Board of Trustees Report
Trade Tech College
August 11, 2010
Budget and Finance Committee
The opening item was a statement from retired Mission faculty member Chuck Dirks,
who urged the Board to work with him to enroll F-1 students from China. He claimed that
he could boost our numbers dramatically due to his connections there. There was no
response from the committee.
A report from the Internal Audit Department followed. Director Arnold Blanshard
reviewed the process by which audits are conducted, as well as the fifteen areas that he
expects to be covered this year. Given that the department remains understaffed (there
are a total of three auditors currently, down from five), Board members suggested that
the top five areas be identified so that they’re sure to be covered. Chancellor LaVista, at
his first Board meeting, said we should be sure that any audit findings are addressed,
and the results should then be reported back to the Board.
The state budget situation was reviewed, in particular the recently approved Legislative
Budget Proposal. It calls for 2.2% growth for community colleges and backfills for the
federal ARRA funding available last year for categorical programs. It also rejects the
Governor’s proposed cuts to EOPS and part-time faculty compensation.
The final district budget for 2010-11 was presented. Its most striking feature is the size of
our balance. It’s now $66 million (not counting open orders), roughly 12% of the total
budget (up from 8% last year). This is quite a bit larger than anticipated a few months
ago. Although there are other factors, it’s largely the result of $27 million in savings due
to class cuts, some $10 million more than the state required. Kelly Candaele wondered if
we hadn’t made too many cuts this year. I said that faculty at Pierce and East, colleges
with large balances, were going to be asking why they weren’t allowed to access more of
their balances last year, though I also acknowledged the difficulty of making accurate
projections. Jack Daniels said that with such a large balance, class size has to be
discussed, as the average had increased dramatically in the last few years. He also
stressed the need to reconsider our district allocation model. Jeanette Gordon pointed
out that we have two or more years still of difficult state budgets, so we shouldn’t plan on
spending down the balance too much.
Infrastructure Committee
Pierce’s CPM presented the plans for their new Horticulture/Animal Science Building, for
the renovation of their stadium, and for a building for Community Services (called
Extension at Pierce). The growth of the Horticulture Program was noted. Nancy
Pearlman wasn’t at all pleased that the stadium will only have a six-lane track, but there
seems to be no alternative, due to the topography and ADA requirements, other than
building a whole new stadium. One further item, having to do with a parking lot for horse
trailers, was discussed. Pearlman was again not satisfied with the proposed plan, as she
felt the space could have been better used.
There was one brief additional item: City’s CPM reported that the driving range building
will be used for swing space, once the driving range itself is demolished and construction
gets underway on the site. A student affairs building will be built there. Mona Field was
very eager to learn the start date for the demolition. It will be reported at the next IC
meeting, but is likely to be in a few months, as construction needs to start in January.
Open Session
Georgia Mercer welcomed Chancellor LaVista to the district. Welcomes then followed
from all of us at the Resource Table. She also thanked Tyree Wieder for her work as
Interim Chancellor. Wieder will be leaving the District Office at the end of August. Mercer
also mentioned the “wonderful job” of the bond program.
Reporting out of Closed Session, Mercer announced the appointment of Dr. Rose Marie
Joyce as Interim President of West Los Angeles College and of Yasmin Delahoussaye
as Interim Vice Chancellor for Institutional Effectiveness/Educational Services.
Kelly Candaele and Nancy Pearlman summarized the morning committee meetings (see
above). Rodney Robinson announced that the repeat student trustee election will take
place on Sept. 23.
Three resolutions followed. The first declared August 15 as “Korean Independence
Celebration Day.” Presenter Tina Park moved to strike the phrase “or the surrender of
Japan to Allied forces at the finale of World War II.” This was done in recognition of the
visit the day before of the Japanese prime minister to South Korea and to his statement
of apology for the Japanese occupation of Korea. The amendment was accepted and
the resolution passed unanimously.
The second resolution was from Miguel Santiago. It concerned Red Cross blood drives.
