Meet the Principal

 

Vietnamese Dual Language Immersion: Ben Painter Elementary School in ARUSD offers Vietnamese Dual Language Immersion in San Jose! Grades TK, K, 1 and growing into 2nd grade and beyond! See "School Programs".

Mr. Manluco was born in the immigrant enclave West End of Winnipeg, MB, CAN and moved to the U.S. at the age of 9, where he grew up in the old Navy base city of Vallejo, CA . In both Manitoba and California, he became keenly aware of his multilingual Filipino heritage and brings that knowledge with him here to Painter Elementary School as your incoming principal for the 2021-2022 school year.

In Canada, he was a part of rich cultural programming where students of diverse language backgrounds engaged in learning, singing, and cultural art and stories with native language instructors. The West End of Winnipeg's Wellington school had students of many backgrounds from Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Portugal, the Ukraine, Poland, Canadian Aboriginal, and so many other backgrounds in a uniquely diverse Canadian city. In the U.S., he was willing and supportive of his Filipino classmates, who did not speak English too well, despite the policies in California schools around bilingual education at the time. These experiences elevated his desire to serve communities of students with multicultural and multilingual backgrounds.

He went on to attend UC Davis and studied history and sociology, focusing on immigration policy and juvenile justice. For three years, he mentored first generation college students in the TRIO/Upward Bound program in high schools surrounding Sacramento, Stockton, and Vallejo, and supported nearly 100 students with coursework and enrollment into a 4 year university out of high school. Additionally, he was an APAPA-CEF (Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Community Education Foundation) intern to U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu, who was then a California State Assemblyman. There, he became even more acutely aware of the needs for service among our state's diverse population.

After graduating from UC Davis, Mr. Manluco answered the call and joined the Americorps Teach for America program and worked in schools of East Los Angeles, Watts, and East Palo Alto, until landing in East San Jose and earning his Master of Arts in Education from the TFA Partner Alliant International University. In San Jose, Mr. Manluco is proud to have worked alongside amazing professionals for students in Alum Rock, Berryessa USD, and East Side Union High School District. Additional expertise that he has developed include 12 years of wrestling coaching between Piedmont, Mathson, Ocala, and Independence HS, adjunct professorship in the Master of Arts in Education program at Loyola Marymount University hosted by Bellarmine College Preparatory, instructional design fellowships with Lockheed Martin and Silicon Valley Bank, and continuing his doctoral studies at Santa Clara University. Now entering his 18th year serving diverse California public schools, his passion for education and teaching service brings him to support the students, staff, and families of Ben Painter Elementary School.

 

Ben Painter Elementary School in ARUSD offers Vietnamese Dual Language Immersion in San Jose! Grades TK, K, 1 and growing into 2nd grade and beyond! See "School Programs".