On Jan. 16, Delta College welcomed a new member, Dr. Jessie Garza-Roderick to the board of trustees. She fills the Area 2 vacancy left by Dr. Elizabeth Blanchard’s resignation on Nov. 21, 2023, and will serve until the November election. Garza-Roderick has more than 40 years of experience as an educator, including 10 years at the college’s Tracy Center and another 12 years at the South Campus at Mountain House.
“We gotta do right by students,” Garza-Roderick said when discussing her approach to being a member of the board. The retired dean spoke about the need to help new students forge a path to success at Delta College.
“In order to build a pathway, you need to build for four years, so high school students coming in can know their path forward,” she said.
Part of the reason she took the position on the board was to help with the coming discussion regarding the 2024 bond measure.
“When you talk to people about what their money and contributions will do for students, they write the checks,” she said.
Garza-Roderick is hoping that Delta can use funds from the bond measure to take further strides to improve the experience of the students
One of the ways Garza-Roderick would look to utilize the funds from a bond measure would be to help improve the overall health of the campus overall such as repairing the frequently failing elevators or upgrading classrooms.
“With bond money, we redid the classrooms… and the students said it made a difference,” she said.
Addressing those failures might incentivize more students to take classes on campus.
“Everybody wants to do distance learning! Nobody wants to come to campus. And I don’t agree with that,” she said.
Garza-Roderick’s appointment is currently provisional. If a petition for a special election is not filed with the San Joaquin County Superintendent of Schools by Feb. 15, it will become effective.