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OLIVIA YAHYA, PRESIDENT
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Westminster School District, Executive Director of Language Acquisition

OLIVIA YAHYA is the President of the CABE Board of Directors for the term of 2019-2021. She has more than 30 years of experience as a bilingual educator, promoting multilingualism and equity for students and parents. She has a BS in Education from the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico and a MS in Educational Leadership Academy from Pepperdine University. Additionally, she holds a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with a BCLAD in Spanish and an Administrative Service Credential. She recently retired as the Executive Director of Language Acquisition at Westminster School District. Previously, she served as the Coordinator of Services for English Learners for the Saddleback Valley Unified School District where she coordinated and managed the District’s Services for the English Learners Department and the School Readiness Program; She has provided training in AB 2913 certification for school districts in Orange, Imperial, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego Counties.

In addition to co-writing and chairing the curriculum and application for SB 395 and SB 1292, she was also a lead member of the six-county PROMISE Initiative grant program to create systemic change focusing on biliteracy and multiculturalism. Olivia was also a member on the Community Advisory Committee for National University and has served on various State committees.

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ELODIA ORTEGA-LAMPKIN, PAST PRESIDENT
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Lodi Unified School District, Assistant Superintendent

Elodia Ortega-Lampkin is currently the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education in the Lodi Unified School District. She is also President–Elect of the California Association of Bilingual Education(CABE) and a City Planning Commissioner in Woodland, California. A former migrant worker and migrant student, she began her career in education as a California Mini-Corps Tutor. Her career includes more than 20 years of experience in California public schools serving as a Tutor, Bilingual Teacher, Adult Education Teacher, Resource Teacher, Mini-Corp Summer Program Coordinator, Middle School Vice-Principal, Elementary Principal, Director of English Learner Services, and Director of Elementary Education.

As the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education, she currently oversees educational programs for 32 elementary schools in the San Joaquin Valley serving over 15,000 students. She has been recognized by ACSA Region III as “Administrator of the Year for Curriculum & Instruction” 2013, Yolo County Family Resource Center “Champion for Children Award” 2012, and the recipient of the Yolo County Mexican-American Concilio “Pilar Andrade Award” 2011. Her career passion has been to create cultures that embrace and promote inclusiveness, biliteracy, multicultural awareness and rigorous instructional programs with high expectations for all students, particularly English Learners.

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DR. ANNIE RODRÍGUEZ, VICE PRESIDENT
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
San Francisco Unified School District (retired)

Dr. Annie Rodríguez has spent the majority of her career in the field of education, specifically working with English Learners and underserved students. She taught at a newcomer center, where she was committed to helping newcomer immigrant students transition to the American school system as painlessly as possible. For the past 13 years, she’s worked as an online instructor, helping teachers earn their CLAD certification at Stanford University, where, in addition to being a CABE Board Member, she is president of the San Francisco Association for Bilingual Education (SFABE) and the immediate past president of the Latin American Teachers Association (LATA), helping to make a difference for our kids in all capacities, all while teaching in an elementary school classroom all day. “Dr. Rodríguez believes that by opening a door, students will enter to be inspired and to learn how to educate themselves through their lives. She draws her strength from her faith, passion, and desire to impart her knowledge about self-education and how to use it. She uses her life to make the world a better place to live.“

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DR. MARLENE BATISTA , DIRECTOR OF LEGISLATIVE/STATE AFFAIRS
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Oxnard School District

