Vice President Candidate Ricardo Espinoza

Ricardo Espinoza has been a member of the Pasco School Board for eight years. He has served as Board President, Vice President, Legislative Representative and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Representative. Espinoza currently serves on the WSSDA Board of Directors as Director Area 11 Representative. Other WSSDA service includes Legislative Committee, Resolutions Committee and Federal Relations Network. Espinoza has served on the ESD 123 Regional Meeting Planning Committee.

Candidate Statement:

Over the last several years I have spent time with school directors from Bellevue to Bridgeport, Seattle to Starbuck, Oak Harbor to Onion Creek, and a few places in between. I’ve found that WSSDA is about good people preparing our state’s children for their future. I have observed and believe in the work WSSDA is doing. The WSSDA staff serve as a clearinghouse of information for all school board members across the state. The conferences, regional meetings and numerous other services provided by WSSDA give school board members the tools necessary to carry out our charge to improve student learning. I am a candidate for the position of WSSDA Vice President, and I ask for your support.

I was first appointed to the Pasco Board of Directors in 1998. I have served my district as the Board’s Legislative Representative, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Representative and the Vice President. I am the current President of the Board. I have served you, the members of WSSDA, as a member of the Legislative Committee, the Resolutions Committee and the Federal Relations Network, and I am the current chair of Director Area 11 and a member of the WSSDA Board of Directors. I have been active in my board and our association, and I fully understand the role of the Vice President and the time required to meet the demands of the position. I am prepared to fulfill the duties and obligations that will guide WSSDA in this time of education reform.

I have worked in the field of nuclear security for the past 15 years, serving in various management positions and as a member of the Special Response Team for the Hanford Site and the Rocky Flats Plant (Colorado). I served seven years in the United States Marine Corps; the last three years, I served as a Marine Security Guard at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, in the (then) U.S.S.R., and at the U.S. Mission in Geneva, Switzerland. Through my work experience and as a school board member, I have developed many leadership traits and the ability to work as a team member and to be an advocate of public education.

With your support, I will work to lead our association membership through the challenges of addressing the requirements of No Child Left Behind, the challenges we face preparing all our students for the rigors of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, and the challenges of our association to better meet the needs of school directors across our state.

In November, you, the members of WSSDA, will choose your officers of our association. WSSDA has to be a vocal advocate of the education reform movement in Washington state. I ask for your support.