I want to first congratulate Trustee Carol Mathews for doing a terrific job presiding over her first Board meeting as President of the Board. Second, I want to highlight that the Trustees demonstrated, by their engaging questions and comments, a clear understanding of their role and responsibility relative to keeping the District fiscally stable and focused on student success and achievement. I want to summarize a few of the key points of the meeting if case you were not able to attend.

Board Business.  President of the Board Mathews appointed Trustees Emad, Biggin and Dr. Deister to serve on the Board Ad Hoc Committee on the Evaluation of the President/Superintendent. President Mathews also appointed Trustees Dr. Mullery, Dorn and Kelley to the Ad Hoc Committee on Board Evaluation.

Trustee Emad thanked the Trustees, staff and faculty for their words of support while he was out. Trustee Kelley commented on the homelessness issue in the County and asked that the Board and the administration consider what role the College can play in helping address homelessness. Trustees Biggin and Mathews commented on the Police Academy graduation and noted how important CR's Police Academy is to our community.

President Mathews thanked Trustee Biggin for her service as President of the Board last year. I believe that Trustee Biggin did a wonderful job leading the Board and demonstrated a commitment to Trustee collegiality and healthy organizational functioning.

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions. The Trustees ratified the hiring of Chia Hinchliff as the Administrative Office Assistant for Foster Kinship/Student Equity and Jordan Hamill as the Director Campus Life.  

The Board approved the change of status for: Bob Brown to Director Physical Education and Athletic Programs; Shane Stodola, to Maintenance Specialist II for the Del Norte Campus; Leonard Bechler to Instructional Support Specialist for Construction Technology; Laura Meglemre to Account Clerk II/Purchasing Specialist for the Business Office; and Toni Boynton to ECE Assistant II for the Child Development Center. Employee status changes were also approved for Johanna Helzer to Administrative Office Coordinator for CTE focused on the Strong Workforce initiative; Lupita Martinez to Administrative Office Coordinator for the Counseling Department; Jose Serrano to Administrative Office Coordinator for the Business Office; and Robin Cardona to Student Services Specialist IV for EOPS.

With the Board’s action, we welcome several associate faculty to our College community for Spring semester: James Barnett, Psychology (Eureka); Brad Brown, Business (Eureka); Alia Dunphy, Business (Eureka); Mark Goldhawk, Interdisciplinary – Basic Skills: Noncredit (Eureka); Jeffrey Hart, Biology (Eureka); Laura Morgan, Biology (Eureka); and Harry Pyke, DSPS Counseling (Eureka).

Approve/Ratify Contracts, Agreements, MOUs. The Trustees approved and/or ratified several contracts and agreements. Of special note was the new Memorandum of Agreement between CR and the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the $200,000 contract with eLumen.

First and Second Reading of Board Policies and Administrative Procedures. The Trustees executed a first and second read of several board policies and administrative procedures. During the first read process, Trustee  Dorn asked a great question relative to course repeatability. I committed to provide a more in-depth explanation of the course repeatability process in a follow-up message to the full Board.  During the second read section of the agenda, Trustee Emad asked that the Board table the  BP 2435 and AP 2435 President Evaluation for additional review.  President of the Board Mathews agreed and asked the newly appointed Ad Hoc Committee for the President's Evaluation (Trustees Emad, Biggin and Deister) to take another look at the policy and procedure. 

2017-19 Integrated Plan Approval. The Board approved the District's 2017-19 Basic Skills Initiative, Student Equity, and Student Success and Support Program Plan. The goals for this plan include: increasing the number of students who complete degree-applicable English and Math; enhancing student engagement; reducing time to degree/transfer increasing # of degree and certificate completers; reducing access barriers; and decreasing the achievement gap of first-generation students. The plan will be sent to the Chancellor's Office by the January 31 deadline.

2018-2019 nonresident tuition fee Increase.  If you remember, the Board approved a $235 nonresident tuition fee comprised of $234 in tuition and a $1 capital outlay fee at the November 7, 2017 meeting. We received a Chancellor’s Office memorandum in December that directed us to reset the minimum nonresident tuition fee to $258. The Board approved the recommendation to reset the nonresident tuition fee at $258 and include the $1 the nonresident capital outlay fee.

Academy of the Redwoods Presentation. Academy of the Redwoods (AR) Principal Luke Biesecker gave a very informative presentation on the AR program.  We learned a lot from the presentation. For example, I didn't know that 46% of the 2016-17 AR student population were first generation college students and 47% were socioeconomically disadvantaged. I also did not know that 83% of the AR graduates met UC/CSU college readiness requirements in 2016-17 and 89% of AR students completed college courses with the C or better in spring 2017. 

Principal Biesecker and his staff and teachers should be proud of what Academy of the Redwoods has accomplished. I want to thank all the CR staff and faculty who worked with the Academy of the Redwoods program over the years to make it a success. I attached a copy of Luke’s presentation to this summary in case you're interested in seeing Luke's presentation.

Dr. Albert Harrison Update. Dr. Harrison provided a brief summary of a few findings to date relative to the analysis of our budget and budgeting process. Dr. Harrison complimented the staff, faculty and managers he's met. He spoke about the District's structural budget imbalance, the California community college budget process, the lack of trust in the budget numbers and the budgeting process, and the fact that a significant percentage of our budget is tied to personnel costs. He noted that we will not be able to solve the structural budget problem in one year without significantly impacting our Mission.

I am going to work with Dr. Harrison to develop a plan for moving forward. The Board of Trustees and all of the District's constituent groups will be involved in the budget conversation.

Requests for Information. Trustee Biggin asked me to follow-up on the Kathy Smith Award process and research possible missing art pieces. Trustee Dorn requested information on the progress we're making on renaming the Student Services/Admin building after Dr. Portugal. He  also asked for information relative to the past decision to demolish the old Physical Science building.

Trustee Kelley asked questions about our Bond Oversight Committee.He also asked about our compliance with the 75/25 rule. I am going to follow-up on both of these questions.