Dr. Marlene Batista is a first generation American who started as an English Learner in California schools and has been advocating for the rights of other English Learners for the past 25 years. She started her career as a bilingual teacher in districts like Baldwin Park, Burbank and Glendale Unified. After receiving a Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis on Multi-lingual/Multi-cultural studies she worked as a Teacher Specialist at Edison Elementary in Glendale where she was part of the team that wrote and received a Title VII grant that started the first dual language program in the district. After completing her second Master’s in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies she went on to become an administrator in Beverly Hills Unified and later in Newhall as a Coordinator for Special Education/Pupil Services. In 2011 she was hired by Palmdale School District to open the second dual language school in the district. During this time she completed her doctoral work in the area of Latino Parent Engagement, built up the school with the highest percentage of parental involvement in the district, and brought her school the honor of winning the CABE Seal of Excellence for their highly effective and achieving dual language program. Dr. Batista has presented at numerous conferences throughout California and other states on engaging Latino parents in their children’s education. She is an active member of organizations like CALSA and is the newly elected Director of State and Legislative Affairs for CABE. She currently works as the Director of English Learner Services for Oxnard School District serving over 8000 English Learner families in the district and oversees such programs as AVID Excel for the district’s LTEL 7th and 8th graders and the Newcomer Academy for newly arrived immigrant students in grades 3-8.

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DR. CRISTINA ALFARO, DIRECTOR OF SECONDARY AND INSTITUTES OF HIGHER EDUCATION AFFAIRS
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
San Diego State University, Professor of Dual Language Education

Dr. Cristina Alfaro is a professor of Dual Language Education and Department Chair at San Diego State University. She has 30 years of experience and leadership in Bilingual Education as a teacher, school administrator, university professor, and department chair. As the Principal Investigator and Director of the International Teacher Education Program (ITEP), she collaborated with ten different IHEs in offering a CA State University (CSU) bilingual teacher credential program in Mexico. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) sanctioned this program, where over 450 pre-service and in-service teachers received their Bilingual credential or certificate.

At this year’s CABE 2017 Conference, the group launched the first California workgroup in the development of these standards, to be aligned with the updated Dual Language Guiding Principles. Most recently, Dr. Alfaro was honored by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) with the 2017 Outstanding Latina in High Education Leadership Award.

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DR. BÁRBARA FLORES, DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
California State University, San Bernardino, Professor

Dr. Bárbara Flores is a pioneer Latina scholar activist, teacher educator, children’s literature writer, and international expert in the areas of biliteracy development, teaching/learning based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theoretical framework, professional staff development, bilingual education, and critical pedagogy. Not only has she published her work in professional journals, books, and chapters, but she is also a sought-after keynote speaker throughout the Americas. She has lectured throughout the United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Canada, Germany, Portugal, New Zealand, and Australia. She has been a professor for the last 30 years and currently has an academic appointment at California State University, San Bernardino.

Currently she is an Executive Board member of the California Association for Bilingual Education and the Vice President of the California Latino School Board Association. She was elected to the San Bernardino City School Board in 2008 and has served as both the President, Vice President and now as a Board member after being re-elected in 2013. She is also the past President of the National Association for Bilingual Education and served on a variety of national, regional, and state professional councils, which include the editorial board of the prestigious American Education Research Association Journal, Social and Institutional Analysis Section. She is the founding member of the Journal of Latinos and Education and the editor of a special edition on Theme Cycles, Primary Voices Journal for the National Council of Teachers of English Executive Board. Additionally, Dr. Flores is the nationally elected Chair of the Elementary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English, is on the Executive Board of the National Latino/a Education Research Agenda, and is the past Co-Chair of the Education Task Force for the Inland Latino Coalition under Congressman Baca.

During the last 30 years, she has also engaged in collaborative Action Research and Teaching and 15+ longitudinal action/research/teaching projects. As a result of this work, she has spearheaded the development of curriculum and pedagogy as well as assessment tools to address the development of scientific concepts and academic language across the content areas of science, social studies, and literature in grades PreK- 8. Her most creative work includes the creation and co-authorship of the first authentic Latino Spanish/English beginning literacy and biliteracy collections, Piñata (132 titles, 1994) and Más Piñata (88 titles, 1997) in the United States. Furthermore, she was the first person to lead the editorial and adaptations of 12 English traditional tales into Spanish for Rigby of Australia in 1988. Her most recent children’s book is titled, Mud Tortillas, published by Lee & Low Press of New York.

