Fernando Barrera

This week, KUCB is profiling candidates running in the October 1st municipal election. This profile focuses on Fernando Barrera, who is running for seat E on the school board. Several of the candidates will appear live on KUCB and Channel 8 on Thursday at 7 pm to answer your questions.

For Fernando Barrera, education has always been a family affair. Both of his parents were teachers, as are two of his three brothers.

"At an early age I saw their commitment to education and saw that that’s what I wanted to do," said Barrera.

Barrera was born in Mexicali, Mexico, just across the border from California. He actually spent five years crossing the border every day to attend a private school in Calexico, California. This helped him become bilingual and set the foundation for teaching.  At the age of 14 he began teaching adults english. He taught for 15 years, specializing in physical education and languages.  But in 1996, he saw a chance to make a move and jumped on a boat to Unalaska. He began with Unisea and has been there since, working up to the position of facilities maintenance supervisor.

His daughter completed her entire education within Unalaska. Barrera is a proud father, and says the schools are doing very well.  But he adds that the economy is evolving and the schools need to be able to adapt.

"The only constant that we can have anywhere is change," said Barrera. "We have to keep going forward, as we have in the past."

One area of growth are the STEM fields - that’s science, technology, energy, and math.  Barrera says Unalaska’s teachers have done a good job of preparing students for further education in engineering and other advanced fields.  At the high school level, Barrera says it’s all about engagement.

"We have to make them interesting, we cannot just be in front of the children and read about it, lecture them, they have to experience it," said Barrera.

Barrera says this can happen by sending more students to state competitions for science and math. He says there are many high tech jobs are being filled by people outside the country, when we should have American students stepping up into those roles.

But as someone who’s moved between cultures, Barrera says the diversity found in Unalaska’s schools pays big dividends. Barrera tells a story about of his daughter Bianca, who travelled to upper level academic camps around the country and met with international peers.

"Because everybody brought a different perspective, everyone brought something different to the plate. They were learning from each other and they learned that they were not the same, they didn’t have the same background, the same schools, the same languages. This just made it better because they found out they could work as a team, even though everyone was different," said Barrera.

Barrera is running against  Denise Rankin, who was appointed to the board in August to fill Sonia Handforth-Kome’s old seat.  Barrera say its a win-win situation for the community with either Rankin or himself filling the seat.

"Neither Denise Rankin nor myself are  going to be trying to replace her. We’re going to contribute our own strengths. Either of us would do a good job because we’re committed to our community," said Barrera.  

Fernando Barrera is running for school board seat E. He will take part in KUCB’s Candidates Forum on September 26th at 7 o’clock.