As the only school board candidate in her trustee area for the November election, San Martin resident Teresa Murillo has already locked up a seat on Morgan Hill Unified School District’s governing body for the next four years.
Still, the registered nurse and mother of four has shied away from any sort of publicity during the campaign season. She chose not to attend the American Association of University Women’s candidates forum. She did not respond to the Times’ Q&A candidate profile request in September.
“I think it’s important to give the candidates the spotlight,” Murillo said during an Oct. 12 interview (her first with any local media outlet) as to why she turned down those opportunities. “I want to put my energy into truly figuring out what’s important to the community overall.”
While not taking the traditional path as candidates do during election time, the unassuming, self-made Latina professional—who entered the U.S. from Mexico with her grandfather at age 14—has been out in the local community. She has met with various district parent groups over the last few months.
“I want to focus my energy in serving the community. It’s not for me. It’s for the community,” Murillo said. “Now I’m just listening, visiting schools, letting them know that I will be on the board and I want to hear what they have to say.”
None of Murillo’s children currently attend MHUSD schools. They used goto San Martin/Gwinn Elementary before they gained entry into the Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy (known as GECA), which is part of the Gilroy Unified School District and housed at Gavilan College. Her oldest child is a college student at San Jose State University.
“Even though my kids moved on somewhere else, my heart is here in Morgan Hill,” stressed Murillo , 41, who remains involved with a small informal parent group centered in San Martin where she’s lived for the last 10 years.
“To me, it’s important to find out what the principals, what the teachers and what the community needs, and focus on that,” she added.
If that means making changes when necessary, Murillo is not opposed to doing just that.
“I just want to do what is best for children and for the community. I want the community to be proud of the district they have,” Murillo added. “I’ve seen good things happen in the schools but there’s always going to be room for improvement.”
Murillo, who introduced herself to district officials just this week, hasn’t attended any recent school board meetings (although she has in past years), but she is quite aware of the contentious atmosphere that sometimes develops among trustees.
“I am looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to working as a team with all of the trustees with whoever gets elected and is on the board,” Murillo said. “We are a reflection of what the community is and we have to bring that into the meetings.”
Murillo, now a registered nurse getting back into the trade after raising her four children, began babysitting as a teenager shortly after she came to the U.S. as a teenager, and worked at an agricultural camp, to make ends meet. Her uncles insisted she attend junior high school in Gilroy, where she went before eventually graduating from Gilroy High School. While attending school, Murillo worked many different jobs, including on a catering truck, at a shoe store and a bakery to support herself.
She then earned her Licensed Vocational Nurse certificate at Gavilan College and worked at a local hospital for several years before taking time off to raise her children in San Martin. She then went back to Gavilan College and became an RN.
“For some reason, I feel like this community has welcomed me so much that I feel a part of it,” Murillo said. “It’s not just about my kids and them being successful. It’s about all the kids of this community.”
While Murillo is the only Trustee Area 7 candidate, there is a two-candidate race in Trustee Area 5 between incumbent Tom Arnett and challenger Angelica Diaz, and a three-candidate race in Trustee Area 6 between incumbent Rick Badillo and challengers Albert Beltran and Mary Patterson. Residents can only vote in the trustee area in which they reside.
