September 10, 2004

ESUHSD board of trustees

Another Evergreen resident throws his hat in the ring

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Dedicated, honest, hard-working, an “atypical” politician—that’s how most attending Lan Nguyen’s kick-off barbecue in Evergreen described this candidate who is running for the East Side Union High School District board of trustees in the Nov. 2 election.

Nguyen garners strong support from leaders in the Asian-American community, and the Vietnamese-American community in particular, who sought long and hard for a serious candidate to provide more political representation in a city that has the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam.

Speakers at the kick-off event, however, stressed that Nguyen’s character, his education and his solid record of community service make him a good candidate to represent all students in the district, regardless of race.

“Lan has put a lot of himself into the community. He’s prepared for this role, and I think he’s right for it, not only as a Vietnamese-American candidate, but as an American candidate,” said Arthur Bao, executive director of the Friends of Hue.

“We cannot have a better person representing our community and our kids,” added Amor Santiago, human relations commissioner for Santa Clara County. “Lan has worked very hard with troubled youth, with youth who needed counseling and gang- involved youth at many agencies.”

“There’s wide support for him,” agreed Kim Singh, executive director of the Asian American Public Policy Institute.

Since the kick off, more than 20 community leaders and public officials have endorsed Nguyen’s campaign, including Richard Konda, executive director of the Asian Law Alliance (ALA); Nancy Pyle, Evergreen/San Jose City College board member; Councilmember Chuck Reed; Kansen Chu, vice president of the board of trustees for the Berryessa Union School District; and Madison Nguyen, Franklin-McKinley School District board member and the first Vietnamese-American female elected in the state of California.

Perhaps his most valuable endorsement comes from the East Side Teachers Association (ESTA).
Motivation for running

The soft-spoken Nguyen told his supporters at the kick-off barbecue that when he decided to run for the ESUHSD school board, he met and talked with a lot of teachers, parents, students, community leaders and elected officials who all wanted to know why he had decided to run for this office.

“If you’ve been raised in an Asian family that struggled to make it to the U.S., education became very important,” explained Nguyen. “Education has been a vital part of my life, and a good education is key to every student’s success. I would like to offer the same opportunity to our students that was offered to me to make sure that all students succeed.”

He continued, “Today I consider myself as a working professional, a contributing member of the community and standing right before you, I am a candidate for the East Side Union High School District all because of education.”
Nguyen’s priorities

Nguyen observed that a number of decisions made by the district’s leadership during the budget crunch appeared to have not been very well thought out and didn’t involve the major stakeholders. “I’d like to change that. I would like to work closely with the superintendent and the other [members of the] board of trustees to make sure that whatever decisions we make affecting teachers and students—we get their input.”

He also noted that more than 30 percent of the students in the district do not graduate from high school, and of those who do graduate, only about 30 percent actually go to college. “That is not acceptable and we need to change that,” said Nguyen.

“With your support, I would also like to work on issues that are very important to the students and teachers and to us,” he added. “I would like to improve the overall quality of education, decrease the number of drop-outs and increase the number of students who graduate. I also want to make sure public funds in the budget are appropriately and wisely spent, and together we can do that.”

County Supervisor Pete McHugh, who also endorsed Nguyen because of his proven community commitment, closed the kick-off event by stressing that this country belongs to the people who participate.

“So if we work for candidates that we know, that benefits everybody, because the whole system improves,” said McHugh. “If you sit by and just ignore things and let other people make decisions, that is a recipe for disaster. You have to participate, you have to make a difference, and we can elect Lan to the board. He will make a difference.”

“We all win with Lan Nguyen,” concluded Campaign Manager Brian Do.