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Published on 9/5/2022.

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.

Board Committee Reports: The Audit Committee met immediately prior to the regular meeting of the Board to discuss the District’s 2022-23 Final Budget.

Approve President/Superintendent Employment Agreement: The Board approved a revision to my contract. The language changes is focused on the term and my compensation for 2022-23. The Board changed the term of my contract to begin on July 1, 2022 and end on June 30, 2026. My annual salary will be $257,421.50 (my 2021-22 salary) plus a percentage increase equal to the other senior administrators plus a COLA of 6.56%.  My new salary aligns with my administrative and management colleagues. All administrators, managers, and confidential staff have been given salary augmentations this year via step increases and the full COLA pass-through.

Role of Trustees in Fundraising for the District: Trustees can bring both legitimacy and leverage to CR’s fundraising efforts. With this agenda item, the Trustees had a discussion on what they see as their role in fundraising for our academic and service programs. I believe that all fundraising activities should go through the Foundation to ensure coordination, consistency, and general oversight. The Foundation can provide assistance with fundraising best practices, marketing support in coordinating with our marketing/communications team, and can help ensure proper branding. President of the Board Mathews asked Trustee Dr. Robertson and Trustee Kelley to look at including trustee involvement in fundraising when BP 2715 is reviewed.

Consent Calendar Action Items

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: With the Board’s action we welcome Migdalia Cortes Garcia (Academic Advisor, Special Programs, Upward Bound) and Lauryn Cortez (Student Services Specialist IV, Del Norte) to our classified service.

We also welcome a new administrator, two new fulltime faculty, and 10 new associate faculty.

Shauna Burdick will join our administrative team as an Interim Dean of Nursing and Allied Health. Prior to serving as our Interim Dean, Shauna served as the Director of Clinical Education at Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City. Heather Payne joins our faculty as a new Assistant Professor, Nursing (one-semester replacement) effective September 1, 2022. Joining Heather in our Nursing Department is Janis Polos as Assistant Professor, Nursing effective August 18, 2022. Our new associate faculty for fall semester are Justin Claus (Coach), Katharine Eilers (DSPS Counselor), Eric Helms (Coaching), Laura Kirkpatrick-Dib (Adult Education), Brian Lancaster (Adult Education), William Madaras (Construction Technology), Maurice Purify (Coaching), Joanna Rincon-Taylor (Nursing), Gary Rynearson (Forestry/Natural Resources), and Matthew Stevens (Nursing).

The Board also ratified my acceptance of several resignations and one retirement.

Resignations

• Alice Abler – Early Childhood Education Assistant II, Child Development Center – last day of employment August 22, 2022
• Lydia Carpenter – Evaluation Specialist, Enrollment Services – last day of Employment August 22, 2022
• Lili Chen, Financial Literacy Advising Specialist – last day of employment August 31, 2022
• Lynn Durkee – Disabled Students Program Specialist, Del Norte Education Center – last day of employment August 26, 2022
• Leah Lancaster – Early Childhood Education Assistant II, Child Development Center – last day of employment August 8, 2022
• Joseph Lang – Early Childhood Education Assistant I, Child Development Center – last day of employment August 19, 2022

Retirement

• Roberta Farrar, Professor of Nursing – last day of employment May 13, 2023

Approve/Ratify Contracts, Agreements, MOUs: Included in the list of agreements to approve or ratify this month was a $535,200 contract with Unlimited Environmental of Long Beach. Unlimited Environmental was awarded the contract to demolish the old Life Science and Physical Science buildings on the Eureka Campus. We hope to start the demolition process after the barn swallow nesting period ends.

