The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Incumbents, newcomer run for De Anza board

By Katherine Petersen

Two incumbents and one newcomer will run for the two available seats on the Foothill-De Anza Community College District board of trustees this November. Incumbents Paul Fong and Jay Jackman are seeking second terms on the board, while Sandy Hay is running for the first time.

The three candidates agree that the Foothill-De Anza Community College District doesn't have enough money to accomplish all its goals, but each sees the district's priorities a bit differently.

Foothill-De Anza serves recent high school graduates, many of whom transfer to four-year colleges after a couple of years, and retrains workers who either have been laid off from jobs or are ready for career changes.

Jackman, a psychiatrist who lives on the Stanford University campus, said the board needs to concentrate on how to meet the needs of a growing number of students without additional cash flow.

"There are going to be a lot more students in community colleges statewide in the coming years, and we will have our share," he said.

Jackman said he believes in maximizing students' opportunities and wants to be sure Foothill-De Anza continues to offer people a variety of possibilities to succeed.

He said he has been an effective leader and is good at distributing the district's resources where they are needed.

"I am very good at balancing salary demands with the colleges' physical and technological needs," he said. "If everyone was happy with what I did, I would be doing a lousy job. Our legitimate demands far exceed our resources."

Paul Fong, who lives in Cupertino, is a full-time political science professor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose. He said his leadership skills, vision for the district and dedication to his position as a trustee make him qualified for a second term.

"I'm trustworthy, and I keep my promises," he added. "I do what I say I'm going to do."

Fong said he will focus on three issues, which he said are intertwined, if he is re-elected to the board. First, the board needs to find funding, possibly through a bond measure, to refurbish most of its buildings that are 30 to 40 years old, he said.

"We don't get enough money from the state to take care of all the [maintenance] needs," he said. "We do what we can, but we always fall behind."

Second, Fong said he wants to be sure that the district's job-training programs stay on the cutting edge.

"We just need to be responsible," he said. "We need to do all we can with what we've got to stay on top of things and still have some funds left over in reserves."

Finally, Fong said he sees cultural diversity and excellence as one issue, not two.

"We need to know this issue exists, understand it and put it into practice," he said. "Most people are reluctant to do this."

Sandy Hay, a retired geology professor at Foothill, wants to see some changes in how the community college district board operates. He feels the board has functioned under a corporate model that is concerned with the bottom line and image rather than the quality of teachers in the classroom.

"They are violating state guidelines with regard to the ratio of full-time to part-time faculty members," he said. The guidelines call for 75 full-time faculty members to 25 part-time teachers or full-time equivalents, while Hay said the ratio in the math department at De Anza is 40 to 60.

"Part-time teachers are great for the bottom line because they don't cost as much, but they aren't the best to meet the needs of the students," said Hay, who was the first geologist at Foothill in 1961.

Part-time teachers don't have office hours and aren't as available to students as full-time professors, he said.

Like the two incumbents, Hay believes in student success, but he doesn't believe the other candidates have the educational experience or the historical perspective to understand the district's priorities.

"The principal ingredient in student success is to have them interact with creative teachers, and we're not hiring them in our district anymore," he said. "The board is more interested in putting the money elsewhere--in buildings, technology and its image."

A forum for the candidates for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District board of trustees will be held on Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Mountain View City Hall, 500 Castro St. The forum is sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 15, 1997.
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