Luis Reynoso has become one of the most well-known of the seven members on the district’s board of trustees. It began after a social media post featured rhetoric considered by many to be an attack on the transgender community in 2022. Since then, he’s been a controversial figure in local politics and a proud member of the MAGA movement in this progressive part of the country.
Many key figures want him gone. The contingent includes Hayward mayor Mark Salinas as well as Sarah Thompson, a former LPC academic senate president, leader and student advocate at LPC, plus the other six trustees.
Their hope is in Hector Garcia.
“He has been probably one of the most impeccable educators that I have professionally worked with over the years,” Salinas said.
The battle between Reynoso and Garcia for a seat on the Chabot-Las Positas Community College Board of Trustees will ultimately be decided by the voting residents of Trustee Area 1, which includes the majority of Hayward.
The only other trustee seat up for election is from Trustee Area 4, which represents Castro Valley, East San Lorenzo, Sunol and areas of Pleasanton. That race is between incumbent trustee Maria Heredia and her opponent Joseph Grcar. Heredia has 28 years of community college experience, including having served in positions such as department chair and coordinator. Grcar is a former laboratory scientist with a Ph.D. in mathematics who is looking for his first elected position.
But the public’s attention and focus this election cycle is on Reynoso versus Garcia.
Garcia’s qualities as a career educator have attracted the endorsement and support of the California Community Colleges Faculty Association and Chabot-Las Positas Faculty Association. These associations, as well as the other current trustees, are looking for Reynoso’s ouster. Garcia’s ideas and vision directly oppose Reynoso’s stated pursuit.
Garcia’s background in education endears him to his supporters. He won Administrator of the Year in 2010-2011 as the principal at Harder Elementary School in Hayward. The following year, he won Educator of the Year for the Hayward Unified School District (HUSD). He has since worked as the director of Hayward Promise Neighborhood and currently serves as HUSD’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment.
While the nation is focused on the presidential election, the competing ideas between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are playing out at the local community college level. Reynoso versus Garcia for the district trustee seat is a manifestation of this philosophical battle happening way down the ballot and, as far as LPC is concerned, right at home.
But Reynoso remains undeterred. His reelection bid is a part of his plan to enact many of the right-wing ideals touted by Trump’s MAGA movement, the biggest being his continued stance against queer studies.
“One thing is for sure,” Reynoso said, “politics of any kind, including gender politics, do not belong in education. Period, at all.”
In addition to this trustee campaign, Reynoso is up for election for four other board positions: Ora Loma Sanitary District, Hayward Area Recreation and Park District, Hayward Unified School District and Eden Township Healthcare District.
“We’ve got to save democracy,” Reynoso said. “It’s not about going in there and looking good. No, not at all. As a matter of fact, one of the things we have to really fight for is to fight against this tyranny of pleasantness. No, you gotta go in there and debate. Man, who cares if they don’t like you?”
But because of his beliefs, policy ideas and personal conduct, the board has deemed Reynoso unfit for his position. They champion a far more progressive approach to education.
In February of 2023, Reynoso was officially censured by the same board upon which he campaigns to maintain his position.
“We are elected to do two things,” Salinas said. “Cause no harm and to protect people. (Reynoso hasn’t) done either. He has caused harm to people, and he has compromised protecting faculty, students and families.”
During Reynoso’s censure, Kyle Johnson, a former LPC student government president, implored Reynoso to show support to the LGBTQ+ community — something Reynoso failed to do. He never apologized for his social media posts.
“We deserve a trustee that will fight for the minority populations of students,” Johnson said. “Someone who will fight for those without a voice. By empowering Reynoso with the power to represent students’ interests on the board, the community will continue to suffer.”
When asked why he didn’t make a statement supporting the LGBTQ+ community, Reynoso said, “Because I don’t support politics in education. I don’t stand by that. I don’t support any activities that is going to get in the way of (students) graduating on time or spending the money that shouldn’t be spent except on education.”
Reynoso also believes in keeping “biologically-born” males and females separate in bathrooms and sports, claiming that women’s safety is his priority.
“I would say that if you have a penis,” Reynoso said, “I don’t care how you dress, you don’t belong in a woman’s space. Let’s ask the women how they feel. How would a woman feel to see a man undressed and see his genitalia?”
His stance on LGBTQ+ people is not the only issue the board has with Reynoso, though it’s the one that made him a controversial figure. His decorum on the board is another.
Thompson said Reynoso habitually turned meetings into “circus shows.” His antics were often met by “here we go again” eye rolls from his fellow trustee members.
“There’s nothing worse than the tyranny of pleasantness,” Reynoso said about his behavior in meetings. “There’s nothing more absurd and repugnant to see public officials not fight or advocate for something that is right, and you do whatever you can to get something out there to the public.”
Garcia’s ideals are aligned with the incumbent power structure.
For example, Reynoso believes in limiting the impact and role of “minority” teachings. While he said he believes ethnic and gender studies have their role in education, he believes the job of community college is to purely set up its students for the workforce. His stance is that such colleges should focus on core courses such as math, chemistry, physics and biology.
Garcia has a bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies from UC San Diego. He believes education about cultures, history and the experiences of all students is part of inclusion and provides safety for all students.
“I have lived the experience of having felt marginalized, having felt like the other,” Garcia said. “That stays with you, and it’s a part of everything that comes out of my mouth, every decision that (I make). I want to learn whatever your background may be — because that’s how we get you over whatever your finish line is. Only by better understanding you, respecting you, making you feel safe.”
Reynoso has supporters, too. They showed up to his censure hearing last year and made clear their disapproval. His supporters believed that process was a “witch hunt,” a term they also use in reference to the current campaign to unseat him.
“Isn’t it funny that he’s the only elected person on the board, and they did everything they could to get rid of him?” Grcar said, referencing how Reynoso was the only trustee to win a contested election. The others won uncontested. “What was the history of that? I’m outraged at that.”
Grcar questioned the efforts to censure Reynoso.
“What happened was that the administration went around and said, ‘Hey, we want to get rid of this guy. We want you to censure him and get him out of here. That’s what they did. I mean, I can’t prove it, but how else did it happen?”
For the sake of clarity, it is important to note the board of trustees did not censor Reynoso, which is quite different from censure. Merriam-Webster defines the difference as such: “To ‘censor’ means to remove, block or interfere with the communication of another. To ‘censure,’ on the other hand, means to find fault with and criticize as blameworthy.”
LPC president Dyrell Foster, the school’s top administrator, declined to pick a side.
“I respect each individual’s political views and their opinions,” Foster said. “And so my only comment is to encourage everyone to vote, to be educated and to ensure they participate. I mean that is really, ultimately, from my perspective, what’s important.”
But certainly, Garcia’s ability to work with the current trustees and the values he shares with the administrators in the district make him the favored candidate in-house.
It’s a philosophical difference between Reynoso and Garcia. The former declares his fight is for ideologies. The latter contends he is at his core still just a teacher with the same goal as always — to make connections and develop relationships with people.
Thompson, who lent her home to one of Garcia’s fundraising events, said Garcia’s resume and dedication to making education an environment open and accessible to all make him the correct fit for the board of trustees.
Salinas agrees: “I think with Hector Garcia, he will be a better colleague to the board. He also will mirror the values that Hayward and Chabot-Las Positas faculty, students, administrators and families have.”
Top photo: Chabot Las Positas Community College District trustee Luis Reynoso defends himself before the vote for his censure at the Feb. 21, 2023 district meeting in Dublin, CA. His presentation lasted for forty minutes. (Photo by Georgia Whiting/ The Express).
Jakob Arnarsson is the Editor-in-Chief of The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @JakobA2004
