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School board candidate stresses parental involvement

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Armed with a basic knowledge of the English language and few expectations, school board candidate Fidel Mora moved to the United States from Mexico more than two decades ago to build a better life.

Twenty-six years later, the 42-year-old is using that same desire for improvement in his attempt to vie for a seat on the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of education in November.

Mora, the owner of a small house-cleaning service and father of two, will take on incumbent Walt Davenport and stay-at-home mother Lisa Manfredi in his pursuit to represent Area 7, which consists of several elementary schools on the Westside, including Pomona, Victoria and Whittier.

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His oldest daughter, Kiara, 22, attended Whittier Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Newport Harbor High before UC Irvine. She recently graduated with a degree in biology.

Mora’s younger daughter, Neila, 13, is a student at Ensign.

After watching his two daughters attend Westside schools, and as a long-time resident of the area, Mora said he would provide a unique perspective as a school board trustee.

He said the lack of parent involvement, especially in the Latino community that makes up a large portion of the Westside, is a problem that affects school performance.

“We all have to work really late to provide for our families,” he said. “Most of the parents I know are always at work. You have to work hard, but you still have to be engaged in your kids’ education.”

If elected, Mora said he would like to create night classes for parents that would help them learn the skills necessary to help their children with homework, which is often a struggle.

When Mora first moved to Costa Mesa, he took classes at then-Davis Middle School to learn English two nights a week for four years. He said reinstating similar district-run classes would help motivate Westside parents become more involved with their children’s schooling.

Parental engagement is key to improving test scores in some of the city’s lower-performing schools, he said.

Class sizes in Westside elementary schools is another issue that demands the school board’s attention, he said. Mora would like to see class sizes reduced at the elementary level to no more than 25 students.

He would also like to institute a program like AVID — a course that assists middle and high school students with tutoring and other support services — in Westside elementary schools.

“AVID was a program that allowed teachers to guide my daughter into a path that would get her into college,” he said. “Without that, there’s no way I would have been able to help her get where she is today.”

The teachers’ union endorsed Mora’s campaign because of his knowledge and experience as a parent on the Westside, said Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers President Kimberly Claytor.

“It was a difficult choice,” Claytor said of the selection process. “But Fidel has the most connection to the area.”

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