Ann Crosbie, a retired school trustee, is running for the Area 5 seat on the MiraCosta Community College District board of trustees. The San Diego Union-Tribune asked all the candidates running in community college districts around San Diego County about their policies, plans and priorities. Here’s what Crosbie told us about hers. Ann Crosbie (Courtesy Ann Crosbie) Why are you running for school board? What makes you a good candidate? I am running for MiraCosta Community College Board because I saw there was a need with the current trustee not running for re-election and no candidate stepping forward. I wanted to contribute to my community and continue my education advocacy locally. Having served as a community college trustee and a K-12 trustee, I understand what is required in the position and I believe in the mission of our community college system. What is the most important issue currently facing your community college district? MiraCosta is already an exceptional college, with an engaged board of trustees and knowledgeable superintendent/president. This does not mean that we couldn’t be doing more to meet the growing needs of our community. In addition, (Superintendent/President Sunita) Cooke’s contract will expire in the next four years, and it will fall to the next board of trustees to look for an equally exceptional replacement (should she choose to retire). Having participated in more than one superintendent search, I will be an asset to the board during this process. What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the school board? Student supports: Our students are a diverse group and should be provided the variety of supports they need to reach their goals; whether they are recently out of foster care, previously incarcerated, a veteran, unhoused, an individual with special needs, an English language learner or just not clear on where they are headed, I want to be sure that they all have access to the life-changing education offered by MiraCosta College. Job retraining: In 2024, the average tenure in a job is just 5.4 years. Whether it is due to obsolescence or an individual’s desire to move in to a new field, MiraCosta Community College has a role to play in being responsive to our student’s aspirations and our community’s needs, offering pathways towards 21st century fields of exploration. Fiscal stability: Our community supports MiraCosta’s mission, so we need to be spending our resources wisely to guarantee fiscal stability. What would your approach be to budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? The biggest problem school districts have is with being too short-sighted. We need to be looking ahead and considering what might happen in the future. Our current facility bond projects are wrapping up. What facility needs does our college district still have? A facility study needs to be done to know if a future bond will be necessary and to start planning for that contingency. Are we using our facilities to capacity, and if not, why not? Is the San Elijo campus drawing the appropriate number of students, and what can be done to increase use by appealing to the needs of students? Which programs are best suited for which campus? To avoid a shortfall, these are just some of the questions we need to be asking. In addition, are our reserves adequate to weather a future downturn? The time to start planning for a future event is now. What would you do to make community college more affordable and accessible? Locally, MiraCosta is already the most affordable option in higher education. However, because the majority of our resources do not come from the state, we do not have the same push to increase enrollment that other campuses have who are funded on a per pupil basis. This does not mean that our community doesn’t have the need for the opportunities we can provide. We need to be sure we are still doing outreach to our diverse community and that we are supporting our students so that they can be successful through counseling, wayfinding and financial supports. We should be appealing to a wide swath of our community and should be constantly reviewing our demographics and success rates to be sure that we are. How should your community college district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a school board member to accomplish that? One of the primary mechanisms a trustee has for encouraging improved academic achievement is the budgeting process. We need to be tying our spending to programs that improve student success. Programs such as counseling, mentorships and support services are integral. For example, when I was a trustee at Ohlone Community College, I served as a community advocate with Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS). It helped me understand our students needs and ways we could meet those needs through the allocation of funds for support. Why do you think more students are not transferring to four-year colleges or completing a degree/program? What, if anything, do you think should be done to address that issue? Education is not one-size-fits-all. There are many reasons why students enroll in our community colleges. In 2024, the average tenure in a job is just 5.4 years. Whether it is due to obsolescence, or an individual’s desire to move in to a new field, MiraCosta Community College has a role to play in being responsive to our student’s aspirations, and our community’s needs. I will make sure that the courses and pathways that we offer will help our students be successful as they continue their educational journey into 21st century fields of exploration. Do you think anything currently offered in community college district curricula, libraries or programming should be removed? If yes, what, and why? If no, why not? I support MiraCosta continuously reviewing our curricula and programming to remain relevant and responsive to our student’s needs, and the rapidly changing pace of our 21st-century work demands. As for our libraries, we have limited space and should be continuously evaluating what might be obsolete to make room for the latest resources. I trust our librarians (who are skilled professionals) to make these decisions. It does not fall to a trustee to vet library books.