I am a current Ravenswood School District parent, with a daughter at Los Robles-McNair and a son at IHSD Ravenswood. Raising my children in East Palo Alto is something that my husband and I dreamed of doing when we moved here. In East Palo Alto, my family has been blessed with a diverse community that is rich, deep, and tight-knit, with neighbors who treat one another like family. With your vote, I will use my past experiences teaching preschool and college classes to provide insight into educators' perspectives. My current work counseling high school students to prepare successful college applications helps me understand student needs in our district. With your vote, I will add a dynamic voice to the Ravenswood City School District Board. I am committed to the East Palo Alto community, and I will drive positive change for the benefit of our schools. Vote Jenny Varghese Bloom for Ravenswood City School District Board, and I promise to be an effective, well-informed, and deeply invested servant for the flourishing of our community.

I am a public credentialed special education teacher working in the redwood city school distict, and i have been working for 30 years as an educator. I am a mother of four adut children. I am an immigrant from Mexico. I came to this country when I was twenty years old. 

I have been enrdorsed by Ruben Abrica (former mayor of east palo alto, and current council member), Carlos Romero(current vice-mayor), Ken Dauber(PAUSD School Board Member), Todd Collins (PAUSD board president),Shounak Dharap(Vice-President), and Kirsten Keith(Former menlo park mayor)

I started my career as a laborer on a construction site and worked my way up to superintendent.  Now, I am a labor manager for a large construction firm.  I am married to a 20-year teacher in the Ravenswood district, Jesusita Rivera.  We have two children who we have raised East Palo Alto, our home of 20 years.  I became a U.S. citizen in order to run for school board.  

In the construction industry, I have learned to work as a team player to get a job done.  I have learned to be efficient in order to get projects completed on time and not waste money.  I have also learned the importance of communication.

I seek to use the skills I have learned in my career to be an effective board member, safeguarding taxpayer money, making efficient decisions and working as a team with my fellow board members to get our job done.  I seek to remove obstacles to progress, not to be an obstacle to progress.   

I support the work of our Superintendent of RCSD, Gina Sudaria and her 5 year strategic plan.  I would like to help implement the plan quickly and efficiently.  

I am endorsed by the Ravenswood Teachers Association, the California School Employee Association, the Mayor of East Palo Alto, Regina Wallace Jones, and the San Mateo County Democratic Party.

I have been an advocate for working people my entire professional career, whether as a unionized firefighter, a manager at Stanford University or today as a contract negotiator.  Beginning as an Emergency Medical Technician on an ambulance crew I have literally saved lives in our community.  I also became a volunteer fire fighter and then fire fighter deepening my experience in medical provision, emergency response and saving lives.  I have had a quality PUBLIC education until college, where I entered the private system.  Today I am a contract negotiator and run a team in San Jose representing union workers.  I have negotiated successful contracts that put more money in working families pockets so they may better meet their needs at home.  The most recent contract I negotiated was in excess of 2.2 billion dollars.  The importance of my daily job is reflected in every person I serve, and my primary duty is to safeguard their workplace rights, wages and ability to care for their families as well as better serve the public.  In my role as chief contract negotiator and union leader I have had to forensically examine budgets, weave together disparate communities, politically lobby and build coalitions to craft a successful contract ALL parties can agree to in a public, Brown Act environment.    

My unique skills in policy expertise, budget canny and coalition building experience is exactly our district needs to benefit our students.

I am guided by some foundational principals that are focused on our community.  I will always do what leads to a more educated, healthy and just District, City and Country.  

I am a liberal and I believe our strongest asset and best hope for the future is our children.  Right now we are failing our children, Ravenswood is not a District of first choice.  It pains me to say that, and I wish it wasn't so.  We must be honest and active about our shortcomings if we are to build anew our educational fabric.  There are talented and wonderful students, teachers, staff and parents in our community and we should all be encouraged by the dedication so many of us have shown.  

It is not enough.  In addition to that goodwill we also face daunting challenges of unstable home life, unreliable nutrition, distance learning with Covid, and scant economic resources.  Our whole community must come together to vigorously debate and find new ways of bettering education.  It is not enough to simply say quality education is a priority we must build quality in a real, planned way.  

That means solid apprecnticeship programs for those intending to work immediately after high school.  It means learning from other districts that have already turned the corner on hiring more and better teachers and staff.  Mobilizing our fundraising with community partners and listening to all residents how we can better serve them.  

Caolition building to find solutions in an open environment where ALL opinions and facts are weighed is how I will conduct business on the Board.