Action/Discussion Items

Approve Final Budget: The Board approved our final 2022-23 budget. Here’s a brief summary of what was included in the final budget:

• A 6.56% COLA, an increase to Community College base funding, as well as the addition of on-going and one-time funds to address deferred maintenance, student basic needs, outreach and retention, and COVID-19 recovery.
• An ongoing assumption that we will minimize operational costs as much as possible, achieve operational efficiencies, and continue to strengthen the ending fund balance. 
• An increase to the non-resident fee was increased to $18 per unit.
• A total unrestricted general fund expenditure budget for 2022-23 of $34,973,601, which is an increase of $3,450,513, or 11%, from 2021-2022 expenditures.
• An increases to the salary budget that was driven by a pass-through of the 6.56 % COLA to CSEA, Confidentials, Managers, and Administrators, as well as an increase in the number of class sections.
• An increase in the benefits budget to reflect the increase in the salary budget.  
• An increase in the operating budget to account for the full reinstatement of the PE/Athletics discretionary budget, $300,000 for student accounts receivable (bad debt), and funds to start the Police Department.  
• A continued commitment to transfers-out $90,000 for the Child Development fund, $67,122 for the Shively Farm fund, and $820,000 for the OPEB fund.
• A fund balance budget increase by $537,166 or .5% to 17.5%. 
• A continued commitment to review every permanent and temporary vacant positions to consider whether the positions should be filled or restructured for savings.  Any potential savings will be reflected in the 2022-23 Position Inventory.

The final budget is attached to this summary blog.

Approve Monthly Financial Status Report: This month’s report covered the period of July 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022 or 8.33% of the fiscal year and aligns with the 2022-23 final budget.

Transfers out are comprised of the following:

 $90,000         Child Development Center

  $67,122         Shively Farm

$820,000         OPEB fund

$977,122         Total

The monthly financial status report shows a projected 2022-23 Unrestricted General Fund ending fund balance of $6,291,606, or 17.5% of Unrestricted General Fund expenditures.

First Read of Board Policy and Administrative Procedure: An ad hoc committee of the Board (Group 1) submitted several policies and administrative procedures for a first read. The Trustees asked me to send BP 2715 to our legal counsel to review prior to a second read.

Informational Reports

Humboldt Rising: We asked Ms. Dianna Rios and Ms. Allie Jones to discuss the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and Humboldt Rising to the Board of Trustees. If you don’t know, CEDS is Humboldt County’s framework to grow a diverse and thriving economy. Marty Coelho has been CR’s representative on the CEDS.  I attached a copy of the presentation to this summary. There are several upcoming “Roadshow Dates” that will give community members a chance to have a voice in the future of Humboldt County.  I want to share three “Roadshow Date” in case you want to get involved.

GREATER EUREKA

Wednesday, Sept. 7, 5:30-7 PM

Sequoia Conference Center

901 Myrtle Avenue, Eureka

NORTH COUNTY

Thursday, Sept. 8th, 5:30-7 PM

Trinidad Town Hall

409 Trinity Street, Trinidad

COMMUNITY LEADERS

Thursday, Oct. 27th, 

Arcata Community Center

321 Dr. M.L.K. Jr Pkwy, Arcata

DEIA Report: The Administration approved adding two new classified positions to the student services area— a Multicultural and Equity Center Student Development Advisor and a Bilingual Outreach Student Development Advisor. These positions will focus on improving access, transition, and retention of students from groups traditionally underrepesented and marginalized in College. 

Professional Development Update: Kerry Mayer and Crystal Morse are working together to provide outstanding and relevant professional development opportunities to our faculty and staff including the following:

• Caring Campus—This initiative of the Institute for Evidence-Based Change (IEBC) Caring Campus program is to increase student retention and success in community colleges by creating and cultivating caring environments through the intentional inclusion of all classified professionals in student success efforts. The Caring Campus initiative recognizes and leverages the classified staff’s ability to create a connectedness for increasing the likelihood that students will attaining their educational goals. We all can point to classified staff who formally or informally help students succeed. This connection cannot be overestimated. CR's cohort, comprised of one classified/confidential professional from each department on each campus. Working in concert with the District's leadership team and the Campus Liaison (Dr. Crystal Morse, Interim VPSS), CR's cohort has the opportunity to directly strengthen the College's efforts to achieve the Vision for Success goals.  Caring Campus will begin with a Leadership Kickoff on September 20, 2022, followed by cohort training, planning, development, and implementation throughout the remainder of this academic year.

