Candidate for
Board Member; Chula Vista Elementary School District; Seat 5

Steve was born and reared in Waialua, Hawaii. His father, Pio Ibanez Yagyagan, was a Sakada who fought side-by-side with American troops during WWII and came to Hawaii in 1946 to work in the sugarcane fields. His mother, Miliama Tauvela, was a pineapple packer and a nurse's aide. Miliama's dad, Sgt./Rev. Mulifanua Tauvela, was a windtalker for the U.s. Army during WWII. Steve and his siblings were encouraged by Pio and Miliama to do well in school and honor their community and country through patriotism and civic duty. His parents read books and told stories to the children from infancy through elementary school.

After completing his Associates degree in Liberal Arts through the University of Hawaii, Steve left the islands in 1983 to complete his Bachelors degree in Broadcast Communications from San Francisco State University. During Steve's early years, he worked as a broadcaster in Honolulu and San Francisco and also worked in sales and operations at FedEx for nearly nine years in San Francisco and San Diego. He later achieved his Masters degree in Organizational Management from The University of Phoenix. Steve has now set his sight on achieving his doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership. He wants to continue to work on getting people in the workplace and the community to work together effectively to achieve their organizational goals.

Steve has been active in much of the Asian Pacific Islander community in San Diego, San Francisco and Honolulu. He has also been active in supporting fundraisers for literacy, awareness and cures for breast cancer , arthritis, cystic fibrosis and many other civic interests.

Steve is concerned about the continued decline in management of the Chula Vista Elementary School Disrict. The current administration has become a closed society that has done nothing to encourage input and resolution to concerns from the parents, the teachers and the students. As a result, the CVESD has become polarized. He believes the CVESD needs an overhaul to establish a solid foundation for academic excellence in order to prepare our children for middle school, high school, college and viable leaders for our community's and our country's future. Steve's commitment is to put children first in all CVESD decision-making. To achieve this goal, he believes we need strong leaders at the top who will recruit and support exceptionally talented educators for our elementary schools.

Steve married his college sweetheart, Regina Jularbal Madayag Bangalan, in 1988. Together, Steve and Regina have two children, Matthew (16) and Gabrielle (8).