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Published on 5/3/2022.

Comments/Board Business

Land Acknowledgement:  President of the Board Carol Mathews read the District’s formal statement that recognizes our area’s 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 Dr. Robertson commented that she completed the CCLC Excellence in Trusteeship Program. If you’re not familiar with this CCLC trustee professional development opportunity, the Excellence in Trusteeship Program covers nine areas of competencies with subtopics to complete the knowledge and skills learning to support strong Board leadership. Participants in the program earn units by completing training in each of the nine competencies—Accreditation, Board/CEO Relationship, Board Evaluation, Brown Act Training, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, Ethics Training, Fiscal Responsibilities, Governance, and Student Success—which define the roles and responsibilities of governing boards and provide tools that keep Board of Trustees focused on student learning. She also commented that she attended a meeting of a committee of the President’s Council.

Trustee Kelley commented on his attendance at the 2022 CCLC Annual Conference. I attached his written report to this summary. He also stated that he was elected to serve a three year term on the California Community College Trustees (CCCT) Board. The CCCT Board consists of 21 members elected statewide by the 73 district governing boards and a student-member elected by the student trustees. The CCCT Board takes positions on and formulates education policy issues that come before the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, the State Legislature, and other relevant state-level boards and commissions. Congratulations to Trustee Kelley!

Vice President Biggin shared that she received a Certificate of Recognition from the Chancellor’s Office for her participation on the Chancellor’s DEIA Committee. She also communicated that she participated on a President’s Council committee. I attached the handouts she provided to the Trustees to this summary.

President Mathews noted that she attended the ceremony dedicating the Tolowa Tribe honorific sign. She also noted that she attended the Standard IV accreditation committee meeting.

Board Committee Reports: Vice President Biggin reported that the Ad Hoc Committee for the Board Evaluation met prior to the Board meeting and discussed the board evaluation survey. She expects to send the survey results to the full Board for discussion in June.

Trustee Dr. Mullery noted that the President’s Evaluation Committee completed its work. She also reported that she attended the Standard IV accreditation committee meeting.

Determine Student Trustee Privileges: Eureka Campus based student Marabeth Madsen was elected by the CR student body to serve as the new student trustee for the 2022-2023 academic year. With this agenda item, the Board of the Trustees determined that the new student trustee will be afforded several privileges including: Attending closed sessions of the Board on other than closed sessions on personnel matters, collective bargaining matters, or with the attorney for the District involving attorney-client privilege relationship; serving on committees of the Board at the discretion of the President of the Board; receiving compensation at an amount equal to the amount afforded to the Board members; making and seconding motions; and casting an advisory vote. I want to make a note that the student trustee advisory vote shall not be included in determining the vote required to carry any measure before the Board of Trustees.

Consent Calendar Action Items

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: I want to provide a smidgen more explanation on the personnel actions related to the administrative salary increases included in this board agenda item. However, before I do I ask that you join me in welcoming new colleagues to our college community and congratulating several staff who were reclassified or had their employee status changed.

Jason Patton (Public Safety Officer), Amador Renteria (Technology Specialist I), Rachel Warze (Administrative Office Coordinator, Academic Senate), Jonathan Webster (Graphic Artist), and Dalin Campbell (Veterans Affairs Specialist) will join our outstanding classified staff service.

Cedric Aaron, Jr. will serve as our new Assistant Director for EOPS/CARE under the excellent leadership of Colin Trujillo.

Robert Landry (Assistant Professor in Agriculture) and Susan Gehr (Assistant Professor Librarian) will be added to our cadre of phenomenal faculty next fall.

I want to congratulate Thomas Cossey (upon ratification of the new job description), Scott Pieper, Debbie Romero, and Jose Serrano for their job reclassifications. These are well deserved.

Included in the personnel item was a recommendation to approve or ratify the employee change of status for several of our staff, administrators and managers.  Katrina Hanson will join our outstanding counseling/outreach team as the Administrative Office Coordinator – Counseling and Welcome Center after serving as an Enrollment Services Advisor. Athens Marr will serve as the Student Services Specialist III with a 2 percent bilingual stipend and Jeanette Whitley will move from Early Childhood Education Assistant II to Early Childhood Education Assistant I.

The realignment of our administrative structure resulted in an increase in responsibility and compensation for several of our administrators.

