Search to find permanent leader of the San Bruno college complete

By Ana Mata/Daily Journal
The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

The San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) is seeking volunteers to serve as members on the Measure H Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC). Openings are currently available for one member who is active in a bona fide taxpayers’ organization and multiple members in community-at-large positions.

The CBOC is charged by state law to ensure that bond proceeds are spent only for construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or replacement of District facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of facilities or the acquisition or lease of real property, in compliance with the specific projects listed in Measure H on the November 2014 ballot. 

The SMCCCD Measure H CBOC meets four times per year to receive updates from staff on recent activity related to the bond, review expenditure reports, participate in optional site tours, and issue an annual report. 

Applications are now being accepted from any eligible person, 18 years or older, interested in filling one of these three vacancies. Employees, vendors, contractors, and consultants of the district are prohibited by law from being members of the committee.  

The application form is available at the SMCCCD Measure H CBOC website. Applications are due by Friday, August 29, 2025, for the first review. 

The SMCCCD Chancellor’s office reviews applications, selects candidates, and makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees appoints members of the CBOC. 

For additional information or questions, contact David McLain, Executive Director of Community and Government Relations, at (650) 730-8049 or mclaind@smccd.edu.    

The San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) is seeking volunteers to serve as members on the Measure H Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC). Openings are currently available for one member who is active in a bona fide taxpayers’ organization, one member who is a current student in SMCCCD and active in student life, and multiple members in community-at-large positions.

The CBOC is charged by state law to ensure that bond proceeds are spent only for construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or replacement of District facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of facilities or the acquisition or lease of real property, in compliance with the specific projects listed in Measure H on the November 2014 ballot. 

The SMCCCD Measure H CBOC meets four times per year to receive updates from staff on recent activity related to the bond, review expenditure reports, participate in optional site tours, and issue an annual report. 

Applications are now being accepted from any eligible person, 18 years or older, interested in filling one of these three vacancies. Employees, vendors, contractors, and consultants of the district are prohibited by law from being members of the committee.  

The application form is available at the SMCCCD Measure H CBOC website. Applications are due by Friday, January 9, 2026, for the first review. 

The SMCCCD Chancellor’s office reviews applications, selects candidates, and makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees appoints members of the CBOC. 

For additional information or questions, contact David McLain, Executive Director of Community and Government Relations, at (650) 730-8049 or mclaind@smccd.edu.    

The San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) is seeking volunteers to serve as members on the Measure H Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC), representing three distinct constituencies: 

1. a member who is active in a bona fide taxpayers’ organization; 

2. a member who is a student both currently enrolled in SMCCCD and an active member of a group, such as student government; 

3. a member who is active in the support and organization of the District, such as a member of a college/district advisory council or the SMCCC Foundation.

The CBOC is charged by state law to ensure that bond proceeds are spent only for construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or replacement of District facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of facilities or the acquisition or lease of real property, in compliance with the specific projects listed in Measure H on the November 2014 ballot. 

The SMCCCD Measure H CBOC meets four times per year to receive updates from staff on recent activity related to the bond, review expenditure reports, participate in optional site tours, and issue an annual report. 

Applications are now being accepted from any eligible person, 18 years or older, interested in filling one of these three vacancies. Employees, vendors, contractors, and consultants of the district are prohibited by law from being members of the committee.  

The application form is available at the SMCCCD Measure H CBOC website. Applications are due by Friday, May 30, 2025, for the first review. 

The SMCCCD Chancellor’s office reviews applications, selects candidates, and makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees appoints members of the CBOC. 

For additional information or questions, contact David McLain, Executive Director of Community and Government Relations, at (650) 730-8049 or mclaind@smccd.edu.    

KCSM honors jazz radio legacy in documentary

By Ana Mata/Daily Journal
The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

A new hourlong documentary about the legacy and cultural relevance of jazz, featured recently at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, celebrates the dedicated announcers at KCSM for teaching the world about what they consider to be America’s only original art form. 

For six decades, 91.1 FM has given listeners across the Peninsula, south Bay Area and world access to jazz music around the clock, broadcast by the listener-supporter radio station hosted at the College of San Mateo. 

“It’s a milestone that reflects the incredible legacy of this station and the global impact of our mission here at the San Mateo County Community College District,” Chancellor Melissa Moreno said. “KCSM has always been more than a radio station, it’s a bridge between education and art.” 

At a screening of the film Jan. 30, KCSM staff discussed how navigating the largest jazz record collection in the world — “you’ll get lost” announcer James Graves said — is a feat each hopes to endure for as long as possible for the sake of growing the music’s reach. 

The station has access to over 100,000 titles, with a majority inherited from former jazz station KJAZ after it signed off in 1996. Music Director Jesse “Chuy” Varela said the station still receives 50 to 100 new titles each month, adding to the ever-growing library of CDs, LPs, 45s and digital files. 

Education is at the forefront of KCSM, epitomized by its location on a community college campus, which is why there are a variety of titles its announcers feel are apt — disc jockeys, broadcasters, aficionados all remain accurate, but “curators” is the most honest description of what program hosts do, Varela said. 

“Much like people will put up a framed piece of art in a museum so that people can enjoy the beauty, that’s the way that we like to program,” Varela said. “They know music well enough to present it in an artistic and knowledgeable way and teach you about and speak to the qualities that make it a valuable piece of music to share.”

There is dedication among announcers to provide an experience alongside the music. For Sonny Buxton, a veteran on-air personality and fixture in the Bay Area jazz scene, he likes “to climb into the show.” Announcer Michael Burman prides himself in not repeating music within a year. 

