When asked if three terms on the Gavilan board were enough,
incumbent Laura Perry answered with a resounding
”
No.
”
When asked if three terms on the Gavilan board were enough, incumbent Laura Perry answered with a resounding “No.”
Perry is a candidate in the Nov. 5 election for a fourth term on the Gavilan Community College board of trustees – and a confident one.
“I believe I’ve been an excellent trustee,” she said.
Perry said it is important to have continuity on the board, especially after the retirement last year of Trustee Jean Ottmar and the death of Trustee George Champion. She and fellow Trustee Elvira Robinson from the Hollister area offer that sense of history to the board, Perry said.
Perry said she is concerned with the budget cuts the state has inflicted on the community college system.
“In 1992 when I was first elected, there was a serious budget problem and we had to lay off people,” she said. “I don’t want to ever do that again.”
That’s the primary reason Perry is running again.
“We’re in good shape next year because of the reserves but, in the following year we’ll need help from the state,” she said.
Perry is proudest of opening the Hollister and Morgan Hill satellite sites during her 10-year tenure in office. Her greatest Gavilan-related disappointment is that the image of the college “has not been enhanced.” She said the image is “OK” in Hollister, but not in Gilroy, and it is especially bad in Morgan Hill.
“I don’t think Morgan Hill sees Gavilan as part of the community,” Perry said.
She expects this to change in January when the satellite campus leaves its Vineyard Avenue site and moves into the purpose-built building on the community and cultural center site. She expects the campus will be highly visible at the Monterey Road/Dunne Avenue location.
What is the biggest challenge for the college?
“Hiring a new president, balancing our budget and maintaining our offerings with less funding – and to improve the image of the college,” she said.
Perry insists that students can get an excellent education at Gavilan. “It’s a viable college,” she said.
About the state refusing to fund more than a certain number of full-time students, she said the trustees have some proposals on the board. There are 6,000 students enrolled now.
“We don’t want to turn students away,” she said.
Should the board have waited until after the election to choose the president? “No,” she said. “I think the current board is the best we’ve ever had.”
She likes the personal expertise of the current board. “The new people won’t know what we know,” Perry said.
She hopes to increase class size but admits there must be a balance – from the faculty’s point of view.
Perry will be in Colorado until Election Day, welcoming her third grandchild, but has been intensely involved with the search for Gavilan’s new president. She has had the candidates’ biographies sent to her by overnight mail and she intends to have a conference call with each candidate. She will vote for her presidential choice from Colorado.
“I’m not missing any of that,” she said.
On the role of a college president, she said, “The board sets the policy and direction and the president carries it out. Additionally, the president sets the personality and culture of the campus, similar to a CEO of a corporation. The president oversees the administration and has one foot in the community, is connected to business and technology, seeking alternative funding and marketing.”
She said the new president will help get the Gavilan foundation “up and running.”
“Internally, the college sees itself as an educational facility,” Perry said. “Externally, it is seen as a business.”
Extracurricular activities have an important place on campus, she said.
“Students come for all different reasons – to get a degree, to experience art, theater, music or athletics,” she said. “Kids will pick a college to play a sport and they don’t really want to play for a loser.”
Any bond issue proposed by the board should be timed right, she said. “With the economy the way it is, and the war with Iraq a possibility…”
About the off-site campuses in Hollister and Morgan Hill, she said, “I couldn’t be more pleased. They were full to capacity within a few semesters of opening.”
The class offerings are tailored to the needs of the individual communities, Perry said.
“There is no idea that students would be able to get a full degree at a satellite campus,” she said.
Voters throughout the college district, which stretches from the South San Jose portion of the Morgan Hill School District to San Martin, Gilroy and San Benito County, vote for the local seat. Voters districtwide also cast ballots for the two contested seats from San Benito County. Incumbents Lucha Ortega and Elvira Robinson are being challenged by James De La Cruz, Rito Ramirez and Ruben E. Lopez.
