News Release
For Immediate Release Date: January 25, 2022
Contact: Jennifer Valdivia
(213) 414-4812, [email protected]
Board Member Mónica García and Board of Education Approve to Dedicate and Designate the Wellness Center at Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School After Civil Rights Activist Sylvia Mendez
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 25, 2022) – Today, Board Member Mónica García and the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education voted to dedicate and name the Wellness Center at Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School after civil rights activist, Sylvia Mendez. At just 8 years of age, Sylvia Mendez and her parents, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, challenged educational segregation in Southern California, fighting against prejudice and equal protection. The naming and dedication of the Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center not only marks the 75th Anniversary of the landmark case, Mendez v. Westminster, which paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education which ended racial segregation in schools in the United States, but supports a school community’s desire to recognize the distinguished recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center is scheduled to be completed in the Spring of 2022 and will provide services to high and highest need students and families in Boyle Heights and support student wellbeing and academic achievement.
“Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School reflects the names of the pioneering civil rights leaders who helped desegregate California schools,” Interim Superintendent Megan K. Reilly said. “It is appropriate and fitting that the new Wellness Center at the school will be named after their daughter, Sylvia Mendez, who fought alongside her parents in Mendez v. Westminster School District. Their courage and tenacity paved the way for desegregation of all schools across the country.”
“I share the excitement of today’s Board approval to name the Wellness Center at Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School as the Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center,” Local District East Superintendent Jose P. Huerta said. “We honor Sylvia Mendez for her courage, vision, and tireless advocacy and are thrilled of having our newest wellness center named after someone who has been a champion of educational equity, access and justice.”
“Mendez High School is proud to be named after Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, civil rights trailblazers who fought for equity in public schools,” Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School Principal Mauro Bautista said. “Hence, it’s only appropriate that our new Wellness Center be named after their daughter, Sylvia Mendez, who was in the middle of that struggle as an 8-year-old. Sylvia Mendez is a great supporter of Mendez High School, often visiting the school to speak to our students and staff.”
“We are very excited to have the naming approved by the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education as the Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center,” InnerCity Struggle Executive Director Maria Brenes said. “This new resource for the Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School Community was a result of the community's efforts to demand greater health supports for our highest need students. The Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center will be a health and wellness resource for our Boyle Heights community for generations to come. As the daughter of the school's namesake and a long-time education champion, Sylvia Mendez exemplifies excellence, legacy and social justice. It is an honor to have the Wellness Center named after her. Thank you Board Member Mónica García for your leadership in advancing the naming in collaboration with the community.”
“Sylvia Mendez’s legacy as an advocate for equity is in full alignment with the promise of the Mendez High School Wellness Center, which will provide valuable services to the entire Boyle Heights Community,” Boyle Heights Community of Schools Administrator Daniel Gettinger said. “We look forward to celebrating the opening of the Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center in the near future.”
“Today, we honor a woman who is a trailblazer, civil rights activist and inspiration,” Board Member Mónica García said. “The Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center is a reminder to our students and community that we have the right and responsibility to demand educational access, equity and justice.”
“I’m thrilled to cosponsor this resolution to memorialize Sylvia Mendez and recognize her longstanding impact to uplifting our educational equity for our communities,” Board President Kelly Gonez said. “The Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center will serve our students for years to come and honor her tremendous legacy!”
“I’m proud to co-sponsor this dedication and naming of the Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center, who has spent her life fighting for civil rights and equitable opportunities in our education system,” Board Vice President Nick Melvoin said. “We are grateful for her tireless pursuit of justice and will continue to honor her legacy as we serve our students’ academic needs and healthy well-being.”
“For all that the Mendez family has done to champion educational equity in Los Angeles and beyond, naming the wellness center after Sylvia Mendez is a fitting recognition,” Board Member Dr. George J. McKenna III said. “The health of our students is a critical catalyst to their academic success.”
“If we have learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that our communities that are already disadvantaged by poverty and discrimination have the least access to quality healthcare,” Board Member Scott M. Schmerelson said. “I am proud to celebrate the completion of the Wellness Center at the Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School and to add my support to naming it for Sylvia Mendez, a courageous civil rights leader and a fierce advocate for equity and justice.”
“It’s fitting to honor the person who, as a very young student, was instrumental in desegregating California Schools,” Board Member Jackie Goldberg said. “Denied entry because of race, the eight-year-old Silvia and her family took courageous action that changed history. The Sylvia Mendez Wellness Center located in the High School named for her parent recognizes them as true civil rights champions.”
“It has been said that children are the leaders of the future. Sylvia Mendez, with her family’s persistence, was a leader starting at eight years old by fighting to make education accessible to all students in California and continued growing her leadership skills throughout her career as a nurse and civil rights activist,” Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin said. “I’m proud to support today’s decision of naming and dedicating the Wellness Center at Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School after Sylvia Mendez, who has long proven to be a courageously fierce champion and advocate for educational equity.”