CTE Committee Meeting Minutes
September 12, 2014
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Meeting Attendees: Peter Crabtree (Laney); Don Petrilli (Laney); Linnea Willis (Merritt); Leslie Blackie
(Laney); Katherine Bergman (BCC); Valerie Carey (COA); Karen Engel (District) – KE; Mark Martin (DSN –
Laney, non-voting partner); Michael Jay (Laney, non-committee faculty); Romeo Garcia (Peralta Colleges
Foundation – strategic partner, non-committee member);; Michael Goldberg (COA – One Stop Career
Center Manager); Louis Quindlen (Laney, non-committee faculty);
1. Electing a co-chair. The group introduced themselves and did not elect a faculty co-chair. That
will be re-scheduled for the next meeting.
2. Agenda revision. The Committee decided to discuss this year’s priority efforts in terms of
systems improvements first and move other agenda items until later in the meeting
3. Improve budget transparency and management. The Committee discussed this first and
identified the specific issue of delayed budget loading and rollovers of grant funds as a
persistent issue that needs immediate attention. In particular, concern was expressed that the
rules around processes and procedures are inconsistent, that not everyone is playing from the
same “play book” and that rules get changed without notification, especially with respect to
deadlines and cut-off dates. As a result, the Committee decided to submit a formal request to
DEC to request their assistance/action in making this a priority and addressing the problem.
Next steps: KE will draft a memo for the Committee to review. Once the Committee agrees to
the contents of the formal request, KE will submit it and present it to DEC – ideally for their
meeting on September 19, 2014.
4. Grant-generated Indirect Funds. The Committee discussed the new policy with respect to grantgenerated indirect funds. For those CTE administrators and faculty who are generating these
grants, concern was expressed that these indirect funds would now flow 50% to the District and
50% to the College President and not necessarily return to the administrator(s) of the grants
themselves. Indirect costs in a grant budget tend to be for things like overhead costs (building
maintenance, IT, administrative support, etc) that the campus incurs in enabling an environment
in which the grant activity can occur. Grantors acknowledge this and usually allow a small
amount of a grant (4% of total costs in most CCCCO grants) to be used to cover these costs. No
next steps were identified for this issue other than a desire for clarity as to when and where
these rules get changed and what can be done about it. The Chancellor is able to decide the
appropriate use of grant funds to cover indirect costs.
5. Best practices in grants administration. Acknowledging that other districts may have better
policies and procedures with respect to grants management, KE was asked to please be on the
lookout at conferences and elsewhere for ideas as to how Peralta could improve our processes.
6. Request for Training of all CTE Dept. Chairs and Deans in Financial Management and Purchasing.
The Committee noted that many CTE faculty would like greater access to their budgets and
better information about cut-offs, deadlines, and how they can use their funds. SeveraDisl
Berkeley City College
College of Alameda
Laney College
Merritt College
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options for doing this were discussed, including the creation of a Handbook (hard copy and online), having a video-taped in-person training by Finance and Purchasing staff that then would
get posted on the web to help orient new staff going forward. Next step is that KE will look into
doing this and move it forward.
Grant writers. The Committee discussed resources for grant writers. They requested KE to look
into how the District could allocate funds for this, even for college-specific grants.
Equity Planning process need for CTE data. District IR Director, Nathan Pellegrin, joined the
group and let them know he is working with the VPI’s at each campus to make sure they have
adequate CTE data for the Equity Planning process. Nathan also committed to sharing access to
accreditation spreadsheets with the members of the Committee. NP has invited all of the CTE
Committee members to the Dropbox that contains all of this information.
Perkins Data Issue Update. Karen and Nathan gave an update on the process of trying to
improve Peralta’s reporting of CTE students to the State MIS so that the District’s Perkins
funding allocation is improved. The Committee explained the FAFSA is not a good proxy for
student socio-economic data as few CTE students apply. Nathan will be aligning the
CCCApply/Supplemental Questionnaire data with our CTE enrollment data to check the MIS
figures. IT has been asked to create a bridge between the Supplemental Questionnaire and
PeopleSoft but they have not done it yet. Committee members said if this takes too long, let’s
take it to the Technology Committee. In the meantime, Karen and Nathan are working with
CCCCO on the process for verifying and updating our Perkins data and will report back on
progress next month.
Career Pathways Trust. A new Consortium Director has been hired and starts on Sept 15. Her
name is Rebecca Lacocque. She is a 15-year veteran teach in the K12 system and a leader in
Linked Learning. Karen has set up a website for the project: http://web.peralta.edu/ccpt/ the
password is “ccpt” – we will be making improvements, posting a calendar, and all important
documents and schedules here for the Consortium.
NEXT TIME: Committee members would like to discuss how we improve the marketing of our
CTE programs.
Berkeley City College
College of Alameda
Laney College
Merritt College