Published on 3/5/2019.
Audit Committee Meeting
The Audit Committee met prior to the regular meeting of the Board. Ericka Barber did a wonderful job facilitating discussion of our student debt collections. I attached her PowerPoint presentation to this summary.
Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees
Comments/Board Business
Board Committee Reports: Trustee Deister noted that the Board’s Self-Evaluation Committee met and fine-tuned the questions included in the survey instrument. Trustee Kelley said that the Vision Statement Committee is making progress on a draft Vision Statement. President of the Board Emad mentioned that the Audit Committee met and discussed student bad debt.
Approve Board Travel to Annual Trustees Conference in May 2019: The Board approved the recommendation to allocate funds for a Trustee to attend the 2019 Annual Trustee Conference at the Resort at Squaw Creek from May 3, 2019 to May 5, 2019.
Letter to Humboldt County Board of Supervisors: The Trustees had a very engaging discussion relative to our safety posture during Burk McBride’s Safety informational report at the February Board meeting. Following the presentation, the Board expressed a willingness to discuss sending a letter to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors.
A letter was presented to the full Board for discussion and approval at this meeting. The letter communicated our shared interest and commitment to keep all students, faculty, and staff safe. It also asked the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors for help in acquiring a sheriff‘s deputy for our Eureka campus. The Board approved the letter. I attached the fully executed letter to this article.
Consent Calendar Action Items
Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: We welcome three classified staff to our college community. Sheila Richards will begin service as an evening custodian (Eureka) on March 6, Susan Gehr will assume the Administrative Office Assistant (Eureka) position on March 11, and Yavanna Reynolds will start work in the Child Development Center as an Early Childhood Education Assistant II (Eureka) on April 1. All three staff members are replacing employees who had left the District.
I am happy to announce that the Trustees approved the appointment of Roberta Farrar as our new Director of Nursing effective June 1, 2019. We are lucky to have someone of Roberta’s background, experience, and familiarity with our local health care community to lead our Nursing department when Dr. Alison Pritchard retires at the end of the spring semester.
With the Board’s action at this meeting, we say “hail” to Damaro Wheeler as a new associate faculty (Eureka). Sadly, we also say “farewell” to Hilary Fleming—a Student Services Specialist II in Del Norte.
Adoption of a CEQA Notice of Exemption for the Creative Arts Drop and Replace Project and Direct Staff to file with the California Office of Planning and Research: The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires state and local agencies to identify significant environmental impacts of actions and to avoid or mitigate those impacts. The State approved, and the County accepted, the Notice of Exemption (NOE) since the District met the categorical exemption under CCR Section 15300-15331. Our Board approved the NOE as well.
Action/Discussion Items
Monthly Financial Status Report: This month’s financial status report covered the period of July 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019. The report reconfirmed our planned transfer of $525,762 from the general fund to the CDC ($90,000), Shively Farm ($95,762), and OPEB ($340,000).
Approval 2019-2022 Faculty Contract. I am pleased to report that the Board of Trustees approved the tentative agreement (TA) reached between the District and CRFO. The TA is fiscally responsible and reflects our respect for faculty members’ significant contribution to the District.
I want to thank CRFO President Michelle Haggerty, CRFO Chief Negotiator John Johnston and the CRFO bargaining team for their commitment to work with the District to bring the contract negotiations to a successful conclusion. I believe that a positive relationship between the faculty, the administration, and the Board of Trustees is necessary to conduct the important business of the College. I could not ask for better colleagues and partners to help lead the College.
I attached the press release that went to local media outlets immediately after the Board meeting to this article in case you want to read it.
Informational Reports
Student Success Data: California Acceleration Project: Our English and math faculty have been involved California Acceleration Project (CAP) community of practice for several years. Thanks to our faculty, we are well positioned to address AB 705 and improve our student success metrics.
I attached a February 2019 CAPacity Gazette article Open-Access Liberal Arts Math and Other Innovations that highlights the progress our math faculty have made transforming remedial math education to this blog. Take a look at the article.
Capital Projects Update: We are continuing to make progress on the three major capital projects.
