Candidate Profile: Abla-Torres Promises to Represent Underprivileged Families

For the better part of two decades, Maria Abla-Torres has fought to balance her professional life with the needs of her family.

It wasn’t always easy for Abla-Torres, the mother of five children and—for part of her life—a single parent.

“You have to work hard and bring home the money to make sure the kids have a roof over their heads,” said Abla-Torres, who is now married. “You start to really focus on the necessities, what you need to do to keep your head above water.”

It’s a perspective that Abla-Torres wants to bring to the Inver Grove Heights School Board, if she is elected. The 40-year-old Inver Grove Heights resident is one of seven candidates competing for four open seats on the board this fall.

Abla-Torres, the only Hispanic candidate running for election, says she wants to be a “voice” for struggling families in the district, and muster resources to help minorities and low-income students and parents in the area.

Outreach efforts to parents, Abla-Torres believes, should be a priority for the district. Parents play a big role in the success of their children, but mothers and fathers who are working two jobs to make ends meet have little time to help their children achieve, Abla-Torres said. And if those parents have limited English speaking or reading skills, that task becomes even more difficult, she added.

For that reason, the district should hold seminars, forums and classes for parents on a variety of helpful topics, Abla-Torres said, so that parents are better informed and in a position to help their students. Doing so, she said, will help break the cycle of poverty in which low-income families can become trapped.

Abla-Torres also described herself as a supporter of the and a proponent of . The district, she added, needs more community input, so that staff and administrators are in tune with the priorities of parents and local residents.

A senior representative at Allianz Life Insurance, Abla-Torres says she is driven by her passion for children and her desire to improve the lives of struggling families in the district. Several of her children currently attend school in Inver Grove Heights. 

“I really believe children are our future, but I think the numbers of drop-outs have increased—and the numbers of children who give up because of struggles they have,” Abla-Torres said.

Seven candidates are competing for four open seats on the board. To learn more about the candidates, follow the links below.

• Monday, Oct. 3:
• Tuesday, Oct. 4:
• Wednesday, Oct. 5:
• Thursday, Oct. 6:
• Friday, Oct. 7:
• Monday, Oct. 10: