Candidate for
Board Member; Santa Ana Unified School District

Art Pedroza teaches at Cerritos College, for a state-approved apprenticeship program. He is a longtime member of the American Federation of Teachers, which is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

Pedroza is also a safety consultant. Pedroza has worked in safety and project management for over twelve years. He is a certified OSHA outreach instructor and he teaches numerous classes including First Aid and CPR; Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response; and Emergency Response.

Pedroza's three sons all attend SAUSD schools. Two of his sons are enrolled at Godinez High School and his youngest son is in the second grade at John Muir Fundamental Elementary. His daughter graduated from Santa Ana High School a few years ago and she recently completed a fashion design degree at the prestigious Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising (FIDM).

Pedroza has an MBA from Keller Graduate University of Management, where he also completed a graduate certificate in project management. He also completed a BS from the University of Phoenix, which he completed summa cum laude. Pedroza is also a graduate of Don Bosco Technical Institute.

Pedroza's parents were Mexican immigrants. His father owned a maintenance and janitorial company. Pedroza spent many summers helping his father, while growing up, with what was very difficult and hard work. As a young man, Pedroza learned English with the help of his mother, who was also learning English at the time. With her help, Pedroza was winning school-wide spelling bees at San Gabriel Academy by the third grade.

Pedroza has served on the Santa Ana Public Library Advisory Board and the Santa Ana Housing and Redevelopment Commission. He has also served on numerous non-profit boards including Santa Ana Neighborhood Housing Services, Com-Link, and both the Artesia-Pilar and Park Santiago Neighborhood Associations.

Pedroza started Orange County's first political blog, the Orange Juice, back in 2003. It now averages over 11,000 visits per week. He is also the publisher of the New Santa Ana blog, which has quickly become Santa Ana's number one online source for political, entertainment and civic news and views.

Pedroza has managed large-scale projects at refineries, involving hundreds of workers doing dangerous work. Pedroza started a confined space rescue division for one contractor and a biohazard abatement division for another contractor. Pedroza also managed safety for hundreds of workers in New Orleans after that city was hit by two hurricanes in 2005. Pedroza was there in New Orleans when the second hurricane hit the devastated area.

Pedroza has spoken at dozens of national and regional conferences on subjects including the pandemic flu; emergency response; and biohazard abatement. He is the Past President of the Orange County Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers and currently serves as their Member at Large.

Pedroza spoke at the National Safety Council's 2007 Safety Congress, in Chicago, regarding managing infectious disease outbreaks in the workplace. He gave that presentation this year at the Annual Facility Management Show, in Anaheim, and at the Public Agency Risk Managers Association's (PARMA) National Conference, also in Anaheim.

Pedroza spoke at the Rand Corporation in January, 2008, for the National Safety Council, about Pandemic Influenza. He also gave that presentation as the keynote speaker at the 2006 O.C. ASSE (American Society of Safety Engineers) /O.C. AIHA (American Industrial Hygiene Association) Joint Technical Symposium and to the O.C. ASSE and the AGC (Associated General Contractors) of Southern California, in 2006 as well.

And Pedroza has spoken at two California League of Cities conferences about blogging and social media.