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Coachella Valley Unified board names four student trustees and administers oaths
Summary
After interviews with finalists from district high schools, the Coachella Valley Unified School District board selected four student trustees and administered the oath of office during its regular meeting.
The Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Education voted to appoint student trustees for four high school sites and administered the oath of office during the board's regular meeting. The board selected Mia Mesa (Coachella Valley High School), Eileen Calvillo Garcia (Desert Mirage High School), Juan Ramirez (La Familia Continuation High School) and Isabella Jimenez Martinez (West Shores High School) as student trustees for the 2025–26 school year.
The student-trustee interviews were conducted on the record as site administrators introduced finalists and each candidate addressed trustees. Candidates described their school and community experiences, emphasized priorities such as improving student awareness of district resources, mental-health supports, college readiness programming and student engagement, and said they hoped to serve as a student voice to the board. Mia Mesa told trustees she had met with legislators in Sacramento to advocate for immigrant families. Isabella Jimenez Martinez, the reappointed trustee from West Shores, said her focus would be making resources “not only available, but visible.”
Board President Jocelyn Vargas announced the selections after the board returned from closed session and praised all finalists. The newly appointed student trustees subsequently took the oath of office administered by Superintendent Dr. Francis Esparza. The board indicated photos and a formal swearing-in would occur on the dais immediately following the oath.
The board did not provide a roll-call vote tally for the appointments in the spoken record; the meeting minutes record that the board voted and that the motion carried. Trustees and district leaders acknowledged the difficulty of choosing finalists and said they planned to involve the other finalists in district activities so they could gain leadership experience.
The appointments follow the district's usual annual process of soliciting student trustee candidates from each high school and continuation campus, conducting interviews on the record, and making selections in open session. The new student trustees will attend future board meetings in the role described by the district as a bridge between students and board members.
