BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
District Office Board Room
June 27, 2007
It was an unusually short meeting, less than an hour. It was, however, preceded by a Committee
of the Whole session at 11:00, in addition to the usual Closed Session.
1. A student from City spoke in favor of CalPIRG.
2. Nothing was reported out of Closed Session.
3. There was a review of the Committee of the Whole session in the morning. (See my summary
below.)
4. Eva Jackson, the new Student Trustee, reported briefly on the Student Affairs Committee
meeting. A quorum was attained, she was happy to report.
5. Four retiring classified workers were honored with a resolution. One of them had served for 35
years, another for 34.
6. A resolution was passed in support of LAUSD's Collective Bargaining Education Project, a
middle and high school labor studies curriculum.
7. A resolution was passed urging the California Dept. of Education to delay the release of a set
of principles (called "foundations" in the resolution) of preschool learning until there is further
input from the field. This was passed in solidarity with various early childhood educator and
advocate organizations.
8. The Consent Calendar (a list of items voted on in bulk fashion) was passed, after some
discussion about a health center at West. Trustee Field applauded the creation of new courses. (I
believe she was referring to a number of new Community Planning courses at Trade.)
9. The BOT passed a motion stating that they had reviewed the AB1417 data (see below), as
required by law.
The next meeting will be July 11 and will feature the swearing in of recently elected board
members. Mayor Villaraigosa is expected to attend.
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
1. Larry Eisenberg and a representative from URS updated the BOT on BuildLACCD, which is the
name for the new project management team for the district. DMJM/JGM's contract was not
renewed this spring, and URS was hired in their place. However, a number of DMJM/JGM
employees were carried over, making up roughly one-third of the new team. One-third will be
from URS, and one-third from other subcontractors. The commitment is to not employ more than
40, and to keep their fees to 3% or less. Ongoing performance evaluations (of architects, for
example) were promised, and a detailed set of performance metrics was presented. Some BOT
members told them not to hesitate to remove firms that were not living up to their agreements.
2. Gary Colombo presented a detailed report on AB 1417, the Accountability Reporting for the
Community Colleges Act (ARCC). He reviewed the various system-wide indicators being used, as
well as the six performance measurements for each college. He also explained the "peer groups"
identified for each college. With only a few exceptions, colleges in the district are performing
roughly on a par with their groups, according to these measurements. Gary also reviewed the
additional district "core indicators" that the Strategic Planning Committee has been working on
over the last few months. Finally, he and I presented a preliminary list of twelve proposals for
improving student success. This list is the distillation of all the discussions that have taken place
over the last few years. (More about this soon.)
--David
dbeaulieu@email.laccd.edu
213/891-2294