SMCCCD BOARD OF TRUSTEES

AFT endorses Goodman, Mandelkern, Schwarz in November 3 Board Election

Three seats are open on our Board of Trustees in the upcoming November 3rd election. There are seven candidates running.  After interviewing candidates, AFT 1493’s screening committee recommended to the Executive Committee that our Local endorse newcomer Maurice Goodman and incumbents Dave Mandelkern and Karen Schwarz. (The third incumbent, Pat Miljanich decided not to seek re-election).  The Executive Committee overwhelmingly voted to support this recommendation and endorse these three candidates.

   
l. to r. Maurice Goodman, Dave Mandelkern and Karen Schwarz

AFT COPE supports Goodman
The Executive Committee also recommended that we urge the AFT Local 1493 COPE (Committee on Political Education) Chapter to use its financial resources to help Maurice Goodman get elected. Subsequently, the membership of the AFT Local 1493 COPE Chapter voted unanimously to provide financial assistance to the Maurice Goodman campaign. Given past history, the incumbents are very likely to get re-elected.  Thus, the union is focusing its efforts on assisting Maurice Goodman in his campaign to win the open seat in order to bring some necessary change to the Board.

Maurice is a former student and graduate of Skyline College.  While at Skyline he served as Student Body President and as Student Trustee on the Board of Trustees.  Maurice has dedicated most of his adult life serving education and our youth and is currently a School Board Member in the South San Francisco Unified School District.  We were very impressed by his commitment to our District as well as his energy and enthusiasm.  As a former student he knows the District first-hand and will bring a much needed voice to our Board.  You can learn more about Maurice by reading an article that he wrote for the September issue of The Advocate.

Since this is a countywide election, it is very expensive to run a successful campaign. And Maurice is running against candidates who are either wealthy or well financed.  An open seat on our Board of Trustees is rare, and we definitely need to win this one in order to improve our Board by making it more student and faculty friendly!

How to vote
As a reminder, this San Mateo County election cycle is being conducted entirely by mail.  Ballots have been sent to mailboxes and there are several voting options:
1.    Fill out the ballot and mail it back in the postage paid envelope that is included.  Ballots must be postmarked by November 3rd.
2.    Drop it off at any City or Town Hall in the County between now and Nov. 3rd.
3.    Turn in the ballot, get a new ballot to fill out, or cast votes on a voting machine at any one of the universal polling places in the County on November 3rd between 7am and 8pm.