Having a Yuba Community College student on the Board of Trustees would be beneficial to our community here at Yuba College. That is one of the reasons why Michael Defranco, a student majoring in accounting, thinks he is a qualified candidate for the Board of Trustees. “I bring a student’s perspective to the table,” he said.
Since Defranco announced his candidacy, he has welcomed students, faculty and staff to come to him with any questions or concerns that they have. “Some people are in this for a status symbol, I am doing this for the students,” he said. He feels that students are put last and faculty and staff not far behind by administration. Defranco said that as a Trustee he would get a stipend of $500 and he would give that back to the students with the greatest financial need via a scholarship program where the only requirement is that they carry a 2.0 GPA, and are a legal resident of California.
Defranco’s ideas to improve Yuba College are to hire additional qualified teaching staff so more classes can be offered for the students, and cut back in administration payrolls by a fourth by eliminating superfluous administration positions.
“This is a small college, we don’t need so many administrators.”
Defranco has concerns that the students are not able to get the necessary classes that they need to transfer or even get their associates degrees because they are not available due to the recent cut backs. He shared that last year teachers took a pay cut to keep on the teachers of a political science class and a geology class, and in return administrators gave themselves a raise.
He is also concerned that the community will be discouraged when wanting to attend the college to better themselves and not being able to get in because of the lack of classes. This could possibly lead to more unemployment and crime in the community.
To raise the morale on campus Defranco believes that job security for classified staff and teachers will play a major role. He would also like to bring back the sports programs that have been cut such as track and field.
When asked about spending, Defranco is student-centered; said he would focus it on hiring back faculty by using his proposed cuts to administration; hiring more teachers, and hiring more custodians as there has been a lack of cleanliness on campus since the cuts. He also thinks that turning to some green technologies such as solar panels for the school would be a good investment. He is a student for the students.
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