The two candidates left vying for a seat on the Alamo Colleges District board of trustees said they’d like to see the needs of students, faculty and staff lead every board decision — a value they believe has gotten lost among the competing needs of the growing district.
The runoff election candidates, Robert Garcia and Carolyn DeLecour, spoke before about 50 constituents on Wednesday evening during a public forum held by San Antonio College students. They are seeking to join the nine-member board to represent District 9, which covers the Northeast portion of the district and facing each other again in a runoff election on June 13.
Both candidates echoed similar views on the need to remember that the growing student population — which today sits above 85,000 students and is expected to reach 100,000 students by 2030 — should take center stage in every decision and every investment.
“Why am I running? Because leadership no longer looks like us and reflects the values that we have,” Garcia said. “And I’m looking to change that. I want to bring a young, innovative, and energetic perspective. I’m running for responsible financial leadership. Let’s ensure that every tax dollar leads to supporting faculty and student success.”
Garcia, who took 29.2% of the vote in the May 2 election, and DeLecour, who took 28.9%, also agreed that faculty and staff should have a stronger voice in district decisions.
“I won’t be the youngest person on the board, but I will be one who has great experience and a love of students and a love of this district,” DeLecour said. “You ask why I’m running. First of all, I had colleagues at the college just come to me and say, ‘We need a voice.’ And so my goal is to be a different perspective, a different voice for the board.”
The candidates’ narrow margin in the May education election led to a runoff on June 13. By finishing first and second, the candidates officially unseated incumbent Leslie Sachanowicz, who took 26.3% of the vote.
Former trustee Joe Jesse Sanchez took 15.6%.
SAC’s student-led Civic Engagement Club gave the two remaining candidates an opportunity to answer questions on what they see as some of the most pressing needs across the five Alamo Colleges District colleges — San Antonio College, Palo Alto College, St. Philip’s College, Northwest Vista College and Northeast Lakeview College — and five training centers.
Meet the Alamo Colleges candidates
Garcia, 45, is a certified public accountant who has outpaced the other candidates in campaign donations. The son of a public school teacher and a graduate of Northwest Vista College and the University of Texas at San Antonio, he said his campaign has focused on the needs and voices of faculty, students and staff.
DeLecour, 77, is a lifelong educator who retired from Palo Alto College after teaching there for 27 years. She came out of retirement, she said, due to the continued undervaluing of faculty and staff, which not only demoralizes them, but impacts the student experience and their outcomes.
The candidates took turns answering the questions from the student moderator and the public on their views on the use of AI in the classroom, healthy and affordable food options on campus, workforce needs, and the impact of wraparound services for students.
Both expressed concerns with how resources are being allocated across the district, including recent changes in faculty compensation, and promised they would be diligent in the way they assess where money is spent and what voices are heard in the process.
“I would commit to coming on campus once a month having lunch and listening to the voices and the priorities and the issues of students so that we can make sure that we go back to the board of trustees and say, ‘This is what I’m hearing and this is what we need to do,’” Garcia said.
DeLecour spoke about her own experience in the classroom as an opportunity to challenge misguided, or misinformed, perceptions of what educators and students need.
“I’m not afraid to ask difficult questions,” DeLecour said. “As a trustee I believe that my first commitment is to the students of the colleges. And whatever we do should somehow reflect that commitment. I think that there has been a great loss of commitment and I think that needs to be brought to the attention of the board of trustees.”
Both candidates’ messages focused on the promise of education as a means to eradicate poverty in the San Antonio region. That issue should concern all voters regardless of whether they have a student in the district, they said.
“Either way you are not going to lose. Between the two of us, you are not going to lose,” Garcia said.
The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
