Board of Trustees Report
District Office
October 20, 2010
Committee of the Whole
Patrick McCallum's annual report on state legislative and budget matters took up the
entire meeting. It was a somewhat longer, more detailed presentation than normal and
was accompanied by a fourteen-page document. He began with a review of the eight
district goals for 2010, which included protecting base funding, obtaining growth money,
passing two bond bills and the transfer degree bill, among others. Of the eight, he
claimed success in three and progress with the other five. In terms of the budget, he was
especially proud of the fact that the district will actually receive a slight augmentation
($16 million) this year, in spite of a $19 billion state deficit. He also noted his office’s
work defeating fee increase initiatives and two proposals that would have hurt our
categorical programs. (In his document, McCallum credits the League, Chancellor's
Office, our Guild, and other districts for working together on the budget strategy.)
McCallum anticipates "clean up legislation" regarding SB 1440, the transfer degree bill,
and was eager to hear how the DAS and colleges are going to proceed in creating these
new degrees. A bill sponsored by Carol Lieu would have established a performancebased funding model for community colleges in its original form. As a result of
McCallum’s efforts, this feature was removed. The final version focuses on basic skills
and using technology to ensure student success. It also will create a student success
task force in the Chancellor's Office to look at best practices. He also claimed to have
initiated discussion regarding an enhanced basic skills funding formula, something
LACCD may need in the future, as there are projected to be "dramatic decreases" in the
number of high school graduates in our service area, which will reduce our funding
under SB 361, the current model.
He did express some frustrations. Neither of the two bond bills the district was working
on succeeded, and the single assessment exam bill was vetoed, as was a bill to boost
student participation in financial aid programs. Finally, the bill that would have
broadened the definition of an AB 540 student and made them eligible for California
financial aid was also vetoed.
Mona Field expressed surprise that fees didn't increase at all and thanked McCallum for
his work. Asked which ballot propositions were most important to community colleges,
he said Prop 24 (as it would add to our base) and 25 (for a budget majority vote). As for
the budget future, McCallum said the most common answer from experts in Sacramento
is "I don't know."
In the discussion that followed Kelly Candaele asked what proposals might be expected
out of Sacramento that would lead to structural changes in order to boost student
success. McCallum talked about a stress on contextualized basic skills as one approach.
The Chancellor suggested that we need to get our ideas out there, as we look for better
funding in the future. Board response to McCallum’s presentation was extremely
positive, with no hint of the skepticism seen from some trustees in earlier meetings.
Open Session
There was a special flag salute to begin the meeting, conducted by the Sheriff's
Department. They were present, along with Chief Lee Baca, due to the Cadet of the
Year Award.
Before the award ceremony, however, Linda Tong was sworn in as student trustee. She
was the winner of the second election this year for the position, the first having been
nullified due to election irregularities. Linda is from City College, formerly a Vice
President of the ASO there. She has extensive experience with the State Student
Senate and has lobbied in Sacramento on behalf of the community colleges. In her
comments, she thanked the City administration for encouraging her to run. Eva Jackson,
a former student trustee, urged Linda to "stand strong for students" and to learn from the
Board.
Cadets from each college were presented for commendation by Captain Ralph Webb,
with Robert Flores named the Cadet of the Year. He is an economics major, also from
City, whose performance has been so impressive that he now works a dispatcher, a job
normally reserved for full-time deputies. In his comments, Baca stressed his belief in
education.
This was the first meeting in the just renovated Board Room. Pankow Construction spent
over three months redoing the first and third floors. Adriana Barrera and the Board's two
secretaries, Carol Justiniano and Lupe Orozco, were presented with gifts, owing to their
extensive work on the project. Later in the program several key employees from Pankow
were identified and thanked by the Chancellor.
Velma Butler thanked LaVista for attending the recent Classified Retreat.
There were four public speakers. Art Camarillo from Glassell Park offered support to the
Board for the Van de Kamp Center as it is, saying there's lots of community support for
it. Students Sheila Gerard and Jerome Robinson complained about the recent trustee
elections, saying they were kept too far from the voting booths while pamphleting at City.
The City administration and Bobbi Kimble were the focus of their complaints. The
Chancellor assured the Board that staff had taken every precaution and followed all the
rules. The final speaker was Duke Russell, speaking for the first time in several months.
