Garcia takes Del Mar board seat early, legally, why wait ???? quit wasting time!!!!!!!!

"I don't think students realize how powerful they are, and I want them to realize that," Garcia said.


Garcia takes Del Mar board seat early

Removal of Rivas before normal time legal, regents decide

By Israel Saenz Caller-Times
November 28, 2006


Linda Garcia said with the issues Del Mar College is facing,

she could not wait until next month to take her place as the college's newly elected District 1 regent.


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After taking her seat at a called board meeting last week, Garcia said she now is focusing her efforts on learning more about student and faculty concerns.

"I plan to fight for students' rights," the substitute teacher said. "Del Mar enrollment has been going down. If we fight for their rights, it will go up."

Garcia - whose brother has litigation pending against the college - said she is preparing herself for the role by speaking with students and faculty about their concerns. Garcia took her place on the board during last Tuesday's meeting after having a notary public official swear her into office the previous day, the same day Del Mar officials canvassed the Nov. 7 election votes.

Other board members, including former District 1 regent Gabriel Rivas, recessed the meeting, then returned and invited Garcia to take her seat. Rivas, also the former board president, subsequently stepped down.

"This is not done too often," Rivas said. "But we determined that she had been sworn in. Laws were followed."

Officials had not planned to swear in regents-elect until the next regular board meeting on Dec. 12, when other incoming regents James Boggs and Elva Estrada still are set to be sworn in. The board also will select officers on that date.

"I didn't think it was right for them to make decisions without elected regents present," Garcia said.

Garcia said the civil rights agenda hits close to home for her. Her brother, former Del Mar criminology instructor Alberto Benitez, filed a lawsuit against the college in September 2005. Benitez alleged college officials unlawfully terminated his employment after he supported a student's claim of racial harassment.

Benitez's lawsuit is in settlement talks, Del Mar attorney Augustin Rivera said. Garcia said she would recuse herself from any board votes pertaining to her brother's case.

Along with the swearing-in of Boggs and Estrada, new regents at the Dec. 12 meeting will receive information packets to inform them of other upcoming agenda items.

The regents board sets the college's policies and tuition,

as well as the tax rate for the

Del Mar College District,

made up of the Corpus Christi, Flour Bluff, Tuloso-Midway, Calallen and West Oso school districts.

Contact Israel Saenz at 886-3767 or HYPERLINK mailto:saenzi@caller.com saenzi@caller.com