FARMINGTON — In a brief address to a gathering of regional Latino educators hosted by the Davis School District, education secretary nominee Miguel Cardona counseled attendees to “embrace your Latinoness.”

Cardona’s message was brief, as the Connecticut education commissioner is in the midst of the confirmation process to head the U.S. Department of Education.

“I told my staff … there’s one engagement I’m not going to cancel on — it’s this one,” he said to viewers over Zoom.

The address was part of the Four Corners Latinx Leadership Academy Summit, organized in part by the Utah Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. The organization’s mission is to “recruit, cultivate, develop, and support current and aspiring Latino educators for the purpose of increasing the number of Latino administrators and superintendents in the State of Utah,” according to its website.

Photo supplied, Dana Rimington/Davis School District

Although the Utah State Board of Education doesn’t appear to have current data on the demographics of educators on its website, administrators and superintendents in the state are overwhelmingly white. According to a report from the Daily Herald in 2018, just 2.45% of educators in the state identified as Hispanic, while that same year 17% of students enrolled in Utah public education were Hispanic.

Cardona said Latino educators are just as equipped as their white colleagues to fill leadership positions, and that they should pursue those jobs.

“There’s always going to be someone that questions whether you’re qualified,” he said. According to Cardona, when he became Connecticut’s education commissioner, many questioned his ability to do the job, saying his experience was limited to K-12 education and he couldn’t connect with other communities.

He disputed that opinion toward himself, and any other Latino educators stepping up to lead, while also calling on the audience to “challenge the deficit mentality that you might have on yourself.”

“Who better than you with your lived experience, with your ability to connect with students?” he asked.

Cardona encouraged attendees to not be afraid to get involved with those who come from a different background or have a different opinion than them, saying doing so has made him “stronger” and “better.”

But he also emphasized the importance of educators from the Latino community leaning on each other for support. Within one month of the summit, he said, attendees should call at least one person they met there.

“Embrace that when we as Latinos come together, within five minutes we’re family,” Cardona said. “Use that Latinoness, that family style that we lead in.”

Cardona began his public education career as a fourth grade teacher in Meriden, Connecticut. Before rising to education commissioner, he was a principal, then an assistant superintendent.

He is currently awaiting the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee’s vote on his nomination. Cardona testified in front of the committee Wednesday, and was pressed on a range of issues, from schools reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic to transgender student rights. 

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was part of a contingent of Republicans on the committee who expressed opposition to allowing transgender youth to participate in girls’ sports.

Cardona responded to one question on the topic from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, by saying, “I think that it’s critically important that the education systems and educators respect the rights of all students, including students who are transgender, and that they are afforded the opportunity that every other student has to participate in extracurricular activities.”

In his speech to local Latino educators, he reiterated that stance, saying education should be equally accessible to every child, no matter their background.

Despite disagreements with some Republican senators, the nominee appears to have bipartisan support within the committee. 

“I know together we’re going to achieve amazing things for the students in our country,” Cardona said as he closed his address.