Published on 10/3/2022.
Comments/Board Business
Land Acknowledgement: Vice President of the Board Sally Biggin 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.
Appoint Ad Hoc Committee on Nominations for Board Officers: Vice President of the Board Biggin appointed Trustees Mathews, Coppini and Kelley to the ad hoc nominating committee. This ad hoc committee is responsible for the process of identifying current trustees to fill three board officer roles for 2023-24: President, Vice President and Clerk. The names will be submitted to the full Board at the November meeting and voted on at the December meeting.
Reschedule December Organizational Meeting of the Board of Trustees: We had to change the date of the December board meeting from December 9th to the 13th. In an election year, the meeting shall be held within a fifteen (15) day period commencing with the date upon which the elected governing board member takes office (the second Friday in December). The date on which elected trustees will take office this year is December 9, 2022.
Approve Student Trustee Madsen's Participation in the SSCCC Vision Strategy Session: Marabeth was invited by the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) to participate in a Vision Strategy Session. Marabeth will work with student leaders from the CCC, UC, and CSU systems to identify advocacy strategies that they may use to address student financial aid problems.
Consent Calendar Action Items
Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: With the Board’s action we welcome Giselle Cabrero as the Student Services Specialist IV in our Adult and Community Education department. We also welcome five new associate faculty to our college community: Joy Koscielak (Nursing), Kel Stockdale (Nursing), Sharyl Sturdevant (Nursing), Gwilym Walker (Agriculture), and Katie Woerner (Counselor).
Also, the Board ratified my acceptance of Migdalia Cortes Garcia’s resignation as an Upward Bound Academic Advisor effective September 30, 2022. The Board also ratified my acceptance Biology Professor Diqui LaPenta request to retire. Professor LaPenta’s retirement will be effective December 31, 2022.
Approve Resolution 793 in Support of Undocumented Students and Affirming the Privacy of Student Records: The pending decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals about the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the lack of federal legislation to support DACA increases fear and uncertainty in the lives of tens of thousands of undocumented college students across California. I am proud that our Board passed Resolution 793 that calls on the District to:
- not cooperate with any efforts to create a student registry based on any protected characteristics such as religion, national origin, race, or sexual orientation;
- follow the California Community College's (CCC) guidance and not release any student information related to immigration status without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, unless authorized by the student or required by law;
- have a physical location for undocumented students, their families, staff, and faculty to receive resources and services they are entitled under the law;
- celebrate Undocumented Student Action Week every October in collaboration with the CCC Chancellor’s Office and with local agencies to bring awareness and resources to the local community;
- commit to serving and protecting vulnerable populations by ensuring that students, staff, faculty and community members are informed about their rights and responsibilities;
- remain open, safe and welcoming to all students who meet the minimum requirements for admission, regardless of immigration status, and that financial aid remains available to certain undocumented students in alignment with State regulations and local policy;
- urge the current federal government to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants “Dreamers” – people brought to this country as children by their parents - be excluded from deportation if they follow all regulations of the program;
- continue to ensure that all students have an opportunity to receive an education on our campus, regardless of immigration status or any other protected status; and
- join the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and the Chancellor’s Office in vigorously advocating to protect our students and our college’s values.
Action/Discussion Items
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. The monthly financial status report showed a projected 2022-23 Unrestricted General Fund ending fund balance of $6,291,606, or 17.5% of Unrestricted General Fund expenditures.
Transfers out are comprised of the following:
$90,000 Child Development Center
$67,122 Shively Farm
$820,000 OPEB fund
$977,122 Total
Informational Reports
Academy of the Redwoods Presentation: Academy of the Redwoods Principal Arnold King and Fortuna Superintendent Glen Senestraro discussed the Academy of the Redwoods with the Board. Here are some highlights of Arnold’s presentation:
- There are 172 students enrolled in this academic year—45 are in their first year, 60 in their second year, 37 in their third year, and 30 are in their fourth year
- 53% are 1st generation
- 42% are socioeconomically disadvantaged
- Class of 2022 Acceptances—Cal Poly Humboldt, Sonoma State, Southern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii’, Embry Riddle, Culinary Institute of America, Fresno State, Chico State, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UCSB, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
I attached the presentation to this blog article. You will see why AR is so important to CR.
