Bernard Gifford

High School Academy

Bernard Gifford, Ph.D – Secretary

Dr. Bernard Gifford is a professor at UC Berkley whose research interests include theories of computer-mediated, collaborative learning; the impact of networking and communications technologies on student learning activities and teacher pedagogical practices; the behavior of organizations during periods of rapid technological change; and the changing political economy of U.S. higher education.

Current research focuses on how standards-based, computer-mediated learning materials can reduce the achievement gap between mainstream students and students who traditionally have not been well served by conventional classrooms. His numerous books include Policy Perspectives on Educational Testing (1993) and Employment Testing: Linking Policy and Practice(with L. Wing, 1993). He is completing his latest book, on bureaucratic, policy, and technological barriers to effective use of technology-mediated instruction in universities.

Dr. Gifford holds a Ph.D in Biophysics from the University of Rochester. He currently heads the Distributed Learning Workshop, a nonprofit educational software collaborative that is developing standards-based, computer-mediated instructional materials in math.

Bernard Gifford

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Lori Ramos Ehrlich

High School Academy

Lori Ramos Ehrlich – Vice-Chair

Lori Ramos Ehrlich currently Vice President/COO of Center for Training & Careers Inc (CTC). CTC has been providing education and training services to the community since 1977. Ms. Ramos Ehrlich is active in the local community and serves on many boards including Escuela Popular Accelerated Family Learning Center, San Jose Job Corps Advisory Council, the NCLR California Regional Board, and a member of the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force.

Lori Ramos Ehrlich

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Pablo Requerin, Chair, Board of Directors

Pablo Reguerin

High School Academy

Pablo Guillermo Reguerín, M.A. – Chair, Board of Directors

Pablo Guillermo Reguerín currently serves as the Executive Director for Retention Services and Educational Opportunity Programs at the University of California, Santa Cruz, providing leadership and oversight to a cluster of student services offices charged with retaining and graduating students with a focus on educational equity.

Since September 2009, Mr. Reguerín has led to integrate student services to develop student care teams, increased case-management of vulnerable student populations and data-driven intervention programs. These efforts have resulted in Individual Success Plans for cohorts of EOP students, intensive advising services for immigrant and undocumented/AB540 students, a newly launched Textbook Lending Library for students facing financial hardship and a Laptop pilot program for students that arrive to campus without a laptop or computer. In collaboration with faculty partners and the Office of Institutional Research, Pablo has launched an evidence-based evaluation process of the retention services units through the use of logic models to further deepen the utilization of research based practices and continuous improvement.

Mr. Reguerín has worked at UCSC for over 15 years, previously serving as the Deputy Director of the Educational Partnership Center and as a Senior Admissions Counselor with the Office of Admissions. Mr. Reguerín received his Bachelor of Arts degree from UC Santa Cruz in Latino and Latin American Studies and his Master of Arts degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in Educational Leadership and Administration.

Mr. Reguerín serves on the board of directors for the Escuela Popular Family Learning Center Charter School in San José and as the Co-Chair of the UC Santa Cruz Latino Alumni Network.

Pablo Reguerin

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High School Academy

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Lidia Reguerin

High School Academy

Founder of Escuela Popular

High School Academy

Founder of Escuela Popular

Lidia Reguerin was the beloved and admired educator and champion of love and service to others. The crowning achievement, (logro mayor) of the life of this amazing woman—Lidia Reguerin, is the founding of Escuela Popular, which continues to grow and evolve.

Today, it can proudly boast about being the only school in the nation that provides access to a high quality education for infants, children, adolescents and adults. Lidia held a Masters in Education from Stanford University, and was an educator for 56 years. Her legacy will live on through the generations she has mentored and empowered through her lifelong work to transform lives through education. Lidia believed in her students and taught them that no goal was impossible for them to reach.

Proof of her success is that many of them are now educators themselves. She always celebrated learning, the diverse Latino culture and her community. Lidia wanted to make sure that the Latino voice was not drowned out, but that their concerns would be addressed. The hope and inspiration she left in us, will continue to keep her example of living in this world.

Patricia Remembering her Mother, Lidia Reguerin: Act with Love

Born in a rural town in Bolivia, Lidia prided herself in her indigenous roots and native Quechuan tongue, and this pride was revealed through the sincerity in the eyes, as well as through her warm and deeply meaningful words.
Lidia was passionate about her family who supported her vision and mission to act with love. Jorge, her husband of 59 years, and her children, Jorge, Roger, Patricia and Pablo and her five grandchildren will continue their lives carrying a piece of Lidia’s legacy of love and hope inside their hearts.

