October 26, 2005

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Editorial: Fong, Swenson for Foothill-De Anza

Whoever is elected to the Board of Trustees of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District will be facing perhaps the biggest decision since the mid-1960s decision to add the De Anza to the 1961 Foothill College and make it a true district.

The decision now will be whether to add a new, highly specialized "campus" -- in the form of a $60 million building -- at the NASA/Ames/Moffett Field complex. A site has already been selected for the proposed structure, which would be a major feature of a high-technology center envisioned by NASA, with truly exciting potential.

It would also fulfill a longstanding promise of the district to expand its facilities in the Mountain View area -- adding to Foothill's successful Palo Alto campus at Cubberley Community Center.

But there's an even bigger decision looming: whether to put before voters a new bond measure of significant magnitude -- a working figure is $400 million, subject to trimming -- to finish up the major upgrading of the two campuses that was begun under the $268 million bond measure passed with a 72 percent majority in 1999.

The bond-measure decsion will be the responsibility of the new Board of Trustees, two members of which will be named by voters Nov. 8 and a third -- in a bizarre coincidence of timing -- appointed within two days of the election by the existing board. If the board fails to appoint, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters must by law call a special election, at an estimated cost to the district of about $2 million -- about 45 staff positions.

The special election is required if a vacancy is not filled within 60 days -- in this case dating from the tragic Sept. 11 death from cancer of former board member Andrea Liederman, who served three years on the board.

To make this election even more bizarre, three of the four candidates for the two regular openings have applied for the third opening.

Those are:

* Laura Casas Frier, a relative newcomer who has been attending many meetings and steeped herself in knowledge of the district for more than a year.

* Julia Miller, former mayor and member of the Sunnyvale City Council who declares herself ready for serious "on the job training" if elected.

* Bruce Swenson, a former Foothill College math teacher for 18 years, a dean for six years and vice president for finance at Foothill for six years.

Paul Fong, the sole incumbent after existing board member Sandy Hay opted out, has not applied for the appointed position -- after receiving wise legal advice that he would likely not be able to vote on the vacancy if he was one of the applicants. Fong is completing his third term on the Foothill-De Anza board and has expressed confidence that he will easily win a fourth term -- after being elected with a huge majority of those voting four years ago.

Fong also has apparent strong support in the Asian-American community -- Asian Americans represent close to 40 percent of students in the district.

While we don't think it's particularly good policy or healthy for a board member to serve beyond 12 years, at a time when the board will be very low on experience Fong could provide valuable historical perspective. The fact that the district has been functioning well, has a solid-gold bond rating, and has a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan speaks to effectiveness of the overall board.

Of the remaining three candidates, we are deeply impressed with the credentials of Bruce Swenson. He has been on both sides of the teacher/administrator aisle yet has been away from the district for six years -- long enough, we hope, for him to have developed an arms-length relationship and some objectivity to go with his depth of detailed knowledge. He is approaching the proposed new bond issue with "show me" skepticism, and also is asking perceptive questions about the proposed $60 million campus at NASA/Ames, while also sensing its exciting potential.

Of the two remaining candidates, we are impressed with Miller's civic track record but not with the depth of her knowledge about the district. Casas Frier, a relative newcomer to the district, seems to have done her homework thoroughly about issues and needs of the district.

We believe she would be an excellent candidate for the appointed slot immediately following the Nov. 8 election -- although six other applicants also need to be looked at.

The Weekly supports incumbent Paul Fong and former teacher/administrator Bruce Swenson for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Education Nov. 8.

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