March 24, 2008: TONIGHT'S meeting was uneventful, aside from the appearance of IVC's seal......Some faculty addressed the board concerning the contract. It turns out that our part-timers are very poorly paid. They rank fortieth in the state. Full-time faculty don't do so hot either, said union negotiator Lewis Long.
.....A contractor showed up to cry foul regarding the recommendation (item 6.14) to approve another contractor for the "restroom expansion" in the McKinney Theater. He said his bid was $90K lower, so what's the deal?
.....During his report, Trustee John "Chicken Little" Williams got up once again upon his "security" hobby horse, this time bringing students' declining mental health into the mix. Evidently, the fellow read a story about student stress—this is "very scary stuff," he said—and, in his mind, that phenomenon had everything to do with the wave of violence at college campuses that he sees overtaking the nation.
.....Have I mentioned that Mission Viejo is the safest city in the goddam country?.....About that wave of violence: Williams explained that there seems to be a "lull in the action" right now. I do believe that John confuses waves of violence with football games. This explains his advocacy of that big, new football stadium.
.....Wagner told heroic war stories about founding trustee Hans Vogel. Expect some sort of ceremony for Vogel in the future.
.....At some point, Trustee Nancy Padberg seemed to raise questions about a conference at some fancy schmancy hotel in Palm Springs. I do believe that John "Orlando" Williams indicated his intention of attending. He looked very tanned.
.....Decisions were made about ATEP, but no effort was made to explain them to the public. Curiously, trustees Milchiker and Fuentes voted "no" on item 6.5: "reimbursement agreement: Camelot Development Tustin" ($786,100).
.....Marcia noted the looming retirement of Mike Runyan. Inexplicably, she seemed to like 'im. I'm glad he's retiring......Nancy Padberg carped about the apparent failure to bring the "updating" of IVC's seal before the board for approval. On the other hand, she liked the new seal, which briefly appeared before the dais, barking. Several trustees threw it a fish.
47 comments:
Wow, that Tom Fuentes, he really looked interested and moved by all the testimony, doesn't he?
IVC has a new seal?
Do you have a picture of it, Chunk?
What elements are featured?
Underpaid partimers? Classrooms with holes in the ceiling? Clocks without batteries? Podiums without platforms? The old clocktower? The new homecoming queen? Helen Locke? The IVC Laserman?
I think the seal prominently displays a Vietnamese flag.
I heard that they had to update the seal because the old one had a misspelling on it - similar in nature to the sign that designates the "humanities" building - A-300 (sic) as the "humanites" building.
The board majority doesn't care about the working conditions, the continued excellence in the classroom or the viability of the institutions. A few of them are even, on the record, anti-public education.
They use us and our district as platforms for their own political careers and agendas - and of course, to get lifetime health benefits.
Do the trustees really get lifetime health benefits?
How much does that cost us?
Are dependents included?
Despite our "50% Law" difficulty--which can be solved only by increasing instructional expenditures--the board refuses to give us a raise. Let's hope they're willing at least to increase part-timer pay. These speakers made a good case for that. Will trustees listen? I doubt it.
Again, what's in it for Wiliams in the "security" deal? He must be looking at a huge consultancy fee or otherwise corrupt payback on what will be an expensive contract.
Doesn't Williams have ties to the security industry? Doesn't he work as a security consultant?
I thought we were all going to get trained about how to turn regular everyday classroom items into objects of self-defense.
9:01 am....instead of complaining here all the time about the dead clocks, ceiling holes, and broken lecterns, try filling out an online work-order. You'd be amazed how it will be taken care of. If you actually work here on campus, and look around, you'd know there isn't enough staff to just walk around and look for these very minor issues. If these issues actually interfere with your teaching, well..................
I think the damaged goods just adds to the educational ambience.
I know that my own teaching transcends such elements.
I can teach anywhere under any circumstances.
We have an IVC Laserman?
Someone should club the seal with an ax handle and make a coat out of it's fur while it's still a cute baby seal.
I fixed my own podium with my Swiss Army knife!
(PS - who IS responsible for general upkeep of facilities? Monitoring classroom and restroom conditions?)
I think it's illegal to brandish a knife in front of your students.
Chunk, can we please see the seal? Also, whatever happened to our accreditation problems? Have they been solved?
Chunk, who's the very attractive woman who appears at 4:40 in the video?
Brandish?
I don't think the clever teacher "brandished" the knife but if it was a part-time teacher, the person in question might earn more money as a facility maitenance worker than as an adjunct instructor. Check the job postings.
I think the complaints about facilities are a symptom of larger issues, perhaps. one is this: a majority of full-time faculty teach in classrooms dedicated to their fields and often teach in only one or two classrooms. Part-timers in many non-lab related disciplines are deployed all around the campus and often experience conditions unknown to full-time faculty.
