Board of Trustees Report District Office August 8, 2008

Budget and Finance Committee

Jeanette Gordon presented the committee with the budget proposal which will go to the full board for adoption on Aug. 20, as well as a state budget update and a review of the district’s 2007-08 enrollment and financial status. Given that everything discussed can be found in the DBC minutes for July 16 (which I am attaching), I will not go into further detail here.

Committee of the Whole

James Sohn (of BuildLACCD, the new district program manager) and a number of his assistants gave the Board an extended report on the progress of various bond projects. The recycling effort now has six colleges participating, with the other three set to start in September. The contractor outreach program has expanded, with lots of small firms bidding on contracts. Over 600 students have been given internships with facilities firms, with 60 going on to permanent employment. The design build process (as opposed to the traditional design-bid- build process) was praised, as it saves money by reducing the number of change orders. New legislation now allows us to use this method for far more projects. Safety concerns were discussed and cited as a top priority. Interactions with the Dept. of State Architects were said to be much improved. They also claimed to have developed a much better district design management process over the last several months.

Two representatives from the Community Oversight Committee spoke next, with the long-time chair giving a glowing appraisal, citing the “great leadership,” and “impressive changeover to BuildLACCD,” as well as the “very transparent processes.”

Finally, Larry reviewed the Board’s commitment to LEEDS certification, calling it an “act of courage” in 2002, and claiming that others (UC’s, CSU’s, et al) have been inspired by our example. He recommended that the Board consider upgrading all new buildings to the Platinum level (from Silver, I believe), saying it would not involve additional costs, and presented a PPP detailing why this would be so. The Chancellor urged, however, that any further discussion of this be put off until after November, given that such a goal is subject to misunderstanding. Open Session

Sheriff Lee Baca awarded Rachel Solis with Cadet of the Year honors. Nine other cadets were also honored. Angela Reddock thanked the Sheriff for attending, noting that the last time he was at a Board meeting, the discussion was less pleasant (a reference to the Trade incident last fall).

I made an extended statement, complaining about the recent hiring of a student services dean at East in violation of the established process. There was no panel, no interview, just an appointment by the president. The individual did not meet min quals, and the Chancellor went to the Board for an equivalency without consulting with the DAS. I pointed out that this had left a faculty and administrators frustrated and demoralized at East, and that actions like this have a long term negative impact. I also noted that the Teamsters were alleging that this was a Title 5 violation, though I wasn't making such a charge myself, as the language seemed to me ambiguous. Alison Jones, a dean at City and the Teamsters rep, then spoke in support of my statement, as did the Classified rep who was sitting in for Velma Butler. Board members were advised by counsel not to discuss the case in detail (and I had mentioned no names), but Mona Field stated that the Board would only very rarely take such a step, and Miguel Santiago asked whether their action could not be reversed.

Mike Miller, the well known and enormously successful basketball coach at City, was accused by his assistant, Tyler Howard, of fraud and other offenses. In a long and detailed statement, Howard alleged, among a number of charges, that fake grades had been issued to student athletes and that work claimed for payment was never done. General Counsel (Camille was away) noted that a report was due to them next week. There was no response from the Board once this was made clear.

Three students spoke about the need for an extension of I-Pass, the MTA discount program for students. They cited students’ increasingly difficult financial situation, and they asked for more Board help. Board members pointed out that they were entirely committed to the same goal, and that they had been working on this for some time. Apparently as of Jan., 2009, we will be able to use bond money to offer students an I-Pass for $15/mo., if they are taking 12 units or more. Bond money can be used for "traffic mitigation measures” such as this, but only for two years.

Rachel Richards, the ASO president at Harbor, discussed the problems there with parking, given construction and a lack of cooperation from the Dept. of Parks and Recreation as to use of the empty golf course parking lot adjacent to campus. The only item reported out of Closed Session was news that the Board is going to appeal a recent ruling. Presumably it refers to a student or employee, but no further details were mentioned.

Committee reports were made (see above).

Resolutions in favor of Latino Heritage Month and U.S. Constitution Week were passed.

The Chancellor introduced Deborah Hirsh, the Interim Senior Associate Vice Chancellor, replacing Sue Carleo, who is now the acting president of Valley College. Deb Hirsh is a retired Naval captain, having served 26 years, focusing on human resources. She then served as the chief HR officer for both LAUSD and most recently for the San Francisco Unified School District.

The Consent Calendar was adopted with only slight modifications. One item of discussion that emerged was about student fees. It was a surprise to Board members that not all students pay the fee and that colleges have different ways of collecting it.

A motion was passed allowing our college foundations to contribute to the Prop J campaign, and a routine issuance of bonds was approved.

There was some discussion about an upcoming vote on whether to raise the credit limit above which a concurrent high school student is exempt from paying out of state tuition. The current limit is four, and the proposal is to raise this to six (more or less—it’s a bit complicated). Some Board members are concerned about excluding students as a result. They've asked to know how many students would be impacted by this change.

Finally, the district was recently given two more bond awards, one for the solar panels recently installed at East and one citing us as a "Climate Change" leader.

Comment

I had no choice but to make a public statement about the dean situation at East. I’ve been working with Alex on this for over two weeks, and it wasn’t getting resolved. Given the history at East and elsewhere in the district with administrator hires, and given the issue of retreat rights, we have to be very vigilant here. I’ll keep you posted as this progresses.