 |
| John Spevak of CBT |
Some readers seem to have a great interest in how much the college is spending on the assistance it is receiving from "College Brain Trust," the Sacramento consulting firm that sent John Spevak down to help with our "civility initiative." Spevak organized and directed Friday's workshop and also the workshop held in December.
I quickly scanned recent board agendas—including the one for tomorrow’s meeting—and here’s what I found:
I found no items for “College Brain Trust” in the March or February agendas. There’s a $900 item (expenditure) for "College Brain Trust" in the January agenda. That same item appears (I think as an expected expenditure) in the December agenda. There’s an expenditure of $28,676.23 to “College Brain Trust” in the November agenda. Nothing in October or September agendas.
So we’re looking at about $30K here. Don’t know if that’s all of it. It's more than I thought they were spending, but, on the other hand, I'm not surprised by the amount.
I suppose that IVC President Roquemore is thinking that, since this initiative was occasioned by serious accreditation concerns, it is best to bring in a neutral party to run things. Is it worth $30K to help make this process look like it's on the up-and-up? Could we have gone with something cheaper?
I dunno. No doubt some of you have opinions.
UPDATE: Dennis Gordon (one of the workshop facilitators) has sent the following:
Roy,
The College Brain Trust has been used as a consultant for a number of tasks including work on the the District Wide Accreditation report. The $30k you mentioned was for other work that has been done, not for the Civility working group.
In the spirit of transparency, I think the question of how much was spent for John Spevak to coordinate and facilitate the Civility project is a valid one and I will inquire as to the cost and report back.
UPDATE 2 (3/28):
Dennis Gordon has left a new comment on your post "$30,000 spent on "College Brain Trust" (but not fo...":
I wanted to report back on the cost for John Spevak (The College Brain Trust) to conduct the Civility Working Group meetings for IVC. The amount paid was $6,750.79 which included multiple meetings and workshops and also included John's travel and hotel expenses.
I feel this is a fair amount given the time spent by John with our campus community and the work that has been accomplished in support of the civility initative.
Every governance group had represenation at our meeting last week and I encourage anyone who has questions or comments regarding the initiative to have an open dialog among your constituants.
UPDATE: Dennis Gordon (one of the workshop facilitators) has sent the following:
Roy,
The College Brain Trust has been used as a consultant for a number of tasks including work on the the District Wide Accreditation report. The $30k you mentioned was for other work that has been done, not for the Civility working group.
In the spirit of transparency, I think the question of how much was spent for John Spevak to coordinate and facilitate the Civility project is a valid one and I will inquire as to the cost and report back.
UPDATE 2 (3/28):
Dennis Gordon has left a new comment on your post "$30,000 spent on "College Brain Trust" (but not fo...":
I wanted to report back on the cost for John Spevak (The College Brain Trust) to conduct the Civility Working Group meetings for IVC. The amount paid was $6,750.79 which included multiple meetings and workshops and also included John's travel and hotel expenses.
I feel this is a fair amount given the time spent by John with our campus community and the work that has been accomplished in support of the civility initative.
Every governance group had represenation at our meeting last week and I encourage anyone who has questions or comments regarding the initiative to have an open dialog among your constituants.
7 comments:
Roy,
The College Brain Trust has been used as a consultant for a number of tasks including work on the the District Wide Accreditation report. The $30k you mentioned was for other work that has been done, not for the Civility working group.
In the spirit of transparency, I think the question of how much was spent for John Spevak to coordinate and facilitate the Civility project is a valid one and I will inquire as to the cost and report back.
Wow! Thanks Dennis! This is the kind of communication, give and take, question and answer that has been sorely missing for years now from the usual college channels. This is refreshing. I look forward to reading whet Dennis has to share. Thanks again.
Spevak has such a charming smile – I forgot what I came here to read.
I wanted to report back on the cost for John Spevak (The College Brain Trust) to conduct the Civility Working Group meetings for IVC. The amount paid was $6,750.79 which included multiple meetings and workshops and also included John's travel and hotel expenses.
I feel this is a fair amount given the time spent by John with our campus community and the work that has been accomplished in support of the civility initative.
Every governance group had represenation at our meeting last week and I encourage anyone who has questions or comments regarding the initiative to have an open dialog among your constituants.
College Brain Thrust
Dennis, if that is indeed the cost of that service (not that I doubt it), it does not strike me as excessive either.
I would add only that it is ironic that the biggest snafu that has arisen re the "civility initiative" was caused by the person who was hired to help us with it (I'm referring to Mr. Spevak's unfortunate suggestion regarding inclusion of "civility" among the criteria when supervisors evaluate employees). Spevak has not been the sole source of snafus, but that one was pretty big.
Sorry to change the subject, but I have to say (re Sinnead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares"): what a singer; what a video; what a song. Devastatingly sad. Thanks for it, BvT.
MAH
Post a Comment