Her beloved students knew Lidia as Maestra Lidia. They describe her as a woman of great heart because besides teaching with inexhaustible patience, she was known to support them as they solved some of their personal problems. She would buy books for them, and was also known to give them money out of her own pocket for transportation. Most importantly, she provided shelter for students who would otherwise have been homeless. A testament to the high regard in which Lidia was held is evidenced by the fact that on the afternoon of before her passing, nearly 200 of her students gathered at her home, while her family surround her bed to pay their last respects, and to uplift her in prayer and song.

We were privileged and blessed to have known this extraordinary woman who chose to live her life fearlessly, with a great sense of faith and who always acted with a deep sense of love.

(Compliments of The San Jose Mercury News)

Biografía de Maestra Lidia Reguerin

Lidia Reguerin nació el 30 de diciembre de 1932 en un pequeño pueblo rural conocido como Aiquile, en una finca llamada Tenería, en Cochabamba, Bolivia. Lidia aprendió a leer y escribir a una edad muy temprana, lo que la llevó a ser una excelente estudiante de niña. Quizás esto es lo que la llevó a convertirse en la excelente educadora. A los 16 años su madre falleció y se fue a vivir a la ciudad de La Paz con su hermana mayor Ercilia. Su hermana tuvo mucha influencia sobre ella y se aseguró de que Lidia fuera educada. Su hermana le dijo a ella que convertirse en profesora de inglés le abriría las puertas al mundo. Lidia inmediatamente se dio cuenta de que a través de la educación la gente puede liberarse. Lidia se graduó de Liceo Venezuela una escuela secundaria para niñas. Dspues ella se inscribió en Normal Superior Simón Bolívar, un Colegio de Formación Docente. Lidia se graduó como profesora de inglés. En 1960 llegó por primera vez a los Estados Unidos con una beca otorgada a ella por el Departamento de Educación del Estado. Esta fue un viaje de estudio donde visitó colegios de este a oeste. Ella regresó a Bolivia y enseñó durante seis años. En 1965 ella y su familia emigraron a los Estados Unidos. Ella se matriculó en la Universidad de Stanford y se graduó en 1967 con una Maestria en Educación. Posteriormente esto abrió las puertas para su exitosa metodología de enseñanza. A Lidia le apasionaba su familia que apoya. Su visión y misión es actuar con amor. Jorge, su esposo de 59 años, y su hijos Jorge, Roger, Patricia y Pablo y sus cinco nietos continúan sus vidas llevando un pedazo del legado de amor y esperanza de Lidia dentro sus corazones.

La Maestra Lidia Reguerin creó hace 37 años la Escuela Popular, dedicada a la enseñanza del inglés como segundo idioma. Inspirada por educador brasileño Paulo Freire, Maestra Lidia quiso trabajar con la comunidad Latina. Fue entonces que pensó en crear una escuela espcífica, que atendiera sus necesidades y se ajustara a su cultura. Así, salio a la calle a buscar alumnos hispanos y habló con el pastor de la iglesia metodista La Trinidad, en San Jose, para poder usar un salon y comenzar a dictar sue clases gratuitas. La Maestra Lidia dice, “El primer día, solo tuve siete alumnos. El segundo dia vinieron 35 estudiantes y el tercer día, ya eran más de 100. En noviembre del 1986, la ley de amnistía abrió la puerta a unos tres millones de inmigrantes que recibieron el estatus legal par quedarse el país. Yo también abrí mis puertas, mas grandes que todos”. Para entonces, enseñaba, ella en la Escuela Popular de sies de la mañana hasta las nueve de la noche, a hispanos que buscaban mejores su vida. Hoy Escuela Popular sirve a más de 1,200 estudiantes que no pagan nada por aprender. Y

aunque la Maestra Lidia ya no esta en la escuela en persona, sus enseñazas y legado siguen vivos.

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Patricia Reguerin

High School Academy

Executive Director

patricia@escuelapopular.org

Born in Bolivia, Patricia Reguerin is currently the Executive Director of Escuela Popular, but originally migrated with her family to the United States when she was 5 years old. Her experience as an immigrant student gave birth to her passion for equity in education. Patricia began her career as a childcare provider at Escuela Popular in 1986. It was then that she realized she wanted to become a teacher. In 1991, Patricia graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a Bachelor’s in Sociology and decided to continue for an additional year to obtain her Multiple Subject Bilingual Credential. Her first teaching assignment was as a bilingual kindergarten teacher, and she has taught bilingual and dual immersion grades K-2, served as a migrant education resource teacher, and a Title VII coordinator. Patricia has a Master’s in Bilingual/Bicultural Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Title

Exective Director

Years at EP

17+

What attracted you to EP?