Accreditation Report: Our preparations for our next comprehensive accreditation peer review is underway. We have to submit our ISER to the ACCJC by December 15, 2023. The Peer Review Team will begin reviewing our ISER in Spring 2024. The Focused Site Visit will be in Fall 2024.
Organizational Reports
Academic Senate: President Gaines announced that ASCR President Mason Koski has joined the Academic Senate. As he stated, it’s important to have the student voice represented on Senate. He also discussed a few topics germane that the Academic Senate will discuss in the coming weeks including Guided Pathways, Meta Majors, Education Master Plan goals related to multidisciplinary collaboration, and forming a book club that will give faculty an opportunity to talk about strategic/futuristic issues related to curriculum. He also mentioned that Dan Phillips and Laura Olson, co-chairs of the President’s Council, will meet with the Academic Senate to discuss how the President’s Council can support and promote faculty work.
CRFO: President Haggerty talked about the work she’s doing with the Faculty Association of California Community College (FACCC) and Assmblymember Wood’s office.
Management Council: President Sorensen’s written report included a recognition of Anthony Finck, Ashley Mitchell, and Silas Sarvinski, the agriculture program’s student workers and volunteers for their contributions to the Farm to Table dinner held at the Scotia Lodge. President Sorensen wrote that “We are lucky to have these individuals on our team and we are excited about future collaborations between Dining Services and the CR Shively Farm.”
He also noted that the 24th Annual Campus/Community Dialogue on Race (CDOR) will take place on October 24th - 28th at Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods; the new food trailer, The Food Lab, is open Monday – Friday 11am – 2pm; and IT has been working to improve the wireless connectivity and access across all three campuses.
Student Trustee: Student Trustee Madsen’s report announced that Delaney Holland, a concurrently enrolled Academy of the Redwoods and College of the Redwoods student, is now the ASCR Executive Vice President, Bray Hatch is VP of Finance, and Larry Gutermuth and Stephanie Byrd are Eureka Campus ASCR senators. She also reported that ASCR is working with Crystal Morse and reaching out to CR’s Art Department to explore painting art murals on the utility boxes on our campuses and sites; ASCR agreed to fund gas cards for dorm student’s travel to and from CR’s home football games at Cal Poly Humboldt and for dorm students to travel to Eureka and Arcata in the Spring once Softball and Baseball seasons begins; and ASCR President Koski has been working with community partners at Vote Humboldt and the League of Women Voters to register students and staff to vote.
Administrative Reports
President/Superintendent's Report: In my written report I noted that Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 1655 on September 29, 2022 which added Juneteenth (June 19th) to the list of state holidays in Education Code. This law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2023 for the 2022-23 school year, will require all community colleges and K-12 school districts to close on Juneteenth or pay classified employees who work that day 2.5 times their regular rate of pay. Adherence to this new law will be a district interest in the next calendar negotiation.
I also wrote that CR is included in a toolkit to help community colleges develop their own land acknowledgements and that the screening committee whose task it is to identify the next Vice President for Instruction has started its work. I want to thank Crystal Morse (Interim Vice President of Student Services), Kerry Mayer (Interim Vice President of Instruction), Morgan Solem (Manager, College Grant Initiatives and Programs), Tatiana Robinson (Academic Affairs Analyst), Courtney Sousa (Enrollment Services Advisor), Molly Blakemore (Director of Marketing & Communications), Chris Gaines (Professor of Business and President of the Academic Senate), Shannon Sullivan (Professor of Art), and Mason Koski (ASCR President) for agreeing to serve on the committee. I will chair the committee and Alia Dunphy will serve as the committee’s EEO.
