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Published on 10/3/2023.

Audit Committee Meeting

We held Audit Committee prior to the regular meeting of the Board. Julia and I wanted to discuss the potential financing for our new dorms and community stadium upgrades prior to presenting the information at this board meeting.

Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees

Comments/Board Business

Land Acknowledgement:  President of the Board Biggin read the District’s formal statement recognizing 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 Pedrotti stated that she is working on her Excellence in Trusteeship certificate, and she attended the men’s basketball team playoff game. Trustee Mathews mentioned that she attended the League’s government affairs webinar that discussed several community college related bills introduced in the Legislature. President Biggin noted that she attended the DEIA workshop and the MEC event “What is Drag” presented by Tucker Noir.

Consent Calendar Action Items

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: With approval of this agenda item, we continue to build up our campus safety department with the hiring of Ryan Bass, Jesus Hernandez, and Sebastian Sisson as Campus Safety Officers (CSO) and Joshua Stanley’s employee status change from CSO to Lead CSO. We welcome Daisy Ceja as an Early Childhood Development Assistant I, Paul Castillo as associate faculty in Coaching, and Erik Rubalcava as an associate faculty in Fire Technology. We also congratulate Johanna Peterson-Helzer for her employee change of status from Administrative Office Coordinator to Manager of Maintenance and Operations.

The Board also ratified my acceptance of the resignations of Jolisa Eslinger (ECE Assistant I) and Carla Santsche (AOA II).

Approve Request for Proposal for Community Stadium Upgrade Project Design Services: With this agenda item, I sought Board approval to invite proposals from qualified vendors to collaborate with us to finalize our Community Stadium Upgrade Project design scope and create the project drawings. Once completed, the appropriate designs will be submitted to the Division of the State Architect (DSA) for review and approval prior to bid and construction.

Revise Student Nonresident Tuition Fee and Student Nonresident Capital Outlay Fee for 2023-24: On February 7, the Board approved a recommendation to increase our nonresident tuition fee to $415 (with the $1 capital outlay fee). After the February 7 Board meeting, we discovered that Shasta College and Mendocino College decided to keep their nonresident tuition fee at $295.

We believe that the disparity in nonresident tuition fee amounts would put us at a competitive disadvantage for the recruitment and retention of nonresident students. This is problematic given our focus to regain lost enrollment in both face-to-face and distance education courses. That said, I recommended that the Board approve a reduction of the nonresident tuition fee to $295 per unit including the nonresident $1 capital outlay fee to mirror Shasta College and Mendocino College.

Action/Discussion Items

Approve 2022-2025 Faculty Contract: This is good day for College of the Redwoods students and our college community. The District and CRFO representatives have worked for several months on a revised collective bargaining agreement. We should all thank the bargaining teams from CRFO and the District who remained determined to find solutions to several complex and far-reaching issues. The CRFO team included Levi Gill, John Johnston, and Natalia Margulis. Ericka Barber, Bob Brown, Alia Dunphy, and Jack Miyamoto made up the District’s Team. I want to thank Associate Faculty member Shannon Mondor for facilitating the discussions.

I believe that the terms of the multi-year agreement will enable us to better serve the changing needs of our students, respond to our fiscal and enrollment challenges, and focus on our accreditation efforts. The agreement also recognizing the vitally important—and different—roles our fulltime and associate faculty play in the healthy functioning of the institution. We can now continue to focus on our students who rely on us to support their academic success.

I want to provide a few highlights of the contract:

Salary

Increase all salary cells by the COLA and solve the salary structuring problem by increasing all cells by a flat dollar amount in year 1.  Providing a flat dollar amount to each cell will give faculty early in their career a higher percentage increase than senior faculty.  

Associate Faculty Healthcare

AB 190 includes the addition of $200 million dollars to encourage community colleges to provide medical insurance to qualified associate faculty that is equivalent to that provided full-time faculty.  We agreed to take some time to do our due diligence on this issue given the guidance from the Legislature and Chancellor’s Office is ambiguous.

