Endorsement watch: HCCS trustees

The Chron makes its recommendations for the two contested HCCS Trustee races.

District 1, Kevin J. Hoffman -- In this position representing northside constituents, the best choice is Hoffman, a longtime civic activist and energy industry analyst who is president of the Near Northside Super Neighborhood Council No. 51. In advance of the extension of Metro light rail to HCCS's Northeast College at Northline Mall, Hoffman wants to expand the range of courses offered to students there. In order to combat high dropout rates in northside high schools, he advocates creating more on-site, dual enrollment programs to allow students to take college courses before they graduate.

His opponent is HCCS Vice Chair Yolanda Navarro Flores. An Asian-American college employee complained that the trustee made discriminatory comments about her ability to supervise the district's program in Mexico because of her ethnicity. Although Flores denied making such statements, the district settled the matter by promoting the employee and paying her $40,000.

District 7, Neeta Sane -- In this open seat representing southern zones of HCCS, the superior candidate is Neeta Sane, operator of a software consulting company. Sane wants to use her background as an entrepreneur to build stronger partnerships between the community college and local businesses, while tailoring course offerings to the growing needs of a diverse student population.

Sane promises to work for consensus on a board often fractured in the recent past by infighting and a tendency to meddle inappropriately in personnel and other administrative affairs.

"With all the squabbling that I've heard from newspapers," Sane said, "I think we need to build positive relationships and work as a team."

I'd have to go back and do some reasearch, but it strikes me as remarkable that they called out Flores in their endorsement of Hoffman. Off the top of my head, I can't recall a similar case. Far as I can tell, they usually just say things about the person they're endorsing and leave it at that. Am I misremembering?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 29, 2007 to Election 2007