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ROSA ARMSTRONG, DIRECTOR OF PARENT RELATIONS
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Palmdale School District, Administrative Assistant, Special Education Department

Rosa Armstrong is an Administrative Assistant in the Special Education Department at Palmdale School District. She is a native of Lima, Peru. She graduated from Colegio María Alvarado (Lima High School Dual Language Program) and received a high school diploma with an additional emphasis on Bilingual Executive Secretary training. She came to the United States when she was 16 years old to attend UCLA as an undergraduate student. Her dream was to complete a degree in education. After she married and while raising her daughter, she continued to pursue her own dream of attaining her Bachelor’s Degree. Her dream was finalized in 2003 when she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development from the California State University of Los Angeles.

Since then, Mrs. Armstrong has served in many positions at the Palmdale School District. She was a Bilingual Instructional Assistant, District Translator and Interpreter for ten years. She also taught ESL classes in her community and was a facilitator for the DELAC, ELAC and Migrant Education programs.

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MARISSA LAZO-NECCO, DIRECTOR OF PARA EDUCATOR AFFAIRS
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Project Manager, SAP/PBIS & Parent Engagement

Marissa Lazo-Necco is the Project Manager of SAP/PBIS and Parent Engagement for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, where she applies her experiences with family engagement as she supports districts that are implementing Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports and Student Assistance Programs to improve positive student engagement for a greater academic success for ALL students.

She was born in El Salvador to a mother who was a professor and a father who was an accountant. Being the youngest of three siblings, life in a country that was going through civil war was filtered through the care and love of her parents and brother and sister. In 1988, Marissa and her family came to this country where she navigated the education system as an English Learner Student who struggled to merge into the language and culture of this country. Her experience with family engagement was first lived as a teenager who stayed focused on education through the inspiration and support of her own parents.

After serving children as a pre-school teacher for 2 years, Marissa transitioned to gain experience in a High School District where her passion for family engagement met her passion for high expectation for all students through the coordination of district-wide family engagement and coordination of English Learner student placement and reclassification. Her family engagement journey has taken her through a growing process as a Coordinator for a Parent Center for the Ontario-Montclair School District, where she applied, at ground level, different family engagement promising practices to engage the wider community.

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KARLING AGUILERA-FORT, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Oxnard Unified School District, Superintendent

Karling Aguilera-Fort is currently the Superintendent of the Oxnard Unified School District and is the former superintendent of El Rancho Unified School District. Prior to that, he was Assistant Superintendent for the Superintendent’s Zone Mission District K-12 of the San Francisco Unified School District, where he provided guidance, support and supervision to the schools in this area of the city of San Francisco, where more than 60% of the students are Latino and English Learners 15% are African American and 15% are white. Karling is responsible for graduating schools out of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) by developing systems and structures that will ensure sustainability of the continuous improvement cycles initiated in the Superintendent’s Zone across the K-12 schools.

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DR. ANNIE BICHLOAN DUONG, REGION 1 REPRESENTATIVE
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
San Joaquin Office of Education, Coordinator of the Language and Literacy Department

Dr. BichLoan Duong is the Coordinator of the Language and Literacy Department in the San Joaquin Office of Education. She came to United States at age 22 with 14 years of education in Vietnam and 3 months of survival English from a refugee camp in Indonesia. She has been in the field of education for 29 years working as a bilingual instructional assistant, a community liaison, an ELD, mathematics, and science teacher, and a district language development specialist.

As an adult English learner, she experienced first-hand how bilingual education works and the benefits of being multilingual and multicultural individuals.  She whole-heartedly supports CABE’s Vision and Mission and is committed to ensuring equity and equality for all children!

