San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees race: Steve Castellanos drafting plans for Delta College

As a former California state architect, Steve Castellanos has experience with reviewing community college construction projects. Now, he's hoping to apply that knowledge to help San Joaquin Delta College expand for the future and construct what he believes needs to be a more smoothly run, transparent Board of Trustees at the school.

Castellanos, 59, is running to represent District 5 on the board against Al Lennox. The elected candidate will be replacing incumbent Dan Parises, who is not seeking re-election after 33 years on the board.

A Stockton native, Castellanos feels his experience with public policy and architecture, as well as his desire to improve the community college and eventually make its community greater and more sustainable, makes him a worthy candidate for District 5's opening.

"I know about the importance of public policy. I also know about the need for good candidates and I think with what I know about public schools' design, that I can contribute to Delta's board in a lot of ways," said Castellanos, who lives in Calaveras County with his wife, Linda.

Castellanos also said the board needs a makeover and he wants to be a part of that change. Castellanos is hoping he can be one of many new faces on the board that can help move forward past the problems.

In his time as a state architect, he worked on many public school projects, but never did any projects for Delta. It's his time working with public schools that led the San Joaquin Delta College Teachers' Association to support him.

"He knows school building issues inside-and-out and he knows bond planning," said Sam Hatch, the SJDCTA communications officer. "He knows all this stuff and the recent problems the college has had managing its bond funds, makes him a valuable asset to the board and extremely valuable."

Castellanos wants to help Delta's reputation recover after the board was the central focus of a highly critical San Joaquin County Grand Jury report. The jury reported the board has wasted tens of millions of tax-payer dollars of the Measure L Bond — a $250 million bond the school received in 2004.

Following the report, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges said that Delta was in danger of losing its accreditation, a vital element of the college based on peer-review approval. The school has two years to erase the threat and follow guidelines, including developing a code of ethics and strategic plan.

"The more critical issue to me, is the accreditation problem that the institution is facing right now ... " Castellanos said. "Delta has had a great history and that shouldn't be allowed."