able to maintain its dual language program, thanks to our persistence and CABE's support. I am proud to continue my advocacy as the Region 3 Representative on CABE's Board of Directors."

In her free time, Gloria enjoys spending time with her husband and adult children—Samuel (48), an HBO producer; Omar (39), an Apple video curator; Teresa (49), a 5th-grade bilingual immersion teacher; and Celena (44), also a 5th-grade teacher. She loves caring for her nine grandchildren and is very proud of the fact that the four oldest have received the State Seal of Biliteracy.

Gloria likes traveling and spends half the year in their second home in Puerto Vallarta. She is an avid quilter, incorporating indigenous fabrics and cultural images, such as Día de Los Muertos and Lotería, into her quilts. Her husband, Cirenio, has just finished his memoir, "Journey of a Chicano Activist," and they both advocate for equity at the state and local levels.

Dr. Reyna García Ramos, the oldest of three siblings, was born in Tijuana to parents who had migrated there from the state of Guerrero. Her father came to the US in the late 60s to work for a restaurant owner who later sponsored her family's immigration when she was four. As a kindergartener, she remembers sitting with her dad at the kitchen table practicing writing her name and address, and today, Reyna reminds her teacher candidates, "Literacy starts in the home!" She started learning English in school and describes it as a lonely, isolating experience. She recalls an incident on Valentine's Day in 2nd grade when her classmates were angry that she didn't have any valentines to share. She wasn't aware of the tradition but knew she knew she had missed out on something that day and thought it was her fault. 

Ironically, when her family moved back to Acapulco in 3rd grade, she experienced the same feelings of discrimination and non-acceptance. Her classmates made fun of her for not having proficient literacy skills in Spanish. She remembers, "The environment was rough. I was sent to three different schools, including a preschool with 5-year-olds. It was humiliating." Ultimately, her parents placed her in private tutoring, where she learned to read and write in Spanish.  Upon the family's return to the US, she entered a bilingual program where she realized for the first time that two languages are better than one. She became bilingual and biliterate and began to enjoy school. Education was always important to her family, and summers were a time to catch up and go to the library with mom, where they read and wrote book reports, later reading them aloud to their dad, who asked many follow-up questions. Reyna later realized that this was also helping the literacy and knowledge of her parents, whose education was limited to elementary school. "My family was doing intergenerational literacy before I even knew what that was!" 

When she informed her HS counselor that she wanted to go to UCLA, she was told that community college was her only option. While attending a UCLA recruitment workshop, she learned that due to her academic success, she was eligible to apply. After her acceptance to UCLA, her father insisted that she return to the counselor to let her know that she had been wrong! As a first-generation student, she was one of only two kids in her neighborhood to attend college. While at UCLA, Reyna joined MECHA, which provided a context for her experiences growing up, and she helped start the Chicano Education Project to provide college access information to high school students. During college, she worked as an instructional aide at LAUSD and fell in love with teaching and working with kids and families. She remembers telling her family, "I think I found my career!" She graduated with BA in History and a minor in Latin American Studies. During the 1986 IRCA federal legislation, she worked at a community organization teaching adults who had to clear their immigration status, teaching classes in English and government. At the same time, she worked at the Tomás Rivera Center on a Ford Foundation project studying Hispanic-serving IHEs on recruitment practices of Latino teachers. While working on her MA, she transferred to UC Santa Barbara to begin her doctoral work in Educational Psychology. After getting her Ph.D., she began a tenure-track position at Pepperdine University in teacher education and research method courses and, most recently, courses in virtual learning. 

When Reyna was the assistant coordinator of a bilingual program, she heard about a "big conference happening in town" where she could learn about best practices. That was her first CABE conference, where she found her professional family. In 2006, she started the Pepperdine CABE chapter in hopes it would help the university see the value of developing a bilingual authorization program. That program is now in development, and the CABE Pepperdine Chapter has been instrumental in the process. Shortly after establishing the chapter, she joined the CABE Board as Director of Legislative Affairs because "I was ready to lend my leadership to an organization doing amazing work, an organization that never shies away from advocacy work." Also, the passage of Prop 227 motivated her to become even more involved in statewide leadership. In 2022, Reyna rejoined the Board as the Region 3 Representative. Reflecting on her career, she says, "I am a big fan of mentoring. I got where I am because of great teachers and mentors." She still mentors many former students, telling them, "You are a teacher today, but one day you will be the next teacher educator, as well."

In her free time, Reyna is an avid vegetable gardener and enjoys long-distance cycling with her husband on weekends as a way to exercise and spend time together.  They have two boys, Miguel, a data analyst for a research firm, and Xulián), a senior at Pepperdine University studying economics and math.

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