The Palomar Faculty Federation has endorsed two newcomers for the open Governing Board trustee positions and choosing not to endorse 16-year Board incumbent, Mark Evilsizer.
Faculty Federation Co-President, Teresa Laughlin explained the reasoning for the decision not to endorse Evilsizer, as relating to issues with “transparency, and also responsiveness.”
“We try to reach out and we’re kind of ignored, to be honest, and that is frustrating,” Laughlin said. “So we need someone who will at least listen to our concerns, whether they disagree or not that’s fine – It’s a matter of respect to listen to the concerns.”
The Faculty Federation has instead chosen to endorse candidates Norma Miyamoto and Lee Dulgeroff.
Miyamoto has spent nearly 30 years of working in educational environments and 21 of them were spent at Palomar, partially as a dean.
“I will personally, as a trustee, make sure that I’m talking, and listening to different stakeholders,” Miyamoto said. “As one member of five, I will urge my fellow trustees to do the same.”
Dulgeroff is currently the Chief Facilities Planning and Construction Officer at San Diego Unified School District.
“I do appreciate the role that [the Faculty Federation] play and so I was really honored when I heard that they support me and endorse me in my candidacy,” Dulgeroff said. “I’m looking forward to working with them, with all the faculty and the students.”
Laughlin remarked upon Miyamoto’s long history with Palomar, and further explained “she really knows community colleges, she really knows Palomar College. So she knows the questions to ask the administration.”
In regards to Dulgeroff, Laughlin acknowledged his experience with utilizing resources effectively and efficiently. “So having somebody who has that kind of knowledge about facilities and efficiency, and efficient use of facilities, would be really good on the Board.”
Laughlin further expressed “We don’t expect any board member to agree with us all the time, we wouldn’t want that. We want to have discussion, we want to have debate.”
Evilsizer, who is hoping to retain his position on the Board, despite not having received an endorsement from the Faculty Federation, said “I’m sorry I didn’t get their endorsement.”
However, he remains hopeful that the outcome of the election will have a favorable result. “I feel that I’m offering a vision of the future that their candidates haven’t touched on yet,” Evilsizer said. “I try to be more focused externally on my campaign to the people that are voting, the taxpayers.”
To some members of faculty, the Governing Board election has a lot at stake, former Co-President of the Faculty Federation, Shannon Lienhart went so far as to predict in a previous interview with The Telescope, “if we can’t get good board members elected, many of our really great administrators will be looking for work elsewhere.”
“Mark Evilsizer has worked very hard for this college, I admire Mark. I just feel like we might need a new voice and a new vision on the Board,” Laughlin said.
