2 vie for college board

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

In the first-ever race to represent Palo Alto on the board of the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District, voters will choose between trade school advocate Forest Peterson and former school board member Terry Godfrey.

Godfrey, 59, is backed by a majority of Palo Alto City Council, 11 former Palo Alto mayors and nine former members of the Palo Alto school board, which she was on from 2015 to 2018.

Godfrey is the chief financial and administrative officer for the Learning Policy Institute, an education research nonprofit. She has raised $29,479 for her campaign through the first six months of the year.

Peterson, 48, has raised $14,412 in the same time frame, with a $7,500 donation from the Residential Contractors Association and a $2,500 donation from a local chapter of the plumbers, steamfitters, and refrigeration fitters union.

Peterson is a former concrete laborer and now works at Stanford as a postdoctoral researcher, studying career and technical education, or CTE. He is president of the Silicon Valley Working Blue Democratic Club, which helps elect candidates who support labor unions.

Peterson said on his website that his goal “is to expand pathways to college education through STEM dual enrollment,” including with the Palo Alto Unified School District.

Over the last four years, 15% of Gunn High School graduates and 10% of Palo Alto High School graduates went to Foothill College, the high schools reported.

Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims, East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio Lopez, Mountain View Councilman Lucas Ramirez and Valley Water board member Rebecca Eisenberg are backing Peterson.

Godfrey said she wants to build student housing, address transit to the campuses and support students’ basic and academic needs.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, Palo Alto Mayor Greer Stone, Vice Mayor Ed Lauing, Councilwoman Vicki Veenker and Councilman Pat Burt have endorsed Godfrey.

The college district switched to by-area elections last year. So rather than voters picking all five board members, individual cities will pick one representative each.

That will shift the balance of the board, which currently has three out of five members from Cupertino.

The district has a $410 million budget this year funded by property taxes in Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Stanford, Sunnyvale, and parts of Saratoga and San Jose.