SAN MARCOS: Palomar candidate forum sets friendly tone for election

Four North County residents vying for three seats

By TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer | Tuesday, September 23, 2008 7:35 PM PDT ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- Three of the four candidates running for seats on the Palomar College governing board gave statements and answered questions during a forum Tuesday afternoon at the San Marcos campus.

Incumbent Darrell McMullen could not attend because he was out of the state, but fellow incumbent Nancy Chadwick and challengers Richard Borevitz and Rose Marie Dishman addressed issues ranging from employee negotiations to energy efficiency at North County's largest college campus.

The four North County residents will vie for three open seats on the governing board during the general election Nov. 4.

Borevitz, 67, has a long history at Palomar College, where he attended classes decades ago as a young adult and now serves on the oversight committee for the $694 million facilities bond approved by 57 percent of voters in 2004.

Dishman, 64, spent her career in higher education ---- she was a university administrator for the last 15 years, and a professor before that. She retired in January and now resides in Poway.

Incumbent Ruth Larson, who was elected in 2004, is not seeking re-election.

Even though several questions from an audience of 30 onlookers touched on sensitive subjects, the trio of candidates were cordial and avoided confrontation during the forum, hosted by the American Association of University Women.

Primary among the touchy subjects was the recent discord during negotiations between the district and college employees, including the faculty federation and the union that represents the school's "classified" employees, such as custodians and groundskeepers.

"I think you have to try and be fair, be just with people," Borevitz said in response to a question about how to improve the district's relationship with its employees, especially during salary negotiations.

"If you have everything on the table and you're communicating well, you're going to arrive at some sort of mutually beneficial conclusion," he said.

Chadwick, who has served on the board since 2002, said she and her four fellow board members have been trying to improve the tone of negotiations.

Doing so takes "a lot of transparency, and information gathering and sharing," Chadwick said. "There was a lot of misinformation that had been circulated. People were not hearing enough about what the offers were, and what the positions were. Once that information was clarified, I think there was a lot of progress. Not knowing creates a great deal of angst."

Dishman, a veteran educator who served as president of DeVry University in Pomona, said she has observed that Palomar doesn't have as many troubles as other community colleges, even though negotiations may turn sour at points.

Another audience member asked how each candidate would implement budget cuts that are inevitable in the face of massive reductions handed down by state lawmakers.

"Unfortunately, the cuts do usually come in reducing class sections," said Dishman, adding that energy efficiency should be a top priority.

Even if the campus has been made more efficient, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to re-evaluate how much money could be saved, she said: "Sometimes there were surprises in there that were not obvious to start with, because we thought we had to live that way."

A third popular topic at Tuesday’s forum was how to best serve North County's college-age Latino population.

One questioner asked how the college could reach more Latinos who drop out of high school.

Chadwick said the district accepted a federal grant earlier this month that recognized Palomar's role as a "Hispanic Serving Institution," and that the $2.9 million will be used in part to establish learning centers catering to Latinos.

"We have seen demonstrated time and time again that when these students get nearly one-on-one attention ---- and their families, as well ---- they do succeed," she said. "We see them transferring, going to four-year institutions, and we see them succeed there, as well."

Dishman said the college would do well to try reaching more high school dropouts with the message of second chances.

"Many students do get bored in high school," said Dishman, adding that those students need to know they can continue their education, "rather than thinking, 'Oh, I didn't finish high school, so it's over for me.' "

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.