- Utility Infrastructure Replacement (UIR): The Department of Finance approved $32,050,000 for the construction phase of our UIR project. We finalized contracts with Wahlund Construction, LACO, and SHN for the project. We expect construction work to begin as soon as the weather permits.
- Creative Arts (CA): The Chancellor’s Office approved our CEQA Notice of Exemption for the Creative Arts complex. We anticipate receiving money to complete the Working Drawings in late March or early April. We plan on beginning construction on the new building in September of 2020.
- Gymnasium Complex: The state signaled that funds for the Preliminary and Working Drawings phases of this project will be approved the summer of 2019. This will be our most complex project. We anticipate construction beginning in 2022 and ending in 2024 or 2025. We will have to demolish the old gym and begin preparing the site for the new Baseball field after the new gym building is completed.
Steven also noted that we’re working on Initial Project Proposals (IPPs) for the Student Resource Center and the Del Norte portable consolidation project.
Shively Farm Report: Career Education Dean Kerry Mayer and Farm Manager Silas Sarvinski discussed the Shively Farm and the recently submitted funding proposal to Caltrans. We are extremely fortunate to have Kerry and Silas leading our AG program into the future. I uploaded a copy of their PowerPoint presentation to this article. It’s really worth a look.
Organizational Reports
Organizational Report: Academic Senate: Academic Senate Co-President Peter Blakemore discussed the scope of work and the membership of the Program Viability Committee (PVC). He also updated the Trustees on the work of the Budget Planning Revision Task Force.
Organizational Report: CSEA: CSEA President Tami Engman highlighted the Foster Kinship Care Program. She also shed light on the need to discuss different options to enhance campus safety.
Organizational Report: Management Council: President Brady Reed made the Trustees aware of the important work Kintay Johnson is doing relative to our Homeless student initiative.
Organizational Report: Student Trustee: Student Trustee Florentina Phillips mentioned that she is working with Cathy Cox to install a “Get Connected” wall in the Learning Resource Center.
Administrative Reports
Administrative Report: President/Superintendent Report: My written report noted the Program Viability Committee’s (PVC) recommendations for the Restaurant and Hospitality Management Program. The PVC recommended suspension of the Restaurant and Hospitality Management Program with the following three recommendations.
- Acquire a professional teaching kitchen on campus through the renovation of the student union building.
- Prior to opening the teaching kitchen, perform labor market research to determine the most viable degree and certificate options to meet industry needs, including emerging trends in the discipline.
- Recruit associate faculty from thriving local businesses to assist with curriculum development and teaching.
I concurred with the recommendation based on the compelling evidence used by the PVC. We attempted to revitalize the RHM program almost five years ago without success. Enrollments in the RHM program steadily declined since 2008-09. Our recent data shows that enrollments have declined even further since 2013. Total program student enrollment was 161 in 2008-09, 65 in 2012-13, and 54 in 2017-18. As the result of low enrollments, the program has had two certificate completers in the past five years and is very inefficient in terms of FTES/FTEF.
I noted that the PVC will re-analyze several academic programs including Manufacturing Technology, Business Technology, Addiction Studies, Administration of Justice, Adult Education, and Honors. The PVC will also begin analyzing the Athletic Program in fall 2019.
I also congratulated Dr. Angelina Hill and Dr. George Potamianos for having their presentation proposal titled Enhancing Communication and College Processes: Why the ISER Process Went Right at our College being approved by the ACCJC to present at the 2019 ACCJC Partners in Excellence Conference on April 30-May 1.
I provided a brief verbal comment related to the state budget. In analyzing the Governor’s proposed budget details, the LAO discovered an estimated 2018-19 funding formula apportionment shortfall of $69 million.
The shortfall is primarily a result is related to the unanticipated change in the metrics that produced higher than anticipated success numbers assumed in the 2018-19 Budget Act. According to the Department of Finance, the decision to provide additional funding to address the apportionment shortfall will be made in May, at which time the state will have updated estimates of both apportionment costs and General Fund revenues.
The LAO is suggesting that rather than fund the second year of promise in 19/20, the funds should be put into the funding formula to try to make it whole going forward.
In addition to the $69 million, the Chancellor’s Office also signaled that currently there is a $200 million property tax shortfall. They are unsure why the shortfall has occurred but they have theorized that people are delaying paying their property taxes because of the federal tax law changes.
