My Story

Education has been in my life as long as I can remember, beginning as a child visiting my dad at the school where he was a teacher. More vividly spending summers with him at the Youth Services Summer Enrichment program he managed mostly to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble. While attending the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, I spent summers at home in the Conejo Valley working as a summer camp lifeguard, which is where my personal passion for education began.  After graduating Cal Poly with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism, I attended Loyola Marymount University and earned a Master of Arts degree in Education and a secondary single subject teaching credential in English Language Arts. While working my way through graduate school I started from the ground up as an elementary school teacher’s aide primarily making copies and supervising small reading groups.  

After graduate school I got my first teaching job at a private school in Monterey Park and then at a charter school in mid city Los Angeles.  When my husband and I decided we were ready to start planting roots, we both knew the place we wanted those roots to grow was back home.  In 2016 we moved home and I was hired in LVUSD as a middle school ELA teacher at A.C Stelle where I worked educating students until 2024. During that time I had the pleasure of watching my students cultivate their love of reading and improve their personal voice through writing.  The biggest lesson I tried to impart to my students, I learned from my favorite teacher, my dad, “Anything you put your name on represents you, so always try your best.”  Throughout my tenure teaching in LVUSD I was also able to demonstrate leadership skills when updating the middle school ELA homegrown curriculum, took part in the secondary ELA curriculum adoption process and worked towards getting new books approved for novel study, classroom libraries and literature circles.   

As a school board candidate I believe I have a unique perspective on education as I have helped to educate over 2000 students in my tenure as a teacher, many of those years in LVUSD. This includes both digitally and in person during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, I am an LVUSD parent.  My oldest two children started in LVUSD at the Buttercup Preschool, are now in elementary school and will continue to move through the district.  I have the unique perspective and profound blessing of raising two typically developing children and one child with special needs, so I am familiar with both general and special education. My son was born with Cerebral Palsy as a result of a birth injury and as a byproduct has a rare form of epilepsy, which have caused both physical and developmental disabilities.    

The past two school years I have spent at home raising my children and experiencing education as a parent in the district.  I have volunteered in both of my children’s classes on a weekly basis to support our school community and see what it’s like from a strictly parental perspective.  My children have been fortunate enough to have been placed in class with some of the best educators I have seen in my career, which has been such a humbling and wonderful experience. 

It is with these experiences in mind that I have decided to announce my candidacy for the LVUSD school board. I am proud of the district we live in, that my children are being educated in and would like to serve our community by supporting our families and teachers.  It is important to me that my 3rd grader who is already talking about her college and career goals and who uses my digital calendar to model into her color coded paper planner gets the same access and education as my 2nd grade son who is still working on toileting, basic communication and following one step directions.  If there’s anything I’ve learned throughout my career as a teacher and being a parent, it’s that no two children are alike. They are all individuals with different needs, backgrounds and stories, but more importantly that each voice matters, whether it’s the loudest and easiest to understand, the quietest and meekest in the room or the most challenging and abrasive, unsure whether they want to be in the room in the first place. My home is diverse in a way I never imagined, but it has shaped me into the best version of myself and it is my hope to serve by recognizing all of the voices within our community to support the greater good for everyone.      

When I was hired in LVUSD, I was so proud to be a teacher in this wonderful district.  When I became a parent, it was important to me that my children attend LVUSD schools as I believe in the value of the education they receive here and that this district is the best in public education.  As a board member, I will use the lens of a parent, teacher and proud community member by listening, learning and collaborating in order to support our educators and serve our students.  I am Coral Edwardsen.  Former LVUSD teacher, typical and special needs mother and citizen who genuinely cares about her community. I appreciate your vote!