The District-6 Board of Trustees position is up for grabs in the upcoming November 4, election with two individuals running for the open slot.
District-6 represents residents in Isla Vista and parts of Santa Barbara with the current Trustee position held by Lisa Macker. Her four-year term is ending in December and does not plan on running for re-election.
Local volunteer and 2014 “Mentor of the Year” Ethan Stone, 57, is running against recent UCSB grad and community organizer Jonathan Abboud, 22.
Ethan Stone
Ethan Stone, age 57, runs for the District 6 Board of Trustees position, Monday, Oct. 6, above Pershing Park at City College in Santa Barbara. Stone believes the Board would greatly benefit from his financial background and experience, including his past service on the Hope School District Board of Trustees from 2001-2005.
Ethan Stone is running on the foundation that the Board of Trustees could greatly benefit from his financial expertise, familiarity of board politics, and his care for the local community.
“This would be a great way for me to give back to the community,” Stone said. “Ideally in order to help kids with the perception that anyone can go to college.”
Stone is currently a mentor for the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse where he spends three hours a week mentoring that scored him the Mentor of the Year award for 2014.
Stone wants to get involved with the Board and make sure that the financial options available for future students are well advertised in the local community to ensure that everyone is capable of affording a higher education.
“I feel that City College is a place where everyone is accepted,” said Stone. “And that gives a lot of people an opportunity they might not otherwise have.”
His background includes a four-year term in Hope School District as a Trustee from 2001. He then spent two years on the Board for the Children’s project in 2006 with its goal of establishing a private college preparatory school for foster children in the Santa Barbara County.
Presently Stone spends his time fundraising for public schools and non-profits as well as for the Santa Barbara County Animal shelter.
Stone is open about voting yes on Bond Measure S because of its pro-education goal as well as his personal experience at City College after seeing the state of some of the facilities.
Stone hasn’t been actively campaigning but is nonetheless enthusiastic about the possibility of being elected to the board and contributing to City Colleges mission
If Stone is not elected he hopes to possibly seek some opportunities with the City College Foundation.
Jonathan Abboud
Jonathan Abboud, a 22-year-old UCSB graduate and Isla Vista resident, hopes to become the youngest member on the District 6 Board of Trustees, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, in the Lifescape Garden at City College in Santa Barbara. Abboud is very supportive of self-governance in Isla Vista, and feels he will be beneficial to the Board by bringing a perspective closer to that of the students.
Jonathan Abboud is running for District-6 Trustee position on the basis of his age and deeply seeded roots in his home community of Isla Vista.
Abboud has been in Isla Vista for four-years and has just recently graduated from UCSB but believes that this is the perfect concoction for the position. If elected he would be the youngest member currently on the board.
He is currently a community organizer and is working on propagating self-governance in Isla Vista.
The Democratic Party recently endorsed Abboud and both are working on getting residents in IV registered to vote for the upcoming November election.
“I was just a Student,” Abboud said. “So I can bring that perspective as a general Trustee to the Board.”
Although the Board already has a Student Trustee, Abboud believes that having one extra voice would enhance the voice of the students.
Abboud has been heavily involved in higher education politics as the Associated Student President at UCSB and had previously taught a higher education class in California on the history of the educational master plan. He has also worked with state legislation on a campaign for a new higher education master plan.
“And I’m passionate about higher education,” said Abboud. “I believe in the concept of the accessibility of community colleges.”
Student housing at City College has been a community hot topic and Abboud is interested in seeing City College address these issues. Abboud stated that the issue is regional and has to be dealt with at all ends but hopes to see City College take part in the conversation.
Abboud is neutral on Bond Measure S due to its lack of campaigning in Isla Vista and its surrounding communities but believes that facilities on all campuses are dire to a successful educational process.
Come Election Day polls will open at 7 A.M. and close at 8 P.M. Nov. 4.
