Saturday, April 8, 2017

Irvine Valley College’s Child Development Center targeted for closure


     Administration at Irvine Valley College is once again scrambling to deal with yet another budget shortfall, and it's pretty serious. The IVC Academic Senate, which represents faculty on academic matters, has attempted to monitor the situation, but, as usual, neither President Glenn Roquemore nor his VP of College Administrative Services, Davit Khachatryan, seem capable of providing clear or coherent budget information. It's an old complaint.
     Natch, college personnel have been looking for ways to save big money.
     As you may know, many college programs offer courses with lab time, and these labs are generally money-losers, a state of affairs tolerated owing to the necessity of the labs for the viability of the programs.
     The Human Development program has a lab, too. It is the Child Development Center (CDC), situated at the east corner of campus, where, for many years, children have been provided day care and instruction. Owing to recent increases in salaries (secured by our faculty union), the cost of maintaining staff at the CDC has gone up, and, for that reason among others, the center now operates in the red. We keep hearing deficit figures between $400k and beyond.
     Evidently, our VP of Student Services, Linda Fontanilla, has, in recent weeks, been making the rounds presenting a very dismal picture of the CDC, saying (as I understand it) that few HD students do lab work at the center, that the CDC attracts few clients (children), and so on. She's obviously making the case that the CDC should be shut down.
Fontanilla
     We at the Academic Senate have just learned that some committee (not sure which, but the usual suspects) is already recommending pulling the plug on the CDC as a way to help address the budget shortfall. As a result of that decision, there is an item on the agenda of the next board meeting requesting the the college may be allowed to move in that direction.
     Following a now familiar pattern, administration seems to be making decisions sans the defined process, which is designed to solicit input from various governance groups (including the Academic Senate).
     According to HD faculty, who attended Thursday’s Senate meeting, the first they heard about this move to close CDC was a week earlier. They were horrified. Now, they've got only a few days to scare up ideas to save the center.
     At the meeting, two HR faculty complained that the current process, whatever it is, has proceeded without any effort to consult or inform the affected faculty, who were taken utterly by surprise. Why was there no effort to reconfigure the CDC to make it operate more cheaply?, they asked. Why not ask for our help and resources? Why are we moving straight to closing down the CDC?
     At the meeting, HD faculty asserted that their programs are dependent on the operation of the CDC and that, therefore, the college's plug-pulling of CDC would be a de facto plug-pulling of their programs. Further, they claimed that the alleged factoids promulgated by the VPSS are erroneous or distorted—that, for instance, the related programs do indeed seek to maximize the number of HD students instructed at the CDC but that efforts in this regard are constrained by the limited number of classes that can be offered there.
     Khachatryan was present to answer questions, but that didn’t go far. He suggested that, when it comes to the “academic side of things,” we need to talk to the VP of Instruction, Chris McDonald.
     Natch, he wasn’t present.
     The senators heard all this and were sympathetic. The senate will try to insure that the college's governance procedures are followed. That means that no decision to close CDC can have been made at this point and that this matter must wend through the prescribed process, involving various committees and other entities.
     That's our thinking, anyway.
     Stay tuned.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Number crunchers strike again. This isn't about instruction. Someone has an agenda and others are helping achieve it because they are too afraid not to.

Anonymous said...

Where is the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences on this? Where is the Senate? We have a process for program discontinuance but this ain't it.

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to alert the faculty union as well. And what does the dean of Social Sciences say about this?

Anonymous said...

Shared governance anyone? Collegial consultation? Notice how they moved on this AFTER the Accreditation Team left? Perhaps someone wants to notify the members of Accreditation Team who are, after all, still writing up their report? (Please understand that this isn't the end of plans - only the beginning. Their chopping block is a big one.)

Anonymous said...

Why is this just now coming to light so late in the academic year? Davit knew we were in trouble with last year's budget, and, surely, he projects budget for more than one year in advance. They'll blame this on the possibility of reduced foreign student income, but they should have been looking at that all along anyway. And, what about the savings realized from the early retirement incentive? Has anyone looked into grants or other subsidies for the CDC? If faculty and staff knew before now that academic programs were on the chopping block, there might have been time to save them. Once again, piss-poor planning and communication by our vaunted administration.

Anonymous said...

Eye on the ball folks! It's about resources and agendas, like always. What are they going to put in that prime space? Who is playing ball with the right people right now? Who needs money for some pet project? Any predictions?

