Monday, July 22, 2013

The July meeting of the SOCCCD BOT: trustees get a raise


     The meeting likely started at 5:30. I didn't arrive at the hall, however, until 6:12. Hence, I missed board reports, (there were no resolutions/commendations). No doubt, reference was made to the recent BGS fire. (See Tere's Board Meeting Highlights.)
     I spoke with someone (Ms. B) after the meeting, and she said that nothing of great importance occurred during the half hour I missed, save the presentation concerning Obamacare and its forseen impact on the district. She said the upshot was that, owing to the high fees involved, the cost to the district to insure everyone will go up maybe 5 or 6 million dollars. Is that a lot? Yes it is.

     Please see Tere's Board Meeting Highlights

     Just got here (at 6:12). Sounds like someone just finished explaining the impact of Obamacare on the district (one of the discussion items).  [See pdf.] I think I heard the speaker (presenters: Kim McCord, Vicki West) say that nothing much changes but the cost will go up. She almost rolled her eyes on that one. So they're going way up. The trustees seemed satisfied with the report.

Affordable Care Act: see pdf
     STUDENT SUCCESS SCORECARD (see pdf): Next: a report on the "student success scorecard." Reference is made to a document that seems to be projected on the screen. Presenters: Denice Inciong, Caroline Durdella, Craig Hayward
     The completion rate name has changed. They've changed the cohort (the group of students monitored). Explains "persistence." 3 consecutive terms. 30 units count includes more than math and English now. Basic skills is now called "remedial." Not using "vocational." Now "Career Technical."
     A new speaker. Craig Hayward.
     Overall completion rate. Rates for IVC, SC, and the state. Each college rate is above state average (IVC a bit higher).
     Next: 30 units within 6 years. Again Saddleback and IVC are above state average, with Saddleback a bit higher.
     Overall persistence. IVC is below the state average, SC is above. The "college prepared students" have a lower rate at IVC.
     Carolyn D?: Math Remedial progress rate. Both colleges are considerably above average. Progress in achievement in students placing before transfer level. Six years.
     Next: remedial progress for English. Both colleges perform way above state average with IVC very high.
     Next: credit ESL. Both colleges are slightly below state average. Our younger students perform at or above the state average.
     Overall CTE completion rate: vocational completers. Both SC and IVC close to state average with IVC slightly below.
     Summary: IVC outperforms statewide average on 4 of 7 metrics, including completion.
     SC outperforms statewide average on 6 of 7, including completion rate and CTE.
     Hayward offers explanations for some of these trends (involving 5-year tracking of one cohort, I think). Some students who go into trades/jobs are not captured by these measures. Carolyn: data for English at Saddleback. Only tracks one group of students. Our rate "is not fully reflective of our activity at the college." Re ESL: cohort size, etc. We're above average on 6 of 7; our pursuit is for excellence, not just meeting or exceeding the average.
     We'll use these metrics to [deal with?] achievement gaps. Part of our strategic planning.

     Questions?
     Lang: thanks for interesting report. Can we see comparisons with prior years? A: trend lines were five years per metric. (I.e., we're looking at what happened over this five year period, up to the present.) Also, the metrics changed. (Measures defined differently.) So those charts showed each of the last five years. Lang: did we do better, worse? A: relatively stable progress on most metrics and increase progress on one or two. Decrease on one or two.
     Prendergast: Q: have you discussed how one college did better or worse, learn from that?... A: yes, remedial progress at IVC highest in state. So discussed how that was accomplished.
     Jemal: thanks for good report. CT success measurement: no employment metric. Is that something we're working on in the state? Hayward: yes, very front and center. (He's a member of the advisory group that will help adjust metrics.) Says yes will be improved. J: don't quite understand persistence metric. That metric needs to be tweaked. Yep.
     Milchiker: notes how well the colleges do compared to other colleges. Mentions "writing center at IVC." Perhaps that is a factor. "Professors working with the students"--that's what really matters.

