Father of 4 becomes first immigrant to take office on OKC school board

Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoman
Updated ·3 min read
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Juan Lecona speaks at a ceremony Monday before his first meeting as a member of the Oklahoma City Board of Education on April 10 at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services.
Juan Lecona speaks at a ceremony Monday before his first meeting as a member of the Oklahoma City Board of Education on April 10 at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services.

For the first known time in Oklahoma City Public Schools history, an immigrant will sit on its school board, the district said.

Juan Lecona, 44, is a 1998 graduate of Capitol Hill High School, a father of four OKC district students and, as of 2008, a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Lecona, a tractor-trailer driver, ran uncontested to represent District 6 in southwest Oklahoma City. He succeeds Gloria Torres, who chose not to seek reelection after nine years of board service.

Stepping into Torres’ shoes won’t be easy without having a background in education like his predecessor, Lecona said.

He sought out a school board seat to “encourage anybody and anyone to become the first in their family to do something completely different.”

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Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel welcomes new school board member Juan Lecona at a board meeting Monday at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services.
Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel welcomes new school board member Juan Lecona at a board meeting Monday at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services.

“It’s something that I’m very proud of,” Lecona said. “I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I’m ready for the challenge. Because I have to look at my mom.

“My mom didn’t quit. I am not going to quit.”

Lecona was 12 when he and his family entered the United States from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, in 1990. His mother raised Lecona and his three younger siblings in Oklahoma City, and though they received financial help from Lecona’s father, their mother worked extra hours to provide for the household.

Simple pleasures like going out to eat were a luxury, he said.

Today, Lecona said he has a job he loves, driving a tractor-trailer 90 miles to Clinton and back every day. He and his wife, Lucy, have four children — the four reasons he sought out a school board seat.

Their oldest, Javier, graduated from Northwest Classen High School last May. Jorge, 16, is a Northwest Classen student, and their oldest daughter, 8-year-old Emily, attends Hawthorne Elementary. Their youngest, Itzel, 3, isn’t in school yet.

Schools, staffing are top priorities for Juan Lecona

His top priority as a school board member, he said, is reducing class sizes.

“We need more schools (and) teachers,” Lecona said. “My oldest son, before COVID, when he was a freshman, he was like, ‘Dad, there’s like 30 kids in one class.’”

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The district’s most populous school, U.S. Grant High School, sits in Lecona’s District 6. Northwest Classen has grown into the second-highest enrollment since more southside students were zoned to the school in 2019.

Despite Torres’ urging, the school board opted not to dedicate 2022 bond funds toward building a fourth high school in south Oklahoma City, which is home to three of the district’s four most populated schools.

Former Oklahoma City Board of Education member Gloria Torres listens Monday at a ceremony celebrating incoming member Juan Lecona, who takes over Torres' District 6 seat on the board, at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services.
Former Oklahoma City Board of Education member Gloria Torres listens Monday at a ceremony celebrating incoming member Juan Lecona, who takes over Torres' District 6 seat on the board, at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services.

Instead, administrators proposed adding 12 new classrooms at U.S. Grant and building a new, larger Capitol Hill High School.

Torres, the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Oklahoma City School Board, said the district has improved its community relations and service to Spanish-speaking families since she took office in 2014, but “there’s so much that we need to do” to accomplish high rates of attendance, graduation, academic achievement and teacher retention.

And though Torres said she's focused on the tasks ahead, she felt comfortable stepping away to allow a new leader from the Hispanic community emerge.

“It was time to file (for office) again, and I started hearing that there was somebody interested in being more engaged and doing a little bit more but wasn’t sure that they could do something like this,” Torres said. “That’s part of what we try to do is support each other and encourage others to step into those leadership roles.”

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Father of 4 becomes first immigrant on OKC school board