Summary of the February 4, 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting
Feb 4 2025This blog article provides brief summaries of the January 11 Special Board Meeting, the January 25 Board Workshop, the February 1, 2025 Special Board Meeting, and the February 4, 2025 Regular Board Meeting.
At the January 11, 2025 Special Board Meeting, the Trustees interviewed six candidates for the two vacant trustee positions. Tom Ross was interviewed for Area 2 and Kirk Cohune, Sara Dronkers, Kerry Mayer, and Amandeep Singh were interviewed for Area 5. After the interviews, the Board, by unanimous vote, appointed Mrs. Sara Dronkers as the trustee for Area 5 until the next regularly scheduled election on November 3, 2026. Also at this meeting, rather than appoint someone to fill the vacant trustee seat for Area 2 at this meeting, the Trustees decided to extend the deadline for applications by two weeks.
During the January 25, 2025 Board workshop, Board President Dr. Mullery administered the oath of office to Mrs. Dronkers as Trustee for Area 5. We also had Mr. Frank Zotter, our attorney with School & College Legal Services of California, conduct ethics and Brown Act training for the Board.
The Board interviewed three applicants for the provisional trustee appointment to fill the vacancy for Area 2 and discussed the Del Norte Campus/Pelican Bay Strategic Review Report.
The three trustee applicants—Nathaniel Schneider, Bradley Gray, and Jack Rice—are respected in the community and professionally accomplished.
· Nathaniel Schneider’s background includes working for Pacific Builders, volunteering as a home builder for Betty Chin, coaching junior varsity soccer for Mckinleyville High School, and serving as a board member for the Humboldt Builders Exchange where he is the education director with the goal of furthering trades’ education.
· Bradley Gray worked the tech industry for most of his career. He attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute and then Columbia University studying computer science, engineering, and mathematics.
· Jack Rice graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Agribusiness. He later went to law school and worked for the California Farm Bureau Federation working on water and natural resources matters. He has served on two local agricultural trade organizations, the Humboldt County Farm Bureau, and the Humboldt/Del Norte Cattlemen’s Association. He currently serves as the Treasurer of the Humboldt County Fair Association.
Ultimately, the Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Mr. Jack Rice to fill the vacancy until the next regularly scheduled election on November 3, 2026.
Dr. Amy Moffat led a very engaging and productive conversation about the Del Norte Campus Strategic Review Report. I refer you to the Board agenda for the February 1 Special meeting if you want to review Amy’s presentation.
Here is a summary of the February 4, 2025 Regular Meeting.
· President of the Board Dr. Mullery administrated the oath of office to Mr. Jack Rice as the new Trustee for Area 2. With the addition of two new trustees, she also revised the composition of several Board committees: Ad Hoc President/Superintendent Evaluation Committee—Richard Dorn, Carol Mathews, and Colleen Mullery; Ad Hoc Board Self-Evaluation Committee—Lorraine Pedrotti, Sally Biggin, and Sara Dronkers; Ad Hoc Committee to Review Chapter Two Board Policies and Administrative Procedures—Colleen Mullery, Jack Rice, and Sara Dronkers; Audit/Finance Committee—Richard Dorn, Lorraine Pedrotti, and Carol Mathews; and Board Representatives to the C.R. Foundation Board—Sally Biggin and Colleen Mullery.
· I am happy to share that the Board acted on several personnel related items. The Trustees approved my recommendation to have Dr. Rebecca Robertson join our college community as the new Dean of Culture, Society, and Communication effective June 2, 2025. Dr. Robertson comes to us from Cal Poly Humboldt where she served as a faculty member and the Director of the Individualized Degree Program. Her academic career started at CR as an associate faculty in the Anthropology Department. I believe that her deep connection to CR and extensive network and ties to Cal Poly Humboldt, the CSU system, and the community will help strengthen and expand CR’s partnerships with CSU/UC institutions, K-12 schools, and community organizations.
Three new classified staff, one confidential, and two faculty members will join our educational community. Derek Knowlton will serve as the Del Norte Campus Student Development Advisor, Marlia Luzier will work in the Eureka Campus Admissions Office as a Student Development Advisor, and Torie Mather will serve as a Human Resources Analyst. Derek and Lalia will start on February 5 and Torie will begin on February 10. Dr. Matthew Hough will serve as the Assistant Professor of Music and Ms. Alissa Sarvinski as the Assistant Professor of Agriculture beginning fall 2025.
The Trustees also approved the employee change of status for Rebecca Stevens and Andrew Nichols. Rebecca moved from an Early Childhood Assistant II to an Early Childhood Associate. Andrew’s status changed from a Student Services Specialist I to the Director Student Accessibility Support Services. Congratulations to Rebecca and Andrew!
I also want to recognize and welcome several new associate faculty to CR: Lisa Coleman (Nursing), Samar El-Abdallah (Biology), Elizabeth Harvey (Nursing), Jefferey Hogue (Botany), Ryan Keller (Library Science), Peter Korin (Nursing), Kendall Mallinger (Native American Studies), Gianna O’Day (Physical Education), Kelly O’Day (Physical Education), Brook Raven (Guidance), Shoshanna Raybin (Nursing), Aidan Rierson (Paramedic), and Katiana Seidel-Cross (Paramedic).