Anonymous said...

The CDC has always been a financial necessary evil for the campus and at times the District. The academic program never generated enough revenue to cover its cost and the restrictions put on the childcare side of the operation kept it from competing with other local operations. Time to sub lease it and let a non-profit turn it into a viable community asset.

Anonymous said...

Typical of the way this corrupt administration runs this place. What an ugly environment to work in and be a part of!

Anonymous said...


I believe most of the CDC staff are retiring soon.

Anonymous said...

Did the faculty decide to end the program? Isn't there a process for this? People should be wary; what happens to some, may happen to you.

Anonymous said...

Where is the commitment not only to this program but to our students (and staff) who depend on its services?

Anonymous said...

How do other colleges maintain and protect their child development centers? If they close ours, won't we be one of the few local colleges without such services?

Anonymous said...

Glenn is a dumb fuck,he has no clue. Davit is an idiot, he couldn't admin his way out of a paper bag. Linda? dont get me started. A student service pro would be in there fighting for the center and the students who need affordable childcare. The Board has a role in this. They need to step up and protect the community for which they serve.

Anonymous said...

Just playing devil's advocate here. Do we know how many students and employees have children at the CDC? It's hard to imagine the administration closing the facility if it caters to a large number of students and employees. If it's primarily become a service to the community, is that what the CDC is really there to do? Offer child care to local residents? If that's the case, there are plenty of options in the area for community members.

Anonymous said...

Only 13 IVC students bring their kids to the CDC. It isn't many.

Anonymous said...

And what percentage of the college population does that amount to? I can see why there's such an uproar.

Anonymous said...

I thought the primary point of the CDC was to have opportunities for HD students to work on site. It's like a lab.

Anonymous said...

pink slips on the agenda.

Anonymous said...

The service is too costly, what's it like a grand per week to stick your kid in there? Who can afford that?

Anonymous said...

Saddleback's site is a LAB.

Anonymous said...

The problem = a director who showed zero interest in working with faculty to promote the program. Nothing new to excite the community. Clueless about the growth in the field that make other college campus centers so awesome. No this director did not care to make this school thrive. ZERO professional development! Her staff were oppressed, depressed. Look at any other college lab school and you will see exemplary models. This one was a joke. Could've been so much more were it not for the slammed-shut mind.

Anonymous said...

I wish they would have put research efforts into evaluating how other preschools are profitable and successful instead of why ours should be shut down. The director needs to find a sustainable model, not just allow the center to lose money year after year.

Anonymous said...

The center is not a thousand a week, it's about 1300 a month. Staff, students and community all used the center. It was literally ran into the ground by the powers that be. The lower staff(teachers) watched it all happen and had really no voice to say anything. The director LITERALLY was turning away children, giving them a list of other schools to go to. What director does that?? There were tons of students utilizing the center as much as could be accommodated, due to the enrollment that was turned away. The director, when she did show up was more concerned about other things to do, then center stuff. Also, there were 4 admin people working in the front of a center with 40 kids in it. Again, NO preschool does that. Two of them could of been in the back, so the school could take more children, but those two were busy shopping on EBAY or planning trips. The most effort that was applied to this center in the last 5 years, was to shut it down. Ever since LINDA F started IVC. One less department for her to run. The saddest part is there is nobody who cared to check on the accountability of the powers that be. Yes, it lost money, but the reason was mismanagement and nobody caring to check where our tax dollars are really going. Then when people did start caring and tried, it was too little, too late, unfortunately. Sad, for the children, students and people of our community. Also, last, but not least the teachers who worked to maintain a great environment for OUR communities children.

Anonymous said...

Well said. Sadly so.

Anonymous said...

Am I being paranoid in thinking it might be intentional and not just a computer glitch that the video from all the past board meetings has been deleted?

https://www.socccd.edu/about/about_board_minutes_video.html

Anonymous said...

Just saw the President's message regarding this. I could have called this all day. They will look for a "vendor" to take over the space. We are now planning to rent out more of our campus to create profits. This is why having Republicans run an educational institution is a bad idea. Run it for the bottom line.

Anonymous said...

So sad.

Once again, very few places to discuss such events except the blog and hallways.

Anonymous said...

Just the way Donald Roquemore wants it. Stifle the dialogue. Lie to the accreditation team. SOP! Davit lying and covering DR ass, shameful Davit. Think about your actions next Sunday.

Anonymous said...

What's next Sunday?

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...