BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Former Palo Alto school board member Terry Godfrey has been elected to the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District over Forest Olaf Peterson, a Stanford researcher with a focus on the trades.
Godfrey, 59, was backed by a majority of the Palo Alto City Council, 11 former mayors and nine former members of the school board that she was on from 2015 to 2018.
Godfrey is the chief financial and administrative officer for the Learning Policy Institute, an education research nonprofit.
Godfrey has 58% of the vote to Peterson’s 42%.
Godfrey said she wants to build student housing, improve transit to the campuses and offer degrees that will address climate change, an aging population and workforce shortages in California.
“My style is no-drama, thoughtful and collaborative,” Godfrey said on her website.
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.
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 had three out of five members from Cupertino.
Godfrey will represent Palo Alto and Stanford for four years.
She has received 11,867 votes to Peterson’s 8,511 votes as of yesterday afternoon.
The college district has a $410 million budget this year funded by property taxes.