If the shortfall is real then we may see a deficit factor of over 3% in the current year. I think it’s too early to say we know for sure that there is a shortfall but we are monitoring the situation.
Administrative Report: Vice President of Instruction Report: Angelina’s written report highlighted some notable curriculum changes that support our AB 705 work. In addition to the development of a new transfer-level math course for career education and new support courses for students in transfer-level math and English, several pre-requisites are being changed. She also noted that the Board that a CEO has been hired to lead the California Online Community College.
Angelina mentioned that ww are going to offer summer classes at HSU and Arcata High School. Angelina and the Deans will finalize the list of classes in the coming weeks.
Administrative Report: Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia noted that the Business Office will host a training on Thursday, March 7, 2019 in the Boardroom from 10:00am to 4:00pm that will focus on year-end processes, purchasing, Cal-Cards, budget, and Datatel tips and tricks.
She also mentioned the professional development opportunities the Business Office staff have participated in including:
- Training Front Office Staff: Handling Difficult and Disruptive Behaviors. This training was a webinar hosted by Human Resources.
- Active Shooter Training presented by Burk McBride.
- MS Excel Pivot Table Training presented by Jose Ramirez in response to a request by the Business Office.
Julia mentioned that Ericka Barber is going to participate in the IBA training at Los Rios later this month.
Administrative Report: Vice President of Student Development Report: Joe’s report spoke to selection of two women’s basketball players as Academic All-State Team selections. Taylor Murray maintained a 3.6 grade point average (GPA) and Sophie Northern had a 3.93 GPA during their two years playing at CR.
He also noted that HSU Transfer Specialist Kailyn Doyle visited the Del Norte and Klamath-Trinity locations and talked to students interested in attending HSU. Kailyn conducted several Cal State Apply workshops on the Eureka Campus to assist students with the HSU application process and collaborated with our Career Education department to conduct a "Career Education Event Showcase Series" featuring three programs --Forestry Criminology/Administration of Justice, and Child Development/Early Childhood Education.
Joe’s verbal comments focused on the Redwoods Scholarship and the Multi-Cultural and Diversity Center. We received a $5,000 check from the Humboldt Area Foundation donor group and an additional $50 private donation. I am happy to say that we’ve surpassed our initial goal of $48,000 for the scholarship. So, far we’ve raised $77,250.
The Mad River Union ran a story on February 25, 2019 that talked about the CR Multi-Cultural and Diversity Center. The article, College Life Today: Don’t be afraid—walk in and make new friends written by Kevin Hoover, spoke to CR student Maria Overton’s experience at CR and with the Center. Here’s a link to the article in case you want to read it: https://madriverunion.com/college-life-today-dont-be-afraid-walk-in-and-make-new-friends/
Administrative Report: Director of Human Resources: Wendy’s written report said that the Human Resources Department (HR) analyzed the District's student/faculty demographic and determined that we have some work to do to improve the diversity of the faculty. To that end, HR is going to implement several actions to help build the District's faculty diversity.
- The current EEO training for screening committee members for all recruitments is going to change. Currently all screening committee members have to take an EEO PowerPoint for review and take a test. All of this is paper based. HR is now going to have all screening committee members take the online Keenan EEO training and Unconscious Bias training prior to serving.
- Human Resources is going to continue to monitor and track each recruitment and compare/contrast all recruitments to ensure the applicant base is consistent with the community population as well as the student population.
- Human Resources is going to improve the diversity related interview questions as well as tie our interview question based on the mission statement more towards the districts goals but also in our introduction in the recruitments and when describing each position. Our intent is to ensure each candidate interviewed leaves understanding CR maintains the goal of a diversified work force.
Wendy’s report also noted several professional development that were offered in February.
- February 21st Incorporating Daily Mindfulness through Meditation: A drop-in meditation experience.
- February 26th and 27th Active Shooter and Emergency Preparedness Training: How to survive an Active Shooter Event. Preparing for the worse, Training for the best.
Wendy informed the Board that we notified the North Coast Schools Insurance Group that we plan to withdrawal from the JPA on June 30, 2019.