The Foothill-De Anza Community District’s election of trustees, unlike the rest of representative elections we are used to, is on an at-large basis rather than district voting. And as with all at-large elections, there is always the danger of representatives coming from a small self-selected group who know each other, live in the right neighborhood, went to the right schools and all others need not apply. 

Instead of being representatives, they act like they are elected nobility ruling over the masses from on high. 

However, this is not the case with Foothill-De Anza, our trustees are not a board of nobles spending taxpayer money on the Taj Mahal of posh offices, while ignoring the needs of students, instructors and the community.  

The district is compact enough that voters are represented inspite of the absence of local districts elections, yet large enough that the board will always be diverse. Our district is not the rigid high school districts of Los Angles where poor minorities are ruled over by the wealthy and white. 

The current trustees have a strong background in education and community service setting a precedent that, hopefully, future elections will keep. It is unlikely that in our district we will see the election of an entire board that would seek to run our colleges as a company, maximizing outcome while minimizing costs.

However, in some districts this is not the case and the state government has attempted to rectify the problem by allowing college districts to opt in to district voting. While a study should be done on what the districts would look like, and should be commissioned even with the study’s $30,000 price tag, full implementation is not something our board should consider as a whole.

De Anza students come from as far as Hayward and Gilroy; there is no way the board of trustees will be representative of everyone. Instead of viewing this as a detriment, I believe this gives our board a greater sense of statesmanship, one it has diligently practiced.