As his associates had done a month ago, he urged the Board to use the driving range
space for a second athletic field. He said football and baseball could not be played on
the field atop the parking garage.
The Board had no actions to report out of Closed Session.
Nancy Pearlman gave a report on the Infrastructure Committee. They approved plans for
a number of small projects, two at Mission, one at Pierce, and two at Southwest.
Miguel Santiago summarized the Committee of the Whole (see above).
A resolution was passed in support of Veterans Day and National Veterans Awareness
Week, another for three retirees, and a final one for the reappointment of Young Havens
as a Personnel Commissioner.
As anticipated from the last meeting, the Board voted unanimously to return to a fixed
hourly rate compensation method, giving up the multiplier rate method. Mona Field noted
that it was the result of extensive discussion, and Santiago called it a "good step
forward." There was a small dispute over the final wording, however, with a 4-3 vote
required to toughen the language of the final whereas (Mercer, Scott-Hayes, Field
opposed).
In his report, the Chancellor spoke about the recent dedication of the Pierce Center for
the Sciences Building. He stressed its lab-based emphasis and innovative design and
the intense faculty work involved in its creation. Asked to compare the old buildings to
the Center, one student told him they'd “swapped a jalopy for a Ferrari.”
He then showed a video of the dedication of the Van de Kamp Center, which took place
one week earlier. Former Attorney General John Van De Kamp and other family
members were present, as was Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilman Ed Reyes, and former
State Senator Richard Polanco. In noteworthy comments, given the contrary claims of
the Coalition, Polanco praised the Board for opening the Center and called it a "treasure
for the community." After the video, LaVista rebutted the Coalition, saying they had
misrepresented the facts and that he was puzzled by the outcry, given the resources
provided the community. What has been done there is "wholly within the mission of the
district," he claimed.
The final portion of his report was given over to a presentation by Kathleen Burke-Kelly,
the new president of Pierce College. After an initial aside about the importance of breast
cancer awareness, she described various Pierce programs for student success. Since
this information was presented earlier to the Planning and Student Success Committee
(see the Oct. 6 Board Report), I'll just add that Burke- Kelly also discussed their very
successful College Fair, now in its fifth year. Eighty educational institutions are
represented and over 6,000 participate. Even Valley College has a booth!
The Consent Calendar discussion was devoted almost exclusively to the proposed next
phase of photovoltaic solar energy projects. This set of projects, the second of the year,
will be installed on the parking lots at Pierce, Valley, and Van de Kamp. While they were
recommended by the colleges and the Energy Oversight Committee, Candaele, Tina
Park, and Santiago all had tough questions for Larry Eisenberg and Lloyd Silberstein,
who presented them to the Board. Park wanted to know why we should go ahead with
such an investment in a type of technology that was likely to become outdated soon.
Their reply was that it was a judgment call and that you had to start at some point.
Candaele wanted reassurance that Chevron could be trusted to deliver as promised.
Santiago and Candaele both complained that they were being asked yet again to vote
on something at the last minute (the projects had to be approved at this meeting in order
to meet the end of year deadlines that would qualify them for federal cash grants). Field,
on the other hand, expressed a great deal of exasperation and said she was eager to
vote in favor without further discussion. She said staff recommendations generally ought
to be followed. Candaele returned to the issue of trusting Chevron, but acknowledged
that this was separate from the approval request before them.
At that point, Van de Kamp Coalition speakers commented.
I left the meeting at this point, in order to meet my brother for dinner. A birthday
indulgence.
Comments
McCallum’s presentations are always very interesting, chockfull of information. Joanne
Waddell and I had lunch with him afterward, and we were able to learn more about how
the transfer degree bill got passed so quickly. As we had heard, it was very much driven
by the two system Chancellors (Jack Scott and Charles Reed), with the CSU Academic
Senate kept out of the discussions. While the ASCCC is now in a very strong position, I
find it disturbing that such a vital piece of legislation was passed without the inclusion of
the CSU faculty. Even if they dragged their feet on addressing the need to develop more
seamless transfer earlier, this is really not the way to do business.
I’m not clear as to why some Board members were hearing of this PV project only now,
as the Energy Oversight Committee dealt with it in early September.
All the best,
David
District Academic Senate President
213-891-2294
dbeaulieu@email.laccd.edu
www.laccd.edu/das