Heads up: monday's board agenda

I know you don’t give a shit, but the board will be meeting on Monday, and here’s what these jokers are up to. (Agendas.)

They’re having one of their complicated days. It’ll go like this:

CALL TO ORDER (FOLLOWED BY PUBLIC COMMENTS/OPEN SESSION): 3:00 P.M.

RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION: 5:00 P.M.

RECONVENE OPEN SESSION: 7:00 P.M.

The 7-hour marathon will start at 3:00 with a status report on ATEP by Park Ranger Kopecky. ATEP is that little slice of heaven we got along Redhill Avenue after the Marines blew town.

ATEP is our third campus, you know. Some day, it will have students. Right now, their only visitor is a dog who drives a little chopper.

After the ATEP thing, the trustees will go into closed session to discuss, among other things:

A. Public Employee Appointment, Employment, Evaluation of Performance,
Discipline, Dismissal, Release:

1. Public Employee Appointment/Employment
a. Vice President of Instruction, IVC

2. Public Employee Evaluation of Performance

3. Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release
…..

D. Conference with Legal Counsel:

1. Existing Litigation (GC 54956.9[a]) (5)
a. Mora v. Mathur

b. Crosby v. SOCCCD

c. Gensler v. SOCCCD

2. Anticipated Litigation/Significant Exposure to Litigation

3. Initiation of Litigation – Five Cases

Item A is liable to produce something interesting--or distressing. Item D (litigation) pretty much always appears. Did I mention that Mora is suing Chancellor Mathur, that Gensler was hired by Mathur, and that Mathur is, well, a seriously expensive jackass? (Don’t know who Crosby is.) If he ever leaves, lots of lawyers will be out of work. At least at the district.

The Open Session should reconvene at about 7:00. Here are some items that might be interesting, but whaddoo I know.

Items 3 through 17 concern approval of contracts to various vendors and contractors for the IVC “Business and Technology Innovation Center.” Yeah, whatever.

Item 18 concerns the new Performing Arts project at IVC:

IRVINE VALLEY COLLEGE: CHANGE ORDER REQUESTS: PERFORMING ARTS/THEATER
Change Orders in the amount of $79,385.00 with various trade contractors and the revised total contract amount is $25,352,827.00

I guess this says that the price went up 79 grand. Do I read that right?

Item 25 concerns the notorious Mold Building at Saddleback:

SADDLEBACK COLLEGE: AMENDMENT TO ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES AGREEMENT FOR BGS PROJECT
Revise fee by $259,563.00 for a total of $405,663.00 for additional recommendations for remediation and repair work and includes the construction administration phase.

Item 28 concerns an honorarium for “Humanities hour guest speaker” Dr. Mark LeVine. There are lots of Mark LeVines in the world. One of 'em tickles the ivories. Maybe this one is the professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture, and Islamic studies at UCI. Could be.

Item 35 is interesting:

ADDITION TO AUTHORIZATION FOR DISTRICT INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIPS 2006/07
Membership to NCMPR in the amount of $350.00 for Saddleback College.

I Googled NCMPR. I think it’s the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations. (NCMPR) Your guess is as good as mine.

Item 40 is an honoraria for Dr. Pamela Cox-Otto. About a year ago, Cox-Otto (she really ought to change her name) spoke at Cypress College. They reported her address as follows:

In August of 2005, Dr. Pamela Cox-Otto presented a keynote address for convocation, actively engaging the audience of faculty, staff, and managers in her presentation, Understanding our CC Students: A Generational Perspective. Many faculty asked for copies of her powerpoint presentation with resources to better understand the culture of each generation of students. She also presented a three-hour workshop on the theory and best practices for conducting community outreach programs to inform our surrounding communities of the programs and services of all educational institutions, including Cypress College.

Well, if she really knows what she's talking about, this could be useful. Amazingly, good things still happen now and again in this benighted district.

Item 45 concerns “trustee travel to conferences” and mileage reimbursement. You just know that John is at the trough again. I’ll see if I can get details.

Some of the Vice Chancellor’s items are worthy of note. Recommended for approval is the final district budget for 2006-7.

Item 60 is particularly important:

SOCCCD: BOARD POLICY REVISION: BP 2100.2: ROLE AND SCOPE OF AUTHORITY OF THE ACADEMIC SENATES
Approval of Board Policy.

Have you seen it? Looks good.

Item 69 is an info/discussion item:

SOCCCD: INTERCOLLEGIATE SOCCER AT SADDLEBACK COLLEGE
Feasibility Study.

I imagine that some faculty have strong feelings about this.

Items 71 and 72 are the “final” accreditation progress reports for Saddleback College and IVC. (These reports are due Oct. 15.)

They're pretty honest, near as I can tell, despite the Chancellor’s eleventh hour efforts to mess with ‘em by adding loads of distracting crappola.

These reports are pretty much a done deal. The board doesn’t approve them. They get to grimace and roll their eyes one more time. Then it's off to the Accreds. Those people will grimace too. Anybody would.