Archives: Staff & Board

Vannarith Ou

Administrative Assistant

Van was born in a refugee camp in Cambodia and was brought to the US when he was 4 months old. He is bilingual in Khmer, which he uses regularly in his community. He has been with Californians Together since 2011 where his technical and administrative skills are deeply appreciated. He is committed to the vision of Californians Together and is dedicated to helping build capacity and outreach to educators and students. He enjoys his work because it is challenging and he enjoys the people he works with.

Victoria Weiss

Director of Professional Learning

Victoria currently serves as the Director of Professional Learning. She has a passionate voice for access and equity for all students and an uncompromising view that every student can learn given the proper tools, motivation, and nurturing environment that encourages exploration and enhances student confidence. To achieve these goals, educators need strategic professional learning to deepen their knowledge and efficacy in providing meaningful and impactful instruction. Most importantly, Victoria advocates literacy and believes all educators must read to model critical thinking, creativity, and encourage collaboration among their students and peers.

Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez 

Deputy Director

A native Californian, Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez is very proud to be both a fifth-generation Azusa, CA resident and the daughter of a Mexican immigrant. Understanding the similarities and differences between the life experiences of her parents in California schools has driven her passion to be an advocate for all students in California public schools, but especially English Learners. Aligned with this passion, she has served on the Azusa USD Board of Education since 2001 and has served on the boards of several statewide and national non-profits. She works to provide tools and resources to educators to foster a safe and inclusive learning environment for immigrant and refugee students. You can find her project Support for Immigrant and Refugee Students here.

Lynne Christine Aoki

"I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice." — Camus

September 21, 1949 – November 3, 2019

Lynne Aoki was a part of Californians Together even before we formally became a coalition. She was “all in” to defeat Proposition 227 in 1998. As the activist she was, she held fundraisers, distributed materials to voters, made phone calls and more. With her calm, soft-spoken, can-do demeanor, she demonstrated great leadership during that difficult campaign.

As a representative of the National Association for Multicultural Education to Californians Together, Lynne attended, contributed to and provided guidance for the creation and development of the work of Californians Together. She served on our Executive Board as Secretary and was Vice President at the time of her death in November 2019. Her fingerprints are all over almost every grant we have written – providing input and expert editing. Through her talent and expertise, many new funders became convinced to support our work.

She was also working on finalizing new criteria and procedures for awarding our Annual Multiple Pathways to Biliteracy District Recognition Award. We are proud to honor Lynne by renaming this award the Lynne Aoki Multiple Pathways to Biliteracy District Award.

Lynne Aoki will always be with us and we are forever grateful to her.

Sharon Merritt

Member At Large

Sharon Merritt, Ph.D., was the Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program at Fresno Pacific University from 2013 to 2021.  Dr. Merritt’s responsibilities included program development and assessment, faculty recruitment and support, academic and thesis advising, and teaching in the MAT, Single Subject, Multiple Subjects, and Bilingual Authorization programs.  Dr. Merritt also served for more than 20 years as a Lecturer of first year writing at Santa Clara University and other California institutions of higher education, as well as a member of the editorial team for NCTE’s journal, College English from 2001-2007.  Dr. Merritt, bilingual in Spanish and English, has conducted research focusing on language ideologies in dual language and traditional World Language education.  In addition to joining the Board of Californians Together, she served as President of the California Association for Bilingual Teacher Education from 2020-2022 and is currently serving as Past President (2022-2023).

Laurie Olsen

Member At Large

Laurie was one of the original group of EL advocates who in 1998 – heartbroken yet determined in the wake of the passage of Proposition 227 – set out to establish an enduring organization to be a voice for English learners in California. She served on the original Board, and has continued to be integrally involved in our leadership since that time. Believing in the power of words and voice to speak truth to power, she has served as a writer, researcher and spokesperson for Californians Together while also throwing herself into creating models and examples of powerful joyful classrooms and schools for English learners as Director of the Sobrato Early Academic Language model currently being replicated in 100 schools across 20.