Additional Features in the Contract Include:

• Ensuring a safe working and learning environment for faculty, staff, and students was included in a new Safety Article.
• Providing clarity for conducting investigations of faculty and the criteria and steps for implementing progressive discipline has been included in a new Investigations and Progressive Discipline Article.
• Increasing the hourly rate for associate faculty for up to one hour of outcomes assessment per semester from $20 to $55.
• Increasing the hourly rate for SARTCo agreements, summer work, associate faculty curriculum update stipends, and associate faculty hourly work for District-approved committee service from $40 to $55.
• Requiring probationary faculty to be responsible for college service during first year.
• Including student consultation hours as part of an associate faculty member’s professional responsibility.
• Increasing Early Notice of Intent to Retire Incentive from $2,000 to $2,500 for 12 months’ notice and from $2,500 to $3,000 for 24 months’ notice.
• Developing a Districtwide active shooter/assailant training plan that will include various active shooter/assailant scenarios and a campus safety assessment and recommendations for increasing the campuses preparedness. The plan will consider faculty classroom safety, including inside classroom door locks and classroom communication devices.

We Agreed to Several Contract Reopeners

• Each party may annually request to reopen on any three articles of choice during 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, of which only two may relate to economic issues, as well as any other articles mutually agreed upon.
• Continue negotiating criteria for applying occupational experience for initial step and column placement of new faculty and associate faculty in vocational-technical disciplines.
• Continue negotiating articles related to distance education and revisions to Article XI: Faculty Tenure and Evaluations.
• Provide an opening proposal related to Assembly Bill 190 for providing associate faculty medical insurance to CFRO by July 1, 2023.

Informational Reports

Recognition of Student Athletes: College of the Redwoods student-athletes exemplify what intercollegiate athletics is all about. We have repeatedly stated that the District is dedicated to building a student-centric athletic program that was committed to ensuring all our student-athletes can compete at the highest level athletically and achieve at the highest level academically. Bob Brown highlighted the academic and athletic achievements of our student athletes at this Board meeting. The Trustees stood and applauded the student-athletes who gathered in the Boardroom.

One thing I would like to point out is that, according to the Institutional Research Office, our student athletes have transferred at significantly higher rates than the rest of our students.

 

New Student Housing Facility and Community Stadium Upgrade Financing:  We sent an Affordable Student Housing Grant Application for $28.415 million to the State for round two of the funding cycle. Even when we get the State funds, we will have to secure financing for the remaining $24.87 million to complete the construction of the new student housing complex. Additionally, the District has been involved in discussions with the Audit Committee and KNN Finance about the student housing design phase gap and the finances needed for the Community Stadium Project funding. I attached KNN’s presentation to this blog summary for your information.

Organizational Reports

Academic Senate: Academic Senate President Gaines noted that the Senate and CRFO are working collegially on 10+1 issues. He also noted that artificial intelligence has caused us to reexamine our student conduct policy and enhance our faculty development program to address advances in technology.

CRFO: CRFO President Haggerty’s comments included thanking the Board for approving the new collective bargaining agreement.

Classified: President Engman thanked the classified staff who serve on hiring committees and operational/planning committees.

Management Council: Management Council President Sorenson provided a written report that noted three department updates:

• The Job Market working with Katrina Hansen on a Career Exploration Day.
• EOPS applications close on March 10 for the semester.
• Maintenance has addressed some path lighting issues that are present on campus. They are working diligently on addressing the remaining lighting issues.

Student Trustee: Student Trustee Madsen’s written report included:

• ASCR is working closely with Marty Coelho at the Foundation to establish scholarships.
• ASCR has elected Danny Jimenez as VP of Finance, Paul Constance as VP of Communications, and Ishwar Sharma as Eureka Campus Senator.
• ASCR has approved the club charters for Educated Radicals at Pelican Bay, and Tales of Xira at Eureka Campus. Tales of Xira is a tabletop game developed by a CR student.
• ASCR approved $400 to sponsor CR’s cybersecurity students participating in the upcoming Mayor’s Cup Competition. This is a competition CR has placed first and second in recent years.  
• ASCR President Mason Koski attended Access Humboldt’s recent member event and ASCR is looking at ways to support student engagement with Access Humboldt and their media resources and trainings.
• ASCR provided a table at Arts Alive in Eureka on March 4th from 5pm-8pm.
• ASCR members Paul Constance and Marabeth Madsen collaborated with some assistance from ChatGPT to write vision and mission statements for ASCR.
• Some ASCR senate members are going to be traveling to the Klamath Trinity site to support their Mid-semester Celebration on March 21, 2023 (weather permitting). ASCR funded the catering for this event.

Administrative Reports

President/Superintendent's Report: In my written report I noted that we are partnering with the Yurok Tribe and Cal Poly Humboldt on an initiative to create a local workforce for the proposed development of floating offshore wind projects. The partnership represents a significant step forward in our shared commitment to workforce development and providing opportunities for members of the Yurok community to acquire new skills and knowledge, especially in emerging technologies such as offshore energy.

