by Mark McDermott
The real education of John Uriostegui began when he became the father of a little girl 21 years ago.
Uriostegui grew up in Carlsbad and attended school there, but didn’t excel until he was diagnosed as dyslexic in college, after which he started making the dean’s list. He attended six colleges, graduating from Loyola Marymount. By the time his daughter was born, he had already embarked on a successful career as a financial adviser.
But as he held her in his arms, he realized he had no idea what to do in this most important of jobs, being a dad.
“Being a dad literally flipped a switch,” Uriostegui said. “It’s like, ‘I’m no longer going to work 20 hours a day and sleep four hours. All of a sudden, there’s a little human you’ve got to actually deal with. I just did tons of classes and reading and just obsessed with, how do you do this?”
He asked his oldest friends for advice. One of them gave him a book, by former UCLA coach John Wooden, about the 10 ways to be successful outside of sports.Uriostegui, an avid athlete and surfer who has been coaching for two decades, found lessons that he still applies to his own life.
“Sports to me is like life,” he said. “There is competition, and there are winners and losers. There are good winners and bad winners. No one likes to lose, but in reality, someone is going to lose. And then you have a choice. Are you going to use it to change and do something better, or are you going to say, ‘Screw it I. am happy this way. I’m okay.’”
Uriostegui has two sons in MBUSD, but it was never on his radar to get involved at the school board level until he saw how district leaders handled Measure A, the $1,095 parcel tax rejected by voters earlier this year.
First of all, Uriostegui saw people who didn’t learn from losing.
“Measure A was a complete disaster on a whole bunch of different fronts,” he said. “And instead of Jen [Fenton, an incumbent candidate] and Wysh [Weinstein, also a candidate] stepping up and saying we made mistakes — they really haven’t fixed anything, or said anything, or done anything. I gave them ample time before I decided to run.”
One aspect of Measure A that irked Uriostegui was that it ignored a survey the district commissioned that indicated residents might support a $525 parcel tax, or certainly approve an extension of the current $225 parcel tax.
“Instead they said we need $1,100, and they still don’t have a business plan,” he said.
Another was the campaign contributions MBEF and the PTA made on behalf of the measure.
“It was $49,999, from an Ed Foundation that’s struggling to get donations, to fund that measure, and $9,999 from the PTA and all the elementary schools to fund that measure,” he said. “If I get elected, I’m going to ask them, ‘Do you plan to put that money back?’”
Measure A is the main reason Uriostegui agreed to run for the school board, along with like-minded candidates Christy Barnes and Mike Welsh.
“When I had to tell my daughter at age 12 that I had cancer, and it was pretty gnarly, it was another life-changing event,” he said. “Now I don’t even care what people think about me or say about me. Do what’s right, look in the mirror, and make sure you can live with all your decisions. That’s the number one reason why I am running. If you make a mistake, use it as a teaching moment.”
Another reason is an encounter Uriostegui had with a teacher during the early stages of the pandemic. In those first weeks, when everyone scrambled to figure out how to switch to remote learning, Uriogstegui installed eight computers and hired tutors. Twenty kids, friends of his sons, started going to school at what they jokingly called the COVID house. Uriogstegui said one of the tutors alerted him to an assignment his son had been given, to write a paper under the topic, “Why white people and policemen need to learn how to kneel.” Uriostegui talked to the teacher, whom, he said, was unapologetic. “I said, ‘This can’t be the topic that the school is telling you the kids need to write about,” Uriostegui said. “And he said, ‘I get to do what I want to do.’”
Uriostegui said he grew up colorblind. His house is the same now, he said, with all sorts of kids part of the Uriostegui community. And he believes that’s how the school district should be.
“Black, white gay, straight, tall, short, athlete, math-lete — that’s a new word I didn’t know about — everyone is welcome,” he said. “Just don’t be a jerk, clean the house and throw your trash away, and be respectful even if someone comes in whom you don’t like — and that’s a life lesson right there, not everybody is going to like everybody.”
As a finance guy, Uriostegui sees a different approach MBUSD can take. He believes that the district’s sports and theater facilities could be leased when not in use to create a new revenue stream. He said he and his running mates offer a clear break from the way MBUSD has been run.
“If you think that the schools are going great, everything’s fine, I know the two people you should vote for,” Uriostegui said. “If you think that there needs to be a change, I know the three people you should vote for. It really is that simple.” ER
