Education Support Services Entrepreneur
Ray Zulueta, Jr., is a fourth generation Stocktonian, husband, and father of three.[1] Zulueta and his siblings each attended Nightingale Elementary, Hamilton Middle, and Franklin High School in Stockton, and both his mother and grandmother were employed by SUSD.
Zulueta graduated from the University of the Pacific with a degree in communication and media studies in 2013. He proceeded to hold various jobs, including as a project coordinator with the NAACP,[2] that he says led him to realize his passion for education.[3] Today, he owns an educational support services business that serves the Stockton community.
Zulueta has said that his experience meeting with administrators, teachers, parents, and students has revealed that members of the SUSD community do not feel heard or connected. As a new school board member representing Trustee Area 4, he promises to hear and connect the community.
Additional priorities that Zulueta has highlighted include:
- Promoting technical education and craftsmanship in schools – by bringing back classes like woodshop, engineering and agriculture.
- Expanding resources to support the expression of cultural identity – by growing access to counselors, interventions, and spaces to allow students to express who they are.
- Community policing and outreach – that supports building positive relationships, without but does defunding the police.
- Restorative justice practices – to inform staff on culturally supportive best practices.
- Frequent sanitation of common areas – a basic necessity that requires additional funding.
- Voting against new charter school developments – to prioritize SUSD infrastructure.
Sources:
[1] “Raymond C. Zulueta Jr.,” Facebook.
[2] “Raymond Zulueta,” LinkedIn.
[3] “Ray Zulueta, Jr.,” Candidate Statements – San Joaquin County Registrar Of Voters.