Spring Valley PTA president Mary Mora traces personal path to education advocacy in East Ramapo

Mary Mora, president of the Parent Teacher Association at Margettes Elementary School in Spring Valley, described her upbringing, immigration to the United States and years of volunteer work that led her to parent advocacy in the East Ramapo Central School District.

Mora said she was born in Tucson, Ecuador, moved to the United States in February 2008 to support her family, married in 2013 and had her first child in 2017. She recounted volunteering with elderly members of her church as a teenager and later helping with translations and support through a stop-payment support program at Hempstead Elementary School; she said those experiences led to deeper involvement with school-parent groups and community organizations.

Mora said she was named the most influential parent at Hempstead Elementary School and at an entity she identified as the ECC in 2021 and 2022, and that she is one of the original members of Project Lighthouse, a parents’ group focused on educational justice. She said the organization de padres em padres (the organization of empowered parents) has helped parents learn their rights and become more active in the school system, and that she has worked with the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Dustwind Valley NAACP and the Rockland Coalition to End the New Jim Crow to connect parents and students with elected officials and the New York State Education Department.

Mora described her goals in her current PTA role as encouraging more parent involvement with teachers and school councils so “the next generation” will benefit from stronger engagement. She told meeting organizers that her work is meant to inspire other parents to participate in school governance and advocacy.

The remarks were delivered as a personal account of Mora’s background and activism; no formal motions, votes or policy actions were recorded in the transcript segments that covered her remarks.