Paul Bass Photo
Anais Nunez sees New Haven’s newest elected office as her next step in helping children — her own, and others — enjoy the kind of childhood she never had.
The office is a seat on New Haven Board of Education. Nunez (pictured) is one of two candidates who have filed papers to run in a Sept. 16 Democratic primary for a contested board seat, in District 1. (Click here to read about the other candidate, Edward Joyner.) The mayor until now has appointed all the board’s members; thanks to a 2013 charter referendum, voters will now choose two voting members. (So far, only one candidate, former Alder Angela Russell, has filed to run in District 2.)
Nunez is already busy — she holds down three part-time jobs, is raising 4- and 5‑year-old daughters, and is looking to start two businesses. She also serves as citywide president of New Haven Head Start’s Policy Council.
A commitment to children drives her to seek a bigger impact on school policy, she said.
“My love for children developed through my personal experiences. I’ve been in very serious situations in my life when I felt lost,” as though she were “going to drown,” she said in a candid interview Monday.
She said those experiences included being abandoned in an apartment for days when she was less than three weeks old; growing up in poverty in Puerto Rico; losing custody of her three sons in Puerto Rico to her father, with whom she no longer speaks; and living with her husband and young children in a Stamford homeless shelter.
Nunez, who’s 27, said she “reinvented” herself by obtaining her GED, qualifying to work for a while as a certified nurse assistant, and volunteering long hours.
Along the way, she said, she learned that a parent’s “voice can be heard.”
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Her experience as a mom led her to add charter-school advocacy to her volunteer duties. Her elder daughter, Leislani, attends a new charter school, Booker T. Washington Academy, and is “thriving,” according to Nunez. Nunez has two part-time jobs there. She has shown up at rallies (including this one, pictured) urging the state legislature to increase funding to charter schools and to allow more charters to open.
“I am a fan of good education,” she said. “I am a fan of family choice.”
The charter issue has sparked controversy in New Haven and statewide. Opponents charge charter schools cream students to operate essentially as taxpayer-funded private schools that leave bilingual, low-performing, unruly, or special-ed children in traditional schools. Advocates argue that charters deny that characterization and argue that charters offer parents needed alternatives to failing schools.
If elected to the school board, Nunez said, she will “try to get people to understand that we should unite on family choice.” Parents deserve to have more options for their kids’ education; she said her daughter is thriving at Booker T.
Nunez said she would have voted, for instance, to approve proposed Board of Ed financial support for a new Achievement First charter school called Elm City Imagine. (Opposition from board members quashed that proposal.) “People should be united. Stop fighting so much over everything. We all want the same thing,” she said.
Her opponent for the District 1 seat, Joyner, said he would have voted against the deal. He argued that the Board of Ed must first make sure it’s doing its best with its own schools “before we decide to do anything else.”
Nunez also gave a thumbs-up to the performance of Superintendent of Schools Garth Harries: “He is doing a good job. He has a thick skin — he’s like Superman.” She has gotten to watch him and other administration officials at work through her work not only with the Head Start board but at Parent University, where she has volunteered as a Spanish translator.
“I had very traumatic experiences growing up” in “a very dysfunctional home where there was no love,” Nunez recalled. “Everybody was arguing. I was abandoned in an apartment at 18 days old” by her mother, who lost custody of her. “It was the ‘80s revolution, when everyone was getting high.”
“I think I’m alive for a reason: I want to make a change,” she said.
Nunez with daughter Leislani at Booker T.
Nunez, who lives in the Farnam Court housing development, said she has determined to give her children a better life. Along the way, through volunteering at their Head Start program, she found she could contribute to children’s early development in those crucial first five years. She’s in her second year as president of the policy council.
Meanwhile, she started one home business with her husband, through a franchising weight-loss operation called Total Life Changes. Monday she was headed to an event at New Haven’s new Small Business Center to pursue another small business she’s cooking up, to create a 24-hour day care center in New Haven to include children of parents who work overnight. In addition to her part-time gigs at Booker T. Washington, which she said add up to 25 hours a week, she has a part-time job with a Grand Avenue dental firm reaching out to Latino customers.
Her volunteer Head Start post recently led to her attending a conference in Washington, D.C. Her travel expenses were paid. She dug into her own pocket, she said, to make sure her daughters came along. She wanted them to see how their mom’s voice can be heard.
Previous coverage of the Board of Ed elections:
• Child-Development Pioneer Seeks Ed Board Seat
• Sullivan, Ortiz Win Student Ed Board Seats
• Students Make Last Push For Board Of Ed Seats
• Vote For Me — Or At Least Please Vote
• Student Ed Board Candidates Make Their Case
• Students Launch School-Board Campaigns
• Slow Start To Student Race For Ed Board
• Final Rules Set For Hybrid Ed Board Elections
• Rules Set For “Hybrid” Ed Board Elections
• Students May Petition Way To School Board
• Grades, Attendance Still On Table As Factors For Student Board Of Education Hopefuls
• Students: Grades Shouldn’t Matter For Board Seat
• Should Board of Ed’s Student Rep Earn Cs?