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Published on 2/2/2021.

Audit Committee Meeting

The Board’s Audit Committee met immediately prior to the regular meeting of the Board today. We presented the 2019-20 audit for the Audit Committee’s review and approval. I happy to report that we received an unmodified audit opinion—which is the highest award we can receive. There were no financial statement findings, federal award findings, state award findings, or audit findings for the year ending June 30, 2020.  I want to thank Steven Currie, representative from the District’s independent auditor firm Cossolias, Wilson, Dominguez, Leavitt CPAs (CWDL), for discussing the audit with the Audit Committee.

We also discussed the information coming out of Sacramento relative to the state's budget. 

Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees

Comments/Board Business

Land Acknowledgement: President of the Board Mr. Danny Kelley read a formal statement that recognizes and respects the Indigenous Peoples as the original stewards of the land that College of the Redwoods occupies. 

We acknowledge that the land on which we are gathered today is unceded territory of the Wiyot people who continue to live and thrive on this land today. It is surrounded by the traditional, ancestral, and present homeland of several indigenous nations including the Hupa, Karuk, Mattole, Tolowa, Wailaki, and Yurok that make up Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

Member Comments: Trustee Biggin thanked Alia Dunphy for the virtual First Generation College Student and a Fred Korematsu Celebrations.

Board Committee Reports: Vice President Mathews commented that the Board’s Audit Committee met today and approved the District’s audit.

Trustee Mullery noted that the Board’s Ad Hoc Committee on Student Success met and agreed to invite Paul Chown to a future meeting to discuss the District’s student success and institutional effectiveness scorecards.

Consent Calendar Action Items

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: We have an opportunity to welcome several new classified staff colleagues to our college community.  We welcome Brynn Allen, Administrative Office Assistant II; Ethan Hale, Gardener I; Joshua Stanley, Public Safety Officer; Gretchen Johnson, Instructional Support Specialist II, Adult and Community Education; Gabrielle Meyer, Student Services Specialist II – EOPS; Tasha Reveles, ECE Associate; and Mariah Southworth, ECE Assistant II.

We also welcome some new faculty: Sylvia Rivera Professor of Nursing (Eureka); Lauren Elliott Associate Faculty of Nursing (Eureka); Devon Hernandez Associate Faculty in Counseling (Eureka); Chelsea Jensen Associate Faculty in Nursing (Eureka); and Heather Payne Associate Faculty in Nursing (Del Norte).

The Board also ratified my acceptance of Lauren Larsen’s resignation as a Student Services Specialist IV.

Approve/Ratify Contracts, Agreements and MOUs: The Trustees approved or ratified several contracts and agreements at this Board meeting. There is one contract in particular that I would like to bring to your attention.

I entered into a contract with Economic Modeling Inc. / EMSI to provide an Economic Impact Study (EIS) for us. The EIS will help us tell our story to our constituents and legislators, in a clear and defensible way, about how CR contributes to the economic base of our region. The study will compare student costs (i.e. fees, loans, books and supplies, and opportunity costs) and the benefits of education, measured in terms of higher earnings. It will also measure the benefits to the public in terms of added income and a variety of external social benefits associated with increases in education, including improved health, reduced crime, and reduced welfare and unemployment claims. We expect to have the final reports and inforgraphics from EMSI sometime this May.

Here are a few examples on how several other California community colleges displayed their EIS results on their webpages.

Santa Rosa JC  https://public-relations.santarosa.edu/economicimpact

San Diego CCD  https://www.sdccd.edu/community-and-alumni/economic-impact/index.aspx

Los Rios CCD https://impact.losrios.edu/

Rancho Santiago Rancho Santiago EIS Page

Santa Ana Santa Ana College ESI Page

Action/Discussion Items

Monthly Financial Status Report:  The Board approved a monthly financial status report that continued to signal that we intend to transfer $90,000 to the Child Development Center, $50,911 to the Shively Farm, and $645,000 to OPEB from the general fund. The report also showed a projected 2020-21 ending fund balance of 9.0%, or $2,816,676. 

