City College Board of Trustee Elections Coming Up in October

Nine trustee candidates have stepped forward

BY MARTHA VALLEJO
STAFF WRITER

San Francisco citizens will elect four candidates for the Community College Board of Trustees Nov. 4.

By April 24 there were nine candidates who filed documents at the City Department of Elections. Two of them were incumbents Milton Marks III and Rodel Rodis, intending to be reelected. It is assumed that incumbent Natalie Berg will do the same. Julio Ramos leaves his place to pursue his candidacy as Supervisor for District 11.

The board of trustees has a total of seven seats. Four of them are elected during presidential elections and three in off years. This year, the other candidates are marketing and sales consultant Roberto Figueroa, Michael Goldstein, Mary Hernandez, research analyst Chris Jackson, retired chief deputy sheriff Carl Koehler, attorney Steve Ngo and social worker and chief information officer Bruce Wolfe.

Mary Hernandez was elected to the San Francisco Board of Education in 1996 and 2000, and served as vice president in 1999 and president in 2000. She currently serves as a member of the Youth Law Center Board of Director. Hernandez is the mother of two children currently enrolled in middle and high school in San.

Carl Koehler was chief of police at the Police Department of City College in the Ocean campus.

“As a teacher at SF State, I understand the classroom dynamic,” Koehler said. “And as a peace officer with twenty-nine years of experience, I understand the importance of keeping the campuses safe so that students have a chance to experience the learning environment.”

For Steve Ngo his Vietnamese mother has been his motivation.

“I want to be an advocate for people like her,” Ngo said. “As the first in my family to graduate from college, I also want opportunities for other first generation college students. Basically, I know how education can transform lives for the better, and I want to make that power work for more people.”

After a severe work injury Bruce Wolfe went back to school. This is his second time running.

“I currently am in my fifth year serving on the Public Education Enrichment Fund Advisory Committee that creates the annual budget for spending voter approved funding of nearly $450 million for public schools,” Wolfe said. “I could not have had better experience and popular education than from my years at City College to prepare me for this task. Now with far more experience into education budgeting and review of programs, I can bring back with my fellow colleagues on the board of trustees the accountability needed this time.”

In fact, possibly three incumbent trustees will be reelected leaving only one seat available. Regardless of who the new trustee will be the board faces big challenges adjusting matters to the inevitable budget cuts.

The deadline to register is Oct. 27. Candidates must be residents and registered to vote in the City and County of San Francisco. No employee of a community college district can be sworn into office unless he/she is a part-time teacher instructing one course per semester. There are no term limits for the Members of the Community College Board.

Education and profession are not subject to candidature. Whoever wants to try can just apply for it.