Get back atcha asap.
Tonight's meeting is kinda special, what with IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore suddenly resigning last Thursday. We had been told that his contract was up and a decision would be made (in October) about renewal. I had information (for about six months) that the board was disposed NOT to renew the fellow's contract. —After 17 years! (Good Lord!)
We at IVC were praying for abject Presidential dump-age. YES!
But why did Roquemore resign instead of serving out his contract (through June or whatever)? Why resign on the spot?
A few days before his resignation, the head tech guy was suddenly fired. But why? Lots of rumors.
Before that, Cessa, the popular-with-some-faculty Student Services person was canned—after she was allowed to return, owing to HR irregularities last Spring in how Roquemore was fixing' to dump her. Roquemore has a dismal history of hiring and firing.
So it's been pretty wild at the ol' college amongst the orange trees.
More in a minute.
6:32 - Item 1.3 of tonight's closed session (going on right now) includes this:
| A. | Public Employee Discipline, Dismissal, Release (Government Code Section 54957(b).) |
| B. | Public Employee Performance Evaluation (Government Code Section 594954.5(e).) |
1. Dean, Liberal Arts (IVC)
Whoa, Nellie!
6:36 - Prendergast and Lang have emerged. The meeting will start soon.
Natch, it will begin with a READING OUT of actions taken by the board in closed session. —Actions, perhaps, re the above administrators!
6:41 - The Chance and Jemal and Wright are present. Not here yet: Whitt, Milchiker, and Jay. The women.
6:42 - Marcia and Babs have arrived. Pretty quiet in here. A hush.
6:43 - Prendergast opens the meeting. (I guess.) Terri Whitt has not yet arrived. But they start anyway.
They go to Item 2.1 — actions taken in closed session
7-0 vote - claim made - notice of rejection matters alleged March 20 ... 913 allegations...code section 911... authorizes the Chance to issue to issue appropriate notices.
—That's it, I guess. DANG.
Invocation by Wright. "Our father who art in heaven, ...fires...off the 405... thankful for our students, pray for guidance..."
the pledge
Advancing 6.1 — to accommodate lawyers. ATEM addendum, public hearing. Someone reads: pertains to public hearing... former El Toro station... approval of ground lease, etc. Permits construction of medical office building at ATEP.
Board questions? None. Public hearing now open. Public testimony (invited speakers). No one comments. Public hearing now closed. Any further discussion? Nope. Concluded. Bang!
6.2 — approval of resolution. Milchiker/Jemal. No requests to speak. They vote: unanimous.
6.3 - approval of ...resolution ground lease... Milchiker/Wright. No speakers. They vote: unanimous.
6.4 - going back to "board reports."
Starts with Lang: Nothing to say. [I hear he isn't running for reelection. GOOD.]
Jay: attended two events. Economic Coalition...grin and grip... Also attended the "Saddleback car show." Enjoyed meeting the Auto Tech faculty. "I was so impressed." "It was wonderful." Handed out awards. "Auto Tech" awards. How to remove dents from a car. A fun event for everybody, "esp fathers and sons." A fine example of what the CC offers.
Prendergast: Econ Coalition event, yada year
Jemal: Tustin "state of city" address. Mayor Chuck Puckett. Our relation with the city is good, improved over the years. (Used to be very rocky.) ATEP presentation. OC business council annual report. Blah blah blah. Auto show: I was really impressed. The jobs our students are landing.... Exciting about ATEP. Electronic and autonomous vehicles. This Friday night: Teacher of the Year ceremony. Two faculty honored.
Wright: homecoming event at Saddleback. A "wonderful event", barbecue; stayed for the game against Southwestern College. The football program: "we" did very well this year. (Blah blah blah)
Also: will be going to banquet at Disneyland hotel, Teacher of the Year (he seems to have a Senior Moment)
Marcia: I attended blah blah (turns on mike)... wanted to highlight Tustin's state of the city. Video, creative and funny. Tustin uses ATEP, a benefit for city. Business Council. Publication: growing importance of CCs... The car show emphasized excellence of Auto Tech program. Students are getting high paying jobs in community. Computer "tech things." Our colleges are very active. Other events: blah, blah blah. Saddleback College Literary Journal presentation. Best ever. Literature and the arts. Women's self-defense. Tail-gate BBQ. Horticulture dept.
Whitt: for sake of time, will share...conference call...foundation at Saddleback College. Detailed report of success of "our students." "Scholarship, scholarship, scholarship."
Student trustee (Uriarte?): blah blah blah. Nice accent.
COLLEGE PRESIDENTS:
SC Prez Stern: blah blah blah. Thanked Roquemore for his warm welcoming when he arrived... Mentions the football team. Very excited about that. (Silver lining to the delay in our stadium.) Finally: updates on enrollment and budgets. Enrollments for Fall, up between 1 and 2%. Most Cal CCs are experiencing decline. Budget is looking good too.