On the subject of facilities, I have noticed a marked improvement in the last couple of months... not the least of which seems to be a campus-wide shift in the type of TP in the bathrooms. The new rolls are much softer on the bum. Thanks F&M!.
Why no word about Accreditation?
Speaking about now words - has Glenn said anything to anyone about the flags?
How about the missing cafeteria trays?
maybe it's all a plot.
I wish the seal WAS our mascot instead of the Laser.
So who is the mysterious woman? let's ask Ben Stein. Bueller? Bueller?
Must be Petrina Friede
3:28 The students have figured out that cafeteria trays make excellent "burn-out" devices for their underpowered wimpy fuel efficient cars. You'll find the trays tore up in your school parking lots.
Since we're asking, who was the handsome hunky dude with the silver hair?
Fuentes looks ready to keel over. Drinks on me!
More Petrina!
wait, what irvinian (irvinite? irvinese? irvinetian?) student drives a wimpy, fuel-efficient car? Seems to me they only drive the likes of Mercedes Benz....
6:22 Application of REAL horsepower to the cafeteria tray merely hastens the trays destruction. The idea is to gain "stay time" on the tray while spinning ones wheels.
This is sorta what your Goo has been doing to you folks for ELEVEN years now. He's the guy on the pedal. The car is the district budget. The pavement is the district...and YOU All are the cafeteria trays.
Hey, I was a cafeteria tray for 5 years so don't give me any grief. I know of what I speak of.
As an outsider, I have the following observations:
Your Board members pay NO respect to faculty speakers at the podium (particularly Fuentes) Is this indicative of the overall respect (or lack thereof) they have for your faculty??
You seem to have dedicated faculty that care about their students. From what I have read on your Blog, you have one of the highest paid (if not the highest paid) Chancellors in the state, yet pay mediocre salaries (at best) to your faculty. What's the message here?
Capo Unified has been very successful in shaking things up with their Superintendent and the Board of Trustees. Does the same thing need to happen with your Board?
Thanks for your notice and concern, Anon 7:49!
The folks in capo have done a great job!
However our board deliberately protected themselves years ago from just such accountability by redesigning how they were elected - while each trustee represents a certain district, they are elected AT-LARGE which makes any kind of recall (the distict is the size of 2.5 congressional disticts) nearly impossible.
The public's utter ignorance with and about higher ed matters only compounds it.
We couldn't even get a Holocaust denier recalled even though we tried TWICE.
Then throw OC GOP politics in the mix with Fuentes and well...
BUT if you have any ideas, we'd love to hear them. Really.
HELP!!!!!!
a posse ad esse?
from possibility to reality?
Okay - somebody else make the joke.
12:38 pm..to answer your question, Facilities and Maintenance is the responible department for building conditions. Use the link below to fill out an online work request. You WILL get a response.
http://mercury.ivc.edu/fmowork.php
Like I said it just takes a minute of YOUR time to make it happen.
12:38 pm..to answer your question, Facilities and Maintenance is the responible department for building conditions. Use the link below to fill out an online work request. You WILL get a response.
http://mercury.ivc.edu/fmowork.php
Like I said it just takes a minute of YOUR time to make it happen.
12:38 pm..to answer your question, Facilities and Maintenance is the responible department for building conditions. Use the link below to fill out an online work request. You WILL get a response.
http://mercury.ivc.edu/fmowork.php
Like I said it just takes a minute of YOUR time to make it happen.
okay okay I get it - you don't have to repeat yourself three times! sheesh!
Do part-timers know about this?
Maybe Chunk could add a link to F&M on the blog - I sense people are more familiar with this blog than the college website.
I know I am.
Irony abounds!
Board members have to pay for health insurance. They pay the same amount as the District pats for an employee. It does cover dependents. They used to get it for free, but the CA Attorney General rules it was illegal.
The salary schedule was changed by the old guard union leaders to increase the top of the schedule by 5 steps and add 5 steps to the bottom.
New faculty were sold out by the oldtimers.
11:21 Our Board receives the faculty health insurance package as part of their compensation (roughly $16k/yr). What gives in your district?
sorry, didn't mean to double post. Kept getting an error code response. If part timers don't know, please share with them. Unfortunately, part timers aren't exactly given ALL the info about/for our campus. They are kind of left to discover things for themselves. Maybe a real, good, old fashioned, REQUIRED, orientation during each Flexweek?? What do I know? I'm just a classified.....
torabora:
The board get it free during their terms, but they used to get it for life if they served 11 or 12 years (I can't remember which). Now when they leave the board and have the years of service, they can buy the coverage at the districts cost.
Any facts on that, 9:35? Or are you just another scum sucking Repub?
Really, fess up: Did you guys up there just steal that seal (the black-and-white one, I mean) from some Bible academy & erase the snake?
How'd you guess Alannah?
we got a deal from the bible academy that rents out the portables on the weekends...
Attempt not torture.
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