03/14/2023
My name is Debbie Torres and I am running for the Ysleta Independent School District Board, District 6. Early Voting begins Monday, April 24, and ends Tuesday, May 2. Election day is May 6. YISD District 6 is located within the Mission Valley.
I grew up in the Mission Valley, close to Ysleta. My mother was a deputy clerk, and my father was a bus driver. My mother’s family, the Alderete's, were active in the Ysleta community, and I admired their service.
My husband Joe and I have been married for 40 years. We have two wonderful daughters, Christy and Alyssa, and three beautiful grandchildren.
While I subsequently earned a Communications degree from UTEP, it was at UTEP that I began my advocacy. In 1971, as a student, I participated in a peaceful take-over of the administration building where I was arrested for advocating to improve the quality of education for Mexican-American students and increase the number of Mexican-American faculty in higher education.
Not long after, I started a family of my own. My daughter Alyssa was born profoundly deaf. While Alyssa spent her early years in a specialized school for the deaf, she eventually transitioned into the Ysleta Independent School District, her home district. At the time, YISD did not provide interpreters for their deaf students. I was determined that Alyssa deserved to participate in learning like any other student of the district. Over the three years of her high school career, I took on an entire school district and their seemingly limitless resources to improve the learning environment for those who are differently abled. We prevailed, the school district complied, but unfortunately Alyssa did not receive an interpreter until a few months before her high school graduation. As a result, YISDs now provide resources for deaf students to participate in their classrooms.
More recently, I founded the Pueblo Viejo Neighborhood Association. As their president, I advocated for the Mission Valley by joining elected officials to fight a plan to locate a medical waste facility in the Mission Valley. Two times the facility petitioned the TCEQ to approve the permit that would allow bio-hazardous waste to be not only transported through our highways and roads but processed and housed in a facility only feet away from people’s homes. After several attempts, we finally proved that the facility had falsely testified to the number of residents the facility would have affected and the permit was denied.
I am asking for your support and your vote to bring this same advocacy to YISD on behalf of District 6. I want to lower taxes, protect our children’s future and keep good teachers in the classroom.
Vote Debbie on May 6!
