Who is the student on the CMS board telling parents ‘step aside,’ hear students first?
Juan Torres Muñoz loves a blank canvas, whether it’s a pair of white shoes, two plain walls in his bedroom or taking his chair for the first time behind the school board dais.
With both his art and his politics, Torres Muñoz says he’s challenging the status quo.
For example, one of the 16-year-old artist’s latest pieces on his bedroom wall is a portrait of Jar Jar Binks, an outcast-turned-politician from “Star Wars,” depicted as Jesus Christ. It’s funny, albeit offensive, he says, especially to his grandmother, a devout Catholic.
Then there’s the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board chambers and Torres Muñoz — the lone student in a room full of administrators, and parents and adults elected to the board — with a blunt message for parents: “Step aside.”
Torres Muñoz, a junior at East Mecklenburg High School, is the 2022 student advisor to the district’s board of education. He earned the spot, the first Latino to do so, among seven finalists.
Torres Muñoz is a young immigrant from Bucaramanga, Colombia who moved with his parents to this country four years ago. Like thousands of other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students, he enrolled in class as an English Learner (EL). This year, CMS has the highest-ever enrollment of EL students in the district’s history: close to 25,500 in grades pre-K through 12.
For those students — and all 140,000 of his peers in the district — Torres Muñoz says he intends to be a relentless champion.
CMS’ board is the only one in North Carolina that has a student representative, according to Charles Jeter, the executive director of government affairs, policy and board services, and the non-voting student seat was added in 2016.
“As a teenager, and an immigrant, I make up part of the population of people who cannot vote, and because of that do not have a voice in many decisions,” Torres Muñoz said. “I want this to change, or at least make people more aware of the power that their vote has, and make them think first about how it can affect those who don’t have the privilege of being heard by representatives.”
Violence, Title IX, mental health, dress codes that target females, COVID-19 — he already has a list of student concerns. He took over the board’s student seat last month.
“(We) believe that there is a gap between the board and the students,” Torres Muñoz said. “I want to be that bridge between the board and the students, and not just a bridge that crosses a creek, I want to be the Golden Gate Bridge.
“Parents are an essential part of CMS but it is time that they step aside, nevermind their political views, and encourage their children to participate in their place, voicing their own opinions and telling the board what we actually need and want.”
Representing all CMS students
He started in CMS as an English Learner in the latter part of his seventh-grade year. He studied English in Colombia in a private school, so he knew how to write and read English, but didn’t know how to speak the language well, or understand it. It didn’t take long for him to learn. He started his eighth-grade year in regular English classes and has been in honors and the International Baccalaureate program since.
“Being the new Hispanic kid meant that I talked Spanish with all the other Hispanic kids all the time,” he said. “When I started going to advanced classes with people who only spoke English, I decided I was going to take the risk and practice as much English as I could even if people didn’t understand what I was saying.
“I’ve had great improvement, being able to speak English almost perfectly, obviously with a thick accent that has not gone away yet. I joke that it makes me quirky and interesting.”
Students whose first language is not English are one of the fastest-growing student-body populations in the district. According to the latest CMS Diversity Report, 27.2% of the district’s some 140,000 students are Hispanic.
Within CMS, more than 46,706 K-12 students speak a language other than English at home. CMS English Learners speak 204 different languages and come from 175 countries. The top five home languages are Spanish, Vietnamese, French, Arabic and Telugu.
“Being able to speak Spanish obviously is really helpful for me to talk with those students who mainly speak (the language). I could be a voice (for them,)” he said. “I’m also in the middle of learning French. …I want all students in CMS to feel that I can represent them.”
After moving to the United States, Torres Muñoz was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Seeing how things unwrapped during that time made me notice the importance of politics and how they affect our everyday lives,” he said. “We as people need representatives that know what they’re doing, that have their people in mind all the time, and most importantly, that actually listen to the people.”
The recent victory of 35-year-old Gabriel Boric for the presidency of Chile inspired Torres Muñoz even more because Boric started as a student leader.
Building roots
For Torres Muñoz, the student advisor role is a start. He credits his grandfather for his intense interest in politics — and giving him a push to change the world.
“If we don’t start listening to the unheard voices — at this local level, that’s the students — we will not make any changes on a greater scale,” he said. “My main goal is to set the roots and basis for the future so that more students are heard before decisions are made.”
“The student advisor is a critically-important asset for the board,” chair Elyse Dashew said. “The student viewpoint is extremely important as we make educational decisions.”
Added Torres Muñoz: “Representation is really essential in politics and in our world. I’m happy for the opportunity. I don’t want to be the only student attending board meetings. I want to encourage and invite students especially to voice their opinions and concerns.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 9:18 AM.