• Dr. George Potamianos has chosen to return to the faculty in fall 2022 after five years of exceptional service as the Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. With George’s retreat to his Professor of History position, we realigned our academic departments under a two executive dean structure. Peter Blakemore agreed to serve as our Interim Executive Dean of Arts and Sciences and Mike Haley agreed to serve as our Interim Executive Dean of Career Education and Workforce Development.
• Alia Dunphy, Interim Dean of Students, was selected to serve as our Interim Director, Human Resources, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Assistant Superintendent.
• Kerry Mayer, Interim Vice President of Instruction, changed to the Interim Vice President of Instruction, Chief Instructional Officer, and Assistant Superintendent.  I want to point out that 76% of her compensation will be paid through the General Fund and 24% through Categorical Funds.
• Julia Morrison, Vice President of Administrative Services, changed to the Vice President of Administrative Services, Chief Business Officer, and Assistant Superintendent.
• Crystal Morse, Interim Associate Vice President, Student Success changed to the Interim Vice President of Student Services, Chief Student Services Officer, and Assistant Superintendent. Please note that 69% of her compensation will be paid by the General Fund and 31% from Categorical Funds.
• Rory Johnson, Dean of the Del Norte Education Center changed to the Dean of the Del Norte Education Center & Pelican Bay Scholars Program.
• Tina Wahlund will vacate the Human Resources Manager position and serve as a Human Resources Analyst.

As you can see in the aforementioned actions, we have five administrators critical to the leadership of the District serving in interim positions—Alia Dunphy (Interim Director of Human Resources), Kerry Mayer (Interim Vice President of Instruction), Mike Haley (Interim Executive Dean), Peter Blakemore (Interim Executive Dean), and Crystal Morse (Interim Vice President of Student Services).  To make sure that we adhere to Education Code and satisfy accreditation standards and eligibility requirements, I will begin the process of filling these interim positions with permanent administrators early next fall. I will focus on filling the Interim Vice President of Instruction and the two Interim Executive Deans positions first and begin advertising for these mission critical instructional administrative positions next September when faculty are back from summer break.  I intend to begin the search processes for the Interim Director of Human Resources and Interim Vice President of Student Services in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Much has been written about the shortage of workers in the private and public sectors.  People are retiring, joining the “Great Resignation”, or simply choosing not work for whatever reason. CR is not immune from this trend. We continue to see critical vacant staff and administrative positions going unfilled.

To ensure that we will be competitive in our administrative recruitments in the coming year, the realignment resulted in an increase in responsibility and salary for the vice presidents and instructional administrators. The salary increases will be offset by eliminating administrative and management positions.  

With so many personnel actions included in this Board meeting, I want to call your attention to Professor Ed Macan’s decision to retire from the District in December 2024. Ed started with CR in August 1994.

Approve Authorization to request proposals to demolish the Old Life and Physical Science Buildings and for Asbestos Abatement in the Old Life and Physical Science Buildings: I am pleased to report that the Board approved the recommendations to identify a company to conduct asbestos abatement and to demolish the LS and PS buildings on the Eureka Campus.

Action/Discussion Items

Approve Monthly Financial Status Report: Our monthly financial report showed that we made few budget adjustments during the July 1, 2021- March 31, 2022 period.

• The Chancellor’s Office issued a system wide revenue deficit of 3.3548%. The revenue deficit may be reduced (hopefully to 0%) over the next year; however, we may not know what our actual 2021-22 revenue will be until February of 2023. Not knowing what our actual revenue will be until a year or so later makes budget forecasting particularly tricky.  That said, we elected to recognize the P1 TCR and increased our SCFF Revenue Budget by $663,921 from $31,217,348 to $31,881,269 million. 
• Other revenue budget adjustments included an $88,800 increase to the State Lottery Revenue and an increase in Other State Revenue of $244,143.
• We decreased our Non-Resident Tuition by $134,000 to reflect actuals to date.
• To acknowledge the contingent nature of the actual receipt of the full TCR, we adjusted the Transfer-Out budget to include an $850,000 revenue contingent Transfer-Out to the Capital Outlay Fund. We may use this additional Transfer Out to support our Education and Facilities Master Plan initiatives—which aligns with two budget priority recommendations made by the Budget Advisory Committee.
• Our overall revenues are trending slightly higher than last year as is our overall expenses. Please note that while our salary and benefit expenses are trending higher than at this point in time last year, these expenses are still aligned with our budgeted amounts.
• Transfers out are comprised of the following:

$90,000           Child Development Center

$59,567           Shively Farm

$820,000         OPEB fund

$600,000         Capital Outlay Fund

$1,569,567      Total

Revenue Contingent Transfer Out of $885,000 to Capital Outlay for Education and Facilities Master Plan Initiatives

• As a result of all of our budget adjustments, our ending fund balance is now projected to be $5,754,440, or 17%.

