With the retirement of longtime Gavilan College Superintendent Steve Kinsella set for June, San Benito County trustees expect to remember the man for a legacy of good financial leadership.
“He’s been our president for a long time,” said Trustee Tom Breen, one of three board members representing San Benito County. “Longer than most districts, maybe longer than any district right now.”
Kinsella wrote an email disclosing his retirement to Board President Walt Glines—who forwarded it to the press—and others earlier this month. Kinsella could not be reached for comment by deadline.
The Gavilan superintendent was not always popular in San Benito County, where he drew criticism from some, such as Hollister resident Aurelio Zuniga, who wrote about him in several letters to editor over years.
Zuniga questioned why the administrator received a $42,000 raise that began in 2012, plus an additional $31,500 lump sum if he remained employed with the district through Dec. 31, 2015 after he was named a finalist for the chancellor post at West Valley-Mission Community College District. Zuniga also had concerns about the college’s spending of bond money.
“I guess my other concern was when they were spending bond funds for the police academy at the Coyote (Valley) site,” Zuniga told the Free Lance. “I still have questions about that. I don’t think it was done properly, in my opinion.”
Zuniga graduated from the community college during the last year that it was called the San Benito Junior College, before it became Gavilan.
Kinsella’s retirement will come four months before the first election in which the community college district moves to a new district map. Those new district lines are intended to ensure Gavilan complies with state and federal voting laws protecting minority communities.
“The Board has completed its work leading to a decision on new electoral districts for board members elected in 2016 and beyond,” wrote Kinsella in an email shared with the board president. “Now they will turn their attention to hiring my replacement.”
Kinsella will leave a job that paid $296,216 in 2014 along with $51,243 in benefits, according to the state controller’s office.
Breen anticipated remembering the superintendent for a strong knowledge of finances, he said. Kinsella also worked hard to get a general obligation facilities bond passed that allowed for the rehabilitation of the whole campus, the trustee said. Voters narrowly approved Measure E—a $108-million general obligation facilities bond—in 2004, the trustee said.
Trustee Lois Locci, who joined the board in December and also represents San Benito County, recalled the superintendent’s prowess in finance as one of his best contributions to the campus.
“He has been a positive contributor—there’s no question—to the success of this campus,” she said. “He’s very strong in finance. He shepherded the campus through the Great Recession without any layoffs.”
Locci added the superintendent had focused on accountability early on, as community colleges made the shift from being “access” orientated institutions—available for any student as long as they can in some way benefit from the system—to “accountability” orientated ones, where the schools must show they are moving pupils through the program.
“Steve Kinsella, for this college, has been instrumental in getting the college ready and doing well in the area of accountability,” she said.
Kent Child, also a San Benito County trustee, worked with Kinsella first as an employee of Gavilan College and then as a member of the school’s board of education. The trustee credited the superintendent with leading the school through the “most difficult fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.”
“On a personal note, I’ve found him to be an extremely responsive and professional individual to interact with,” he said.
Child also commented on the administrator’s 13-year span of leadership, a long time when compared to the average three to five years that many other community college superintendents put in at any given campus, the trustee explained.
Former San Benito County Trustee Tony Ruiz called Kinsella knowledgeable in finance at a time when this was needed but had concerns about transparency with Gavilan’s bond money and alleged the way the funds were handled left San Benito County “out in the cold,” he said. Ruiz but didn’t just blame leadership for the trouble but included the board as well.
During his time as a trustee, Ruiz advocated for a Hollister satellite campus at the former Leatherback site not far from downtown but the board chose the Fairview Corners site off Airline Highway instead. Ruiz blamed supervisors, city council members and the board for what he considers a missed opportunity.
The community college system has changed, he explained. Decisions now come from the top—the chancellor’s office and the state—plus faculty “and the board of trustees don’t serve the purpose they did before,” he explained.
“So it’s very difficult for me to assess Steve’s work,” Ruiz said. “If there’s anything wrong with community colleges, there’s plenty of blame to go around.”
Kinsella—and all community college presidents— have a “pretty difficult job,” one that is more difficult than running a corporation in Silicon Valley, he said.
“I’d rather run Google than Gavilan College,” Ruiz said.