• Leadership Training—Administrators and managers will have the opportunity to participate in Leadership Results Training, a 6-month training plan customized and led by Robbins Research International. This program will kick off with a day-long training on September 9, followed by additional monthly sessions via Zoom.  This training plan includes the following modules: The Psychology of a Leader; DISC Communications - Communication Strategies & Styles Based on Personality Type; The 7 Master Steps to Creating Lasting Change; Rapid Planning Method (RPM), Value Chain - Mapping Processes and/or Activities that Impact Our Services; and Decision Making using the OOC/EMR Technique (Outcomes, Options, Consequences/Evaluate, Mitigate, Resolve)

• Reinstatement of "College Hour" on Fridays—We worked with the Academic Senate last spring semester to bring back a dedicated "College Hour" each week (Fridays, from 11:30 am to 1 pm) that will provide a common meeting time for faculty, staff, and administrators to come together to work on issues of common interest as well as to provide time for regular professional development offerings. Kerry, Crystal and Alia have been working closely to schedule a slate of professional development sessions to include in College Hour.  For September, these include: September 9: Leadership Training; September 16: All-Faculty Meeting (Re: General Education Recommendations); September 23: De-escalation Strategies & Situational Student Support; and September 30: eLumen Training: Making programmatic changes in eLumen (and advancing those changes through the regular curriculum process). We hope that reinstating the College Hour will give us the opportunity to come together to engage in meaningful professional development and to collaborate on initiatives related to our Education Master Plan and the future of our institution.

Faculty Professional Development Opportunities This Fall—In addition to professional development sessions scheduled during the College Hour, faculty and associate faculty have the following additional, specialized professional development opportunities available to them this fall: The Office of Instruction, in conjunction with the Academic Senate, the Faculty Development Committee, and the Senate Distance Education Committee, have invited full- and part-time faculty to participate in the professional development course Designing Learner-Centered and Equitable Courses offered by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). This reflective-practice, cohort-based course will focus on six modules: Ensuring Learner-Centered Course Outcomes, Designing Aligned Assessments and Assignments, Aligning Learning Experiences with Course Outcomes, Creating Equity with Checklists and Rubrics, Developing Equitable Grading Practices, and Preparing an Inclusive Syllabus.

This is the second of three ACUE-based cohort trainings that have been offered to fulltime and associate faculty.

Organizational Reports

Academic Senate: Senate President Gaines talked about the discussion the Academic Senate is holding relative to the new Ethnic Studies requirement. Community college students who plan to earn an associate degree will need to take a three-unit semester or four-unit quarter class in ethnic studies. A task force of California community college stakeholders led by the Chancellor’s Office in coordination with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is talking about the implementation of the ethnic studies requirement as well as the definition of courses that will satisfy the requirement.

Under the policy students may use the required ethnic studies course to meet a general education requirement for the associate degree. The California Community Colleges is working with California State University and University of California with the goal of ensuring these courses are accepted for their transfer admissions requirements. Students pursuing a certificate at a community college would not be subject to the new policy.

CRFO: President Haggerty mentioned the advocacy work faculty completed over the summer.

CSEA: President Engman mentioned that CSEA ratified several contractual agreements.

Management Council: President Sorensen’s written report noted that:

• Management Council continues to meet via Zoom and is engaged in discussions regarding transitioning future meetings into an in-person or hybrid format. 
• The Management Council thanked the administration for extending the opportunity to managers to participate in the Leadership Results Training session, scheduled for September 9th. As a group, they are excited to participate in this opportunity and look forward to connecting, growing, and learning with their colleagues.
• Additionally, Management Council expressed gratitude to the staff members for their hard work and dedication to the District. Working through COVID-19 has presented challenges and they appreciate the commitment to our students and College mission. 

