Hydra Mendoza is considered a treasure to the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), as she has served in many roles. One of these is being the Executive Director of Parents for Public Schools since 2001.
Her many other SFUSD include serving as a community member on a number of important policy-changing committees and task forces like the Weighted Student Formula, Student Assignment Task Force, Family Hardship Appeals Committee (as Co-Chair), Thurgood Marshall Community Task Force and the Citizen Bond Oversight Committee (Vice Chair). Mendoza is also a core member of the Superintendent’s monthly parent roundtable.
In 2005, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom introduced Mendoza as the new Education Advisor, to replace outgoing Education Advisor Cedric Yap. That time, Mayor Newsom said that "Hydra’s personal experience as a mother, pre-school teacher, community organizer and active parent locally and district-wide make her the best person for this job."
In 2006, Mayor Newsom’s "first priority" was to elect Mendoza to the Board of Education. A first-time candidate who ran citywide in a field of 16 opponents, Mendoza received the second highest number of votes and became the first Filipina-American to be elected to the board, and the first Filipino-American since Dick Cerbatos and Rod McLeod, who served in the 1980s.
Mendoza graduated with a degree in Business Administration and Early Childhood Development.
(With information obtained from the SFUSD website.)
( Published on December 19, 2008 in Asian Journal San Francisco p. B1 )
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