Daisy Barocio

Day Care

Student Achievement Director

Daisy Barocio

Student Achievement & Public Relations Director

Years at EP

What attracted you to EP?

What attracted me to Escuela Popular was the culturally relevant pedagogy and how clear it was that everyone who works here is fully committed to making their experience part of their life’s legacy rather than just a job.

What’s the best part of your job?

The best part of being a part of the Escuela team is being able to contribute to something greater than myself where teaching is truly seen as an act of love that can transform not just the individual but entire families.

How does your passion align with EP’s vision?

My passion is to create and be part of communities of buoyant leaders in order to develop schools and systems that foster the buoyancy of all children and the foundation of a new tomorrow. I absolutely believe that Escuela Popular is a school made of community members who are kind, passionate, buoyant, and actively building a school community that supports all their students.

Escuela Popular Dual Language Academy

Daisy Barocio

by cmatteo2356

Patricia Reguerin

Day Care

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.

by cmatteo2356

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.

by cmatteo2356

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.