It’s official. Teacher Raquel Zamora Challenges the Establishment.
A week before the deadline to officially file her candidacy for LAUSD’s Board District 2, Raquel Zamora was worried… well, just a little.
“I haven’t gotten the signatures yet, I’m barely halfway, and there are only a few days left… these rainy days set me back, but I’ll start again tomorrow,” she told Parriva.
A few days later, Zamora, a 20-year teacher in the school district, became the first to collect over 800 signatures supporting her candidacy, officially filing first and becoming a serious contender against Dr. Rocío Rivas, the current Board member for District 2.
“It’s just that my friends, the people who help me, are very indecisive; they leave everything until the last minute,” she laughs.
“But it was quite a show,” she laughs again. “In the last days, people helped me at the restaurant, the woman who sells flowers, the hairdresser, everyone—neighbors and people who’ve known me for years. Martha Jiménez, the legendary florist of East L.A., helped me a lot; the rest was easy,” Zamora says.
This points to an election that will be fiercely contested. Dr. Rocío Rivas has the backing of UTLA and other establishment sectors. Zamora will become the grassroots candidate, relying on students, parents, and teachers for a possible victory.
“They saw me as small and big-eared,” (me vieron chiquita y orejona) she laughs. “They thought I wouldn’t get the signatures. They were wrong; I have a lot of people supporting me.”
Zamora already anticipates a tight race, in which she will face attacks from Rivas’ supporters. That doesn’t worry her.
“I don’t care that UTLA supports her; I will continue my campaign with the people, the community, a town that loves me as I love them. That cares about me as I care about them. The fight has already begun. They knew very well that I had officially entered the race and started attacking me. They published things against me. The union has already started going door to door. Yesterday, they went to the house of some of my friends—a huge surprise when they said, ‘I support Zamora,’” the candidate says.
Parriva has contacted Dr. Rocío Rivas for an interview, but her team responded that they were reviewing the request.
Now Zamora is focused on the next step of her campaign: raising funds for advertising, event organization, and other expenses. She is happy to have the community’s support and says she already has dozens of volunteers ready to start going door to door with her message.
“It’s not that I want to join the school board just to be there. I’ve spent 20 years inside classrooms; I know what’s missing, I know the experiences students go through, and I want to bring to the board the important issues we need to discuss: school equity, more mental health services, more resources for students, empowering parents, minimizing disruption after all the scandals that have happened in LAUSD—I want the students’ learning process to be affected as little as possible. There will be cuts, there’s no avoiding it, but my fight is to minimize the impact on teaching and learning,” Zamora says.
The candidate comes across as a conciliatory and proactive voice.
“It’s time to ask, ‘What are we going to do? How are we going to assess the district’s problems? How are we going to prevent LAUSD from sinking?’” she adds.
Zamora has positioned herself as a candidate representing “La Raza.” She wants to bring those voices to the School Board’s solemn meetings.
“The community has already started contributing money. My dentist gave me $500, at the store $20, and so on. The community, the streets, will speak for themselves. Yesterday, a friend of mine called me; she works at Verizon. She invited me to an event honoring women. I’m going to go—I couldn’t afford the ticket, but my friend knows I’ll benefit from the networking…” and she laughs again, reflecting her simplicity. “I even bought a dress, I went to Ross, I’ll go in a light pink or purple one…”
Without a doubt, that spontaneous way of being is what draws people to her.
“My loyalty is to the students, my fellow teachers, and the parents. Every day I interact with 50 schools, I’ve spent so much time educating, helping fix what’s been broken. It’s time for a teacher—me or someone else—to represent our district. I would say one thing: Don’t be overconfident. I know you’re nervous, and you should be. Underestimating the power of the community is a mistake,” she concludes.
