About Johnny / Approved Campaign Copy

Approved Campaign Boilerplate

For Johnny, this campaign is about both education and the community he has called home for 14 years. He believes students deserve excellent schools, teachers deserve to be supported and treated as professionals, and families deserve a School Board that is prepared, responsible, and focused on doing the public’s business.

Johnny brings the perspective of both an educator and an administrator, along with years of community and public service. He is running to bring steady, thoughtful leadership to the Board — listening carefully, asking hard questions, using district resources responsibly, and working with others even when they disagree.

Above all, Johnny believes every student should have the opportunity to discover what they are capable of through a complete education — strong academics and STEM, the arts, excellent teachers, and schools where every student has the opportunity to succeed.

Candidate Short Bio

Johnathon “Johnny” Yoder is a teacher, school administrator, arts educator, community leader, and 14-year La Puente resident running for HLPUSD Board of Education, Trustee Area 2. A former La Puente Planning Commissioner and longtime community volunteer, Johnny is running to bring steady, thoughtful leadership to the Board, support educators, use district resources responsibly, and ensure every student has access to an excellent and complete education.

Candidate Bio

Johnathon “Johnny” Yoder is a teacher, school administrator, arts leader, community leader, and 14-year resident of La Puente. He is a candidate for the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District Board of Education, Trustee Area 2.

Education has been at the center of Johnny’s professional life. As both a teacher and an administrator, he works directly with students, educators, staff, and families and understands that decisions made by administrators ultimately have consequences in the classroom. His experience has taught him the importance of listening to educators, managing resources responsibly, making difficult decisions, and never losing sight of the students those decisions are meant to serve.

Johnny has spent most of his career working in arts education. As an educator and arts administrator, he has helped train generations of students while overseeing the realities that come with running an educational institution — budgets, personnel, curriculum, student support, financial aid, facilities, and long-term planning. That work has also shaped one of his strongest beliefs about education: students should not have to choose between strong academics and the arts. A complete education should develop their ability to think critically, communicate, create, collaborate, and discover what they are capable of.

Johnny has also spent years serving his community. He previously served on the La Puente Planning Commission and spent eight years representing his community within the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, first as an elected member of the Central Committee and later as an alternate member.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnny also volunteered regularly at the La Puente food bank, serving on Sundays and Thursdays for approximately a year, along with helping at other local food distributions. That experience reinforced something he has long believed about public service: it is not primarily about titles or recognition. It is about showing up, doing the work that needs to be done, and being useful to the community around you.

La Puente is where Johnny chose to put down roots and build his life. His late partner, former HLPUSD Board Member Anthony Duarte, also gave Johnny a unique opportunity to see the district up close. Through Anthony, Johnny attended school and community events, came to know a family whose connection to HLPUSD stretches back more than 40 years, and saw firsthand both the responsibility of serving on a school board and the difference a good Board member can make.

Johnny is not running to fill anyone else’s shoes. He is running because he believes his own experience as an educator, administrator, arts leader, and community servant can be useful at an important moment for the district. He wants to help build a Board that listens, governs responsibly, supports great teachers, uses public resources wisely, and gives every student access to an excellent and complete education.

Johnny’s approach is straightforward: do the homework, ask good questions, listen to the people doing the work, treat people with respect, and keep students at the center of every decision.