From an initial field of nine candidates, Rachel Puno Juliana was chosen as the newest member of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education. Juliana, who lives in Plainsboro with husband Charles “Chuck” Juliana, and children, Charlie, 6, a kindergartner at Wicoff, and Bella, 4, was appointed to replace Yibao Xu, who died unexpectedly in November.
Juliana was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States with her parents when she was 15 years old. “My father worked for the Minister of Trade under the Ferdinand Marcos government and was transferred to the consulate in New York, so we moved to Connecticut,” says Juliana.
“Then the Filipino revolution broke out, and my father was sent back to the Philippines. My mother, two brothers, and I remained in the United States and moved to Los Angeles, and then moved again to Oregon. I went to four very different high schools in four years: in the Philippines, Connecticut, LA, and Oregon. That was a real culture shock for me. But the experience really helped me understand education in the United States.”
Juliana stayed in the United States, earning a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from University of California-Berkeley and a law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She met husband Chuck, who is also a lawyer, while they were both working at law firm Gordon and Rees.
“We worked on a class-action litigation case together,” Juliana explains. “A group of students and teachers were suing a university under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming that the school was not providing enough accommodations. We were representing the university. The case eventually settled, right before it was scheduled to go to trial.” This experience provided Juliana even greater insight into education issues.
Moreover, though new to the WW-P school board, Juliana already has school board experience.
“I served on a school board in northern California from 2002 until 2007. At that time, I was an officer at an organization called the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC), and one of the board members at a high school-only district, who had been one of my ‘mentors,’ was stepping down. He asked me to consider a position on the school board, and I really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed working with the students, so I ended up serving for five years.”
“My circumstances at the time were very different than they are now — I wasn’t even married yet, and didn’t have any children of my own. Now that I do have children, I am personally invested in the district, and I really want to be involved. I am active with the Parent-Teacher Association at Wicoff School and have participated in activities with the Plainsboro Moms Club. And I take my kids to all of the activities that moms of young kids go to: Little Gym, Bounce U, and Music Together. I started playing tennis two-and-a-half years ago, and now my son plays too. My daughter takes dance at the Dance Corner, and both kids do karate at Liberty Martial Arts.”
“All of this is fun,” she laughs, “but I wanted to do more, to become more involved in their education. So when the Plainsboro vacancy came up, I thought I should apply. It seemed like the right time, and I had enjoyed my school board experience so much in California, it seemed like a good choice for me.”
Juliana and her husband moved to New Jersey in 2007 to start a family and to be closer to Chuck’s family, who all reside in New Jersey. They were looking for an area with a good school system, and her in-laws recommended West Windsor-Plainsboro. While house-hunting, the couple first moved to Avalon Watch in West Windsor and then chose a house in the Crossings at Grovers Mill East in Plainsboro.
“We could have ended up in either West Windsor or Plainsboro,” says Juliana. “We really liked both towns. But we found a home in Plainsboro that we really loved, so we decided to move here.”
While Juliana’s two brothers moved back to the Philippines, her mother and stepfather, Lucy and Keith Marshall, moved to West Windsor to be close to Juliana and her children. “My youngest half-sister, who is 17, will be moving to the United States as well because she got accepted into the University of Pennsylvania. I am so proud of her — and I am happy that she will be so close to us.”
Juliana credits her father’s family for her decision to become an attorney. “My grandfather, an attorney, was the Minister of Justice in the Philippines. He had 12 children and six of them became attorneys. I know that influenced my career choice.” Juliana now works providing legal services to a Fortune 500 company based in Northern California.
“More importantly, my mother has been my inspiration throughout my life,” she adds. “My mother married my father at such a young age, and had children when she was very young, so she gave up a lot for us. Then she was a single mom raising three kids, so she really couldn’t advance her own educational and career goals. But she was such a strong, compassionate woman, and I admire her so much. She taught me the importance, especially as a woman, of being independent, confident, and to get a good education. And she is a great tennis player, very athletic, much better than me — I admire that too!” says Juliana.
Juliana says she believes that her previous school board tenure, her career as an attorney, and her own personal experiences will allow her to bring a unique perspective to the WW-P school board.
“I have no specific agenda,” she says, “nor do I have ties to any particular group or groups. I am aware of how good our school district is, and any action that I take will be guided by what’s best for the district, what’s best for the kids. When I make decisions professionally, I tend to weigh both sides objectively, without getting emotional, and I will bring this perspective to the board.
“Of course”, Juliana says, “as a parent I react differently to certain situations, but my role as a parent is completely different from my role as a board member. I won’t advocate for one side over the other, and for every issue that comes before the board, I will strive to thoroughly understand the issues and the impact that it will have on all of the children and the district as a whole.”