In my verbal comments I thanked Joshua Stanley, Ryan Bass, Darren Turpin, and Sergeant Corrie Watson for their efforts in addressing the recent death of the student in the dorms. Dr. Morse, Sergeant Watson, Darren Turpin, and I met with the parents and extended family on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

Additionally, our Emergency Operation Center group debriefed the incident and developed areas of improvement including NARCAN training for employees and students, expanding use of radios, improving our communication plan, and developing a comprehensive threat analysis and response plan.

Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia’s written report included a timeline for our capital projects:  

• Despite the wet weather, the general contractor and sub-contractors are keeping the New Creative Arts Complex project moving forward. Substantial project completion is estimated to be late July 2023. According to the current schedule, the New Creative Arts Complex will be operational for the 2023 Fall semester.
• The Physical Education Drop and Replace project Working Drawings phase is taking longer than anticipated. We hope to gain DSA approve soon, with authorization to move into the bid process following shortly after. It is anticipated that the lowest bid will come in higher than the project budget, and the District will have to get authorization from the State before the bid can be awarded. The final completion estimate is summer 2026.
• We held a New Student Housing Facility design kick-off meeting on February 22, 2023 with representatives from the architectural firm KTGY and project manager Servitas. While the design process can typically take 6-8 months, the architect will work with the District to try to have a finished product in 3-5 months. The finished design will be submitted to DSA for review and approval, a process that could take around 6 months or longer. The project will go out to bid for the general contractor after DSA approves the design. According to the current schedule, the New Student Housing Facility could be operational by the 2026 Fall semester.   
• The Solar Microgrid Project interconnection application is currently being reviewed by PG&E. The interconnection application response is anticipated to be received in the next few weeks. If the response is favorable and doesn't include any required costly upgrades, construction mobilization could start late 2023 or early 2024. The estimated construction timeline is 7-9 months, with operation about 2-3 months after.
• We are moving forward with publishing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for design services for the Community Stadium Upgrade project. The chosen design team will help define the scope and costs of the project and create the design documents that will have to be reviewed and approved by DSA. Barring no unforeseen challenges, the new football/soccer field could be ready for use by fall 2024.

In her verbal comments, Julia added specificity to the Community Stadium Upgrade and PE Complex RFP projects.

Vice President of Instruction Report:  Lisa provided a brief update on the development of our ISER. She noted that Professor Sean Thomas is serving as the lead writer for the ISER and she is co-leading the Accreditation Oversight Committee with Sean. The target completion date for the initial draft of the ISER is May 2023. The ISER is due to ACCJC on December 15, 2023. Lisa also wrote that we are exploring opportunities to reach new students and to develop opportunities for current students to achieve the student's educational goals more efficiently such as:

• Exploring opportunities for offering credit courses in the county jails
• Working on a small-scale winter intersession to provide instructional opportunities in a short-term format in accordance with student need 
• Collaborating with Cal Poly Humboldt on potential class offerings in Arcata
• Developing more robust short-term, fast-track 8-week course offerings
• Enhancing dual enrollment partnerships and offerings
• Exploring added Career Education offerings at Del Norte and KT

Lisa mentioned how much she has learned in the month since she’s served as VPI.

Interim Vice President of Student Services Report:  In celebration of Women’s History Month, Crystal’s written report provided the background on Medal of Honor Recipient Dr. Mary Walker. Here are few highlights of Dr. Walker.

• Dr. Walker was born on November 26th, 1832.
• As a 29-year-old, Dr. Walker went to Washington D.C. to apply for an appointment as a surgeon at the outset of the Civil War. Although she was denied, she stayed in Washington where she volunteered at various camps in the area and became an assistant surgeon at the U.S. Patent Office, which had been converted to a hospital. 
• ​ Dr. Walker was finally appointed as a field surgeon in 1862. However, she was denied a commission and continued to work unpaid while treating patients at the battle of Warrenton and Fredericksburg. It was not until a year later that Dr. Walker was given a commission as an Army doctor after serving casualties at the battle of Chickamauga.
• ​In 1864, Dr. Walker was captured by Confederate troops while tending to wounded soldiers. She was accused spying for the Union and spent the next 4 months in prison. She was released in a prisoner swap at the end of that 4-month period. 
• ​In October 1864, Dr. Walker was granted a contract by the Medical Department and was assigned to various positions off the battlefield despite requests to return to the front lines.
• In 1917, The Board of Medal Awards changed criteria and revoked Dr. Walker’s Medal of Honor. This did not stop her from wearing the Presidentially awarded medal until she died in 1919. It was not until 1977 that officials agreed to restore Dr. Walker’s award. Dr. Walker continues to be the sole female recipient of the Medal of Honor.

