Courtesy photo
- Occupation: Strengthening Families outreach program counselor with Summit County Youth and Family Services
- Hometown: born in Merida, Venezuela; moved to the USA in 1992 (speaks Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese)
- Family: husband and three children ages 19, 17 and 4
- Civic involvement: Youth Mental Health First Aid certified instructor, Child Passenger Safety Technician certified, Pyramid Plus certified, Head Start Policy Counsel member, Feria de Salud (9 Health Fair) founding committee member, Summit County Child Passenger Safety Coalition founder and Trust-Based Relational Intervention trained.
My name is Gloria Quintero, and I’m running for Summit
School District’s Board of Education.
I have degrees in accounting and international business and
a master’s degree in social and human sciences. I currently work with families
at risk and/or in crises. Before that, I worked with Public Health and Early
Intervention, which ensures that children ages birth to 3 with developmental
delays get the help they require. I have seen firsthand the hard decisions that
working families in Summit County have to make when their children with
developmental delays turn 3 years old. While the public school system offers
some therapy, those preschools have limited enrollment, high tuition fees and
fill less than 28 hours of the child’s week. As a result, the majority of working
parents opt for private preschools that aren’t compelled to monitor special
needs. Children who receive therapy in private settings have to pay their
therapists out of pocket. I’m a Summit County employee, and even my insurance
will not cover these expenses — roughly $160 per week for the minimum suggested
counseling. Often children’s special needs go unmet until kindergarten, two
years later. It is a shame that something like dyslexia, which is already
stressful for the family, would be enough to force residents out of Summit
County. But more tragic would be not meeting the child’s needs. Failing to get
adequate help during these crucial developmental years could put them at a
life-long disadvantage.
The above example offers only a glimpse from the parent’s
perspective.
Unmet social and emotional needs have repercussions for
teachers, classmates, those classmates’ parents and schools’ administrations.
The trickle-down effect of early detection and intervention leads to less class
disruption, thus freeing teachers to spend less time disciplining and more time
teaching.
Shoring up lapses in services will be a slow, gradual
process, but the effects will be felt throughout the school district.
Our teachers also need Summit County living wages to let
them focus on our students without worrying about secondary employment. All of
the candidates I’ve spoken with have that belief in common. I was endorsed by
the Summit County Education Association, not because I’m fighting for those
teachers’ wages, but because I’m eyeing long-term strategies even they don’t
know to ask for.
I urge voters to look not only at all 10 School Board candidates’
strengths, backgrounds and priorities but those of everyone already on the
school board. No one else has the background to represent the groups I’ve made
a career of helping. It’s important to bear in mind that the four candidates
chosen Nov. 5 are not being tapped to overhaul some broken system. We’re being
elected to work with the existing system, representing our ever-diversifying
community’s interests. I don’t view the school board as a stepping stone to a
career in politics, and I don’t like anything about campaigning. I’m running
because it’s important that someone with my knowledge gets in a position to
effect positive change.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Find more election coverage at SummitDaily.com/election.