     Consent calendar (i.e., shall all of these items be included in an act of global and heedless approval?): only this item is pulled--

     DISTRICT WIDE REFRESH; CMAS CONTRACTS: Nancy pulls 5.9 (district wide refresh; CMAS contracts). All rest remains. Unanimous. (Trustee Wright is absent.) Nancy briefly opines that this item should not be a consent item (i.e., they should discuss it).

     Bob Bramucci: network refresh. Went with CISCO. I think they switched to another vender. Whatever Bramucci said, it seemed satisfactory to the board. Blah blah blah. They vote: unanimous approval.

General action items:

6.1 Approval

TRUSTEES RAISE:
6.2 Board Policy Revisions.
     Jemal: board compensation (is among these). Wants to echo thoughts (of someone) that public should be aware that the action would result in increase in board compensation. There's justification for that, he thinks.
     Prendergast: clarification. Driven by Ed Code? Nancy seems to nod yes. (Well, it's allowed by Ed Code, not mandated.)
Dan Walsh
     Lang: it's not been rejected in the past; rather, it's not been brought up in the past. (That's not quite true. I recall personally mucking up Don Wagner's effort to increase trustee pay a few years ago. See Trustees to delay 67% pay increase for themselves (1/16/09) and Trustees set to nearly double their monthly stipend (12/2/08).)
     Faculty member (SC Ac Senate Prez Dan Walsh) interrupts: you are going up to (close to) what the Ed Code allows as "maximum." I.e., this raised stipend isn't mandated.
     Nancy is peevish. She says that, strictly, no. But the real answer, I think, was "essentially, yes."
     (When the "streaming video" becomes available, take a look at this part of the meeting. It seemed to me that Nancy was in effect saying, "We've got to give ourselves this raise; our hands are tied." And that just ain't so. "Permitted to do X" and "required to do X" are two very different things.)

6.3 Board Policy Revisions -- accept for review and study -- Unanimous

NEW IVC DEAN
6.4 Academic Personnel Actions
     IVC's Craig Justice announces hire of Cathleen Greiner (see below). Welcomed new employee, dean of something. (Dean of Online and Extended Education; Dean of Academic Programs [temporary replacement of K. Werle])


6.5 Classified personnel actions. Jemal notes promotion of Don Rickner, Foundation, SC. Passes unanimously.

Reports:
7.1 - no comments or questions
7.2 - no comments or questions
7.3 - no comments or questions
7.4   A question about the Retiree (OPEB) trust fund from Lang.

Reports from governance groups
Greiner
  • Saddleback College Ac. Senate: refers to the recent fire. We've adjusted. Points out that faculty do a lot outside of the classroom (e.g., 10,000 hours flex stuff).
  • Faculty Association: faculty forum at each college....
  • IVC Academic Senate: our senate doesn't meet officially over the summer. Senate cabinet and others are working on various projects. Much of this work is unpaid, she notes.
  • Bramucci: network speed will be greatly increased. Nancy: we recently had a power outage. B: The backup generators kicked in, so we (i.e., Saddleback) had no power outage.
  • Budget: ...
  • Some new people, substitute people, speaking
  • Adjourn in memory of passing of Marlene Engel (sp?) [Tere reports: "Board President Nancy Padberg adjourned the board meeting in memory of Marlene Angell, a former employee who worked in Human Resources for 10 years, who recently passed away."]
Orange County College Administrator Admits To Stealing $46,000 From Poor Students (NavelGazing; OC Weekly; Moxley)
     A Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) administrator of a federal assistance program for migrant farm workers initially claimed she was innocent of cheating students out of their grant money but has signed a guilty plea.
     In hopes for punishment leniency, Anna Catalan—who was the Director of Special Programs at RSCCD's Santiago Canyon College in Orange—admitted this month she stole $46,400 from "approximately 64" students who qualified to receive assistance from the U.S. Department of Education….

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...