Board of Trustees Report
Harbor College
May 27, 2009
External Affairs Committee
The renewal of the contract to MWW for bond public relations work was the sole subject
of discussion. Given the large size of the award, over $600,000 per year, there were lots
of questions. Nancy Pearlman challenged their effectiveness. By the end of the meeting,
board members seemed satisfied that the work done has been useful in reaching local
communities, and they conceded that the amount is not as great as it appears, as it
involves a number of subcontractors. The difficulty of getting the LA Times attention was
noted by three speakers. There remained a question as to whether some of MWW's
work couldn't be handled in-house, especially given the recent district hire of Stu
Silverstein, a former Times reporter.
Infrastructure Committee
Satellite locations were the sole topic. In response to an earlier IC request, detailed
maps were presented, showing possible new locations for offsite centers. While there is
no Measure J money allotted for any satellites other than South Gate, and small
amounts for Burbank and Pacoima, Larry Eisenberg did point out that money could be
reassigned to satellites, if that was the college's wish. There was a long discussion about
satellites generally, with the difficulty in staffing them with full-time faculty, the proximity
to other colleges (as in the case of South Gate), and the need to address the
underutilization of main campus buildings first among the issues raised.
Workforce Development Committee
In a meeting lasting almost two hours (twice the normal length), the committee was
given a detailed update on collaborative efforts between us and the City of LA, among
others. Deputy Mayor Larry Frank and Marvin Martinez reported on the work of the LA
Workforce Systems Collaborative, which also includes the Chamber of Commerce,
LAUSD, and the County Fed, et al. Frank detailed the large amount of federal stimulus
money that the city now has available ($37 million for workforce development, half of
which will go to youth employment). He reiterated that the city is "a big believer" in
LACCD, and that they expect us to do all the training. The city-run one-stop centers,
which do not do any training themselves, will be working in close coordination with us,
and Frank said the city is willing to set up these centers at each of our colleges.
As mentioned in my earlier reports, the Van De Kamp site in Atwater (formerly known as
the Northeast Center) will now be run by the district, rather than City College. It has been
renamed the Van De Kamp Innovation Center (VIC). Besides having a charter school on
site, it will have a workforce center that focuses on health care, green technology,
transportation, and security officer training.
Representatives from the Industrial Areas Foundation asked to collaborate with us. They
have experience in innovative ways of doing long-term CTE training that, they claim, can
result in a higher retention rate. They stressed the need for "a network of relationships"
to boost student success, as exemplified in career advancement academies. I urged
them to join us in our Sustainability Group/CTE planning meetings, as we prepare our
grant applications for stimulus money.
Marvin Martinez described the work that his office has been engaged in over the last
sixteen months. His documents show $8.4 million in new grants and contract education
agreements that the district has received through his office's efforts. He also detailed the
enormous additional funding opportunities the stimulus will provide. Besides our
application for a sustainability institute, we will be applying for around $15 million for
green jobs programs, and colleges will be applying individually for grants totaling another
$15 million. That just covers the Dept. of Labor.
Finally, Diane Factor, an SEIU leader at County Hospital, talked about the ambitious
health care worker retraining programs that we are developing there together.
Open Session
Linda Spink and Pam Watkins (filling in for June Smith) welcomed the board.
In an extended statement, Leila Menzies, representing the classified union, detailed their
concerns about the proposed health benefits switch to CalPERS. Among other
questions, she wanted to know why only 80/20 options were being proposed and why
half the money being saved was going to be used for salary increases. Carl answered
briefly, describing her statement as full of inaccuracies. He said an August decision was
needed to meet the fall open enrollment timeline. Kelly Candaele added that all budget
reduction options are being considered by the board. "Every nook and cranny" is going
to be looked at.
The new Harbor ASO president welcomed the Board.
Brett Peabody, the coach of the football team, argued against cuts to the Harbor athletic
program. He claimed that football is a very successful program, involving 60-90 local
players any given year, some of whom come from gang backgrounds. Jeff Evans, the
volleyball coach, talked about the merits of the women's program, and the need to
address the continuing inequities in funding between women's and men's sports.
Fewer transfer opportunities to division one colleges for women was one example of the
remaining imbalance.
The student president of the Harbor EOPS club argued against cuts to that program.
Rachel Roberts, the former ASO president (having been removed from office by the
administration) spoke to the board again. Among other things, she criticized the use of
ASO funds by the Harbor administration without student permission, a practice she
alleged had gone on for years.
No items were reported out of closed session.
Reports were given for the three committees that met in the morning (see above).
A resolution was passed honoring Rose Bustos, the outgoing student trustee. Several
board members lauded her work, calling her one of the finest student leaders that they
had worked with. In her comments, Rose expressed her deep appreciation for East LA
College and the opportunities it has provided her. A single mom returning to college to
pursue a second career, she is about to begin an MA program in chemistry at CSULA,
after she attends a special research seminar this summer in Hungary. Last summer she
did research at Cal Tech.
Mark Drummond reviewed the budget situation, stating that we are now looking at cuts
within the range of $60-70 million. "We need big chunks of money," he said. (See my
May 29 newsletter.) This led into an extended board discussion about cutting summer
sessions. The trustees felt it was necessary to take an immediate step to cut the second
session, given the severity of the crisis. However, they chose not to cut the first session,
stating that it was too late to do so. Given that summer schedules vary by college, they
settled on a July 1 cut off. Any session beginning before that day would be allowed to go
forward. As a consequence, West LA will have no summer session at all, as theirs was
slated to start in July (their first session having already been canceled).
The board also discussed canceling the winter intersession, but agreed to wait till its
June 24 meeting to make that decision. This will allow time for input from the DBC and
other groups. It was estimated that canceling the second session would save roughly
$8.5 million and canceling the winter somewhat more.
I reiterated the faculty opposition to canceling the first session, but said I thought there
would be more receptivity to losing the second, given that students would have over six
week’s notice.
The consent calendar was passed after discussion regarding the MWW contract (see
External Affairs Committee report), and other items.
After Ernie Moreno reviewed the work of the Chancellor's Energy Task Force, Mona
Field stated that she would like the task force members and the bond project Energy
Team all to be present at an upcoming board meeting, so that questions raised recently
about the district’s energy plans can be addressed.
Jamillah Moore announced again that the City College Math team had won the national
championship for the third year in a row; Sue Carleo said the Valley Speech team had
won more awards than sixty other colleges in a recent competition.
Comment
I’ve been told recently that the BOT would have cancelled both sessions had faculty and
staff opposition not been made clear to them. Some opposition to canceling winter
intersession district-wide was clear at our special DBC meeting last Wednesday, but the
chancellor seems intent on going forward, and Carl and I do strongly support him on this.
We are going to be very, very hard-pressed to find $50-60 million in savings this year,
and there are multiple benefits to canceling the full intersession. One idea I’ve suggested
is that we consider a one or two-week furlough in early January for administrators and
classified (and presumably faculty on D-basis). That would allow all facilities to shut
down (with slight exceptions) and would maximize the savings from the lost intersession.
The idea has met with support so far, though there may yet be compelling objections.
One problem that has to be worked out with any furlough plan is how it impacts years of
service (various answers have been given so far). Also, for this to be fair, the full-time
faculty need to share in the pain. For those not losing extra classes or D-basis pay,
nothing has been asked of them so far.
More about all of this as June progresses.
David