My family has called East San Jose home for decades. I went through Alum Rock Union School District from kindergarten through eighth grade and later returned to serve as a teacher and principal. ARUSD shaped me, and it pains me to see a destructive cycle of superintendent turnover, fueled by a dysfunctional board, repeat endlessly....

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is preparing to debate a countywide proposal that once again unfairly targets local restaurants and immigrant business owners — piling new, unnecessary burdens on more than 1,600 small businesses already struggling to survive. I know how damaging it can be when new regulations target one industry while leaving...

Billboards are signs advertising products and services not available at the sign’s location. Such in-your-face advertising was justifiably banned on public property in San Jose for 46 years before the City Council in 2018 revoked that ban with limited public knowledge or approval. Last February, the council approved the first of several giant digital billboards,...

Even on vacation—between coastal drives and indulging my 9-year-old’s joy at Disneyland—I can’t stop thinking about Mayfair. While exploring one of Santa Barbara’s gentrifying neighborhoods, a street sign caught my eye: Sal Si Puedes—Spanish for “get out if you can.” I was stunned. How could such a loaded phrase be casually embedded in the landscape?...

What do a video game controller, ironing board, microwave, drone, Rubik’s cube and rice cooker have in common? None of them should be in our local waterways, yet all these items were among the litter removed during this year’s National River Cleanup Day. Every spring, I’m reminded of the incredible power of community. On National...

Public education in America is in crisis. As institutions across the county contend with an ideological shift, the Santa Clara County Office of Education is intent on implementing broad austerity instead of ensuring care, access and equity to all. In March, layoff notices abruptly called for a 25% reduction of its workers without a contingency...

This past weekend, the Gilroy Garlic Festival returned for the first time since 2019. For many, it’s a cause for celebration — a beloved tradition revived, a symbol of community strength and resilience. But for families like ours, it’s not a celebration. It’s a painful reminder of what we lost. The last time the festival...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) training programs were developed to promote a varied, vibrant workforce prepared to innovate solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems, from cancer treatment and drug discovery, to fire management and renewable resources. Scientists studying such problems not only need to follow specific procedures to...

When I was in my 30s, I went to Lincoln Law School in San Jose part-time and earned my Juris Doctor degree. I was able to pass the Bar Exam and become a practicing attorney all while raising a family and working a full-time job — furthering my education at a pace and price I...