Gloria Matta Tuchman

An elementary school teacher in Santa Ana, Ms. Tuchman has specialized for over thirty years in teaching students limited in their English proficiency. She has served on a number of state and national boards and commissions dealing with issues of educational reform, and twice was elected president of her local school board. As a child in a Mexican-American family living in rural Texas, she was a central plaintiff in a desegregation lawsuit under which her Texas town was forced to open its public facilities to children of all ethnic backgrounds. Her step-father later served as National President of LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens), and she herself was honored as LULAC Woman of the Year in 1988. She serves as Chair of REBILLED, the Committee to Reform Bi-Lingual Education.