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Maria Elena Serna: Is there still hope for a note of grace?
Saturday, December 13, 2008 6:08 AM PST
Frankly, we were shocked this week. Maria Elena Serna, 67 — longtime Delta College trustee, retired local high school teacher and champion of social justice — admitted to being a common cheat.
She resigned as a trustee on Monday. Then, just minutes later, she stood before a judge and entered a plea of no contest to a criminal charge of taking $1,600 in travel reimbursements to which she was not entitled.
Maria Elena Serna, a criminal?
How dismaying. A betrayal of the public trust. A raw act of deceit — at an institution already rocked by scandal and controversy.
Maria, how could you?
So dismaying. And so sad.
Serna has been a leader, even an inspiration, for nearly two decades.
In all of the ugliness this week, is there a chance at some bit of grace? We think so. We hope so. But that will be up to Serna herself.
She was elected to the board in 1990, fresh and altruistic.
"I want to be a positive role model," she said after being sworn in.
And in many ways, she has been.
She is the daughter of farmworkers who prized education above all else. She devoted herself to education, becoming a teacher of history and civics at Bear Creek High School.
She was the sister of the late, legendary Joe Serna, a political science professor and mayor of Sacramento, a national trailblazer of Hispanic achievement.
She and Joe Serna shared the same ideals. So she had a mission, a constructive mission, and she carried it out.
She pushed hard for migrant education. She was a member of the California Student Aid Commission.
She was the first graduation speaker at Bear Creek High.
Founder of a local chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Recipient of the Susan B. Anthony Award for her work on women's issues.
A founding member and first president of the Lodi Historical Society.
Leader of a Neighborhood Watch Program.
An inductee into the Mexican-American Hall of Fame.
She was the first Hispanic elected to the Delta board of trustees. As a trustee, she advocated for a Lodi satellite campus for the college.
At a time and in a place not embracing of Hispanics, Serna was fearless.
So much service, so many lives changed for the better.
We endorsed her. We believed in her.
Now she has disappointed all of us.
And let's be clear here: Her lawyer said her violations were merely "technical." That's a fantasy.
Serna grasped for hundreds of dollars in travel and meal reimbursements she did not deserve.
That's so cheap, so petty.
And so human.
Serna lost her husband earlier in the year and has suffered health problems. That's unfortunate. It doesn't make things right, though.
Can we forgive her? Should we? Is that even important?
Maria, you are better than this.
Do not leave it to your lawyer to utter the last words of your public life.
You wanted to be role model. You were.
Perhaps you can be again, one last time, at least in this way: Take responsibility.
You made a terrible mistake. Don't run from it. Apologize. Publicly accept responsibility.
We can still learn from you, Maria.
In this time of crisis, more than ever, you can still epitomize the ideals that have sustained you.
— The Lodi News-Sentinel
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JF wrote on Dec 19, 2008 11:00 AM:
Giovanina wrote on Dec 18, 2008 5:18 PM:
" Sports Guru.....dare I say it? Has anyone called ICE? "
No need as she is not illegal. But she is a leftwing Raza and worked with all the Che followers of the Farm Bureau. "
deltaconfidential wrote on Dec 18, 2008 4:50 PM:
Mad Dog wrote on Dec 18, 2008 12:41 PM:
SportsGuru wrote on Dec 18, 2008 8:28 AM:
I wonder how long it is going to be before her attorney starts yapping about how she was victimized because she is hispanic...... "
SportsGuru wrote on Dec 18, 2008 8:26 AM:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad.." "
anayud wrote on Dec 15, 2008 8:22 PM:
LodiReaderFromStockton wrote on Dec 15, 2008 9:57 AM:
Whoa Nellie! wrote on Dec 15, 2008 7:39 AM:
Personally I'd like to see the State of California send in some Independent Auditors to go over the books from SJDC, examine the money transfers, and leave no stone unturned. I suspect that Maria is just the tip of the iceberg.
Stockton is the new Chicago. "
Zinfandel wrote on Dec 15, 2008 6:17 AM:
" Very odd...sad to find that a woman who has been a role model for the Hispanic community and the Lodi community as a whole has come to this. Age and recent family tragedies may have contributed to this seeming "dementia." A case to be examined and lamented...not condemned. "
Not "dementia" . . .This is a case of prue greed! A felony charge that should have resulted with 3 yrs in jail turns into 3 yrs probation. . .she must have spilled her guts to get those charges reduced. Will be soon be seeing Delta College on the front page of our local newspapers?? "
educated reader wrote on Dec 14, 2008 11:02 PM:
angryeyes wrote on Dec 14, 2008 5:50 PM:
Cogito wrote on Dec 14, 2008 8:59 AM:
Patricia wrote on Dec 13, 2008 10:28 AM:
I for one say forgive and forget, because none of us are without fault. BUT, of course, her days as an elected official are over, because she has breeched the trust of those who elected her. "
Mad Dog wrote on Dec 13, 2008 9:52 AM:
Comments on this story are now closed.