· The Board approved several contracts and agreements at this meeting. I want to point out that the contract with S& B James Construction for $276,238 is for them to complete deferred maintenance work on the Del Norte Campus’ main building.
· The Sabbatical Leave Committee forwarded a list of five interesting sabbatical leave proposals to me for action. After careful deliberation, I recommended three faculty members—Professor Anthony Sartori, Professor Christopher Lancaster, and Professor Michelle Haggerty—for sabbatical leave in spring 2026. I want to note that the faculty contract calls on the District to allocate $60,000 toward sabbaticals; however, I made the decision to exceed the funding amount called for in the faculty contract and approve three sabbaticals. While the sabbaticals will cost us approximately $101,000, the projects will have a far-reaching impact on student access and success.
· The Board acted on two Measure I bond related items. They approved Resolution 825 which officially enters the Measure I election results into the minutes of the Board. They also approved the appointment of eleven community members to the Measure I Bond Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee. Sometime in the next several months, our bond attorney will provide an orientation/training for the oversight committee members. The members of the committee will also select a chair and vice chair.
· I recognized the time and energy that several of our CR colleagues and Del Norte County community members put into the Del Norte Campus Strategic Review Report. I highlighted ten of our football student athletes who decided to continue their athletic careers on the four-year college or university level. I also acknowledged new associate faculty/coaches Kelly and Gianna O'Day for their leadership in bringing the rodeo dream alive. Kelly and Gianna are accomplished rodeo professionals and highly respected in local our rodeo community. In case you are interested, Bob Brown Gianna, and Kelly were interviewed on Access Humbolt yesterday about our new rodeo team. Here is a link to the YouTube video of the hourlong interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2be88wUyEE
· I know I shared this news a few weeks ago; however, it bears repeating. Thanks to everyone at the CR, the ACCJC reaffirmed our accreditation for the next seven years based on our Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (ISER) and the Peer Review Team Report. Here is a link to the Lost Coast Outpost article related to the accreditation action: College of the Redwoods' Accreditation Has Been Officially Re-Upped for Another Seven Years, Administration Announces | Lost Coast Outpost | Humboldt County News. My extremely talented Senior Executive Assistant, Julie Gilbride, is working her magic to plan an accreditation celebration in April! So, look for an invitation sometime this month.
· I want to share some information provided in the written administrative reports. I acknowledged how traumatizing and distressing the Del Norte, Humboldt, and Trinity County wildfires in August 2023 were on our colleagues and their families, as well as our retirees.
Julia Morrison provided an update on our 2024-25 enrollment. She shared that we saw 247 FTES in Summer 2024, 1,780 FTES in Fall 2024, and are projecting 1,780 FTES for spring 2025. If our spring projection holds, we will surpass our FTES target of 3,781 (pre-COVID-19FTES in 2019-20) by 26 FTES. While I am cautiously optimistic, I want to add another 25-30 FTES to our total by scheduling additional online courses at the front of the Summer 2025 schedule. Why not settle for the simply meeting the target? I want to maximize our revenue since the 2024-25 state apportionment revenue levels will become the funding floor in the new Hard Harmless revenue protection. It is important to know that, unlike the old Hold Harmless protection, the new Hold Harmless provision does not include an automatic COLA increase.
Included in Crystal Morse’s report was mention of the January 25, 2025 FFA Field Day. About 188 students from nineteen different high schools in Northern California participated in the 2025 FFA Field Day. Judges and helpers for these events included Anibal Flores, Ernie Shull, Joseph Glass, Bert Hafar, Will Madaras, Christopher Callahan, John Long, Dave Stevens, Kyle Shamp, Robert Whipple, David Shamp, Lindsey Kleiner, Valerie Elder, Milton Conley, Paula Melo, Sandy Lovfald, Kelly Miller, and Alexa Alexandre. Other key contributors included Ashley Rocha as the Master of Ceremonies, Augusta Solem for organizing the event, Silas Sarvinski for food and general assistance, Rory Johnson for welcoming participants, and Alissa Sarvinski and Hannah Lovfald for tabulating the competition results.
Marty Coelho’s report noted that Kevin and Pam Crotty established the Mike & Penny Currie Memorial Endowed Scholarship to support military veterans' dependents attending CR and a $41,000 gift was made to the James H., James R. and Gerald J. Beacom Scholarship supporting CR students in the trades. Additionally, Mike Flockhart established the Lynett Flockhart Memorial Scholarship to honor the memory of his wife. After many years as a stay-at-home mother, Lynett Flockhart returned to school at College of the Redwoods to complete the nursing program. After graduating and acquiring her RN license, Lynett went on to work for many years, making a difference in the lives of patients and coworkers. Lynett won many prestigious awards for excellence in care and played an integral role in the education and training of countless nursing students attending clinicals and newly graduated nurses. The Lynett Flockhart Memorial Nursing Scholarship supports CR students entering the nursing program pursuing a second career.