We will adjust the 2020-21 budget’s beginning fund balance to reflect the 2019-20 audited ending balance when the Board accepts the 2019-20 Annual District Audit. 

This report also noted that:

• Our general apportionment revenue is higher than at this point in time last year; however, this trend will end due to the anticipated apportionment deferrals.  
• The District will only receive an additional $1,299,837 in apportionment payments for the rest of the year. 
• Our salary/benefit and other operating expenses are coming in slightly lower than last year.
• Our fixed expenses are trending higher, partially due to an unexpected increase in water charges. Overall, our expenses are trending slightly lower than last year.

Approve Resolution 775 for the Establishment of a Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan (SERP) for Faculty, Classified Employees, Administrators, Managers, and Confidential Employees: The Board approved a resolution authorizing me to offer a SERP to all employees of the District who meet the following eligibility guidelines:

1. Employee must be a Faculty, Classified, Confidential, or Administrative employee of the District.
2. Employee must be at least fifty-five (55) years of age by June 30, 2021.
3. Employee must have at least five (5) years of service with the District by June 30, 2021.
4. Employee must be eligible to retire from CalSTRS / CalPERS.
5. Employee must retire from the District by June 30, 2021.
6. Employee must submit their Letter of Resignation and the SERP Enrollment Package no later than April 5, 2021.

I sent out an email immediately following the Board meeting that provided specific details of the SERP. It’s important to note that although the Board approved Resolution 775, the administration will negotiate the specifics of the SERP with CSEA. The outcome of the negotiation will be memorialized in a MOU.

Informational Reports

Farm Report: Farm Manager Silas Sarvinski updated the Board on the operations of the CR Farm.  I attached a copy his presentation to this summary.

Student Success Data: Spring Enrollment: In this agenda item, we stated that our spring 2021 enrollment and headcount numbers are down about 19% from the spring semester three-year average. Not surprising, given the pandemic, enrollment at community colleges nationally have declined.  

We included a spreadsheet that showed that although enrollment and headcount are trending downward at the same rate, students who are attending are taking the normal class load.

I want to thank Paul Chown for the providing the following explanation of the data:

• The fulltime equivalent student (FTES), which is how community colleges are largely funded, is down 33%. Normally the FTES trends follow the enrollment trends where one enrollment generates approximately .13 FTES. FTES would rise or fall at the same rate; however this is not the case currently.
• The reason for this disparity is that with the vast majority of spring 2021 classes are offered online. There is a slightly different formula for converting online enrollments to FTES than there is for face-to-face. The result is that a spring 2021 average enrollment is worth approximately .11 FTES.
• On its face, this does not appear to be big difference from the typical average of .13 until you multiply that difference by 10,000 enrollments. This means that approximately 200 FTES is lost simply by teaching so many of classes online as opposed to face-to-face.

Organizational Reports

Academic Senate: Academic Senate President Gary Sokolow informed the Board that the Senate would meet this Friday.

CRFO: CRFO President Michelle Haggerty gave a very in-depth report on the work CRFO is doing with their statewide colleagues on budget and working conditions related issues.

CSEA: CSEA President Tami Engman commented on the SERP and on their collaboration with Silas Sarvinski on building a permanent Farm stand on the Eureka Campus.

Administrative Reports

President/Superintendent's Report: In my written report, I noted that CR and HSU scheduled a summit on Friday, February 19 to advance the collaboration between CR and HSU and Alia Dunphy held a virtual First Generation College Student Celebration and a Fred Korematsu Celebration last week.

