Two San Lorenzo Valley residents, Donna Ziel and Robert Tosto hope to win a seat on the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees in Area 1, which covers much of Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley.
Board member Claudine Wildman will step down after three terms, leaving the door open for a new trustee.
Ziel, a San Lorenzo Valley resident since 1970, is an experienced educator who worked for San Jose State University as a director of student outreach. She has since retired. Among many responsibilities, she helped open a branch campus in Salinas and served as a liaison to students who transferred from Cabrillo College, Hartnell College and other institutions.
Ziel also sat on committees to develop the Scotts Valley branch of Cabrillo College which opened Spring 2007. A Ben Lomond resident, she had pushed for the branch to open in Felton, but she accepted the decision.
“We made sure the Cabrillo administration knew how difficult it was for people in the outlying areas like Boulder Creek to get to the Aptos campus with alternative transportation,” Ziel said. “It’s 1½ hours.”
Ziel’s priorities include maintaining the Scotts Valley Center during the challenging economic times, developing a long-term plan to rebuild the curriculum there, create more student outreach and make sure the transfer program remains strong.
Tosto is a high-tech recruiter from Boulder Creek who is looking for work. He is the president of his homeowners association and a law school graduate.
“I thought, wouldn’t it be good to have someone on board who is suffering through it?” Tosto said. “Somebody like me, who’s in the trenches and going through pain.”
Among his political work, he volunteered for the Democratic Central Committee in Santa Cruz and on campaigns for Sam Farr and Bill Monning in the 1990s. He also volunteered for the Robert Kennedy for President campaign in 1968.
Tosto said he has no direct ties to Cabrillo College, but he holds that community college and the advancing wave of online courses are important for people without work.
He said he will make decisions independent of the bureaucracy, and his priorities are to keep teachers and classes. He also wants to help the college push online technology and online classes.
“I’m not a rubber stamp, and I’ve got nothing to lose,” he said.