In her verbal comments, Crystal noted that we held a drug awareness “Safety Stand Down” event on Monday for dorm residents and student athletes. The purpose of the stand down was to facilitate safety discussions, promote safe activities, promote resources, review current campus policies/community guidelines, hold a harm reduction resource fair, and have a panel led community discussion. The panelists included Professor Carolyn Perkins (lead faculty from the CR Social Work & Human Services/Addiction Studies department), Sergeant Corrie Watson (CR-Police Department Sergeant), and Jennifer Bailey (CR Student Services Staff Member).

Dr. Morse, Darren Turpin, and campus safety officers worked with dorm residents to schedule a health and safety walk through of their respective rooms prior to Spring Break. They also provided amnesty boxes to students to voluntarily turn in unauthorized items.

We are also expanding the number of staff trained to administer NARCAN. Chief Perkins and Sergeant Watson will provide NARCAN training to all campus safety officers. Crystal is collaborating with community resources to provide training to administrators, managers, staff, and appropriate students.

Interim Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives: In her inaugural report, Kerry provided a summary of four strategic and mission critical projects she is facilitating:

• We have been invited to join an intersegmental cohort of six CSUs, six UCs, and 10 Community Colleges who will submit an application to the National Science Foundation as part of their Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) project. The GRANTED initiative seeks to bring together a diverse array of stakeholders with the goal to convene, build, and energize communities to help shape future NSF funding opportunities and be better prepared to submit ambitious proposals in response to those calls. This will help address barriers and challenges that can impact competitiveness for external funding and access for investigators at less research-intensive institutions of higher education to participate in NSF’s research funding programs. The focus of the cohort's project will be to help build research connections between the CSUs, UCs, and CCCs, to increase the capacity for NSF grant application and management activities, and to increase research opportunities among underrepresented students and institutions.
• She is submitting a grant proposal to support a cohort-based model of faculty professional development focused on the development of culturally responsive pedagogy and classroom practices for disproportionately impacted and underrepresented communities. The proposal, which asks for $150,000/year for two years, was developed in consultation with Academic Senate leadership, the Offices of Instruction and Student Services, and the Multicultural and Equity Center. Funding decisions will be announced in mid-April.
• She will join President's Advisory Council members Laura Olson and Denise Vanden Bos at a listening session on March 16 at CR Del Norte. We have invited a number of Del Norte County community leaders to provide input to the College about workforce readiness and their workforce training needs so that we may plan how best CR and the President's Advisory Council can support the Del Norte community.
• The Health Care Education Hub planning team comprised of representatives from both College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt continues to meet regularly to plan for the design of the Samoa Boulevard property's renovation which will transform this 30,000+ square foot warehouse into a flexible, high-tech instructional space suitable for both traditional lecture and lab instruction as well as for robust laboratory instruction offered in a variety of simulated health care settings. Inspired by Kaiser Permanente's Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center, the team is actively engaged in research-informed planning for this exciting educational space. Next steps will include engaging a design consultant to begin the formal design phase of the project.

Executive Director of College Advancement and the Foundation: Marty’s written report conveyed the following information:

• He presented to Arcata Noon Rotary, Old Town Eureka Rotary and Southwest Eureka Rotary. 
• Final drafts for the CR history project stories including write-ups on Dan Phillips, Guy Fieri, and the building of CR’s Community Stadium are under final review. The Foundation is contracting with the Wiyot Tribe to write the history of the Tribe’s use of the Eureka Campus land, and a similar outreach is underway with the Tolowa Tribe, in Del Norte County.
• He secured a title partnership with Bear River Casino & Resort for the Men’s Basketball CCCAA NorCal playoff game held on February 25, 2023.
• He is working with ASCR to establish an endowed scholarship fund.

In his verbal comments, Marty mentioned that we will bring scholarship receptions back after a COVID triggered hiatus. While the exact locations of the receptions have yet to be determined, we intend to hold events in the Crescent City area on April 2 and the Eureka area on April