Rachael Maves: Hello everyone, you are listening to the Rachael Maves podcast and I'm Rachael Maves, your host. Today we are talking to Erica Piedra. Erica is the executive officer for English learner services and multilingual programs at Fresno Unified School District, now in her 27th year in education. During her time with Fresno Unified, Erica has worked with her team members to create a plan to encourage students to both learn English and preserve their home language and culture.

The dual language programs at Fresno have been used as a template for programs all over California where educators seek to partner with students and their families. Erica, thank you for joining me today.

Erica Piedra: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here today and be able to speak to you.

Rachael Maves: So I'm really excited to hear from you with our first question that we always start with. I want to know your story. What was your journey? How did you, why did you choose that career in education?

Erica Piedra: You know, I was raised in a small farm working community and both my parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. And so, you know, as I was raised, I got to see all their hard work. You know, we worked in the fields for a big portion of my childhood. And, you know, I had that first experience going to school where

you know, you enter and you speak Spanish and everyone there speaks English, all the teachers. And so, you know, it was a little bit of a challenge for me in school. But, you know, I worked hard and I overcame. And, you know, there were times where my experiences in school were positive and other times that they were not so positive.

And so I had a wonderful teacher in high school that would always tell me that I should go into teaching. And so I entered college and I decided to go into education. I made sure to earn my biliteracy authorization because I knew that I wanted to use my ability to speak Spanish to be able to give back to our community and all of the students.

Rachael Maves: Mm.

Erica Piedra: that we serve in the Central Valley that come from homes that speak a second language. And so I have had just the great honor in these last 27 years to be a classroom teacher, a school principal, a vice principal. And now I have the privilege of working in our department at Fresno Unified.

where I have been given the great responsibility to continue to serve our English learners in our community and to build our dual language programs. so anybody who knows me knows that I'm a huge advocate for English learners and for dual language programs. And I would say that choosing my career

definitely came from my experience at home and my experience at school. And it, you know, it just, it brings me great pleasure to be able to serve it in the capacity that I do.

Rachael Maves: I love that Erica. So tell me just a little bit about your transition and coming to the United States. Were you always in the Central Valley area? Has this been home for the 27 years that you've been in education as well?

Erica Piedra: It has, I was actually born here and it was a very small farm worker community in Tulare County. And so that is where we grew up and we migrated oftentimes, this is how we got our vacations. We would go to Oregon to pick strawberries as a migrant family.

Rachael Maves: Mm.

Rachael Maves: Hmm.

Erica Piedra: We traveled to Montana to work in the sugar beet. So it was a great experience. I loved the opportunities that I had, but I also saw how hard my mom and dad worked. And my mom used to always say, you know, you need to go to school and get yourself a job where there is air conditioning and a restroom. And so I...

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Maves: Hahaha!

Erica Piedra: That stuck with me and I worked hard in school to get to where she wanted me to be. She did not want me to have to work in the fields all of my life.

Rachael Maves: you

Rachael Maves: Yeah, I love that. Those are your two conditions, air conditioning and a bathroom. Those are critical. I love that. So tell me just a little bit about your experience in school then. I mean, when you were going to Oregon, going to Montana, and really traveling quite a bit, how did that impact your education and what was that experience like for you?

Erica Piedra: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Erica Piedra: It greatly impacted it. And I would say that there were some things that were positive, the experiences that I got to be a part of with my family and traveling. But then there was this aspect of missing school. And even when it was the time to pick grapes and I had to be home at two.

Rachael Maves: Yeah.

Erica Piedra: 30 right after school because after school our family would go and we would turn table grapes for the local farm that had grapes around our community. And so there was just this, you know, it was difficult because I did miss some school, but you know, I was able to learn how to

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Erica Piedra: overcome that and you I struggled a little bit in re in reading in you know in the get-go but I I worked really hard because I knew what it meant to work hard for something I got to see my family do that and so I worked really hard to overcome that and and luckily I had some great teachers along the way that supported and that helped me

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Maves: Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Erica Piedra: to a point where I was able to attend college and be successful.

Rachael Maves: Do you feel like in that trajectory that there was a moment that you were like, I want to teach, like I want to be in the schools and focus on multilingual students and helping them to create a path in education? Was there a moment or was it just kind of part of that natural progression for you?

Erica Piedra: There was a moment, I think, when you go into college and sometimes people go in and I wasn't really clear on exactly what I wanted to do at that point. I was just excited that I got to be there. And so it took me a while to kind of take a look at all of the options that I had. And I always had that teacher's voice in my head saying, you would be a great teacher.

Rachael Maves: Yeah, sure.

Rachael Maves: Hahaha

Erica Piedra: And so, you know, within a couple of years of going to college, I said, you know what, I want to become a teacher. And I knew as soon as, you know, in my early years of working with our students, you know, I was in a classroom for 10 years, I knew that I wanted to, you know, to impact.

Rachael Maves: Hmm.

Erica Piedra: more students impact school, the entire school. And even when I was at a school site, I always looked at what is the next level because my passion really comes from how do we advocate for all of our students. And of course, especially those vulnerable populations, which includes our English learners in our community.

Rachael Maves: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that Erica. Well, so I'm excited about this next question then. And for those of you who don't know, Fresno Unified is the third largest district in the state of California, serves a very high population of socioeconomically disadvantaged and multilingual learners in our state. I'd love to hear just from the lens and the work that you're reading Erica, what are the two things that keep you up at night?

