Maryvale born and raised young mother to join her school district’s board

Cassandra Hernández started attending Cartwright Elementary School District 83 school board meetings as a child with her mother, former Cartwright school board member and recently elected Arizona state representative Lydia Hernández.

Hernández, then 6, would attend these sessions without fully understanding what would happen, but she rarely missed one, she said.

On November 5, some 13 years later, at age 19, Hernández cast her ballot as a first-time voter while other registered voters cast their ballots for her to serve a ballot. four-year mandate at the Cartwright Elementary School District 83 school board, where more than 80 percent of students identify as Latino.

She will begin her four-year term on January 1.

A child from Maryvale

Born to an immigrant father and South Texas farm worker turned current state lawmaker mother, Hernández said she was born and raised in the Maryvale neighborhood of west Phoenix, where she attended the Justine Spitalny STE³AM School and the Glenn L Academy of Social Sciences. Downs, both in the Cartwright Elementary School District.

Located in west Phoenix, Maryvale Village is home to 221,353 people who, according to U.S. Census data, identify as Hispanic and make up more than 70 percent of the population. At least six school districts are calling The house in the West Valley neighborhood.

Cartwright Elementary School District 83 is a West Valley school district serving 14,000 students, 83 percent of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to the district. website and the National Center for Education Statistics.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the majority, just over 40%, of parents in the Cartwright neighborhood did not graduate from high school; 37.9% graduated from high school; 18.2% had a college or associate’s degree; and only 3.2% earned a bachelor’s degree or higher.

These statistics, as well as Hernández’s successful journey in overcoming the odds, inspired her to run for the school board.

“I beat the odds, man. I really did,” Hernández said.

She began losing friends to suicide, drug abuse, and gun violence at age 12.

By her freshman year of high school, Hernández said she understood the impact a proper schooling could have on her future. Becoming a mother at 16 only cemented this, deciding to transfer from Maryvale High School in the Cartwright District to Linda Abril Education Academy in the Phoenix Union High School District.

She credits her son and mother for her community service journey.

Like mother, like daughter

When Hernández was in sixth grade, she said she remembers many of her friends coming up to her and talking to her about problems they were having at home.

They told her about their problems without knowing who her mother was.

“Mom would know what to do,” said Hernández, the thought that would cross his mind as he listened to his friends.

Her mother faced her fair share of struggles, raising three children and fighting her husband’s immigration case, but Hernández admired that she always found a way to bounce back.

“My whole life has been giving back to this community,” Hernández said.

She was always involved in helping her mother from a very young age, canvassing on her behalf every time there was an election.

This year, while campaigning to support his mother’s run for the state legislature, he realized he wanted to run for the school board where he grew up.

She sat down with the soon-to-be elected representative and told him about her aspirations, all of which came to her after talking to Maryvale voters. The experience of talking to voters triggered an emotional response, she said.

Given her mother’s legacy of community service, Hernández said she is often asked if she will follow in the same footsteps. During the interview with The Arizona Republic, she did not comment on this, but agreed that much of her guidance on the school board will come from her mother.

A platform for 19 years

During the election cycle, Hernández answered a poll from The Arizona Republic that asked school board candidates what issues they prioritized. In her response, Hernández wrote that young people her age face a lack of education and opportunities.

In an interview with The Republic, Hernández did not specify how he would approach this, but said he plans to take on his role, ready to learn what is being done and what can be changed.

Asked how she would address the fears Latino and immigrant communities face about the passage of Proposition 314, Hernández said she recognized the harsh realities of many Maryvale students. Her father, an immigrant from Mexico, fought his immigration case for years.

However, she said she supports law enforcement in schools, but did not clarify in what capacity. The Cartwright district currently has school resource officers on campuses.

The main provision of Proposition 314 – which makes illegal international border crossing a state crime – did not go into effect. That part of the measure, the Secure the Border Act, has been singled out by critics as potentially disastrous for immigrant and Latino communities because of feared civil rights abuses.

The provision is based on a court ruling that Texas Senate Bill 4, or another law similar to Proposition 314, is upheld by the courts. The Texas law, challenged by the US Justice Department under President Joe Biden’s administration, has been blocked in the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“When you see a policeman, what do you think? I, growing up, was scared,” Hernández said. However, she said the point of enforcing the law in schools is to make sure “we have a backbone to lean on. If something goes wrong, who’s to say? You don’t know what can happen, so law enforcement should be instilled in schools.”

Hernández also said she is against the current four-day school week adopted by the district during pandemic.

Hugo Rodríguez, spokesman for Cartwright Elementary School District 83, told The Republic in a 2023 interview that the program was favored by parents and, at the time, improved attendance by 93%. The schedule change made the district more attractive to teachers, he said.

Hernández, however, noted how strongly this affects students who face harrowing circumstances, leaving them with few safe places to go after school. The program, she said, also makes her feel like education is less of a priority.

With no previous experience in public office, but with all the encouragement from her mother, Hernández acknowledged her age and compared this experience to starting school. There will be a lot of learning, she told herself.

“I want to be able to be an inspiration because I’m so young,” Hernández said.

Hernández celebrated his 20th birthday on December 6, about a month after winning his electoral candidacy. She celebrated by receiving her Certificate of Election as a board member from the Maricopa County School Superintendent’s Office.

In an Instagram post, she wrote, “… the hard work is done, but it has only just begun! What an honor”.

Ask La Voz reporter David Ulloa Jr. at the address [email protected].