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Sunday, February 9, 2025
ElectionsMinh Ngo on the campaign trail: Running for re-election to MUSD's Board...

Minh Ngo on the campaign trail: Running for re-election to MUSD’s Board of Education

There are currently two seats open on the Milpitas Unified School District’s Board of Education during this upcoming November 5 election. Minh Ngo, who currently serves on the school board, is running for re-election. Rob Jung, also a current board trustee, and Doug Sueoka are running for a spot as well. 

The Beat had an opportunity to interview Ngo during these last days before Election Day…

Why are you running for another term on the school board? 

Thank you Milpitas Beat for the time today. It’s been my honor to serve on the School Board for these 5 years. As a quick recap, I joined before the start of the pandemic, was part of the successful return to in person learning, being the parent voice for accelerated learning recovery, governing over several school modernization projects, and pushing for learning innovation. As a highly effective governance team, we have built tremendous momentum in our district. I am running for another term to carry forward that momentum to finish the new Milpitas High School Theatre construction, lead the utilization of the new Milpitas Innovation Campus, tackle AI curriculum opportunities, all while ensuring we maintain a stable operating budget in the district.

What are you proudest of having accomplished during your time on the board? 

There are so many accomplishments during my term, but the one I am most proud of that isn’t immediately visible to our community is the development of our Student Board Representatives. Being a mentor, and fostering conversations to get student voice in our governance process is an important connection to the impact of our decisions. These future leaders will carry on the experience of being on a highly effective governance board. I look forward to their future impact in the communities they decide to settle in.

What would your priorities be if re-elected? 

My only priority is providing all our learners the best education possible from our public funds.

What is something memorable that has happened during your time on the board? 

Every conversation with our community members and students is memorable. Just this past weekend as I was canvassing our community, I had a parent provide their feedback on the punitive nature of detention and the subjective reasons for how they are applied. It was further stated that in their experience, detention had the opposite effect on their student’s motivation. Their question is how do we change the culture of detention that is a century old practice? 

Another recent memorable encounter was from a panel of neuro diverse students advocating for changes to educational practices that support them through their unique challenges. The simplest act of patience goes a long way in supporting students both in general education and neuro diverse students. In the education space, it’s been categorized as social-emotional learning. We will continue to explore practices that will transform support for social-emotional learners.

What are the ages of the kids you have in the district? Which schools? 

I currently have a 6th, 3rd, and 1st grader all at Alexander Rose Elementary, one of the Title 1 schools in our district with, based on the CA School Dashboard 2023 Data, 512 enrolled students with a population of 50.8% socioeconomically disadvantaged students. We have fantastic and passionate teachers and school staff supporting students from all different cultures and backgrounds. When I have the opportunity, I volunteer my time back in the classroom and chaperone field trips.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing the district right now?

I would like to share with you a visual capture of the take away ideas from an Innovative Learning Conference I attended…

The biggest challenge that isn’t unique to our district, but to the public school community at large is motivating our students to be lifelong learners. Remember my only priority is providing all our learners the best education possible from our public funds? That means we need our students to come to school on time. We need safe and modern learning environments to keep our students motivated. We need our teachers and staff to be rested and ready each day to support our students. Finally, we can’t be afraid of the future; we should be easy on people and hard on ideas.

I hope this November to have the community vote and reelect Robert Jung and myself to continue the work.

Minh Ngo (left) and Robert Jung (right).



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