Erica Piedra: Well, you know, there are several things that I could really talk about. I think, you know, with our English learners, one of the things that we have really worked towards and advocated for is ensuring that, one, they have access to our dual language programs, because our dual language programs are the gold standard for our English learners.

Rachael Maves: Hmm.

Erica Piedra: It gives them that opportunity to learn English while they are retaining their Spanish language. And you know, that wasn't something that I had the opportunity to do. As I learned English, my Spanish began to, you know, reduce. And the only experience I had with Spanish was with my parents. And so,

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Erica Piedra: I would say that, you know, something that's very important to me is that our students have access to those dual language programs. And for those English learners that don't and aren't enrolled in our dual language program, there's also this body of work around ensuring that they're receiving their designated and integrated English language development.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Rachael Maves: Yes.

Erica Piedra: And so from my department and from my seat, I get to support that and ensure that our teachers have all of the materials that they need, that they have the training that they need. So then our students can be successful in their experience as English learners in our district.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Maves: That's great. I mean, one of the things that I heard you say is just access, right? Access to those dual language programs. And then the second thing that I heard you say was that teachers feel well equipped to serve their the student population. So when you think of those two areas that you're focused on, what are one or two ways that have just been critical in increasing that access and then supporting teachers?

Erica Piedra: Well, I'm really excited to just share with our community that, you know, when I started as a principal at Leavenworth, Fresno Unified had three schools that were dual language schools. And we are now up to 25 school sites that have our dual language program. And it is, we are so excited about that. And

Rachael Maves: Mm.

Rachael Maves: Wow.

Rachael Maves: That's amazing, Erica.

Erica Piedra: One of the things that I also want to emphasize is that in Fresno, we also have this community of Hmong families. And our district is one of the very few districts in the state of California that actually has a Hmong dual language program. And so within those 26 schools, know, part of those schools serve

Rachael Maves: Yes, yeah.

Rachael Maves: Wow!

Erica Piedra: our Hmong families and really any family that wants to send their child to a Hmong dual language school to learn how to speak Hmong can access those programs. So we have been able to expand that access by increasing and investing in our programs in Fresno Unified. And so, I'm so happy to report that we...

Rachael Maves: Yeah.

Erica Piedra: have just crossed the 5,000 mark. So we have 5,000 students that are accessing our dual language programs. So with that, with the expansion of those dual language programs, you're right. Our teachers need to have the resources to be able to implement these programs. our department gets to partner

Rachael Maves: Wow.

Rachael Maves: That's amazing.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Erica Piedra: with our teachers. We support in the development of curriculum, especially in our Mong program, because there isn't any curriculum in Mong. We have been the designers and developers of that curriculum from kindergarten all the way through eighth grade, which right now we're approaching eighth grade in that dual language Mong program. And so we provide our teachers with

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Erica Piedra: a robust amount of professional learning to be able to implement our dual language programs. So we are very excited about just the growth that we have seen and again that opportunity for our students to be able to access our programs.

Rachael Maves: That's significant, Erica. That is not a small lift. mean, kudos to you guys for prioritizing that as a district and expanding it. mean, the research is pretty clear around dual language programs and the positive impact that it has for all students.

Erica Piedra: Absolutely, I mean we are just super excited to be able to offer that to our community that we serve here in Fresno Unified.

Rachael Maves: Yeah, that's great. Well, this is going to wrap up our time and our last question together. I'm excited to hear where you go with this one. So what question in education are we not asking that we really should be?

Erica Piedra: I, you know, this could take me a lot of different places, but, you know, within our dual language programs, there are still some families, many of them being our Latino families that will, you know, that will question putting their children in a dual language program.

Rachael Maves: laughs

Rachael Maves: Interesting.

Erica Piedra: Yes, and so for many years we have really tried to do an outreach and to support our families in really educating them and sharing with them all of the benefits that our programs have. And so we continue to do that for our community. And so I would say that

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Erica Piedra: You know, I would advise people to look at the research and really to visit our programs and see that our children learn to speak English while they retain their second language. And, you know, part of our dual language program also invites children of English speaking families. And so it also provides

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Erica Piedra: this cohort of students, the gift of really being able to enroll in school and become bilingual, to be able to add a second language to the language that they already bring. And so, you know, I would say I would encourage our families to continue to reach out and ask questions about our dual immersion programs and definitely to our families

Rachael Maves: Yes.

Yes.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Erica Piedra: that are enrolling students in our schools. If you have a dual language program available at your school, I highly recommend that you enroll your child in that school. We also have some magnet schools in our district and parents can, you if there isn't one in their neighborhood, they can always apply to transfer to a school and have the opportunity for their child to be bilingual and biliterate.

Rachael Maves: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Maves: I love that Erica. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciated just hearing your passion and heart and the amazing work that you guys are doing at Fresno Unified in this area.

Erica Piedra: Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure to be here today.

Rachael Maves: A friendly reminder that PARSEC Education's updated early bird sale for PARSEC partners is live until September 30th. Partner tickets are only $1.99 for the 2026 Measure What We Value Summit happening February 4th in Fresno, California. Don't miss the limited time offer and the opportunity to experience our amazing keynote speakers. Secure your tickets now at parsecsummit.com.

---

This transcript was created from the episode's captions and lightly edited for readability. It may contain small errors; please refer to the audio for exact wording.