“If we play a song, there is a certain ‘I, Michael Burman, recommend this in some way, with respect to what went before, with respect to what’s coming up afterwards, or because it’s just really awful and this will give you an idea of how good all the other stuff is,’” Burman said. “But you can’t do that unless you listen to it.” 

As he was becoming familiar with the station in early 2024, Station Manager Dr. Robert Franklin said he noticed the passion the announcers of KCSM had for jazz and felt it deserved to be documented. 

The effort to produce a film honoring the station’s 60th anniversary was led by Franklin, whom the College of San Mateo President Dr. Manuel Alejandro Perez described as “warmth, intelligence, inspiration and art in a person.” 

Franklin said the foundation for this legacy was built by those who came before him, including Melanie Berzon, the former program director for the station. 

“Our announcers have been rolling up their sleeves and creatively producing awe inspiring jazz, blues, soul, funk African and world music for listeners of the Bay and across the world for six decades,” Franklin said. 

A champion for women musicians and women in general, Berzon was key in establishing the station’s International Women’s Day annual programming. 

“I believe in inclusivity, and that means that when I do a show, I am very aware of the music I’m choosing and the artists that are bringing us that music,” Berzon said in the film. “I am also aware of the history of jazz, and the history of jazz is not necessarily an all inclusive one.” 

Jazz is “at the centerpiece of Black American music” said documentary narrator and vocalist Tiffany Austin. Described as the only original artwork that America has contributed to the world, jazz is integral to understanding the Black experience, interviewees throughout the film said. 

“To understand the immense value of jazz is to understand that empowerment, justice, innovation and inspiration are so intricately and beautifully woven into the origins, traditions and legacies of this genre,” Perez said. 

Zaki Nadiri, a KCSM supporter and mechanic working in Bayview, said in the film that jazz is much more than entertainment. 

“I’ve been taught that the word ‘music’ was what sounds pleasing to the ear — what we call jazz, it does more than sound good, it changes your attitude, it changes your personality, it changes your well-being,” Nadiri said.  

The film honors 60 years of the station, but the plan is for it to last much longer. Looking ahead, KCSM is navigating how to connect with younger listeners and invite them into the world of jazz. 

“They’re the ones that got their ears to the ground,” Varela said. “They’re the ones who are really picking up on what’s new and what’s happening. The way that jazz works, one generation passes it on to the next.” 

College of San Mateo students hold internship roles at the station, helping digitize vinyl records and organize music, and many station announcers make efforts to tap in to what kids are listening to. Franklin has spoken about drawing connections to hip-hop as the genre grows in popularity. 

“We have to listen to young people,” announcer Jayn Pettingill said in the film. “We have to go where they are, we have to find what they’re into, and then we have to make the connection between what they’re into and this art form.” 

The documentary film is available for purchase as a “donate with a gift” in the ongoing KCSM Winter Fund Drive. In coming weeks, it will be made available for download as well. 

Until then, “there’s a lot going on, so stay tuned at kcsm.org,” Chuy said.

Enrollment increases, district plans for long-term service

By Ana Mata/Daily Journal
The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

With a year of its free college initiative underway, the San Mateo County Community College District is celebrating significant increases in enrollment and equity as it looks to its sustainability going forward. 

Since fall 2022, the district has seen a 24% increase in enrollment in student headcount and a total of 26,656 students who have directly benefited from the program and the passage of Senate Bill 893, Vice Chancellor Dr. Aaron McVean said. 

The majority of students who benefited from the program were students from historically marginalized communities of color, and first generation college students, McVean said. 

“Our district’s role in breaking intergenerational poverty has been dramatically increased thanks to SB 893 and free college,” McVean said. “We as a district, in providing this access and helping students complete their certificates, degrees and transfer, that is an act of social justice.” 

SB 893 passed in 2022 authorizing the district to use general funds to pay enrollment fees and other costs for students. McVean reported that the majority of funds dedicated to the initiative are used for covering the state-mandatory $46 per unit enrollment fee for county residents. 

Additional funds have been dedicated to providing extra support for students demonstrating financial need, which has totaled 5,189 to date, and contribute to registration, materials and additional fees. 

The bill was passed for a five-year pilot period, and the district must submit a report to the department of finance and state Legislature by March 1, 2026, to request an extension “into infinity,” McVean said. 

The West Valley Mission Community College District just recently got its own version of free college signed into law, suggesting progress in the widespread adoption of free community college in the state again. 

“This has provided a model and continues to extend that free college movement here in the state,” McVean said. “While we’re optimistic, we definitely need to look at how we sustain SB 893 and free college moving forward.” 

The district currently budgets just under $9 million of its general fund to support the initiative. Financial sustainability will hopefully become strengthened as the move toward free community college throughout the state progresses, McVean said.

The initiative remains a priority for the district’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor Melissa Moreno, they have said previously. 

Prior to the passing of the bill and implementation of free college, the district was consistently seeing a decrease in enrollment. From the 2011-12 school year to 2020-21 school years, the district’s number of students declined 23% overall, and full-time students declined 28%. 

Outgoing board President John Pimentel said beyond finding the funds to continue this service for the foreseeable future, trustees and district staff should dedicate significant effort to getting the word out to the community. 

“I think it would be equally wise investment to make sure we had an aggressive plan to share this good news,” Pimentel said.

Regardless of ticket price, the dedicated funds to providing free college to county residents is “an investment back to our community,” McVean said. 

“This is such an incredible effort, everybody on the staff, on the board, our political leaders were part of this process and I just couldn’t be more delighted with the results,” Pimentel said. “Now we’ve got to go make it permanent.”