See Tracy's BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTSWELL, this'll have to be quick, cuz I've got stuff to do.
It was an oddly unpleasant night at the old SOCCCD board room. Weirdness and tension filled the air.
THE OPEN SESSION started over two hours late! That means that the trustees were in the back room, fighting over something.
Judging by Mathur's pallor—it was dreadful!—I'd say that, if there was a fight, he lost it. Bigtime.
WE GET JUSTICETrustee Fuentes announced three closed session actions, including approval of Dr. Craig Justice of Chaffey College as the new Irvine Valley College Vice President of Instruction. Every indication is that Justice is a good hire. (See Craig Justice.)
The only public comment came from Cal Nelson, who is stepping down after 8 months on the job as temp IVC VPI. As usual, he was gracious, warm. Everybody loves Cal.
I bet Raghu hates 'im.
SPASMODIC & GHASTLY & GOD-FEARINGBefore he took on the job at IVC, Cal was told that things were pretty bad at the college, but that's not what he found, he said. Nope, people were pretty terrific, working hard, cooperating. Cal went out of his way to praise IVC's Academic Senate President, Wendy Gabriella, for her work and for her assistance to him.
Trustee Fuentes and Chancellor Mathur seemed to snicker at that. Well, Mathur didn't so much snicker as make that rat-faced scrunch of his. You know the one. It's spasmodic and ghastly, a rat's tic.
Trustee Wagner gave the invocation, and he laid it on pretty thick this time.
"Wisdom begins with fear of the Lord," he said.
JAY, MILCHIKER, PADBERG, WAGNER v. FUENTES, LANG, WILLIAMSAfter the consent calendar, item 5.12—Academic Personnel Actions—was moved to the front, in "deference" to Bill Jay, evidently. Judging by the tension in the air, this item was the likely cause of trouble during the earlier closed session.
Three elements were isolated from 5.12 for seperate discussion and approval. The central element, it seems, was h1, which, judging by factoids gleanable from trustee remarks, concerned the "transfer" of a "chemistry instructor" (an IVC chem instructor was on the closed session agenda). Based on an exchange involving Rich McCullough, the transfer was at or to his college (Saddleback).
In the end, trustees Jay, Padberg, Milchiker, and Wagner prevailed: the "reassignment indicated in h1" was not approved.
One wonders what that's all about.
PRESENTATIONSGary Poertner and the Bean Counters, a local rock band, gave a presentation about the tentative budget. Andreea Serban of Transylvania gave a presentation about "Grant opportunities and strategies for grant development."
"Good evenink," she said.
She's been very successful in getting super-duper grants for the district.
Both presentations were well-received.
Well, I've gotta feed the cat. Maybe I'll have more tomorrow. Maybe not.
37 comments:
Wisdom begins with fear of the Lord?
Wisdom begins with fear of Raghu.
Ha.
Transfer of a chem instructor - let's see - won't someone connect the dots?
Dotty teaches Math, not Chem.
New VPI has a good name for the job - where'd he come from? Does anyone know anything about him?
Word has it that Mathur doesn't care for justice.
Hence the attempt at the forced transfer - at least that's how I read it.
Anyone know anything more?
What a feeding frenzy!
We're going to give Justice a bad impression of us!
Everybody back to work - NOW!
What does Justice's hire have to do with IVC's much lauded Chemistry department?
Nice writing. You're on a roll there, Chunk.
Wisdom DOES begin with fear of the Lord.
There's been a falling out.
What sort of wisdom comes from this fear, 10:19?
Maybe the trustees were just pissed off because it just occurred to them that they had to write a check for a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS in order to pay for Mathur's defense in the Cely Mora case.
Maybe they began to recall the details of that wonderful Mathurian hire RODNEY POINDEXTER or HOWARD GENSLER.
Maybe somebody began to add it all up and figure out that Mathur has cost the district MILLIONS with his reckless incompetence and vindictiveness.
Maybe not.
I heard that Mathur is forfeiting his salary for one year in order to compensate the district for the $$$ they had to pay on his behalf.
The wisdom of the Lord - in our fear, our acknowledgment of Him and His powers, begins understanding of what is right and true.
Connect the dots indeed!
Pay attention people.
Mathur doesn't trust anyone for very long and now Glenn's out of favor.
I guess Glenn could only do dirty work for so long and then it (finally) got to him.
You'd think the trustees could connect the dots after so long - or at least add one and one.
The VPI hire and the "chem instructor" business are unrelated.
Please note that both were listed on the agenda for the closed session.
So we know that those things were discussed in closed session; and we know that the chem instructor transfer was moved up for discussion during the open session. Hence: the big issue of the closed session was likely the chem instuctor transfer.
Mathur's pallor is the next bit of data.
Plus the fact that, for once, Wagner and Fuentes didn't joke and giggle together. They sat next to each other, but they did not interact.
Very odd.
Wisdom begins with fear of the Lord.
If you're afraid of the guy, 12:58, there seems to be little wisdom to be obtained except learning how to cover your ass for when the obligatory shitstorm of wrath descends.
I heard that they were going to enscribe Wagner's immortal words: "Wisdom begins with fear of the Lord" over the entrance of the new IVC theatre.
You know, a little inspriation.
Here's what really happened people - Glenn wanted the new IVC Theater to be named The Dorothy Fortune Pavilion and that got Glenn in hot water with Goo. Fuentes and Wagner took sides and the fur hit the fan.
That explains all those commemorative pens that they're giving away in A-200!
They are marked "The Dorothy Fortune Pavilion" - get yours now!
Nope, it's like this. Glenn found his spine and got all independent during the VPI hire. Mathur then declared war on Glenn and started things off by targetting a certain instructor for involuntary transfer. The union steps in and says, "read the contract, fools. Can't do it, not even to this chemist."
"Wisdom begins with reading the goddam contract."
Tee hee.
thanks for the continued excellent coverage Chunk - who knows what will show up on the ever-exciting Board Meeting Highlights...
If 2:09 is right, why did Glenn choose to remain spineless all these years -and what, pray tell, inspired his discovery of his spine at this point?
I don't get it.
How did Mathur justify the attempt to move an instructor from IVC's chem dept (a withering dept) to Saddleback's much larger and healthy chem dept.?
Are there still some commemorative pens left?
The fear of the Lord is the fear of a loving child for a loving father.
That explains EVERYTHING, doesn't it?
Yes, 4:31, when the loving father kills everything in sight when he's pissed off. Including the first born of certain people.
It's very obvious there's not a lot of wisdom on this blog.
You're making all this up.
Why would Raghu want to transfer a loyalist like K.T. from IVC to Saddleback?
8:15—
Why don't you ask her? Really!
In Mathur's universe, everyone is expendable. Even "loyalists."
I heard it was Glenn's wife who was to be transfered.
Yes, I heard that too. It was an involuntary tranfer request from Mathur.
So....does that leave Dixie in charge of your (in)famous chem faculty? With or without KT? And what about Susan?
I suspect this is much more complicated than it even appears and suggests even more backroom deals.
Backroom deals?
You must be kidding me! Not with Dave Lang at the helm!
The new VPI is quite good.
Justice comes swiftly.
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