Dr. Annie Corbett: In support of John Pimentel

Originally published on The San Mateo Daily Journal

Editor,

I am supporting John Pimentel to represent Area 5 on the San Mateo County Community College District Board of Trustees.

Pimentel is intensely focused on how the community college can create social and economic equity by providing affordable access to higher education. He will be an advocate for policies that attract and support first-generation college families and underserved communities to SMCCCD.

John has proposed several thoughtful, creative and specific initiatives that will create opportunity, enable equity and demand transparency which you can see at his website johnpimentel.com/en/solutions. These include: tuition-free SMCCCD, doubling the Promise Scholars Program to serve 4,000 students, and a rapid retraining program for service industry workers displaced by COVID.

We at AFT 1493, the faculty union for SMCCCD, believe Pimentel would listen carefully to faculty needs and try to help advocate for us. We have been working without a fair contract since July 1, 2019. It is very concerning that the current president of the Board of Trustees, one who has served for 25 years and has contributed to the complete lack of adjunct pay parity — SMCCCD part-time instructors are some of the lowest compensated in the Bay Area — would endorse a candidate who has not been endorsed by our faculty union.

In the election for Community College Board of Trustees Area 5, John Pimentel stands far above the others. See his website at johnpimentel.com/en/home.

Annie Corbett, Ph.D., M.B.A

Redwood City