Activists call for interim Hartnell College superintendent to b...

Hartnell College interim superintendent Phoebe Helm should withdraw her name from the final list of candidates for the permanent position or be disqualified, a group of Salinas community members told the board ...

[Educated]

Qualifications is what should matter to all no matter what race or background

[Hector]

I fully agree with you i am Mexican and it is getting tiresome when people keep using the race issue

[job]

Hector wrote:

I fully agree with you i am Mexican and it is getting tiresome when people keep using the race issue

It's demeaning! The two hispanic candidates' qualifications speak for themselves. I saw them at the forum, and Hartnell would be very lucky to get them. They were impressive.

[jose jimenez]

Since when is the best person for the job determined by race?

[Wesley Franklin]

Utilizing Sergio Sanchez as a barometer the best choice is Helms. If you recall Mr. Sanchez appointed an affiliate gang member for access to the Salinas Police Department.
Presently you have someone here doing a good job.
Why spend precious time & money for someone that may not work out after accepting the position?
As usual some local noise makers continue to cost you money by drawing out the process.
An in my opinion would make the most costly choice.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Helm's influence on the composition of the Screening Committee extended far beyond simply picking the two administrators. Helm chose Aaron Johnson to chair the Screening Committee, and then falsely stated the Board of Trustees chose Johnson. In fact, the Board never took such a vote, as the Board minutes show.
Helm also interviewed several volunteers for the two community representatives, and then unilaterally selected the two who actually served. Anyone in doubt can contact former Hartnell Board member Mark Dierolf, who was interviewed and rejected by Helm.
Helm also vetoed the original individual that Hartnell's La Raza chapter selected to represent it, and insisted on interviewing several members of La Raza from which she would unilaterally select the one to serve. Anyone can verify this by simply contacting the members of La Raza at Hartnell. Most members of the Screening Committee were interviewed and personally approved by Helm. Helm has consistently prevaricated (to put it charitably) about the magnitude of her role in choosing the Screening Committee, and this does not augur well for her honesty, integrity, or ethics.

[sparticus]

Why is La Raza involved? They are as RACIST as the Klan

[Marcus Licinius Crassus]

sparticus wrote:

Why is La Raza involved? They are as RACIST as the Klan

We can all hurl calumnies (e.g., calling each other "racist"). Helm's dishonesty and iniquity can be demonstrated by contrasting her quoted utterances with documentary evidence such as Board Minutes.
La Raza is involved because everyone, from the geriatric Helm to her sycophant (previously Valeau's sycophant), Aaron Johnson---agreed it should have a representative. However, you find it as racist as the Klan. Has it engaged in lynchings and cross-burnings, like the Klan? What is your evidence that La Raza's as racist as the Klan? Or should all your assertions be dismissed as unsubstantiated, irresponsible, and ignorant hyperbole? I await your evidence.
I am not Hispanic (I'm a white Roman, and I crucified you---Spartacus or Sparticus, however you spell your name----along the Appian Way two millennia ago), but I recognize it would be desirable if a "Hispanic-serving institution" like Hartnell hired a Hispanic president; such a president would be a role model for Hartnell's overwhelmingly Hispanic student body, and would likely, owing to similarities in culture and background, be more sympathetic to and knowledgeable about such a student body.
However, the most important consideration is to have a leader with two qualities: probity and competence. There are Hispanic candidates with these qualities, and Dr. Cervantes is likely one of them. Helm, on the other hand, is woefully and demonstrably deficient in the first quality.

[sparticus]

They are Racist based on their charter and on the member organizations stated goals.
They have a say because nonhispanics havebeen bullied and accused of being racist by La Raza. THey teach in our schools and have a voice in our community at large.
There anti-American pro-mexican agenda is obvious.

[Home Grown]

Wow they sound like a very interesting group of people. Where can one find their charter and organizational goals?

In reading the articles and blogs that have been published in both newspapers it seems that many people are talking about the process of how Dr. Helm got herself chosen as a canidate. That is the issue that everyone concerned should be asking. If the process was not tampered with the best person will be selected.