Oscar Zavala had a bit of an aha moment at the September Santa Barbara Community College board meeting, when he heard a math professor beg trustees for relief from 90-degree temperatures in his classroom.
“He was talking about, ‘What are you guys going to do to fix these air conditioners? You know, the rooms are burning up,’” Zavala said, noting the college doesn’t offer HVAC education. “And I thought: Why don’t we have an air conditioning program? You know, we could maintain the college and treat all these people to a service.”
The school, he said, could educate local students in a high-demand, well-paid field with fairly short training. Zavala said that’s the kind of “creative, innovative” thinking he wants to bring to the college if elected to the Board of Trustees on Nov. 3.
Zavala, 71, is running for the open seat in Trustee Area 7. His opponents are nurse and Republican Heather McGinnis and retired elementary school teacher and Democrat Andrea Varon. Multiple attempts to interview McGinnis, who did not file a public candidate’s statement, were unsuccessful. She is endorsed by the Santa Barbara County Republican party.
A 40-year Mesa resident, Zavala is a retired SBCC counselor, former chair of the Counseling Department and two-term member of the Academic Senate. During his 30 years at the college, he directed the International Student and Express to Success programs and the SBCC Diversity and Equity Committee.
His extensive knowledge of SBCC and his love of the Mesa—where the Main Campus is located—prompted him to run, he said.
“It’s a sticky situation because the college needs to earn revenue, and the way to do that is to increase student numbers,” he said. “Then you get the things that come from increased enrollment…all those impacts, noise and parking and all of that.
“The Area Seven rep has to be in the position to find and work with that balance. That’s what I can do because of my history with the Mesa and my history with the college. I want to protect the Mesa. I want to make sure the college is successful.”
A Turlock standout
Zavala was born in Texas and moved to the Central Valley with his single mother and three older brothers when he was little. His mom did what was needed to support her boys, including farm work. Eventually she found a job working in Turlock, at a dry cleaners, and the family settled there.
“It was hard for her, raising all of us,” he said. “We ended up getting on state subsidies.
“We were on food stamps and welfare, and I know all about the embarrassment and shame of that.”
Still, their clothes were always cleaned and ironed, and the house was always tidy, he said. And overall, Turlock was “a really great place to grow up.”
“You’ve got a mom struggling, and the community comes and supports you,” he said. “You know, people coming and helping us out.
“I saw a lot of good people doing good things. That really left an impression on me. Because of that, I think I am who I am today.”
Zavala went to Turlock High School, where he played football and was captain of the wrestling team. Good grades got him into UCSB, where he majored in sociology, became president of the Interfraternity Council and was given the University Service Award for money raised and donated by the fraternities during his tenure.
Always a counselor
Zavala returned to Turlock when he was hired as a juvenile hall counselor for the Stanislaus County Probation Department. He transferred to Santa Barbara County and worked as a juvenile counselor for eight years. He eventually was hired by UCSB’s Admissions Office as an outreach counselor to Southern California high schools and community colleges. That put him in touch with SBCC, where he found his final career.
“I got a chance to work with a lot of community college counselors,” he said. “And I thought, ‘I like what you’re doing! You’re helping these students transfer and fulfill their dreams.’”
While working full-time at UCSB, he earned a master’s degree from California State University, Northridge. SBCC hired him as a tenure-track counselor right out of graduate school.
Prioritizing stability
Zavala retired from SBCC in 2018.
He was recruited to run for the college board by some faculty colleagues. He had been active in retirement in the Santa Barbara Sunrise Rotary and as president of the Mesa Neighborhood Associations and said he felt it was “time to step up.”
He said he mostly supports the current board’s direction and believes the community does, too, calling the 2024 approval of Prop. P, a $198 million facilities improvement bond, a “huge vote of confidence.”
“If we can do that during these tough times, we can only do better going forward,” he said. “I really think we could get into a new age here.”
He praised the college’s vocational offerings and said he hopes to help decide how to expand them. He also supports Superintendent-President Erika Endrijonas and said the current board did the right thing in giving her a 12.5 percent raise, though faculty has objected to it.
Having worked on campus during a churn of presidents—five separate CEOs since 2016—he said he prioritizes stability.
“I feel like you can’t pay a college president enough,” he said. “The board probably was looking at stability, too…that this was something they had to do, or felt compelled to do, to guarantee stability.“
To keep SBCC in the black while high school enrollment is dropping, Zavala said the college should focus on enrolling new types of students. He noted that people historically flock to community colleges during economic downturns. The college needs to capitalize on that and find ways to provide employees permanent raises, he said.
Last month, faculty objected when the district offered one-time salary payments instead of permanent raises, calling it a last, best and final offer. Zavala said he is troubled by what he called a “take it or leave it” attitude of the administration. He believes, he said, that faculty quite rightly feel “they aren’t being listened to.”
He noted that considering a recent campus survey showed low employee morale across campus, employees obviously are not feeling appreciated.
He also noted that open meeting laws restrict how and how much trustees can interact directly with employees.
It all adds up, he said, to a logjam the board needs to break through.
Finally, he said he would not press SBCC to build student housing. His wife, Jill, worked in UCSB’s residential housing department, so he said he has a good idea of the extensive resources such an endeavor would require.
“City College does not have the bandwidth right now to take on a housing project,” he said. “It would be huge. There are too many other issues that we can focus on, at least for the next four years.”
Spending his own money
Zavala has been endorsed by the Democratic Women of Santa Barbara, Mayor Randy Rowse and Santa Barbara City Council Member Mike Jordan. He worked with the latter two on the Mesa Neighborhood Association.
Though a lifelong Democrat, he—notably—did not win the Santa Barbara Democratic Party’s endorsement. That went to his opponent, Andrea Varon, and that means she’s getting the lion’s share of the organization’s public support, publicity, individual endorsements and other resources.
“It gets back to me being naive about the campaign process,” he said. “They [members of the Central Committee] did reach out and ask me to meet with them and get involved with the Democratic Party. … And at the time, I thought, ‘Wait a minute! I thought this was a nonpartisan position.’
“So my thought was, ‘Why would I do that if this race is nonpartisan?'”
Because of this, Zavala has decided to only spend his own money on his campaign, planning to stay under $2,000 to avoid having to file complex campaign finance forms.
Reminiscing for a minute, Zavala shares memories of the Mesa of 30 years ago. He recounts teaching his daughters how to lick an ice cream cone at Foster’s Freeze.
Santa Cruz Market. Burger King. Deano’s Pizza. All gone now, along with a certain funkiness and neighborhood vibe.
“The Mesa has really changed, and that’s okay,” he said. “I’m not opposed to change, as long as there’s discussion and people are talking civilly, having good conversations.
“So I think that’s what I’m bringing, this long, long history of the Mesa and my love for it.”