It called for “safe staffing” to guarantee “the safety of community college student donors
at blood drives.” The motion was not approved (three in favor, four abstaining). Field and
Sylvia Scott-Hayes felt that it was confusing, as it seemed to be concerned about union
issues as well as donor safety.
The third resolution, also from Santiago, endorsed the recent budget proposal put
forward by the Democrats in Sacramento (referred to above as the Legislative Budget
Proposal). Field objected to supporting a partisan position, and Scott-Hayes argued that
the budget was a moving target, making a resolution on one particular proposal unwise.
Santiago said he was willing to rephrase the resolution, and he noted that the UC
System endorsed the budget proposal last week. After further discussion, the resolution
was tabled on a 6-1 vote (Santiago dissenting).
Chancellor LaVista thanked all those who had welcomed him to the district and
described his first two weeks on the job. He said the “cooperative tone” at the Cabinet
meeting last Friday was palpable, and that he was glad to have walked around the
District Office to meet staff. He said he was struck by how direct people were in stating
their concerns. Two key principles drive his thinking. The first is the need to have a
broad discourse about student success. The Chancellor said he believed in nothing
more strongly than student success and that working for it is a task for everyone, not just
administrators. “Ours is a promise to students to garner every resource to get them to
their goals.” His second principle is the need for mutual respect and civility. He said
these should be “kept uppermost in mind.”
Lisa Munoz, ASO president at Trade, presented him with a shirt (dress, not t!).
An Urgent Action item was approved, waiving the state’s obligation to reimburse the
district for mandated costs that will ensue with the new transfer degree bill (SB 1440). I
explained that this action was requested by Scott Lay, as it was the only way to remove
onerous language recently added to the bill requiring that community colleges comply
with the new law or have their funding cut. Such language could set a dangerous
precedent. Keeping the usual mandate/reimbursement language removes that threat.
This could only be done, however, if all districts in the state agreed to waive their
reimbursement rights in this case only.
The Consent Calendar was approved, after questions were answered about the LAX
satellite site and about the large number of recent change orders over 10%.
Harbor’s EIR addendum was approved. The college has now spent half of the $468
million it was given for Prop A/AA and Measure J. All of its buildings will be completed by
2014.
West presented its Master Plan Update and Final Supplemental EIR. Comments
followed from 17 speakers. The first five, local residents and a Culver City councilman,
were all opposed to approval, with some asking for a month delay. Their main concern
was noise abatement. The next twelve urged the Board to approve both items. They
stressed the need to get construction going as soon as possible, in order to get workers
employed again. The Board voted unanimously to approve both plans.
Two of the regular Van de Kamp Coalition speakers followed. Laura Gutierrez reviewed
the history of the Atwater building and urged Chancellor LaVista to open a dialogue with
the Coalition. Micki Jackson followed. She read a number of emails, written by Jamillah
Moore and Ken Sherwood to each other and obtained due to the FOI Act. The
correspondence referred to other City administrators and faculty in a strongly negative
way.
Carrie Trommler, a regular speaker at Board meetings, complained about ASO problems
at Pierce.
Finally, Moore noted that a viability study of City’s Journalism Department had shown
that an outside contract it has used is inappropriate. She said it was being terminated.
Comments
Chancellor LaVista’s emphatic stress on student success is very encouraging. Readers
will recall that it was the Academic Senate that initiated the discussion leading to our
Student Success Initiative, and we’ve been in the middle of this effort from the start, so
I’m very excited at the prospect of working with him, as well as with new Interim Vice
Chancellor Yasmin Delahoussaye.
Tyree Wieder’s contribution to the district in the last year has been enormous. Her work
on getting the bond program back under control will be her most important legacy.
All of us who live close to City College will be delighted to see the driving range come
down. We’ve had to endure this terrible eyesore for ten years now. I intend to be there
on the first day of demolition, camera in hand.
Finally, thanks to Alex Immerblum for subbing for me at the last Board meeting. I was on
vacation. I was looking for a place that would completely distract me from work and
thought Manhattan might fit the bill. Indeed, it did! I can’t wait to return.
All the best,
David
District Academic Senate President
213-891-2294
dbeaulieu@email.laccd.edu
www.laccd.edu/das