Meet the candidates for Central Unified, Area 5

In west central Fresno’s growing suburbs, incumbent Richard Solis faces a serious challenge from political newcomer Jaspreet Sidhu to represent Central Unified, Trustee Area 5. 

Central Unified’s Area 5 includes the west central Fresno neighborhoods bounded by Golden State Boulevard, Ashlan, Dakota, Hayes, and Shaw Avenues.

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What’s at stake?

From aging infrastructure and large class sizes, to stagnant enrollment — the trustees have major challenges to navigate.

Both Central Unified candidates expressed interest in building new schools and maintaining existing ones to ensure classroom sizes stay at manageable levels.

Central Unified’s enrollment has plateaued in the last five years:

• 2019-2020: 15,841 students
• 2020-2021: 15,742 students
• 2021-2022: 15,729 students
• 2022-2023: 15,742 students
• 2023-2024: 15,956 students

What does a trustee do?

The members of the board decide how and where to use the district’s financial resources to reflect both the needs of the district and the students. This can include the building of new schools, maintenance of existing infrastructure, and changes or additions to the education that students receive across the district.

Who is running for Area 5 trustee?

Richard A. Solis

Prior to being elected to the board in 2016, Solis worked as a social worker for Fresno County, retiring after being elected. Solis has had experience participating in Parent Teacher Association meetings and has sat on multiple committees pertaining to English-language education, school site council and the district’s bond oversight committee.

He explained that he was originally motivated to run for the board when he heard reports of teachers in the district using buckets to catch leaking rainwater.

On infrastructure and maintenance, though Solis did not outline specific planned policies, he explained that his focus has been on building new facilities to stay ahead of growing classroom sizes and accommodate expected development in the area, such as the opening of Veterans Boulevard last year. 

“If we do not focus on building new facilities, the domino effect on that is we’re going to have to have larger classrooms,” said Solis. “You’re just going to have to squeeze more kids in there; in my opinion, that’s not the best approach.”

Justin Garza High School was established in 2021 and is currently planned for more construction, even after the district’s revisions to school attendance boundaries designed in part to accommodate overcrowding at Garza High.

Solis also supports Measure X, a $109 million bond measure meant for district-wide renovations to classrooms and improvements to facility accessibility and security. Solis said that this bond was necessary to continue the district’s construction projects, saying the general fund would not be able to cover the costs.

Part of Measure X’s funds will be allocated to modernize 32 classrooms at Teague Elementary School and construct permanent classrooms and a new gym at Central East High School, both located in Area 5.

On academic performance, Solis said that while recently scores improved, they’re not where they’re supposed to be. He further explained that his focus on continuing to build new facilities goes alone with his focus to improve the district’s academic performance.

“By increasing your facilities, you lower classroom size and you’re able to increase [the] academic performance of the student,” Solis said.

The District’s CAASPP academic performance in the last three years:

2020-2021

• English Language Arts and Literacy – 39.64% of students met or exceeded standards
• Mathematics – 17.25% of students met or exceeded

2021-2022

• English Language Arts and Literacy – 41.46% of students met or exceeded standards
• Mathematics – 26.06% of students met or exceeded standards

2022-2023

• English Language Arts and Literacy – 41.29% of students met or exceeded standards
• Mathematics – 26.59% of students met or exceeded standards

On student opportunities, Solis said he wants to expand the available seats for dual enrollment classes to allow more students to earn college credits and save money that would otherwise be spent on tuition.

Central Unified currently offers multiple vocational classes to students who are interested in a career in law enforcement, nursing assistance and mechanics. Solis said he also wants to create partnerships with local industries to create more career pathways for students.

“The reality is, not all of our students are going to be in the college pathway, so what I try to do for our students is give them options [so they can] pick the best fit for them.”

Jaspreet Sidhu

Before becoming a registered nurse, Sidhu was a Central Unified student —g starting in kindergarten at Teague Elementary School, all the way to his high school graduation at Central East and West.

Sidhu said he was inspired to run after attending an alumni reunion where he saw students using staff bathrooms because student bathrooms were out of service because of plumbing problems.

“I want to make sure that our students have a proper learning environment,” Sidhu said. “It’s small things like that that really give students distractions that [they] shouldn’t worry about.”

Sidhu also said he wants to serve the community he resides in and feels passionate about being an advocate for both students and parents.

On infrastructure and maintenance, Sidhu said he wants to focus on Teague Elementary and believes it is due for renovations. 

He also mentioned that he wants to have an open-door policy where anyone in the community can have their concerns about infrastructure be heard.

“The goals are simple: I want to be as open of a book as I can when it comes to listening to teachers’ concerns [and] student concerns,” he said.

Sidhu also said he fully supports Measure X, saying the bond is essential for building new infrastructure to mitigate overcrowding in classrooms and make sure that students in Area 5 have access to modernized facilities.

“I want to ensure that the students in my trustee area have upgraded school sites and facilities to attend,” Sidhu said. 

On academic performance,  Sidhu did not specifically outline any planned policies regarding academic performance in the district, but said he wants more parent involvement and seeks to encourage non-English speaking parents to attend board meetings and be involved in their children’s schools.

As a Punjabi Sikh American, Sidhu said that though there was a language barrier when he started kindergarten, the district and the schools gave him the academic support to thrive. Now, he wants to break the language barrier for parents to be involved as well.

“I was there at their position at one point in time,” he said, adding “bringing that perspective onto the board, I think, is invaluable.”

On student opportunities, Sidhu stated he wants to expand both dual enrollment and Career Technical Education (CTE) programs to allow more students to enroll in them.

Specifically, Sidhu feels that the expansion of both programs is necessary for the district to capitalize on future growth and development in the area, especially once more students enroll and demand for placement into these classes increases.

Endorsements

Richard A. Solis

• The Fresno Bee Editorial Board
• California School Employees Association, Chapter 474

Jaspreet Sidhu

• Danielle Parra, Vice President of State Center Community College District (SCCCD) Board of Trustees
• Destiny Rodriguez, SCCCD Board of Trustees member
• Gurdeep Shergill, Fresno Planning Commissioner and real estate agent