In my verbal comments I congratulated Bob Brown on the Hall of Fame ceremony where Mike Woychak and the 2002 Corsairs softball team were inducted in the Athletic Hall of Fame. I also congratulated Jason White and his football student athletes for a wonderful double overtime win this past weekend against Foothill College. CR was a long shot to win. I want to share an excerpt from Jake Maton’s an online article “Miracle in the redwoods: Corsairs stun Foothill, 44-42” included in the October 3 Times-Standard:
Nobody saw this coming. Not really.
Not the Foothill Owls who had blown out their previous opponents by a collective score of 233-24. Not the reporters (like this one) who had wondered what Redwoods would do to at least keep things competitive against the most dominant team in the California Community College Athletic Conference. Not even the loyal Corsair fans, who had started to become muted with six minutes left in the fourth quarter as Foothill took a 30-22 lead.
The only people who did were in black and red on the east sideline of the Redwood Bowl. And they made sure everyone saw things clearly after the most electric football performance in Humboldt County in years.
[At the end of the game] the players rushed the field in a scene worthy of a movie. But no Hollywood producer would ever believe this could happen. That a team from Humboldt County could take down a titan from south of the San Francisco Bay. That a college that disbanded its football program for two years could beat the best team in California. That the players who made some of the biggest mistakes could make its biggest miracles.
Nobody believed. Except for Jason White and his team in Black and Red.
Here are a few media stories about the game and the hall of fame induction. I encourage you to check them out.
https://humboldtsports.com/2022/10/01/video-highlights-career-day-for-hough-as-corsairs-win-a-thriller/
https://humboldtsports.com/2022/10/01/corsairs-edge-the-owls-in-double-ot-instant-classic-at-the-redwood-bowl/
https://humboldtsports.com/2022/09/30/fortunas-hough-to-get-first-college-start-at-qb-for-the-corsairs/
https://humboldtsports.com/2022/09/28/corsairs-to-induct-new-hall-of-fame-class-this-week/
I also commented that Kerry Mayer, Crystal Morse, Alia Dunphy, Marty Coelho Mike Haley, Peter Blakemore, Michelle Haggerty, Erik Sorensen and I met with Congressman Jared Huffman on Monday. Our discussion touched on the state of our democracy, DACA, the significant economic and workforce development work the college is doing, and the importance of stressing critical thinking in our transfer and career education programs.
Interim Vice President of Instruction Report: Kerry’s written report mentioned that on September 28-30, College of the Redwoods (CR) Dean of Nursing and Allied Health, Shauna Burdick, welcomed a representative from the Board of Vocational Nursing & Psychiatric Technicians (BVNPT) Education Division to CR for a regularly scheduled site visit. This visit was a part of the external process required to maintain accreditation for the LVN programs in Eureka and Del Norte. Kerry thanked Deans Johnson and Burdick as well as Associate Faculty member Tiffany Dodson and Del Norte staff members Shane Stodola, Cody Love, Cody Yeates, and Lindsay Ford for their work on ensuring that a number of upgrades were completed on the classroom and lab.
Kerry also wrote that she joined about seventy others in attending CR's first ever "Farm to Table" dinner which highlighted meat and produce grown at the Shively Farm. She thanked the following CR staff, students, and volunteers for creating a wonderful evening: Silas Sarvinski, Anthony Finck, Ashley Mitchell, Gussie Solem, Lindsay Wright, Alan Rodriguez, Meerae Park, Timothy Shea, Fern McBride, Christie Moore, Sierra Lucky, Netanya Arevalo, Cheyenne Brasuell, Morgan Solem, Emily Sarvinski, and Erika Diaz.
In Kerry’s verbal comments, she announced that CR will not receive any findings resulting from the recent LVN site visit.
Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia’s written report noted that the Business Office wrote off all student accounts receivable that was 3 years or older which was a little over $2 million. Prior to the write off, the student accounts receivable balance was $3.621 million. After the write-off, the balance at June 30, 2021 was $1.508 million. We will continue to write-off student accounts receivable that is three years or older as part of the annual year-end process. For comparison, here are the student account receivable balances for the past seven years:
- June 30, 2022 - $1,571,486
- June 30, 2021 - $1,508,874
- June 30, 2020 - $3,393,715
- June 30, 2019 - $3,952,652
- June 30, 2018 - $3,607,024
- June 30, 2017 - $3,525,964
- June 30, 2016 - $3,510,678
The aging accounts receivable balances at June 30, 2022 were:
- Less than 1 year old - $1,134,398
- 1 to 2 years old - $199,798
- 2 to 3 years old - $237,290
- Over 3 years old - $0
Julia’s verbal comments mentioned that the Budget Advisory Committee is working on providing some Draft BP 2800 General Fund Reserve recommended language as well as a few revenue-contingent budget priorities in the event that actual revenue exceeds estimated revenue and the Unrestricted General Fund reserve levels exceed the Chancellor’s Office recommendation of 2-months’ worth of General Fund expenditures.
Interim Vice President of Student Services Report: Crystal’s report noted that College of the Redwoods was among the California Community Colleges approved for a $280,000 annual minimum MESA award through 2026-27. MESA programs are designed to increase the number of economically and educationally disadvantaged students pursuing degrees in mathematics, engineering, science, and technology, and increase the rate at which MESA students are deemed transfer ready in STEM majors, and improve MESA students' academic performance, leadership skills and educational expectations.
In Crystal’s verbal comments, she thanked the Board for passing Resolution 793 at this Board meeting. She also spoke to the expansion of the Multicultural & Equity Center to include undocumented student support and thanked our Multicultural & Equity Center staff for hosting a series of webinars and on-campus activities during the third week of October for the annual Undocumented Student Action Week (USAW). The activities are designed to raise awareness about the challenges undocumented students continue to face and discuss solutions.
CCC Chancellor’s Office Webinar Watch Party
Monday, October 17, 2022 - Friday, October 21, 2022
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. each day
Multicultural and Equity Center (LRC 102) or register to receive an individual link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gVFJeHJ4Q1GB39NdeP538g
MEC Immigration Awareness Movie Screenings
Monday, October 17, 2022 - Friday, October 21, 2022
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. each day
Multicultural and Equity Center (LRC 102) or https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/9286112909
Monday: The Liberator
Synopsis: Simón Bolívar battles the Spanish Empire in order to liberate South America.
2013; Rating R; Runtime 119 minutes
Tuesday: Who is Dayani Cristal?
Synopsis: After the body of an unidentified immigrant is found in the Arizona desert, a director and an actor embed themselves among migrant travelers on their own mission to cross the border.
2013; Rating NR; Runtime 85 minutes
Wednesday: Under the Same Moon
Synopsis: Even across thousands of miles, the special bond between a mother and son can never be broken. It gives hope to Carlitos, a scrappy nine-year-old boy whose mother, Rosario, has gone to America to build a better life for both of them.
2008; Rating PG-13; Runtime 109 minutes
Thursday: Walkout
Synopsis: Depiction of the 1968 protests by Chicano students for better conditions and treatment in East Los Angeles high schools.
2006; Rating NR; Runtime 110 minutes
Friday: Cesar Chavez
Synopsis: This biopic follows civil-rights activist Cesar Chavez as he attempts to balance his fight against social injustice with his duties as a husband and father.
2014; Rating PG-13; Runtime 101 minutes
Financial Aid Options for Undocumented Students
Presenter: Irene Gonzalez-Herrera, College of the Redwoods UndocuLiaison
Tuesday, October 17, 2022
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Multicultural and Equity Center (LRC 102) or https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/9286112909
What is an ITIN?
Presenter: Alex Freitas, CHIRLA Paralegal
Friday, October 21, 2022
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Multicultural and Equity Center (LRC 102) or https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/9286112909
Executive Director of the Foundation Report: In Marty’s written report, he noted that he is working with Ericka Barber of the Business Office and Stephen Quiggle, the advisor for ASCR, on establishing fundraising protocols for ASCR clubs. He’s also redesigning the Foundation website to include tabs for the Redwoods Championship Club, the Presidential Innovation Funds, the CR Dinner & Auction, and Community Stadium 2.0.