SRHS student will join the SDUSD board
Scripps Ranch High School student Quinton Baldis was one of only two students from the entire San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) selected to serve as a student board member on the SDUSD Board of Education. He will be sworn in this summer and will be a high school senior in the fall.
As a student board member, Baldis will be expected to do what any other board member of San Diego Unified School District would do. However, votes by student board members are advisory only and do not count in an official tally for any issue requiring a vote by the board.
Student school board members attend board meetings, represent the student population in discussions, advocate for issues of concern to the student body and help guide the governance process of their school districts.
Baldis ran a social media campaign to help get voted into the position. On his YouTube video, he described himself as extremely engaged in his school and community. He explained that he is a peer mentor on campus and is the president of his school’s mock trial team.
“I’ve played soccer all of my life, and now I play on my school’s varsity team, and run track in the off-season,” he said.
He said that he founded Equal Kicks, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to collecting and donating soccer equipment to underfunded communities. “This project stems from my belief that every student should have the opportunity to pursue their passions, regardless of economic barriers,” he said. “We must support each student’s ambitions, whether they be in athletics, the performing arts or academic clubs. School is more than just academics; it’s about building a supportive community where every student can thrive. Let’s work together to ensure that every student’s dreams are nurtured and that our school truly serves as a stepping stone for future success.”
Scripps Ranch High School has had the honor of having a student serve on the board in the past, which is rare since only two are selected each year. Former Scripps Ranch High School student Lea Nepo-
muceno served on the SDUSD board as a student member for the 2022-23 school year. She graduated from SRHS in the spring of 2023.
Nepomuceno was helpful in getting legislation passed that will benefit Baldis and future student board members because she voiced her position in favor of California Assembly Bill 275 which allowed school districts to begin paying their student board members. Nepomuceno testified before the Assembly Committee on Education in support of AB 275 in Sacramento.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 275 and now school district boards and county boards of education have the option to compensate student board members for their work. The school board voted in December to pay its student representatives, who were previously only reimbursed for travel.
Student trustees on the SDUSD school board are now paid $1,736 monthly. The law went into effect Jan. 1.