Candidate wants to replace her son on the City Council
Woodland resident Victoria “Vicky” Fernandez is seeking the District 4 City Council seat on Nov. 3 — the same position her son, Councilman Enrique Fernandez, is stepping down from.
Enrique Fernandez won the District 4 race in 2016 but announced about a month ago that he would not seek reelection. Fernandez made local history by becoming one of the city’s youngest councilmembers and the youngest mayor.
Now, his mom wants to take his place. She is facing a challenge from Magda Padilla, a legal analyst for the state Personnel Board. “I love this community and
have been committed to making our city a place that I feel proud to call home,” she states. “I am a wife, mother, grandmother, and teacher. My husband Armando was a police officer for Woodland and retired from UCD Police Department.”
Vicky also notes that she is the daughter of migrant farmworkers who came to Woodland in the 1940s. Both her parents, Francis Saragoza Macias and Delfino Macias, were founding members of Yolo County
Mexican American Concilio alongside Rick Gonzales, Sr.
Vicky attended Sacramento State in the 1980s and began a career helping the children of Woodland farmworkers through California Mini Corps.
After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in liberal studies and finishing her multiple subject teaching credential program, “I worked for the Madison Migrant Camp and Winters Child Development Center.”
Fernandez also reports she has been a teacher and substitute teacher for the Woodland School District since 1985, and started her teaching career at Maxwell Elementary School, teaching
first grade. She has taught for the past 22 years at Gibson Elementary with 20 of those years as a kindergarten teacher.
Fernandez retired in 2018 with more than 25 years of full-time service to the district and then returned in 2019 as a substitute.
Fernandez also notes that over the years she has been a volunteer with Holy Rosary Catholic Church, provided sign language and Spanish instruction for GATE, served on the Gibson Elementary and Pioneer High School site councils, been a member of the Woodland and Pioneer high school band boosters, the Woodland Education Association,
California Teachers Association, Delta Kappa Gamma and served as president of the Woodland Democratic Club.
In 2016, Fernandez was also recognized by Concilio as Educator of the Year and served as a keynote speaker for the Yolo Interfaith Immigration Network in 2017.
“As a Woodland native, I care about Woodland,” she states. “I am running for our City Council because our community deserves genuine, compassionate and experienced leadership that is focused on improving Woodland’s future.”