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President/Superintendent's Blog


Summary of the January 10 Board of Trustees Meeting


Published on 1/10/2017.

The Trustees took action on quite a few items of note: 

The Board appointed Trustees Mullery, Mathews, and Emad to the Ad Hoc President/Superintendent Evaluation Committee. Trustees Dorn, Mathews, and Coppini were appointed to the Ad Hoc Board Self-Evaluation Committee. Trustees Emad and Ross were confirmed as Foundation Board members.

The Board approved moving the date of their April meeting from April 4 to April 11 to support Trustee and staff attendance of the April 4-7 ACCJC conference. The location and time of the April Board meeting remained the same: Del Norte Campus at 10:30am.

The resignations of Courtney Proctor, part-time clerical support for ASCR, and Jordan Hamill, Assistant Director of Residential Life were approved.  The Trustees approved the employment of Toni Sage as an Early Childhood Education Assistant 1, Prudence Ratliff as the Director of Community Education, Jose Serrano and the Business office Administrative Office Coordinator, and Heidi Bareilles as the Interim Assistant Director of EOPS.  We also welcomed several new associate faculty to our college community  by board action yesterday: Richard Bergstresser, Administration of Justice – Eureka; Gabe Charlton, Administration of Justice – Eureka; Leslie DiSalvo, English as a Second Language – Noncredit – Eureka; Jim Hamilton, Mathematics – Eureka, Stanley Harkness, Administration of Justice – Eureka; Terri Leiker, Sign Language – Eureka; Briar Parkinson, Health Education – Southern Humboldt; Kimberly Peterson, Mathematics – Eureka; Richard Seghieri, Administration of Justice – Eureka; Torisha Stone, Sociology – Eureka; and Bert Walker, Agriculture – Eureka. Welcome to everyone!

The Board approved or ratified several contracts and agreements.  Of particular note are the agreements with the McCallum Group and FCMAT.  The contract with the McCallum Group is an important agreement in that the McCallum Group will provide advocacy services for the District.  The Trustees will discuss advocacy priorities important to the Board with Mark MacDonald, our representative with the McCallum Group, during the Board workshop on January 17th.   Mark will also meet with the District’s constituent group leadership on the 17th for lunch.   The cost of this contract will be borne by our rental income revenue.

There is one other important contract I’d like to mention. The administration decided to engage Mr. Jim Austin, a consultant with Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT), to review our 2016-17 general fund budget and multiyear financial projection (MYFP) for the current and two subsequent fiscal years to validate our financial status based on economic forecasts to sustain board recommended reserve levels and to maintain financial solvency and stability.  Jim started his work yesterday by meeting with several people and attending our Board meeting (not to speak, but to observe).

Jim will meet with several cabinet members and Academic Senate, CRFO, CSEA, and representative from the Independent Citizens Bond Oversight Committee today (January 11).  I am hoping to get FCMAT’s recommendation(s) for improvement sometime in March. 

I want to make it clear that our decision to invite FCMAT to review our work is not intended to convey that the District is in fiscal crises—which we are not.  Our intention is to demonstrate the administration’s commitment to continuous improvement and build upon the good work we’re already doing.  I trust that Jim will bring his twenty plus years of college vice president and California Community College Chancellor’s Office vice chancellor level experience to bear as he completes this engagement.

 The Board completed a second reading and approved several board policies and one administrative procedure including:  BP 3570 Smoking, AP 3570 Smoking, BP 4070 Course Auditing and Auditing Fees, BP 4300 Field Trips and Excursions, and BP 6620 Naming Facilities and Properties.  When the Board approved BP and AP 3570 yesterday, CR joined the list of approximately 473 colleges and universities nationwide that are 100% tobacco free (American Lung Association, December 14, 2016).   I want to publically thank the Board again for their leadership in going 100% smokeless.  We would not have arrived at this point were it not for the courageous leadership of our Trustees.  

In an unanimous show of solidarity yesterday, the Board supported the administration’s decision to not create a registry of individuals based on any protected characteristics such as religion, national origin, race or sexual orientation; and to not release confidential student records without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, unless authorized by the student or required by law.  Although the decision to implement these actions falls within the purview of the administration, the Board exhibited their leadership by publically backing the administration’s strategies relative to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students.

Professors George Potamianos and Peter Blakemore provided a summary of their combined sabbatical project.  Listening Dr. Potamianos and Dr. Blakemore reminded the Board of the exemplary faculty we have at CR. 

In my Interim President/Superintendent report, I let the Board know that thanks to the hard work of the Board of Trustees, College Council, Academic Senate, and the Academic Standards & Policy Committee (ASPC) a significant number of the District’s BPs and APs have been reviewed, updated, and/or sunsetted.

 

 

Number of BPs and APs reviewed

Number of BPs and APs remaining

Percentage Completed

Chapter 1: The District

4

0

100%

Chapter 2: Board of Trustees

59

0

100%

Chapter 3: General Institution

87

2

98%

Chapter 4: Academic Affairs

60

5

92%

Chapter 5: Student Services

61

5

91%

Chapter 6: Business and Fiscal Affairs

57

0

100%

Chapter 7: Human Resources

83

5

94%

 

The board policies and administrative procedures in Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 7 that have not yet reviewed and/or revised will be submitted to the College Council for review and discussion this month.

In Vice President Lindsey’s informational report, he reminded the Board that the District will begin operating Dining at the Eureka campus under the new name of “CR Cafes and Foodservice” with a new manager, cooks, and staff. Vice President Lindsey also provided a high level summary of the Governor’s January Budget. 

In his budget message, the Governor continued to take a conservative view of future revenues and cautioned against over-spending.  He pointed out California’s past recessions and the difficulty of dealing with them given California’s progressive tax system. The Governor indicated that while the California economy continues to grow, it has not grown as much as in previous years.

The budget provides approximately $400 million in additional funding for community colleges. However, in keeping with the Governor’s theme of restraint, much of this funding is one-time in nature. The major initiative for community colleges in the Governor’s proposal this year is an investment in guided pathways.  This is just the beginning of the budget building process.  The next step is for the Legislature to begin hearing the issues proposed by the administration before the May Revise is released.

Dr. Angelina Hill provided an accreditation update for the Trustees.  She mentioned that we’ll have our accreditation visit on Monday, October 9 – Thursday, October 12, 2017.  The Accreditation Oversight Committee has finished reviewing Standard II and has started reviewing Standard I. The AOC’s work on Standard II resulted in the discovery that AP 4020 Program and Curriculum Development should commence to develop new degrees and certificates. The Academic Senate and the District are working together to review the following potential new programs using AP 4020:

·         Pre-Nursing Associate of Science or Arts

·         Police Academy Associate of Science

·         Associate Degree for Transfer in Biology

She also wrote that incoming Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley issued a formal request that President-elect Donald Trump continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).  DACA allows students who were brought to the United States as children by undocumented parents to continue their studies.

The Board met in closed session to discuss several items. The only item to report out on was that the Board delegated authority to the Interim President to pursue litigation if necessary to resolve title problems on two District-owned properties in Mendocino County.

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