Student Trustee: Student Trustee Madsen’s report included the following information:

• Further recruitment efforts are in development for our remaining vacant positions: Executive Vice President, VP of Records, VP of Finance, Executive Organizational Senator, Organizational Senator, KT Representative and Campus senators.
• ASCR Senate met on August 19, 2022, from 10am-3pm in the Mendocino Lounge, facilitated by Dr. Kintay Johnson and discussed recruitment and communication strategies, club chartering processes, agenda structure, and financials.
• ASCR approved $1,300 to support Welcome Week activities, including food and prizes, at Del Norte and Eureka campuses. ASCR donated safety whistles for any interested students, faculty, or staff.
• At the meeting on August 10, 2022, ASCR brought up the idea of using some of ASCR’s funds to support a student grant program for students in need. On August 25, ASCR approved this program and voted to set up a committee including Dr. Crystal Morse, VP of Student Services, to further discuss the details of implementation and equitable, unbiased administration of the program.
• Darren Turpin, Jr., Interim Assistant Director of Residential Life and CR Women’s Basketball Coach, presented an informational request that ASCR help fund transportation for dorm students to travel to CR’s five home football games at the Cal Poly Humboldt Redwood Bowl. Games will take place at 1pm on 9/10, 9/24, 10/1, 11/5, 11/12. Darren is requesting 12 $20 gas cards for each game, and possibly also funding a certain number of city bus day passes if the city bus schedule makes sense with the football schedule.
• API (Asian and Pacific Islander) Club, Crafting Club, Computer Science Club, Pelican Bay Garden Club, and Redwoods 180 Bible Club have been approved as official ASCR recognized clubs. ASCR also voted to raise seed funding for clubs from a one-time $200 financial payment with their initial charter to a $500 annual funding contribution when a club’s charter or re-charter application is approved.
• ASCR approved using Boardocs for public posting and public record keeping of ASCR agendas, minutes, and relevant public meeting documents. ASCR will work with Laura Meglemre on this transition.
• ASCR is exploring the possibility of hosting a free rummage event at the Eureka Campus, where anyone  can bring functional, usable items to donate and anyone can take anything they can use, all for free. ASCR is looking at the fourth Saturday of September for this event. ASCR will be working with the administration and classified staff for scheduling and location details. CR's clothing closet and dorm management will have first dibs on any leftovers, then ASCR’s advisor Stephen Quiggle has volunteered to take responsibility for donating or disposing of any leftover items.
• ASCR convened a special meeting on Thursday September 1, 2022 at 3:30pm to review their By-laws. ASCR will also be reviewing our Constitution, Club Funding Guidelines, and setting a budget at a special meeting in the near future.

Administrative Reports

President/Superintendent's Report: In my administrative report, I noted that AB 1655 (Jones-Sawyer), a bill that would add June 19, known as “Juneteenth,” to the list of state holidays, was ordered to the Legislature’s special consent calendar on August 30, 2022 and sent to Engrossing and Enrolling after the Senate and Assembly reread the bill for a third time. I also touched on how important our distance education program is to our future, the appointment of Dr. Crystal Morse to the Chancellor's Office Ethnic Studies Task Force, and the nomination of Mr. Dan Phillips for the CCLC 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award.

In my verbal comments I mentioned that we will hold a commencement ceremony for our Pelican Bay Scholars program for the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022 on Thursday, October 6. We will have two separate ceremonies. One beginning at 9am and the other at 1pm. Each ceremony will be between 45 minutes to an hour or so with time afterwards to mingle with students and others. I also mentioned that POST approved our request to be designated as a community college with a police department.  We intend to swear Michael Perkins in as our inaugural Police Chief at the October or November Board meeting. Lastly, I thanked my CR colleagues for their well wishes and support as I dealt with the recent death of my brother and son.

