Board of Trustees Report
District Office
July 13, 2011
Oath of Office Ceremony
This was the annual Organizational meeting of the Board, at which newly elected
trustees are sworn in and Board officers are elected. Miguel Santiago, as out-going First
Vice President, presided. After he was sworn in himself by the chancellor, and his
pastor, Father Alden Sison, offered a short prayer, he introduced John Chiang, the
California State Controller. Chiang then swore in Scott Svonkin and Steve Veres, the two
new trustees. Both took the moment to praise Chiang profusely for his courageous
leadership in Sacramento. Mona Field was then sworn in by the chancellor.
In his concluding remarks, Santiago talked about his sense of urgency to accomplish as
much as possible for the district. He reviewed the Board’s focus on the budget and the
relatively strong financial condition of the district, as well as the problems with the bond
program and the improvements made in it over the past year and a half. He would like
the focus going forward to be on student success and workforce education.
Nancy Pearlman and Tina Park each welcomed the new trustees.
Steve Veres said being on the Board was very meaningful to him, given his family’s ties
to the district. He introduced his mother and wife, Trade and Valley graduates
respectively, and noted that his recently deceased father was also a Trade graduate. He
said the district was one of “the most important institutions” in the state.
Scott Svonkin mentioned that there will be a public swearing in ceremony at East LA
College on Sunday afternoon, in order to emphasize that the business of the district is
the students. He said his experience at PCC turned his life around (he had dropped out
of high school). For him, reform of the bond program is the first task ahead. He cited the
need to regain the public trust if the district is going to be able to further improve its
facilities (with an additional bond, I assume). He said we must bring transparency to the
bond program and “stand up to the fraud, waste, and abuse” in the program. He also
insisted, however, that the recent bond problems were not representative of the district,
and he talked about its “proud history.”
There were then words of congratulations from those of us at the Resource Table.
Chancellor LaVista added brief comments about how he finds the ritual of Board
meetings inspirational.
Open Session (Regular Meeting)
The meeting began with the election of officers. Santiago was elected president on a
unanimous vote. (Just before the election, a public speaker, John Walsh from the
Hollywood Highlands organization, urged the Board to vote for “anyone but Scott
Svonkin.”) For the First Vice President position there were two candidates: Nancy
Pearlman, who nominated herself, and Tina Park, nominated by Veres. Pearlman
complained sharply about the standard Board practice of rotating officer terms being
discontinued seven years ago. She said she had never been given the opportunity to
serve as president or first vice president, adding “my voice is equal to all others.” The
vote was four to three in favor of Park, with Santiago, Park, Veres, and Svonkin making
up the majority. Kelly Candaele and Mona Field supported Pearlman (as did Amber
Barrero, the student trustee, with her advisory vote). Park thanked her colleagues for
their support and said she sought “the most ethical and transparent district.”
A unanimous vote was then taken to retain the second vice president position, which
was just created two years ago. Pearlman agreed with some reluctance to run for
reelection, and she was unopposed and unanimously elected.
Santiago reiterated his desire to focus on student success. He said the Board should
allow room for different ideas, that they had come through a difficult year, and that there
was a need to get beyond ego clashes and work together. He added there was a need
to build public trust again. He suggested the Board hold a retreat at the start of the
academic year rather than wait until the second semester.
Public speakers followed. Miki Jackson from the Atwater Coalition returned and
complained about the bond program. She urged new trustees to look deeper into it and
to read through the material provided by her organization. She claimed that all of her
group’s predictions had come true. John Walsh also spoke again. His speech can only
be described as a rant, and ended in a shouting reference to Third Reich censorship.
Had it continued much longer, I believe he would have been escorted out of the room by
one of the sheriffs.
Parke Blaire, representing a company called GeoSource, warned the trustees not to
abandon their commitment to sustainability and renewable energy in light of the LA
Times’ articles. He urged them to partner with his firm and avoid financial risk.
Three faculty members from City College addressed the Board: Jayesh Bhakta, Alfredo
Herrera, and Roger Wolf. All of them criticized the City administration for putting Meryll
Eastcott, a long-time dean, on administrative leave last week. They strongly defended
Eastcott, praising him as a man of integrity and competence. Herrera also suggested a
double standard at work, alluding to an investigation into improprieties in the English
Department that have not resulted in administrative leave for anyone.
The trustees had no comments in response to any of the speakers.
Out of Closed Session it was reported that the trustees had decided to cease taking
further legal action in a case. No details were provided.
Svonkin and Pearlman were both approved to serve as Board representatives on local
educational committees.
In his report to the Board, LaVista talked about his hope for the future. He said the
diverse experience of the new trustees would be helpful. He then reviewed the past
year. While the budget crisis put great pressure on higher education in California, he felt
the cooperation between its sectors was a very positive development. He also cited the
close cooperation within the district, especially with the unions, to control costs.
He listed a number of improvements in the bond program: better communication with the
Board, the establishment of an Inspector General office, the change in the multiplier rate
for contractors, and especially the work of the independent review panel, from which he
expects a great deal of assistance.
In terms of student success, he reminded the Board of our work on the Math Summit as
well as on Achieving the Dream. Over 40 from the district attended the recent Kick Off
for AtD in Seattle. The challenge will be to take student success ideas and put them into
practice.
He also noted all the leadership changes in the district in recent months, in the Senate,
Faculty Guild, as well as administration and Board. He believes participatory governance
is moving forward.
Susan Aminoff made a brief presentation of the annual JLMBC report. I will leave the
details to the Guild, but she claimed that our health benefit bill would have been $90
million this year if we hadn’t moved to CalPERS, rather than $62.6 million. She added
that there was “a firewall” between health benefits and pension plans, and that we will
remain with CalPERS barring any (unexpected) recommendation to the contrary from
JLMBC. Veres asked her why the costs had gone up 2.5% (which was lower than the
average 10% increase for comparable plans).
In Consent Calendar discussion, changes to bond program approvals were noted.
Change orders over 10% are no longer going to be tolerated, and some contracts were
terminated at the meeting as a result. This had never happened before. There were
questions about the availability of ASL interpreters in the district, about management of
community services programs, and about how we track grant success, among other
items. With the facilities section removed, the consent calendar was approved.
The facilities section was then discussed. There were questions about the move toward
a district access card system and about particular change orders at Pierce. The section
was then approved.
Comments
The awkward election of Tina Park as First Vice President indicates that the new
trustees, along with Santiago and Park, are determined to make a clear statement that
the Board is now going to be run by new people with new ideas. I believe this is largely
in reaction to the damaging LA Times’ revelations about the bond program. Admittedly,
this is speculative, but Svonkin’s comments about the need for reform would seem to
support my interpretation.
David
David Beaulieu
District Academic Senate President
Los Angeles Community College District
(213) 891-2294
dbeaulieu@email.laccd.edu