Resolution 789 for Classified Employee Week: I am extremely pleased to report that the Board of Trustees unanimously approved and amended Resolution 789 honoring our exceptional classified staff colleagues.  The resolution was amended to include an additional “Whereas” clause “WHEREAS, Classified professionals are often the first contact students and our Community have with our District.” I attached a copy of the amended resolution to this summary.

To our maintenance staff, custodians, support staff, and many others I want to say that the Board of Trustees, administrators, managers, and faculty are tremendously appreciative of everything you do for us.  Our classified staff deserve commendation especially during the challenging few years.

First Read of Board Polices and Administrative Procedure: Interim BP 7520 Educational Administrators was pulled from the agenda.  The Board conducted a first reading of revised AP 3516 Registered Sex Offender Information and BP 1200 District Mission.

The draft BP 1200 added new draft language to our Mission Statement developed by the Board’s Ad Hoc Committee comprised of President Mathews, Trustee Dr. Mullery and Trustee Dr. Robertson. The new draft language is:

College of the Redwoods puts the success of each student at the forefront of every strategic effort. The college provides accessible and relevant educational programs that promote student academic achievement, career readiness, and lifelong learning so that our students may thrive in a rapidly changing world. We endeavor to meet the diverse needs of the communities we serve and to be a nimble and pioneering partner in the educational, civic, cultural, and economic development of the region. We recognize the future of learning will require flexibility and resiliency and we are committed to developing and expanding innovative in-person and online
programs and responsive student services. Through assessment and evidence-based research, we continuously improve programs and address equity gaps to ensure that each student has the opportunity and support to succeed. We are dedicated to a just and sustainable world, to fostering a safe and inclusive educational community, and to advancing the values and goals of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

As a next step, I will submit the revised BP 1200 to the College Council for constituent review. I will ask the College Council to review the draft language through the lens of supporting our EMP, bolstering our DEIA efforts, and meeting accreditation standards.  Particularly important are Standard 1.A.1 and Eligibility Requirement 6 which calls on CR to makes sure that our mission describes our broad educational purposes, our intended student population, the types of degrees and other credentials we offer, and our commitment to student learning and student achievement.

Second Read of Board Policies and Administrative Procedures: The Board approved AP 2220 Ad Hoc Committees, BP 2515 Board Advocacy, and AP 2515 Board Advocacy.

Informational Reports (I refer you to the minutes of this Board meeting if you want more detail on the reports from the Academic Senate, CRFO, CSEA and Management Council.)

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Report:  The 2022-2032 Educational Master Plan (EMP) Initiative #6 Increase Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion provides a framework that will influence our diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) policy efforts and guide the development of a strategic DEIA plan.  I raised our DEIA efforts to cabinet level under the Interim Director of Human Resources/EEO/DEIA to ensure that we satisfy the DEIA actions memorialized in the EMP, address structural inequity in policies and procedures, address opportunity gaps, and foster a culture of belonging.

CR/Blue Lake Rancheria Partnership: Dean Mike Haley provided a very in-depth summary of the collaboration between CR and the Blue Lake Rancheria. Here's a link to Mike's presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaYhDYPTDiE

Academic Senate: Academic Senate Chris Gaines thanked several faculty for their leadership pin the Senate including: Erin Wall for her service as Senate President and Vice President; Sean Thomas for his service as the Curriculum Committee Chair; Wendy Riggs for her leadership of the Distance Education Committee; and Karen Reiss for serving as Chair of the ASPC. Chris also informed the Board that Deanna Herrera was elected to serve as Academic Senate Vice President next year and that the Senate will agendize discussion of the book The Great Upheaval.

CRFO: President Haggerty made several comments including that CRFO met with other community college independent unions and that she’s scheduling meetings with legislators.

CSEA: President Engman thanked the Board for passing Resolution 789. She also noted some of the other organizations who passed similar resolutions.

Management Council: President Sorensen made the Board aware of several of initiatives being led our management staff.

Student Trustee:  Student Trustee Rimmey noted that a new student trustee had been elected and that she had 20 submissions for the ASCR art competition. Of the 20 submissions, four were selected as finalists. She also thanked Theresa Sisson for her work in the Multicultural and Diversity Center. Sisson.

