Full Biography for Gary A. Lopez

Candidate for
Board of Education Member; Modesto Elementary and High School Districts

GARY LOPEZ FOR MODESTO SCHOOL BOARD

Gary Lopez is a husband, a father, and a lifelong firefighter, who has committed himself to making Modesto a safer place to live, work and raise a family. Now Gary wants to carry that same commitment to the Modesto City Schools Board of Education.

If elected to the School Board, Gary will fight for:

· Schools that are safe havens for our children. "We need to continue our partnerships with the Modesto Police Department, make sure that classrooms are equipped with telephones, and insist that each school have a comprehensive communications plan to help handle emergencies."

· Smaller class sizes for Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

· Fiscal accountability to ensure that our education dollars are spent in the classroom, not on administrative salaries and offices.

· A quality education for all our students, to prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead.

Gary Lopez was born in Pasadena in 1961. He attended Southern California high schools, where he was named Senior Class President and a delegate to Boys State.

Gary attended Mt. San Antonio Junior college, and majored in Fire Science. He worked his way through school, earning the California State Firefighter Certificate. In 1981, he was hired by the Modesto Fire Department, as one of its youngest members. Gary Lopez has been with the Modesto Fire Department for 18 years, and is currently a Fire Captain.

Over the years, Gary has volunteered his time working with children and teens on a wide variety of community service projects and programs, including Big Brothers, Special Olympics and Sober Graduation, where he helped develop a program to educate kids about the dangers of drinking and driving.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the Stanislaus American Diabetes Association and the "Modesto First" Committee, examining ways to make city government more responsive to the public. In his years with the Fire Department, he has been involved in a wide variety of volunteer activities, including Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, and the American Diabetes Association.