Recall to Election: Newest Board Member’s Return to Politics

Cecilia Iglesias RSCCD board of trustees member-elect

By Chris Treble

Cecilia Iglesias, a Santa Ana College graduate, became our newest Rancho Santiago Community College District board of trustees member in last Tuesday’s general election. Although new to her role with the board, Iglesias is a veteran of local politics, most recently as a city council member in 2020 and her advocacy work with La Union De Padres. She promises to ensure students always have a seat at the table and have a say in their college experience.

Iglesias has served as a politician for over a decade. She started in 2012 as a Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) board member, then in 2018 was elected to Santa Ana city council. In 2020, a controversial recall election removed Iglesias from her position on the city council after she was accused of voting against the public interest and not supporting police pay raises. In 2022 she ran for Orange County board of supervisors in an open seat for the district that includes Santa Ana coming in third behind then Santa Ana mayor Vicente Sarmiento.

Since then she has continued her founding directorship of the Parent Union and La Union de Padres. Both are organizations that advocate for parental influence in K-12 education, with La Union de Padres focusing its support on Spanish-speaking and Latino communities.

Iglesias’ experience with the local education system is not purely political, “I received my associate degree and sign language education certificate from SAC” Iglesias said about choosing the board of trustees as her return to local politics. “I am proud to be a Don. I have a passion for serving our community. I started my service and educational journey by tutoring the deaf and hard of hearing students in Orange County.”

Board member-elect Iglesias has committed to enacting policies that ensure all students have the opportunity to graduate in two years and not be slowed by a lack of access to core general education classes.

Iglesias stated in an email that: “I believe students need more support and resources, to ensure that they complete their associate degree or technical certificates in a timely manner.” She continued to point out that many of the core classes tend to fill up fast and students are challenged by not graduating in two years.

She won the seat in the Nov. 5 general election, receiving over 45% of the 17,000 votes cast for Area 3, which encompasses the southwest section of the city and includes SAC’s Digital Media Center. The area was previously held by Board President Sal Tinajero, who chose not to run for reelection this year.

While these initiatives reflect her current focus on advancing educational access, they come after a successful recall effort removed her from city council in 2020. The recall was led by a now discredited former chief of police who was later found in a 2022 court to have used political pressure to silence his critics.

“the city of Santa Ana deserves better.” wrote then Police Chief and Santa Ana Police Officers Association (SAPOA) union president Gerry Serrano in an opinion piece in Voice of OC citing that over 16,000 residents signed a recall petition.

The recall against Iglesias was on the grounds that she had acted against the needs of the community specifically, for opposing the funding of affordable housing plans, after-school programs and a community center. However, the core of the complaints were Iglesias’ opposition to the Santa Ana police department. Serrano’s arguments repeatedly returned to her comments about the police officers association and that she posted a video advocating the defunding of the Santa Ana Police Department.

Four days later in Voice of OC Iglesias defended her opposition to the police pay raises as a simple budget issue and asserted that Serrano’s campaign to have her recalled stems from a February 2019 vote of ‘no’ on a $25 million police pay raise.

As future court proceedings would corroborate, Serrano used the political force and monetary power of the police union to intimidate and silence political rivals. In Dec. 2022 Orange County Superior Court Judge Lon Hurwitz granted Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) motions filed by the City of Santa Ana against Serrano and SAPOA. Anti-SLAPP laws are in place to protect free speech and let courts quickly dismiss cases intended to silence or intimidate someone into lengthy and financially burdensome lawsuits.

She has promised to support college staff when voicing the concerns of the students. “As a trustee I will collaborate with staff to ensure they are supported and provide them with the tools they need to ensure students’ concerns and issues are resolved in a timely manner.”

Iglesias is now looking ahead with a focus to implement policies that include student voices. “I would like to have conversations with the students about what their needs are,” she said about her goals for 2025. “I believe that we should always be student-centered as they are the reason why, as a board, we were elected and why the institution exists.”