By: Ayla Ozturk
On January 27th, 2022, Board President Juan Guerrero sat among the students of Redwood High School to hear what they had to say. Guerrero has represented Trustee Area 2 since 2001 and served as Board President since 2015. He served 2007-2009 as well.
Redwood ASB started holding student equity meetings in Fall 2021. A member of the Board was invited to speak at a meeting last semester. Unfortunately, they had to cancel at the last minute due to personal reasons.
After students reached out with concerns, Guerrero offered to attend the next meeting.
Guerrero interacts with students on, at most, a weekly basis. He visits classrooms and regularly hosts workshops for students attending Sequoia High School.
At the Equity Meeting, Winter Formal was a popular topic. Some students were concerned that the dance was taking funds away from Spring Fling and Prom. According to Principal Matt Shin, the formal is put on by Visalia Unified School District [VUSD]. Redwood ASB “doesn’t pay a penny.”
Another prevalent topic was students’ concern about the lack of the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the day.
Kyla Seitz, class of 2022, attended the meeting and was more than willing to speak up.
She says it was “really reassuring” to have Guerrero come to the meeting.
Seitz is the President of Redwood’s Gay-Straight Alliance [GSA]. She advocates for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly students at Redwood.
She attends equity forums to convey the voice and concerns of LGBTQ+ students.
Seitz strongly believes LGBTQ+ issues need to be addressed, which she planned to do at the meeting.
She expresses, “I don’t necessarily believe a lot of the stuff talked about were things I felt were pressing issues, but everyone’s worries have to be heard which is fair and understandable.”
Seitz feels her voice was heard “to an extent.”
Guerrero referred to ideas she had brought up while he was talking, which Seitz says was “cool to hear”
Seitz provided detailed feedback on how the meeting was planned and the discussions overall.
She believes that ASB should not create agendas in advance. Seitz shares, “I had other topics I felt should have been discussed that weren’t [discussed].”
In her eyes, the meeting was “very ASB issue centric.” She believes that student equity forums are not “solely ASB entities,” as a vast majority of the student population are not involved in ASB.
She adds, “A lot of ASB has similar experiences and ideologies that I don’t necessarily share.”
Kailynn Rios, class of 2022, went to the meeting as well. She expected to be anxious but when talking to Guerrero but was surprised when she “didn’t feel much different.”
Rios states, “I get nervous when talking to adults. So, it [the meeting] was nice, better than I expected.”
Once she “sees the actions,” she will feel her voice was heard.
“I was really proud of our Redwood students of showing our support for the campus” she states.
Rios expresses her concluding thoughts, “I felt like there were a lot of other different opinions, which was really nice to see.”
If students want to contact Guerrero, Shin, and the other board members, their emails are below:
| Area: [find yours here] | Board Member | |
| Area 1 | Board Clerk Walta Gamoian | wgamoian@vusd.org |
| Area 2 | Board President Juan Guerrero | jguerrero@vusd.org |
| Area 3 | Joy Naylor | jnaylor@vusd.org |
| Area 4 | Catalina Blair | cblair@vusd.org |
| Area 5 | Megan Casebeer Soleno | mcasebeersoleno@vusd.org |
| Area 6 | Randy Villegas | rvillegas@vusd.org |
| Area 7 | Jacquline Gaebe | jgaebe@vusd.org |
| Outside the Board | Redwood Principal Matt Shin | mshin@vusd.org |
Ayla Ozturk
Ayla Ozturk, class of 2024, is a fourth-year journalism student passionate about leading the News section. She is dedicated to informing students and amplifying their voices through Government and Politics writing.
You can reach her at ayla.oz3769@vusd.us.
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