College Board Trustee Candidate Doesn’t Want Students to “Have An Easy Life”

On the ballot in November are candidates for Orange County’s community college board.  And every now and then, something on the campaign trail flashes up and needs attention to be called to it.

And in the South County Community College board elections, Capo Unified’s Gila Jones, who has the endorsements from Orange County’s Democratic organizations, is making a run against John Black, a former Marine with all the endorsements from OC’s Republican organizations.

The central difference between John Black and Gila Jones is their professional experience: Black emphasizes military leadership, college-level teaching and organizational management, while Jones emphasizes 12 years of elected K–12 school-board service, public budgeting and collaboration between high schools and community colleges. Their campaigns also differ in their published priorities and endorsements.

But Black was questioned about the help community college students need and what he’s prepared to do.  Black basically says to students – “You’re on your own” and ”I don’t want you to have an easy life.  I want you to struggle.”

Community college is not the Military.

Don’t take my word for it; check out Mr. Black the video.

What’s that? Eight kids to a room!  How is that going to work?  This isn’t the armed forces, it’s community college and help is needed for success.

Fortunetly, helping students is something that is built into Gila Jones’ DNA.

Gila Jones is an incumbent K–12 school-board member

• Reports 12 years on the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) Board of Trustees.
• Emphasizes experience overseeing public education and annual budgets exceeding $640 million.
• Cites an MBA and training in analyzing the financial statements of large institutions.
• Focuses on preparing students for further education, career training and an economy increasingly influenced by AI.

Jones has direct experience as an elected school-board trustee, including public-board deliberations and education budgeting. Black brings a different mix of military command, teaching and large-scale operational management.  She wants to help students because most are already struggling.

But just watching the video makes me shudder.