I also included the PBS article “Why Some Students are Abandoning Community Colleges” as an attachment. The article focuses on how the transition from face-to-face to virtual instruction and student services is influencing student choices—especially those students who struggle academically and financially. Here are few takeaways from the article:

• Many factors are behind the plummeting enrollment at two-year schools. The prospect of in-class learning raises the specter of Covid-19 infection. Remote instruction has worn out its welcome for many. Moreover, community colleges tend to attract those whose precarious finances have been hurt most by the pandemic, and who needed greater guidance from administrators and faculty at the very moment that those officials were stepping back from in-person recruitment and services.
• If those trends continue, they could exacerbate existing racial and socioeconomic gaps in higher education, as four-year schools, which tend to serve wealthier and whiter populations, bounce back more quickly while the pandemic hollows out community colleges that have been slowly leaking students for a decade. Fewer students equal less revenue for community colleges, which could lead to cuts at the very institutions so many depend upon as a first step toward economic mobility. How bad that cycle gets depends in part on how many low-income students and students of color can emerge from the pandemic still on a path to higher education.
• The cost and logistics of childcare can also make or break enrollment for community college students, about 30 percent of whom are parents.
• Higher education experts worry that many students never return to community college after the pandemic.
• The pandemic may be intensifying trends that were already contributing to enrollment declines. One of those trends is students questioning the value of higher education.

I thanked Rianne Connor, Molly Blakemore, and Bob Brown for the actions they are taking to help us boost enrollment and support students in need. We are sending out text messages to low enrolled and previously enrolled students, calling recently enrolled students who have not graduated but did not enroll with this spring (stop outs), and increasing the availability for mental health counseling.

In my verbal comments, I mentioned that Dr. George Potamianos submitted an application to serve as an ACCJC Standards Review Peer Team Member. I also thanked Tami Engman and the CSEA board for agreeing to work with the administration on issues relative to moving to face-to-face operations in fall 2021.

Vice President of Instruction Report: Angelina’s written report noted that we have over 60 sections of various courses this semester for which some or all of the texts are available to students at no cost. This includes both courses where the main text is an OER, and courses with books that a student might purchase but which can be used electronically through the library.  Some of these courses still require purchased materials as well, so they may not all be “zero textbook cost”, but the savings to students are still substantial. Resources can be viewed at: https://redwoods.libguides.com/OER/list

Angelina congratulated Silas Sarvinski and Kerry Mayer for their exemplary work on changing the operation of the CR Farm.

Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia’s written report stated that our 311 Annual Financial and Budget Report was certified on January 20, 2021. If you do not know, the 311 Annual Financial and Budget Report is the vehicle for community college districts to summarize and communicate the results of governmental, proprietary, and fiduciary funds budgetary decisions and transactions for each annual fiscal period. Key takeaways from the current 311 report are:

• Analysis of the 50% Law - The 2019-20 instructional salary cost is 54.27% percent of the current expense of education. 
• Unrestricted General Fund ending balance is $3,149,765, which reflects a net increase of $485,752 for the year.
• Farm Operation Fund ending balance is $18,351, which reflects a net increase of $14,648 for the year.
• Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) Fund ending balance is $1,316,247, which reflects an increase of $933,400 for the year. 
• The 2020-21 Unrestricted General Fund budget is balanced and estimates an increase to the fund balance.

Julia congratulated Silas Sarvinski and Kerry Mayer on making the Farm into a profit center. She noted that the Farm’s ending fund balance is growing.  

Executive Director of Foundation Report: Marty’s written report summarized some the actions he’s taken on for the Foundation and the District. He secured a $31,000 major gift for the President’s Innovation Fund, sent out yearend tax letters to donors, and held Spring 2021 COVID-19 Operational Plan campus forums for employees and students. He also noted that the Foundation collaborated with the Multicultural & Diversity Center to host a First Generation College Student Celebration.

Marty gave a “shout out” to Alia Dunphy for her work on the First Generation College Student Celebration.

Approve a Trustee Request to Place an Item on a Future Agenda or Direct Staff to Give a Regular Report: The Trustees asked me to provide the cost for Keenan’s work defending the District on the CSEA v. RCCD lawsuit.