Monday, July 25, 2011

July's meeting of the SOCCCD board: live and direct!

Operation GlennDrop
     (Be sure to read Tere's Board Meeting Highlights. Board agenda pdf here.)
     Well, here we are again for the meeting of the South Orange County Community College District's board of trustees. It's nearly 6:15, and the meeting hasn't started yet.
     All trustees are present and accounted for except for Tom Fuentes. Well, he's accounted for, I guess. (He's very ill.)
     For some reason, as I entered the room three minutes ago, there was much buzzing among the high number of district and college "usual suspects". WT....
     Ah, the board is starting the meeting! (6:16 p.m.)

● Nothing to be reported out. (No action taken in closed session.)

● Invocation and pledge. (Moment of silence; the Lord is not invoked)

● No resolutions. But a recognition for IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore.
   A recruiter officer (he manages 300 or so recruiters in SoCal) addresses the board. Says: it's a special period for us. We depend on the local community. We depend on people like Glenn Roquemore. Therefore, we've invited him to jump out of a plane--with the Army's skydiving team.
   We see a video. The Golden Knights. Lake Elsinore. We see his family. Big smiles. There's Glenn walking up into the plane. He's still smiling. There he is wearing his helmet. They're playing "Show me what I'm looking for." Odd choice. Then some similarly lame music. There's Glenn, falling like a rock, proving once again the gritty reality of gravitation. He seems to have four arms and two and a half legs. Whatever.
   Glenn's still falling. He gives the thumbs up. Now He's landing. Much sliding on grass. "We gave you a little bit of a taste of Army strong today," says someone. A freeze frame of Glenn falling. Very inspiring.
   On behalf of the U.S. Army, we present to you [it's a pin].. he is Army Airborne Qualified. They pin the thing on him. It's silver.
   Poertner comes up and sings Glenn's praises. He has helped create a positive image for the Army, says Poertner. So he gets a certificate of recognition. In a few months, no doubt, he'll get a certificate of recognition for his having received a certificate of recognition. And ad infinitum.
   Glenn speaks. He had lunch with soldiers. "I'm gonna wear these wings very proudly."
     I guess somebody decided that Glenn needed to raise his profile. "Why not drop like a rock from the sky?" Yes, why not.
     Glenn doesn't run his college. His VPI, Craig Justice, does. And Craig is ruthless and controlling and doesn't give a damn what any other group wants. He plays the faculty leadership. Others are scared to death of him.
     And where's Glenn?
     He's falling out of airplanes, smiling.
     Behold our next Chancellor, dropping and smiling.
     And Craig: the next Prez of IVC?
     Good Lord.

Fuentean donation
(artist's rendering)
● PUBLIC COMMENTS: nope.

Board reports: (got one?)
Bill Jay: nope
Frank Meldau: nope
Marcia Milchiker: go see "Oklahoma" at Saddleback College. Incredible. Otherwise: nope
TJ Prendergast: nope
Nancy Padberg: nope
Lang: You give the term "taking a flying leap" new meaning (says to Roquemore). Har har. Nope.
Student trustee: nope
Chancellor's report: a quick comment. He points out a bust of Ronald Reagan up there behind the trustees. It looks like a brown turd from here. It's here only temporarily for safe keeping. You'll recall that Fuentes urged the board to name the room after RR. And Fuentes arranged for this bust, too, years ago. It was given to Fuentes, and Fuentes showed it to RR, who said he preferred it to other busts, I guess. It has been donated by Tom Fuentes (to the district, I guess).

● Discussion item: none

● Consent calendar: 5.5, 5.1, and 5.6 pulled.
The rest passes/is approved

5.1 Minutes. Passed.
5.5. Bugay asks amendment to attachment, 2nd page. Etc. Matter carries unanimously.
5.6 Lang puls it. Lang's being paid for a meeting he missed. The trustees always do this for each other. Wants the language clarified. His request to move the meeting was "denied." (Oh my. A little tension here?) He had a conflict, yada yada. Approved by all, Lang abstaining because, you know, he's very principled. That's why I always call him Dave "Quisling" Lang, betrayer of friends for private gain.

● Action items:

6.1: special services: Liebert Cassidy Whitmore legal services. A rate increase change. Item carries unanimously.
6.2: Board Policy revisions. Second time before the board. Carries unanimously.
6.3: for review and study: board policy revisions. Some questions about the basic aid policy. No other comments. Unanimously voted to accept for review and study.
6.4: this item is pulled.
6.5: Academic personnel actions. Approved unanimously.
6.6: Classified personnel actions. Approved unanimously.
6.7: Intra-budget transfer. Prendergast asks: transfer what from where to where? Laughter.
New Admin explains. Prendergast satisfied. Roll call vote. Unanimous.

● Reports:

7.1: Student trustee explains. I was asked to run. More publicity for our district. (?) He'll be the state wide student trustee, evidently!
7.2: basic aid. Lang: notes the first report that "breaks it down." Have we always gotten that? Poertner says: nothing new, Davy-Do.
7.3: no questions.
7.4 Retiree trust fund. All are comatose.

Reports:

Academic Senate (SC): Carmen has moved to an admin position in College of the Canyons. "She will be missed." Stuff like "Oklahoma," I guess.
Union: Lewis Long: no report
Academic Senate (IVC): nobody here tonight. That's worse than no report.
Peebles: no report
Roquemore (IVC): I'll let my written report stand. Appreciate opportunity to work on accred issues this summer. "Very rewarding." (Sure it is. Is he running for office?)
Burnett (SC): you're first to see flex week brochure. They're dazzled. (Not. Mass Droolage.)
Padberg explains that she's taking a class at the college. (Spinning?) "Orange Appeal" is SC magazine. A copy was provided. Very glossy. Photography is beautiful, says Nancy.
Bramucci: got an award somewhere. The IT people, I guess.
Bugay: Roquemore is my hero. Jumping out of a plane, supporting the military. Also: Our chancellor is on track on all six of our accred issues.
Etc.
It's 6:54, and it appears that the meeting is about to end! Good Lord! Such speed, such efficiency!
6:56--over and out.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your live blogging of these meetings but I keep thinking you should be doing something more fun during summer...

Roy Bauer said...

Hey, it was just 45 minutes of my life.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping us posted.

Anonymous said...

you're way too talented for this place.

Anonymous said...

I like the CHEESE!

Anonymous said...

Now that Tom's shuffling off the mortal coil,can the RR bust be placed in the men's room?

Anonymous said...

You looked so slovenly at that meeting.

Roy Bauer said...

Gee thanks. I try so hard to impress.

Anonymous said...

Say, 9:11, show off your sartorial splendor for us with a picture, will you? Let's hope you dazzle us with more than your nasty little personality.

Anonymous said...

Ronald Reagan is/was one of only a few great presidents no matter what some know-it-all snobs say & think.

Anonymous said...

Not sure what you mean, 6:32. If someone has some facts to use, is that a "know it all"? Or, if there's some truth to come out, someone who went to the trouble to educate him/herself is a "snob"?

Regardless, Reagan was great at schmoozing the public. However, he left us with huge deficits, the start of financial deregulation, destruction of unions and thus the middle class, a massive military industrial complex and, worst of all, Antonin Scalia.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...