ELECTION WATCH : Romero for Trustee

To say that the seven-member Community College Board of Trustees is an obscure political body is a bit of an understatement. But the board’s job--to govern and set overall policy for nine local colleges--is an important one. Two capable candidates, university professor Gloria Romero and lecturer and businessman David Kessler, survived the April primary and now vie for Office No. 1 on the board. In a close call, The Times endorses Romero.

Having taught at Cal State L.A., UCLA and Loyola Marymount, Romero has valuable classroom experience that should help the board translate its ideas into real-world policies. The professor, herself a product of a community college in Barstow, is engaged in solving a variety of community problems, including workplace, education and violence issues. She would bring a dynamism to the low-profile board that it sorely could use during a time when the community colleges face unprecedented budget problems and increasing demands of many kinds.

The Los Angeles Community College District is composed of East L.A. College, L.A. City College, Harbor College, Mission College, Pierce College, Southwest College, Trade-Tech College, Valley College and West L.A. College. These institutions are on the front line of higher education, still a major door to opportunity for the working poor and employees laid off in mid-career.

Romero--who would do well to heed some of Kessler’s suggestions on how the trustees could use better business sense--would be a valuable addition to the board.