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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
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21-96
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
July 14, 2015
To recognize the accomplishments and contributions of Irasema Salcido upon the occasion of her resignation as Chief Development Officer of César Chávez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy.
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido came to the United States as the daughter of Mexican immigrant farm workers at 14 years of age with no English proficiency;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido persevered through education and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from California State University, Fullerton’s College of Business and Economics in 1987;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido continued her education at Harvard University, where she completed her Master’s degree in Education, Administration, and Social Planning;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido worked for 9 years in the District of Columbia Public Schools system, serving for 6 years as an Assistant Principal at Bell Multicultural High School;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido made her desire to educate the less fortunate a lifetime goal patterned after her role model, César Chávez, and in tribute, founded the César Chávez Public
Charter School in the District of Columbia in 1998;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido opened a second school and became the Chief Executive
Officer of the César Chávez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy, which has grown into a network of 2 middle schools and 2 high schools;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido has become a nationally recognized expert and advocate for charter schools and underserved students;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido received several honors and awards over the course of her
career – she was designated as one of the “Six Most Caring Citizens in the U.S.” of 1999 by the
Caring Institute, selected by the U.S. Department of Education to speak on a teleconference panel entitled “Charter Schools: New Choices in Public Education,” awarded the “Principal of the Year” award from the Charter School Resource Center, given the “Use Your Life Award” from Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network for her dedication to the students of César Chávez in 2001, and chosen to present a paper at the Cato Institute in 2003 on the first 5 years of Chávez schools in 2003, which was later published in Educational Freedom in Urban America, and awarded the Citizen of the Year Award in 2006 by the National Conference on Citizenship;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido addressed the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce and collaborated with the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement , contributing to “The Civic Mission of Schools,” a report on civic education;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido served on the Education Committee of the St. Elizabeth’s
Redevelopment Initiative Advisory Board and the Executive Committee of the Raise DC
Partnership Initiative, and the DC Public Education Finance Reform Commission;
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido convened a small group of Parkside-Kenilworth community residents and other school supporters to discuss ways that Chavez and its Parkside campus neighbors could partner to promote academic achievement and college access for their children, in recognition of the problems that challenged the families of many of the students attending the
Chavez – Parkside campus and were preventing them from achieving the success they were capable of attaining;
WHEREAS, after 3 years of intensive resident engagement and planning, Cesar Chavez
Public Charter Schools submitted a proposal to the U.S. Department of Education for a federal
Promise Neighborhood Planning grant, and in late September 2010, Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools became one of 21 recipients of a Promise Neighborhood planning grant that started the
DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative in the Parkside-Kenilworth community of Ward 7; and
WHEREAS, Irasema Salcido resigned from her position as Chief Development Officer after 16 years of service at Chavez Schools to spend more time with her family and fulfilling her other community commitments.
IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that the Council of the District of Columbia honors and thanks Irasema Salcido for her accomplishments and contributions as an educator, administrator, and visionary.
Sec. 2. This resolution may be cited as the “Irasema Salcido Recognition Resolution of 2015”.
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in
the District of Columbia Register.