Interim Vice President of Instruction Report: In Kerry’s written report, she noted that CR partnered with Humboldt County Office of Education’s Career and College Resource Department to offer a three-week program entitled Technology Experience Summer Institute (TESI) that was free to students. The purpose of this program was to give high school students the opportunity to explore career fields in Information Communication Technologies (ICT). There were 16 local high school students who applied to join this program. Students completed an application, which included an essay describing their motivation to participate in the program and their interest in attending CR in the future. In addition to receiving instruction in topics such ICT Concepts and Terminology, Infrastructure, Software Development and Security, students also toured local businesses to see the career opportunities available locally in ICT. The local businesses that served as field trip sponsors included Dalet Access Labs, Harper Motors, Coast Central Credit Union, Crestmark Architectural Millworks, Access Humboldt, IBM, and HCOE Information Technology Department. As the students participated in these fieldtrips, they were able to earn ½ unit of college credit in the Cooperative Education course CE-42. At the end of the program some of the students even elected to complete the CompTIA ITF+ Fundamentals Exam. There were many CR employees who made this program come together this summer including Associate Professor Clay McLaughlin who taught the students in this program, Assistant Professor of CIS Amy Murphy was instrumental in initiating this program and its development, ISS III Morgan Beebe offered instructional support in the classroom, and Career Center Manager Montel VanderHorck helped students secure the attainment of college credit, and Executive Dean Mike Haley worked with HCOE to bring the TESI program to CR.

Kerry’s report also touched on our fall convocation. The convocation week began with tech-focused Distance Education sessions aimed at faculty, and these were followed by in-depth orientation sessions for both associate faculty on the Eureka campus, Pelican Bay faculty on the Del Norte Campus, and full-time tenure-track faculty from across the District. The general session on Thursday featured a keynote address by the co-chairs of the President's Advisory Council, Dan Phillips and Laura Olsen, who helped faculty and staff begin to answer the question, "How Does CR Become More Agile, Relevant, and Responsive to our Community?" Breakout sessions on Thursday afternoon and Friday focused on a range of topics including the Outdoor Campus Collaborative, statewide legislation impacting California community colleges, de-escalation strategies for public-facing workers, guided pathways, and program-level assessment and mapping, among others.

Kerry commented on the FACCC and Chancellor’s Office representative visit to the College during convocation.

Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia’s written report publicized that we will receive $5,531,960 in onetime Physical Plant and Instructional Support (PPIS) funds. We will allocate our funds to Instructional Support, Physical Plant, Water Conservation, and Energy Efficiency. Julia’s report also noted the dates and times of three open forums in case you want to go through the college’s final 2022-23 budget.                

Thursday, September 8^th, 2022 from 9:00 am - 9:30 am

             https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/89196722300  

Dial: (669) 900 6833

Meeting ID: 891 9672 2300

Monday, September 12^th, 2022 from 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm

https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/84291654420   

Dial: (669) 900 6833

Meeting ID: 842 9165 4420

Thursday, September 15^th, 2022 from 11:00 am - 11:30 am

https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/88184349363  

Dial: (669)  900 6833

Meeting ID: 881 8434 9363

Julia mentioned that she intends to meet with constituent groups to discuss the final budget in addition to the open forums.

Interim Vice President of Student Services Report: In Crystal’s written report, she noted that Katrina Hanson (Retention Coordinator) and the planning team hosted Welcome Back events on the Del Norte Campus, the Klamath Trinity Instructional Site, and the Eureka Campus during the first week of the fall term.  She thanked all programs and services who tabled for the events, community partners who shared time on campus, the extended community providers who traveled from across the state to connect with students, and the Marketing and Maintenance staff for going above and beyond. 

Crystal mentioned that Katrina Hanson and Mike Magdaleno are the “tip of the spear” for our enrollment efforts.  

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

• More than 400 community members attended the College of the Redwoods Dinner and Auction on August 11.
• The Foundation hosted a ceremony to honor three individuals being recognized through the naming of facilities at the Eureka campus, on August 17.  Bruce Emad and Jim Davis were recognized for their service to the District. Fernando Peñalosa was recognized for his $100,000 gift to the CR nursing program with the naming of the Nursing Skills lab after his wife Doris, a long-time nurse.
• The President’s Economic and Academic Innovation Funds are now open for grant applications by students, staff, faculty, and the community.  Applications will be posted to the Foundation’s website and in the interim can be obtained by contacting the Foundation office. 

Marty commented that CR has been a platinum level partner with CEDS and sponsor of the economic development summit for a time.