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It seems Jacob Gil is everywhere these days, standing up for the folks he says need a voice and against those he says need to shut up.

There’s plenty of both.

Earlier this month, Gil stood up against the new buyers of his apartment complex who demanded that every tenant show proof that they had paid their August rent or face eviction proceedings within the week.

Some of the tenants, most who are low income, had paid rent but with money orders or cash just like they had for years to the previous landlord. They had never asked for receipts and thus had no proof.

Gil, a University of New Mexico student, Army veteran and father of four, became de facto spokesman for the tenants, soliciting the help of City Councilor Diane Gibson, speaking eloquently about the matter to all three TV news stations and negotiating a resolution with the new apartment management that kept everybody in their homes.

Gil, 33, is also working with school and traffic officials to increase the number of school crossing guards near Hayes Middle School, where oldest daughter Hailee is a sixth-grader, near the busy intersection of Lomas and Pennsylvania.

This week, he is starting up a PTA at Hayes and has plans to launch fundraisers to help defray the costs of membership dues and background checks for parents.

“This is an economically challenged neighborhood, and I don’t want money to keep any parent from participating at their child’s school,” he said. “We’re all not Jason Martinez.”

Which leads to the civic-minded effort Gil is most known for these days.

Jacob Gil is surrounded by a scrum of journalists after the second closed-door meeting of the Albuquerque Public Schools board of education ended Thursday after five hours with no decision on Superintendent Luis Valentino. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)

On Aug. 21, Gil and wife, Heather, launched an online petition seeking the ouster of beleaguered Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Luis Valentino whose actions in just the first two months of his tenure have led to scandal, public outrage, a lawsuit, an Attorney General’s Office investigation and dozens of local and national news stories that depict the school district as the best and buffoonish soap opera in town.

Like the rest of us, the Gils had watched as every day a new episode of the APS debacle played out in the headlines.

But that night, the one that finally got to the Gils was learning that Jason Martinez, Valentino’s hand-picked deputy superintendent, had failed to undergo his requisite background check in the two months he held the job, thus keeping secret a passel of disturbing criminal charges in Colorado, including felony sexual assault of a child.

Additional assault charges involve a fight outside a Denver bar between Martinez and his boyfriend and another man this year.

“We’re watching this mess and we know we have to do something,” Jacob Gil said. “So we started the petition.”

Hailee Gil, 11, meets with U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham during one of the congresswoman’s swings through Albuquerque. Hailee has met many political leaders. (Courtesy of Jacob Gil)

The petition, titled “Removal of Superintendent Dr. Luis Valentino” on change.org, has already garnered 2,600 signatures as of Friday afternoon – more than twice as many as the 1,229 votes APS board of education president Don Duran received to win his spot on the board in 2013.

Initially, Gil said he would have been happy with 500 signatures. But after the bad news continued to unfold, the frustration and outrage continued to boil and the school board continued to dither behind closed doors in two executive sessions, each lasting about five hours apiece, with no decision on Valentino’s fate, Gil said he is happy to keep those signatures coming.

(The board is expected to meet again Monday.)

“If us parents don’t stand up and demand change for our kids then we are contributing to them not being successful in life,” he said. “We need to instill in our kids the idea that if they see someone who doesn’t have the ability to speak for themselves, then be their voice. If they see someone who cannot stand for themselves, then be their legs.”

The Gil kids appear to be learning that well, especially Hailee. As active as her father is, it is Hailee, 11, who is the defender of justice dynamo in the family.

After Sandy Hook in 2012, she made a giant sympathy card out of poster board for the folks in Newtown, Conn., and had it signed by her classmates and teachers at Mark Twain Elementary and by Mayor Richard Berry. For her efforts, she received a letter from President Obama and a green ribbon worn by members of Congress in memory of the 27 children and school staff slain that day from U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Hailee said she estimates she has written every single member of Congress about issues ranging from gun laws to women’s rights. She has lobbied Berry for more books for kids. Last year, she announced on Twitter her candidacy for class president and was seeking the endorsements of some of her powerful political friends.

Her future plans are simple but profound.

“I want to try to be the president of the United States, or, if not that, a congresswoman,” she said. “I just want to make a difference.”

A difference, just like her dad.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.