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ESABEL CERVANTES, REGION 2 REPRESENTATIVE
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Salinas City Elementary School District, Principal, El Gabilan Elementary School

Esabel Cervantes is the Principal at El Gabilan Elementary School in the Salinas City Elementary School District. She is a Spanish Language Learner that has strived to become bilingual/biliterate. As a language learner, she understands the struggle that our English Learner students encounter as part of the learning process. She can relate to the anxiety and stress of having to learn and speak in a differently language. It has been her personal journey that has provided her with the insight of how our students are feeling as they are progressing in the language learning process.

After completing her Major coursework in Sociology at UCSB she continued at UCSB and earned her Multiple Subject Clear Credential and a MEd in Teaching and Instruction. After several years as a teacher, she obtained an MA in Administrative Leadership.

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CAROLINA SERNA, REGION 3 REPRESENTATIVE
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Associate Professor, Biola University

Carolina Serna has been a member of CABE since she was a bilingual elementary school teacher in Culver City, California in the early 90s. Prior to that time, she completed a Credential/M.Ed. at UCLA, as well as coursework to obtain a bilingual credential with an emphasis in Spanish. Her first tenure track academic teaching position was at CSU Monterey Bay, teaching literacy methods courses, as well as courses to prepare preservice teacher candidates to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students K-12. Dr. Serna’s research agenda has centered around issues of literacy and bilingualism, examining our teacher candidates’ familiarity with issues relating to English learners.

While in Monterey County, she began exploring the literacy development of migrant children from Oaxaca, México who enter the school system with a native indigenous language. She began to formally study the literacy development of native Triqui speakers in the 2013. In her current position at Biola University, she continues to teach literacy methods courses and conduct research in the area of literacy. Her local service efforts have included volunteer work at her local church, participation in activities of the UCLA Alumni Whittier chapter, and volunteer service at the “Read with Me” summer reading program.

Her experience includes being a bilingual Spanish/English elementary school teacher, doctoral studies, and teaching in higher education for 28 years, along with continued membership in CABE and leading various school and university department committees, addressing issues related to bilingual education, English learners and teacher preparation.

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MARY HELEN YBARRA, REGION IV REPRESENTATIVE
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Corona-Norco Unified School District

Mary Helen is the Vice President of the CNUSD School Board. She is very proud to be the first Latina on the school board and a true Advocate for the students of her district. She is also the secretary of California Latino School Board Association, current President of the "Chapter of the Year" CABE Riverside Chapter and a CSBA Delegate. Mary Helen understands all too well the struggles that English Learners go through. She remembers her days in pre-school and kindergarten not understanding what her class mates were saying. She says she picked up the language fast because she would practice speaking at home, all because she wanted to have friends at school. Mary Helen is a true Advocate for our English Language Learners. She is very proud to be part of the CABE Familia and on the Board of Directors.

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Elena Esquer, REGION 5 REPRESENTATIVE
California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)
Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, Palmdale School District

Since attending her first CABE conference in Downtown Los Angeles in 1988, Elena Esquer says she has been both in awe and inspired by the professional learning provided, and also by the organization and its leadership. She continues to see CABE as that visionary service organization transforming education for our English Learners. CABE’s commitment compels her actions and is the focus of the vow she made to her community in Palmdale, as the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, to implement the Palmdale PROMISE, their strategic plan. Her dedication to English Learners, celebrating multiculturalism and multilingualism is the catalyst that drives her work.

Since 1997, Elena Esquer has served the Palmdale community as a bilingual teacher, site administrator, and district office leader. In 2017, ACSA Region XV awarded her the Central Office Leader of the Year Award. As a teacher and administrator, she worked tirelessly with the district’s most “at-promise” schools, to ensure students felt valued for their language, had access to equitable programs and developed a love of learning. As the Principal of Los Amigos Dual Language School, the dedication to biliteracy and bilingualism was the purpose and gift to her community. During her principalship, Los Amigos was selected by CABE as a Seal of Excellence School in 2012. All of these experiences has helped her to grow as a leader, as a servant and advocate for students, and as a human being who loves her profession and the children it serves.