Administrative Reports

President/Superintendent's Report: In my written report I noted that:

• We offered the use of the old Eureka Campus Life Science and Physical Science buildings to Humboldt Bay Fire, Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department, and the Sheriff's Department to conduct a series of training exercises, including SWAT drills and controlled burns to help fire fighters understand and react to structure fires.
• As we emerge from the pandemic, it is critical that we build a course schedule that balances the needs of students who want access to classes any time and any place via a virtual format with those who need traditional in-person classes. To address this challenge, and others, it is important that we actively engage our administrators who support the learning and operational enterprise, our students who are the core of the College’s mission, and our faculty who are responsible for what is learned and taught and how it is to be learned, taught, and assessed.
• The Human Resources Department received two nominations for the Kathryn G. Smith Leadership Award. As a next step in the selection process, a committee has been formed to evaluate the nomination materials and make a selection according to the committee's best judgement. Members of the committee include the Director of Human Resources, Marty Coelho, Michelle Haggerty (CRFO representative), Tami Engman (CSEA representative), and Roberta Farrar (Management Council representative). A student representative to the committee has yet to be appointed.
• Mason Koski was elected ASCR Executive Vice President, Winnifred Carpenter was elected as the Klamath-Trinity Instructional Site Senator, and Marabeth Madsen was elected as the Student Trustee and a Senator from the Eureka Campus. Student Trustee Elect Madsen will be sworn into office at the June Board meeting.
• Vice President Julia Morrison was selected to participate in the Association of Chief Business Officials (ACBO) Institute II professional development program. This program is very selective as only fifteen participants are chosen from all over California.

In my verbal comments, I spoke briefly about that The Great Upheaval workshop held on April 29.

Interim Vice President of Instruction Report: Kerry’s written report noted that:

• CR sponsored two CR Cybersecurity teams to compete in the California Cyber Mayor's Cup last month under the guidance of CIS Professor Amy Murphy, The "Red Team" was comprised of Sean Allan, Gabel Ammon, Brian Cobine, Vince Danna, Morgan Beebe, and Evan Zufah. The "Blue Team" was comprised of Roy Hull, Jon Phelan, Stephanie Byrd, Samule Garrido, Sequoyah Schaefer, and Gage Olsen. Both teams made the college proud with their achievements:

• FAR NORTH - College Division (out of 5 colleges)
  • CR Red Team: 1st Place (2 Years Running - Mayor's Cup Trophy is RETAINED for CR!) 
  • CR Blue Team:  2nd Place

• Overall Standing - All Divisions (out of 34 California Teams *college/high school/middle)
  • CR Red Team: 2nd Place
  • CR Blue Team: 12th Place

• The CR Agriculture Department held a successful annual plant sale on April 22 and 23. The sale brought in a record-breaking $19,406 over the two-day event. Combined with the Agriculture Department's poinsettia sale in the fall, greenhouse sales revenue for the 2022 fiscal year total over $20,000. In comparison, last year's sales came in at $18,001.
• Dean George Potamianos reached out to students majoring in Studio Arts for Transfer and had declared an intent to complete the certificate of achievement in Graphic Design & Visual with an email letting them know how close they were to completing the requirements for the certificate and encouraging them to enroll in the class(es) necessary for them to finish the certificate. George’s hands-on attention to student success aligns with the District's Education Master Plan Initiative #4: Establish Stronger Wraparound Experiences for Students' Total Connection. Kerry intends to prioritize similar student communications this summer.
• Our Professional Development Committee (PDC) organized a wonderful "Professional Learning Day" on Friday, April 29th which featured a college-wide introduction to the book, "The Great Upheaval: Higher Education's Past, Present, and Uncertain Future," as a vehicle for the college community to explore the external forces impacting educational systems nationwide and to catalyze conversations around how those forces may impact the District's work in implementing our Education Master Plan (EMP) initiatives. The PDC also offered an opportunity for the CR community to join Cal Poly Humboldt for a virtual Indigenous Bodies, Violence, & Resilience: Lessons for Higher Education lecture by Dr. Blythe George, Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of California, Merced.  Dr. George's research focuses on processes of adversity and resilience in tribal communities with an emphasis on qualitative methodologies and database creation and management.

In her verbal comments, Kerry thanked Chris Gaines and Michelle Haggerty for their collaboration on the April 29 professional development workshops. She also thanked soon to retire Professors Mark Winter and Chris Romero for their outstanding service to the District.

Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia’s written report included the following:

• The Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) finalized the 2022-23 BAC Program Budget Recommendations document. The recommendations included to following: 
• Set aside funding for technology replacement on an annual basis. 
• Provide IT and Maintenance with an appropriate discretionary budget to cover the replacement of projector bulbs, whiteboards, etc. in classrooms and computer labs, rather than relying on the Office of Instruction’s discretionary budget.
• Charge the BAC with developing data driven recommendations on methods for determining a reasonable unrestricted general fund balance, and making prioritized recommendations on how to use funds above and beyond this amount.
• Continue to identify budget for technology and facilities infrastructure renewal to support instruction and the overall student experience.
• Allocate resources to support certain Educational Master Plan initiatives and recommendations from the Facilities Master Plan.
• Work with the Program Review Committee to ensure the executive summary includes the necessary elements to be a more useful pipe line of information.

• Information from the Legislative Analyst’s Office signaled that the 2022-23 COLA may be as high as 6.17%, but that business leaders should still use the Governor's May Revise 5.33% COLA for budgeting.

Julia commented that the BAC will meet again on May 9.

Interim Vice President of Student Services: Crystal Morse wrote that:

• Student Services hired a full-time Outreach Team comprised of Myke Magdaleno, Athens Marron, and Jonathan Bradhurst. The Team will continue to connect with a community of prospective students, provide guided campus visits at the Eureka Campus, outreach to the Del Norte Campus and the Klamath Trinity Instructional Site, and support the Eureka Campus welcome center.   
• The Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) team has completed an initial institutional self-assessment in preparation for the Academic Year 2022-23 project.  As one of 15 community colleges selected by the Chancellor’s Office to participate in this one-year project, our SEM team will work with a dedicated group of strategy coaches to strengthen our enrollment efforts by focusing on and applying holistic strategies and practices throughout the student journey from matriculation to persistence and completion.   

In Crystal’s verbal comments, she thanked the Board for approving the change of employee status for Katrina Hanson. She commented that Katrina’s background and personality makes her a perfect addition to our outreach program.

Executive Director of the Foundation: Marty’s written report noted that:

• We held a Tolowa Sign Ceremony on April 7 on the Del Norte Campus and Tolowa representatives were very appreciative of the recognition and were impressed with the new sign. 
• The Multicultural Center, ASCR, Athletics, and the Foundation partnered to bring motivational speaker Jiggy Moon to campus on April 29 to speak with students before finals.
• Our Athletics Dinner & Auction will be held on August 11, from 5 – 9 pm, in the Eureka Campus gymnasium. 
• A naming recognition ceremony to honor Bruce Emad, Jim Davis, and Doris Anne Peñalosa will be held during the fall convocation.
• The Foundation’s Ad Hoc Naming Committee will meet in May to discuss a recommendation received by the President to name the new Creative Arts building after Floyd Bettiga.  The Foundation's Ad Hoc Naming Committee will forward a recommendation for my consideration following the meeting.
• The Foundation awarded $24,000 in Finish Line Scholars Scholarship funds in the fall semester and $91,500 in the spring semester. 

Approve a Trustee Request to Place an Item on a Future Agenda or Direct Staff to Give a Regular Report: I was asked to provide two reports: 1) Health Benefit analysis for fulltime and part-time employees by employee group; and 2) transfer data (i.e. the April Board meeting student success data agenda item) disaggregated by ethnic group.

Closed Session

Consideration of request under AP 4110 pursuant to Education Code §72122: I am pleased to report that the Board of Trustees approved the recommendation to confer an honorary degree posthumously to former CR student Danielle Maltseva.  I want to share a portion of the narrative that was included in the letter nominating Danielle for the honorary degree.

Danielle was a full time enrolled student who followed her educational plan whose life was transformed through learning. It was the beauty of the area that lured her here, but it was what our CR provided that made her feel like she belonged. Her experience in her classrooms, the inspiration from her instructors, and the connections she formed with other students opened her eyes to the wide world of education, and in it she saw where she fit. She willingly opened her mind to receive our offerings for deeper, critical thinking and to better understand the unfamiliar.

We sent a letter to Danielle’s parents notifying them of the Board’s action and inviting them to attend the Eureka Campus Commencement ceremony to receive Danielle’s honorary degree.

President’s Evaluation Summary: The Board reviewed the survey results of my performance.