Valerie Osier | News Editor
Nov. 13, 2014
Virginia Blumenthal
Forum: Trustee Blumenthal speaks on her campaign trail.
Virginia Blumenthal is the current president of Riverside Community College Board of Trustees and has served eight years on the board.
“One of the things we need to do is to try to have more classes offered for our students while still maintaining our financial stability …,” Blumenthal said. “We are trying to do the impossible. We are trying to offer students many more classes and do it on a much smaller budget.”
Blumenthal was born and raised in Riverside, and her parents still live across the street from Riverside City College
“I’m a graduate from RCC,” she said. “I got my AA degree from RCC. I’m very proud to be an alumna of RCC. And I personally believe that our district is the best community college district in the nation.”
Blumenthal is excited to continue work on the Coil School for the Arts in her coming term as Board of Trustee President, and looks forward to continuing work to solve the budget crisis.
Janet Green
Forum: Trustee Janet Green speaks at a candidate forum.
Janet Green has served eight years on the Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees.
“Don’t laugh, but I went to RCC at one time,” Green said, “and I took political science, and then I worked at RCC as part-time faculty teaching emergency medical technicians, then I happened to marry the administrator who hired me, then I had to go … because he did not believe in husband and wife working in the same place … I never lost my dedication to RCC.”
According to Green, she ran for the board again because she didn’t finish all of the work she wanted to do, including getting more classes for students and filling all administrative positions that are needed.
“The one thing I would like to see students do is to feel comfortable about approaching us trustees personally when we’re not at a board meeting …” Green said. “But I want students to know that I personally am accessible to them any time they want to pick up the phone and call.”
Tracey Vackar
Tracey Vackar has served on the Moreno Valley Unified School Board for the past 20 years. She is currently the director of Career Technical Education at Fontana Unified School District.
This will be her first term on the RCCD Board of Trustees.
“I can help support the transition from high school into community college, for all our school districts we serve for RCCD …,” Vackar said. “Also, the new trustee seat will actually give the community that I reside in an actual voice on the RCCD board.”
Vackar also currently works closely with RCCD faculty and high school faculty in Industry Advisory Committees to make sure the CTE curriculum aligns with industry standards.
“The main thing is to set policy and to ensure that the college program has the adequate support that they need and the resources for quality programming. I think that that is the first and important role the a board member has,” Vackar said.
Vackar will begin her term serving on the Board of Trustees in the coming Summer.
