Sameen Ahmadnia, an immigration attorney, is a candidate for the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) Board of Education on the November ballot. Two Board positions are available, with Board Member Paula Amezola and Board President Kelly Kent not seeking re-election. Ahmadnia spoke with Westside Voice about her campaign for inclusion, accessibility, and sustainability for Culver City Unified.

Her six-year-old daughter attended La Ballona Elementary School last year. The school is home to multilingual students, some who have primarily Spanish-speaking parents. Last year, the district announced plans to relocate the school’s Spanish-speaking Vice Principal to another school in the district. Ahmadnia, who spoke up alongside other parents, helped district officials understand how significant a loss the Vice Principal’s leaving would be. To district officials, she expressed “How critical it is for people to have a direct line of access.”

“It can actually be really dehumanizing to have to speak through a liaison or have to speak through your children,” Ahmadnia stressed. The parents’ campaign at La Ballona was a success; they kept their Vice Principal. But for Ahmadnia, that episode clarified her decision to run for the School Board.

“One thing that I kept hearing was ‘We don’t feel like we’re being brought to the table and having our voices heard.’”

Ahmadnia was particularly concerned with the loss of Amezola in the context of what she’d seen at La Ballona. She said parents feared they were losing the only board member who literally spoke their language and who knew their unique needs. 

Amezola has endorsed Ahmadnia, saying “Her dedication to advocating for Spanish-speaking parents and her experience as an immigration lawyer show her unwavering commitment to justice and equity for all.”

Ahmadnia’s household speaks Spanish, Farsi, and English. Beyond her experience as an immigration advocate, she knows firsthand that CCUSD systems could be better organized for English learners (EL), her six-year-old among them. English learners go through a process of reclassification and the state tracks their progress. Ahmadnia cited a significant statistic: In 2023, 47 percent of EL students in CCUSD were “making progress towards English language proficiency,” a seven percent decrease from the previous year. A failure to reclassify puts students at a disadvantage. Ahmadnia said more clarity in the process and better support for families would make a difference, not just in the state-reported statistics, but in the way that communities feel about their place in the district.

Students and families benefit, Ahmadnia said when everyone is allowed to participate. This also applies to disability justice in CCUSD schools. The district has integrated its classrooms, with disabled students learning alongside all of their peers, far more than the state on average.

Ahmadnia wants the district to become fully ADA-compliant and increase accessibility and inclusion in all aspects of schooling from curriculum to family support. 

Climate change and increasing sustainability efforts in the district have also been top of mind. Last month’s heat wave, she said, punctuated the need for immediate and proactive measures to bring the district closer to its environmental goals. For days, students couldn’t play outside. 

The consequences of climate change are not in the distant or near future, Ahmadnia said, they’re happening right now. “Some people view [sustainability] as a ‘nice to have’ but increasingly it’s becoming a ‘need to have,’” she said. She fully supports the district’s commitment to a Green New Deal and envisions greener campuses with climate curricula that go beyond the basics of sustainability measures like recycling.   

Ahmadnia believes an environmentally responsible district doesn’t have to come at a great expense. Even if the district hired someone to pursue sustainability grants, Ahmadnia argued the position could pay for itself due to the sheer amount of available funds. 

“The intention is to not just throw money away, but to see how we can tap into funding sources that already exist,” Ahmadnia explained. For some of the district’s issues, Ahmadnia sees “easy, process-oriented” solutions. The district’s budget, like many other school districts across the state, has been a concern. She wants to make sure money is being spent effectively.

That approach to budgeting informs her position on other platform stances. Ahmadnia wants mental health services to remain a priority, to expand supports, and to minimize the mental healthcare provider-to-student ratio. 

Chronic absenteeism troubles CCUSD, though that isn’t unique to the district. Districts receive critical state funding depending on attendance metrics. The root causes of chronic absenteeism relate to the socio-emotional states of students. With more robust mental health services, Ahmadnia contended schools could address these root causes of chronic absenteeism. And as a result, perhaps, the district could see absence rates go down and state funding increase. 

Ahmadnia also advocates for a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) to address student needs and for mental health to be built into student curricula starting in transitional kindergarten.

Ahmadnia said that it’s important, too, for the district to be cognizant of issues that inevitably impact students. While some people have said politics should stay out of CCUSD, Ahmadnia doesn’t think that’s possible.

“When there’s any community that’s being targeted, it impacts [students] psychologically,” she said. Ahmadnia experienced this firsthand as an Iranian-American student post-9/11. “A lot of times, people project onto you and make assumptions about your identity and treat you accordingly.” 

When asked about personal attacks that have been made against her since her campaign began, she didn’t linger on it. “This is really a normal response to candidates of color,” she explained. “I don’t think it’s about me. I think it’s just speaking to deeper biases that exist.”

She is more concerned with how this rhetoric affects children in the district, whether they’re internalizing those attitudes or mimicking them. “It’s important as a community to talk to each other with a level of respect,” she said. 

“These political spaces can feel really intimidating,” she said. It was important for her to connect with community members who haven’t always felt welcome or comfortable. 

She has her own discomfort with the political space she’s found herself in. She never wanted to campaign for elected office – in fact, she and her husband joke about how they moved from Washington D.C. to Culver City to escape all of the politicking. 

When asked if she’d ever run for another elected position she doesn’t skip a beat. “No,” she said, laughing. “Is that a normal thing to say?” 

“Use your skill set for the greater good” has been a north star throughout her life. For her, that means taking on pro bono work and supporting her community with her legal knowledge. She didn’t expect herself to be utilizing her skill set in this way, but endorsers say it makes her uniquely suited to join the board.

All five members of the current CCUSD board have endorsed her campaign. Board Parliamentarian Brian Guerrero endorsed Sameen because “she comes to this without an agenda, without an ego – she wants what’s best for our students, our schools, and our communities.” Board President Kelly Kent called Ahmadnia an “intellectual gem” and a “selfless volunteer.” Board Clerk Stephanie Loredo called her a “public servant with great integrity” who “approaches challenges with curiosity.” Board Vice President Triston Ezidore said she is “the advocate we need to create a more equitable and supportive future for all of our students.”

Ahmadnia has also been endorsed by the Culver City Democratic Club, Westside Young Democrats, and the Stonewall Democratic Club.

Photo courtesy of Sameen Ahmadnia.