Board of Trustees Report
District Office
August 8, 2008
Budget and Finance Committee
Jeanette Gordon presented the committee with the budget proposal which will go
to the full board for adoption on Aug. 20, as well as a state budget update and a
review of the district’s 2007-08 enrollment and financial status. Given that
everything discussed can be found in the DBC minutes for July 16 (which I am
attaching), I will not go into further detail here.
Committee of the Whole
James Sohn (of BuildLACCD, the new district program manager) and a number
of his assistants gave the Board an extended report on the progress of various
bond projects. The recycling effort now has six colleges participating, with the
other three set to start in September. The contractor outreach program has
expanded, with lots of small firms bidding on contracts. Over 600 students have
been given internships with facilities firms, with 60 going on to permanent
employment. The design build process (as opposed to the traditional design-bidbuild process) was praised, as it saves money by reducing the number of change
orders. New legislation now allows us to use this method for far more projects.
Safety concerns were discussed and cited as a top priority. Interactions with the
Dept. of State Architects were said to be much improved. They also claimed to
have developed a much better district design management process over the last
several months.
Two representatives from the Community Oversight Committee spoke next, with
the long-time chair giving a glowing appraisal, citing the “great leadership,” and
“impressive changeover to BuildLACCD,” as well as the “very transparent
processes.”
Finally, Larry reviewed the Board’s commitment to LEEDS certification, calling it
an “act of courage” in 2002, and claiming that others (UC’s, CSU’s, et al) have
been inspired by our example. He recommended that the Board consider
upgrading all new buildings to the Platinum level (from Silver, I believe), saying it
would not involve additional costs, and presented a PPP detailing why this would
be so. The Chancellor urged, however, that any further discussion of this be put
off until after November, given that such a goal is subject to misunderstanding.
Open Session
Sheriff Lee Baca awarded Rachel Solis with Cadet of the Year honors. Nine
other cadets were also honored. Angela Reddock thanked the Sheriff for
attending, noting that the last time he was at a Board meeting, the discussion
was less pleasant (a reference to the Trade incident last fall).
I made an extended statement, complaining about the recent hiring of a student
services dean at East in violation of the established process. There was no
panel, no interview, just an appointment by the president. The individual did not
meet min quals, and the Chancellor went to the Board for an equivalency without
consulting with the DAS. I pointed out that this had left a faculty and
administrators frustrated and demoralized at East, and that actions like this have
a long term negative impact. I also noted that the Teamsters were alleging that
this was a Title 5 violation, though I wasn't making such a charge myself, as the
language seemed to me ambiguous. Alison Jones, a dean at City and the
Teamsters rep, then spoke in support of my statement, as did the Classified rep
who was sitting in for Velma Butler. Board members were advised by counsel not
to discuss the case in detail (and I had mentioned no names), but Mona Field
stated that the Board would only very rarely take such a step, and Miguel
Santiago asked whether their action could not be reversed.
Mike Miller, the well known and enormously successful basketball coach at City,
was accused by his assistant, Tyler Howard, of fraud and other offenses. In a
long and detailed statement, Howard alleged, among a number of charges, that
fake grades had been issued to student athletes and that work claimed for
payment was never done. General Counsel (Camille was away) noted that a
report was due to them next week. There was no response from the Board once
this was made clear.
Three students spoke about the need for an extension of I-Pass, the MTA
discount program for students. They cited students’ increasingly difficult financial
situation, and they asked for more Board help. Board members pointed out that
they were entirely committed to the same goal, and that they had been working
on this for some time. Apparently as of Jan., 2009, we will be able to use bond
money to offer students an I-Pass for $15/mo., if they are taking 12 units or more.
Bond money can be used for "traffic mitigation measures” such as this, but only
for two years.
Rachel Richards, the ASO president at Harbor, discussed the problems there
with parking, given construction and a lack of cooperation from the Dept. of Parks
and Recreation as to use of the empty golf course parking lot adjacent to
campus.
The only item reported out of Closed Session was news that the Board is going
to appeal a recent ruling. Presumably it refers to a student or employee, but no
further details were mentioned.
Committee reports were made (see above).
Resolutions in favor of Latino Heritage Month and U.S. Constitution Week were
passed.
The Chancellor introduced Deborah Hirsh, the Interim Senior Associate Vice
Chancellor, replacing Sue Carleo, who is now the acting president of Valley
College. Deb Hirsh is a retired Naval captain, having served 26 years, focusing
on human resources. She then served as the chief HR officer for both LAUSD
and most recently for the San Francisco Unified School District.
The Consent Calendar was adopted with only slight modifications. One item of
discussion that emerged was about student fees. It was a surprise to Board
members that not all students pay the fee and that colleges have different ways
of collecting it.
A motion was passed allowing our college foundations to contribute to the Prop J
campaign, and a routine issuance of bonds was approved.
There was some discussion about an upcoming vote on whether to raise the
credit limit above which a concurrent high school student is exempt from paying
out of state tuition. The current limit is four, and the proposal is to raise this to six
(more or less—it’s a bit complicated). Some Board members are concerned
about excluding students as a result. They've asked to know how many students
would be impacted by this change.
Finally, the district was recently given two more bond awards, one for the solar
panels recently installed at East and one citing us as a "Climate Change" leader.
Comment
I had no choice but to make a public statement about the dean situation at East.
I’ve been working with Alex on this for over two weeks, and it wasn’t getting
resolved. Given the history at East and elsewhere in the district with
administrator hires, and given the issue of retreat rights, we have to be very
vigilant here. I’ll keep you posted as this progresses.