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President/Superintendent's Blog


Update Following The February 6, 2018 Board of Trustees Meeting


Published on 2/6/2018.

I want to summarize a few of the key points of the February 6, 2018 Board of Trustees meeting if case you were not able to attend.

Comments/ Board Business. CR student Florentina Phillips made a public comment to the Board regarding the Eureka cafeteria. She has gathered approximately 190 student signatures requesting to have a salad bar in the cafeteria.

Board Member Comments. Trustees Emad, Mathews, Kelley and Deister thanked the Board for the opportunity to attend the Effective Trustee Workshop.  It was a very worthwhile professional development opportunity for experienced and new Board members.

Trustee Biggin commented on some of the issues discussed during the CCLC Annual Legislative Conference. Topics included: the Open Education Resources (OER) initiative, the changing landscape of community colleges across America, and guided pathways.

I want to share a comment Trustee Mathews made about one of the Effective Trustee Workshop sessions because of its particular applicability to the District’s long-term health and CEO/Board relationship.  She said that the highlight of the conference was the advice Brice Harris, State Chancellor Emeritus, gave to the Trustees:

  • Be student focused
  • Be patient with your CEO
  • Ask tough questions while supporting your CEO
  • Do not go around your CEO
  • Stay out of the day-to-day but ask about the day-to-day
  • Expect your CEO to listen to concerns of individual Trustees but not always act on them
  • Seek the support of colleagues before pushing for action
  • Watch the money closely and student success even closer

New Student Trustee. Zachary Awe was sworn in as the new Student Trustee to serve until May 15.  President of the Board Mathews appointed Trustee Sally Biggin as his mentor.

Board Committee Reports. Trustee Emad reported that the President’s Evaluation Ad Hoc Committee met prior to the regular Board meeting to discuss the evaluation process.  The Ad Hoc Committee agreed that:

  1. The President will be evaluated every six months (not annually);
  2. The President will be held accountable to the goals set every year;
  3. The Ad Hoc Committee will conduct the evaluation;
  4. All constituent groups (through the leadership) will participate in the evaluation;
  5. The results of the evaluation will be discussed in open session; and
  6. The President’s compensation will be linked to the evaluation.

Trustee Emad, on behalf of the Ad Hoc Committee, requested that the draft BP/AP 2435 Evaluation of the President/Superintendent be pulled from the agenda for further revision. President of the Board Mathews concurred and directed me to bring the revised draft AP back to the Board in March.

Participation on RREDC Board. The Board acknowledged the importance of RREDC to our local community and discussed the appropriateness of one of our Trustees sitting on the RREDC board. The Board discussed whether a Trustee could vote on topics in front of the RREDC board without gaining the support or direction of the full CR Board. The Board directed me to discuss the issue with our attorneys.

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions. The Trustees ratified the employee change of status for Brady Reed to Director, TRiO/Success; Katy Keyser to Assistant Director, Upward Bound; and Jennifer Knight to Student Development Advisor, SSS/TRiO and Upward Bound. The Trustees also ratified the retirement of Frank Holladay, ISSIII with DSPS, effective June 30, 2018.

The Board approved several associate faculty appointments: Brea Buchanan, Nursing (Del Norte); Amy Chamberlin, Nursing (Eureka); Michal Clark, Noncredit: English as a Second Language (Del Norte); Peter Cress, Administration of Justice (Eureka); Geraldine Fitzgerald, Nursing (Eureka); Lisa Martinez, Health (Eureka); Kevin McGeoch, Addiction Studies (Eureka); Travis Murphy, Mathematics (Eureka); Katherine Nolan, Nursing (Del Norte); Danah Palmer, Administration of Justice, (Eureka); and Jennifer Quigley, Counseling (Eureka).

Trustees Dorn and Kelley posed important questions related to the reopened Vice President/Chief Business Officer search. Their questions focused on the steps we are taking to increase the overall number of candidates in the search pool in general and increase the number of minority applicants in particular, and whether the lack of a permanent CBO will affect our ability to satisfy the budget/fiscal ACCJC recommendations. 

