By Lookout Staff

November 3, 2025 -- The Santa Monica College (SMC) Board of Trustees is seeking applicants to fill an open seat on the Personnel Commission, which is responsible for administering the college’s Merit System.

Candidates have until Friday, November 14, to submit an application for the three-year term on the five-member commission effective December 1, college officials said.

The open seat is one of two filled by the Board of Trustees, with two seats appointed by SMC’s classified employees through their exclusive representative, the California School Employees Association (CSEA). The fifth seat is filled by the four Commissioners.

"The Commissioners are responsible for guaranteeing that employment, retention and promotion for all classified -- i.e., non-teaching -- SMC employees are based on merit system principles," SMC officials said.

To qualify an applicant must be a registered voter and resident of the Santa Monica Community College District, which encompasses Santa Monica and Malibu.

They cannot be a member of the governing board of any community college district or a county board of education or be an employee of the district.

The applicant "must support the concept of employment, continuance in employment, in-service promotional opportunities and other related matters on the basis of merit and fitness."

The Personnel Commission ensures that classified employees "receive fair and equitable treatment," and represents the public's interest "by providing a personnel system dedicated to the hiring and retaining of the best qualified employees."

The Commission also works in cooperation with the governing board and administrators "in the quest for competent employees and good personnel administration," officials said.

"With the advent of collective bargaining in the public educational field, functions performed by personnel commissions take on an added significance," the Commission's website states.

"The necessity of objective information and classification decisions unaltered by labor or management pressures, protection of the rights of non-represented employees and an independent body which can hear employee appeals in an impartial manner are all vital to the efficient and economic operations of a school or college district and to the benefit of the general public."

The application form is available at smc.edu/PCApplication

The SMC Board of Trustees will review all applications and make the final appointments. For more information on the application process, contact Lisa Rose in the Office of the Board of Trustees at Rose_Lisa@smc.edu.