The fact that it was a grass-roots community based school. Prior to becoming a charter school, Escuela Popular responded to the needs of the community they served. Whenever I visited to the school, there was a certain warmth and positive energy I had never felt at any other educational institution. When EP had the opportunity to start a bilingual elementary school academy from scratch I was instantly on-board.

What’s the best part of your job?

The opportunity to facilitate the development of others. Particularly, human beings who regardless of circumstances have big dreams and will do whatever is possible to achieve them. Escuela Popular provides the space and opportunity to facilitate learning and growth of human potential which is not a one way street. As a leader, I am actively involved in my growth as well as the growth of those I serve. My job fuels me to go beyond what we know to what is possible, this is particularly innovative in the field of education where our main purpose is to nurture and develop our relationship with ourselves, those around us and the world.

How does your passion align with EP’s vision?

My passion is to be intimately involved in the development of leaders who lead from the heart with innovative approaches to learning that impact the field of education towards holistic humane educational practices. Escuela Popular’s mission to educate to transform lives has nurtured and allowed for me to work in alignment with my passion. EP has opened up the space to learn about leading with love and how to innovate those practices so that we can develop future leaders.

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About Escuela Popular

Our Academies

Our Vision

Our family learning center builds on students’ social, linguistic, and cultural strengths with the intent to develop bilingual, biliterate, bi-cultural students fully prepared to continue on to higher education and empowered to pursue their stated goals. Our community of teachers, students, parents, and staff believe that teaching is an act of love and learning is a life-long activity.

Childcare Academy (For the infants and children of the High School students for AM and PM sessions)
TK-8th Dual Language Academy (90/10 Immersion Program)
High School Youth Bilingual Academy (Under 19 years of age)
High School Adults Bilingual Academy and Vocational Training (AM and PM sessions)

Escuela Popular (EP) began as a community based grassroots school to address a growing need for English instruction in East San Jose and as a consequence, has been providing educational services since 1986.

Within the first year of its operation, the demand for learning and schooling grew rapidly and Escuela Popular continued to expand in numbers of students, classes, and services to meet the growing need.

In 1999, Escuela Popular was invited to operate a satellite campus of a new charter school organization. We seized upon the opportunity to expand our services to the community at large by providing a dual language kindergarten through eighth grade academy, along with a high school academy for youth, and in keeping with our vision of EP as a family learning center, an academy for parents and adults. In 2002, Escuela Popular was able to function independently and acquired its own nonprofit status, assuming the name Escuela Popular del Pueblo.

A Crowning Achievement: a six-term accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Three successful charter renewals testifying to the confidence of East Side Union High School District in the work that we do.

Escuela Popular’s philosophy is to enhance the opportunity for achievement “before, throughout, and beyond” high school. We are also committed to providing meaningful learning experiences in a small school setting.

Believing that learning is social and connected, we have established interdependent academies:

Childcare Academy (For the infants and children of the High School students for AM and PM sessions)
TK-8th Dual Language Academy (90/10 Immersion Program)
High School Youth Bilingual Academy (Under 19 years of age)
High School Adults Bilingual Academy and Vocational Training (AM and PM sessions)

Dual Language Academy

High School Academy

We welcome children and adults of all ages to build on their social, linguistic and cultural strengths to develop bilingual, bicultural students fully prepared for higher education and empowered to pursue their life-long goals.

Our balanced curriculum includes English instruction as well as other fundamental courses required by the State of California. Our staff are nurturing and responsive to the needs of each student, making Escuela Popular a well-known center for high school education.

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Escuela Popular

Childcare Academy

Escuela Popular Childcare Academy’s mission is to stimulate the different areas of a child’s development. Its curriculum was inspired by Waldorf’s pedagogy, which uses teaching methods that seek to build a balance between the children’s intellect, imagination, and will. The purpose is to prepare children to reach maturity in all aspects.

K-8 Dual Language Academy

The dual language proficiency that is offered to Escuela Popular students is a priceless resource that provides children with the self-confidence to believe that they can, indeed, succeed as students. This belief motivates students to continue their careers as life long learners. A bilingual individual contributes many skills beyond that of speaking another language.

High School Academy Under 19

Escuela Popular’s High School Academy under 19 provides intensive English Language Development so that students are able to meet their goal of graduating bilingual and biliterate. Students benefit from the individual attention afforded by a 20:1 student-to-teacher ratio.

High School Academy 19 and Over

Escuela Popular's Center for Training and Careers (EP/CTC) serves several groups of over 19 students. Escuela Popular seeks to serve the community in the best way possible. The overwhelming majority of our students are primarily Spanish speaking.