Dear Editor,

The Cerritos College Board of Trustees has set in motion a change in the way trustees are elected. With a unanimous vote for a resolution at our Oct. 5 board meeting, we approved changing trustee elections from at-large throughout the college district to trustees elected by voters in each of seven trustee areas. Trustees would have to reside in the trustee areas they represent.

Consideration of the change started last February when the Community College League of California advised college districts with at-large elections to consider such a change. The election issue has been discussed at several board meetings with the college’s attorneys. In March, the board took action to move our elections to even-numbered years, with November 2012 as the next trustee election.

This decision was made to reduce the very large cost to the district of participating on a smaller odd-year ballot.

This move has also given the college district time to set in motion the Community College League’s recommended change from an at-large election to a by-trustee-area election. In fact at the Nov. 2 board meeting a presentation related to Draft Trustee Area Plans from the districts demographic/redistricting consultant was presented to the board and a public hearing on the subject was conducted.

n the weeks to come the board will hold additional public hearings with the intention of taking final action on converting from at-large elections to trustee area districts at our meeting on Dec. 7.

It is important to understand that the Cerritos College Board has taken these steps to make the election change and we have voted unanimously to support the change.

At the end of September, seven months after we started looking at the issue, a lawsuit was filed by three plaintiffs under the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) demanding that the court impose trustee areas.

The three plaintiffs are Tom Chavez, Leonard Zuniga and Carmen Avalos. Avalos served one four-year term (2005 to 2009) on the board and, as a board member, never brought the election at-large issue to the board for consideration.

She lost her bid for re-election to the board in 2009 and failed in a race for the California Assembly last year. Chavez resides in Norwalk and Zuniga in Downey. They too have sought election to the College Board and lost in their attempts.

The plaintiffs claim that it is difficult for Hispanics to be elected to the board. Though right now there are no Hispanic members, over the history of the college, trustees have been elected from all over the district and Hispanic trustees have been elected to the board.

Since 1975, eight Hispanic trustees have been elected as trustees serving for a combined total of 40 years on the board. Additionally, the college has had two Hispanic President/Superintendents, and the college has successfully been funded for four Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) grants from the U.S. Department of Education in support of curriculum and program development and student services for a total of $9 million.

The voters elected my colleagues and meas trustees because we were the best candidates for the board seats, not because we are from one city or another, or what ethnicity or race we might be.

All of the trustees of Cerritos College share a commitment to serve our students with the best college education we can provide. We are committed to making sure that Cerritos College is the best run community college in the region.

We have asked the plaintiffs to drop their lawsuit and they have refused. To me this action on their part speaks volumes.

If truly their issue is voter rights with a goal of establishing trustee area representation on the College Board then that goal has been accomplished, and it was done without the need for filing the lawsuit.

However, allowing the process to go forward without filing a suit could have precluded the plaintiffs’ attorneys from seeking to have the college pay their fees. The plaintiffs’ law firm, under the CVRA, stands to make a lot of money in fees that will have to be paid by the taxpayers.

The lawsuit is unnecessary and the cost of the lawsuit will be borne by taxpayers and our students. As a board, we will defend the college and do what is right under the CVRA. We will ask a court for relief from the lawsuit and hopefully the court will agree with us.

Bob Arthur, Vice President, Board of Trustees Cerritos Community College 11110 Alondra Blvd. Norwalk, CA 90650

Tom Jackson , President, Board of Trustees Cerritos Community College

Shin Liu, Secretary, Board of Trustees Cerritos Community College

Dr. Bob Hughlett, Member, Board of Trustees Cerritos Community College

Jean McHatton, Member, Board of Trustees Cerritos Community College Cerritos Community College