I reduced the span of control for the CBO to focus more on budget/fiscal issues. I also revised the education and experience requirements for the position to attract candidates with K-12 budget experience (not just community colleges).

A barrier to attracting top candidates and encouraging diversification of the candidate pool, as pointed out recently by the Academic Senate Hiring Process Task Force, is the cost of travel to CR.  To mitigate this barrier, I am going to pay the travel costs for the in-person interview of our CBO finalists. I made this same commitment for our Communication Studies and Biology faculty searches currently in process.

Approve/Ratify Contracts, Agreements, MOUs. The Trustees approved and/or ratified several contracts and agreements. Trustee Dorn asked for clarification on the contract to install LED lighting in the pool. That was a great question given that we do not have a pool!

We moved the weight room to the pool area.  We are installing more cost efficient lighting in the pool area to support our student athletes using the relocated weight room.

Acceptance of the Audit. The Audit Committee approved, and the Board accepted, the auditor’s reports. Trustee Emad, as chair of the Audit Committee, expressed his appreciation for Julia Morrison’s and Erika Barber’s work on the audit.

Monthly Financial Report. The Board approved the monthly financial report. I commented on the adminstration's continued commitment to transfer funds to the CalPERS/CalSTRS set aside as a safeguard against projected benefit cost increases. The fund currently has $300,000.

Quarterly Financial Status Report. The Board approved the 2nd quarter 311Q report covering the three-month period ending December 31, 2017. I stated that section VI of the report related to identifying fiscal problems will be addressed in the 3rd quarter report after the 2018-19 budget picture is clearer.

First Reading of Board Policies and Administrative Procedures. The Trustees executed a first read of a draft revised BP 2715 Code of Ethics and AP 2345 Public Participation at Board Meetings. The Trustees made several very constructive comments on both of these documents. 

I am going to submit a revised AP 2345 to the Board as a first read in March. I am going to submit BP 2715 as rewritten to College Council for constituent review. I am also going to include a legislative advocacy agenda item in the August Board workshop where the Trustees will discuss the Board's advocacy positions on future state legislation and local initiatives.

Second Reading of Board Policies and Administrative Procedures BP 4104 Contract Education and BP 4440 were approved as a second read.

Informational Report: Student Success Data. The Trustees had a chance to discuss the District’s EPIC (Embedded Peer Instructional Cohort) student success data.  The data showed that success was higher in biology and chemistry sections with an EPIC leader. Success was 2.8 percentage points lower in the math sections with EPIC, but retention was 7.7 percentage points higher. The biggest difference was a much higher rate of retention in chemistry. 

Informational Report: Klamath/Trinity Success Program.  Erika Tracy, Jolene Gates and Melissa Ruiz gave an informative presentation “Partnership for Student Success: Meeting Students Where They Are”. The presentation highlighted the wonderful work our colleagues are doing to increase student success and completion. The Trustees voiced their appreciation for the impressive work at KT. 

Organizational Report: Academic Senate. Senate Co-President Kerry Mayer discussed the Online Education Imitative (OEI) and the Chancellor's Office FLOW project. She reminded us that Distance Education is a great educational tool but it is not appropriate for all learners. She spoke about the importance of providing administrative support to ensure our DE program’s success. Kerry also commented on the great accreditation news. Trustee Emad asked for a copy of presentation Lisa Sayles gave to the Board in Decemeber.

Organizational Report: CRFO. CRFO President Mike Haley expressed his gratitude to the Board for agendizing CRFO in the board meeting. He also commented on how hard everyone in the District—faculty, staff, management, and administration—have worked over the years to meet accreditation standards.

Organizational Report: Management Council. Management Council President Kintay Johnson talked about the Foster Kinship Care program.  

Organizational Report: President Report. I commented on the importance of KT to the District and how the District has imbedded accreditation compliance into the fabric of our institutional culture.

Organizational Report: Vice President of Instruction and Student Development Report. Vice President Hill commented on the work the faculty and staff are already doing to address the assessment recommendation.

 

 

 

 

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