Acting President (IVC) Cindy(?): blah blah blah. Some pizza event with non-alcoholic beverages. (Good grief.) Veterans will come for innovation conference. Will be there on Friday for Disney Teacher of the Year event.
Saddleback Student government - honor to be here. 80 members of student government, Proud to announce our Veteran Committee has been revived. Blah blah blah. Undocumented Student week. Speaker spoke. Club Rush. Games, hamster ball(?). Looking forward to November. Gearing up for Spring.
ASIVC - Pres. Ad hoc committees, blah blah blah. We're now included in Student Senate of CAL. "Should be very exciting."
Move to 4.1 — legislative advocacy overview.
Guys with Ties walk up. Tie-guy Dale S speaks (works for group hired by district). Thanks for opportunity... Update on legislative activity, past year: 10 pieces of legislation that board took view on. 6 were victorious. Shows chart. AB 1725...
Senate: two bills we supported were vetoed. (Didn't sound too good.)
Budget: one major budget initiative... funding of capital outlay projects. Two SOCCCD projects (IVC and SC). Ultimately both included in budget. IVC fine arts project was not in budget, but was eventually added.
Medical reimbursement issue. —Code limits reimbursement of nurses with high degrees. Sought an amendment. Eligible for reimbursement of health care services provided to CC students. Secured beneficial amendments. Verbal commitment from dept. — issue will be addressed.
Lobby Days (?) - blah blah blah
Issues for Next Year: ballot measures. Student financial aid reform. Affordable housing.
—Thanks for flagging these issues for us. —We want to keep working with you collaboratively.
"Split roll initiative." Sponsors withdrew. CSBA initiative (school boards). Increased funding. Want to increase income tax for millionaires, Initiative campaign coming. Will cost $5 million to wage campaign, down side.
Affordable housing for students and faculty/staff.
Any questions? Prendergast: blah blah blah. Lots of thank-you
Jemal: SB268 - what would that have done? State MediCal... blah blah blah. "Looks like we batted 1000" — good job
Milchiker: yes, good job. Mental services. The amendment...personnel can work with students with mental health problems. Staff: yes, a state wide (something). Most staff have high degrees and code does not allow reimbursement of those services. Amendment corrects this. Reimbursed by Feds.
Marcia: important services. Mental health problems. Saddleback College Gateway project: how much do we get? Answer $1.7 million. Blah blah blah. 2 billion allocated to CCs. Ultimately, will be a $25 million match. Etc, Gateway.
Whitt: Outrageous request by For-Profits. (?) Staff: the issue is not going away. Will come back with another bill, proposal. Other colleges are raising concerns. Will have growing coalition. (Nursing?) Bill: would except for-profit colleges from certain requirements ... expanding enrollments. (Registered nurses.) We opposed it. (Jemal). Displacing our students because... ?
Next: Capitol Advocacy (Partners).
Medicaid issue. Blah blah blah. Awaiting state plan amendment. Two gals. Amanda, Kristin, et al.
Thank you for opportunity... We work with congress, agencies, administration to understand where things are going, positioning colleges. Trouble-shoot issues. (Federal.) We build congressional support for things we're trying to do. Building partnerships. Where things are going... See where we can converge on pathway, funding opportunities, impact your bottom line. Drafting language. Resource for info. Experts. We've made important progress in having our members on campus, making expertise available.
Advocacy to support student veterans. Advocacy, Medical issue. DACA, etc. SALT.
We're successful as you are engaged. Thanks. Chicago visit to see model program, Saddleback College, etc.
Looking ahead:
Will continue to advocate, despite impeachment inquiry (sucking all the air out of the room). Regulatory review. 2020 elections. blah blah blah.
cccsounds pretty good. Check it out.
Questions?
Jemal: Thank you both. Our focus should be on the grants, given focus on impeachment. Right? Prioritize grant funding, staff: not so much legislative advocacy. Not much moving. What can win funding, focusing on that. Multi-year grants. SALT. Jemal: feds raising taxes for us here in CAL. Deficit very high. SALT? Staff: eliminating it was "highly unpopular." How are we gonna do it and when? Senate voted on it last week, but party line vote.... I do think will get SALT deduction back. Jemal and staff disagree about this, optimism. The grant cycles will continue at current levels, despite the paralysis in Congress.
Jemal: new genocide resolution. Thanks, Armenian Genocide remembrance day. We should tell the truth. Hoping for a good outcome.
Lang: sorry, but 2026 is when tax bill will expire. Charitable contributions... organizations declined in membership, giving. Will have impact. Evidently, staff is more optimistic.
Consent calendar: 5.2 pulled. 5.3 - they vote. Unanimous on balance of CC
5.3 - Wright. a small correction on page 4. Revision of Chemistry degree. Remove something.
Unanimous yes
5.2 - Wright reads resolution/resolve. Two campuses as VOTING CENTERS. In interests of democracy, we said yes to this.
Jemal: starts with 2020 primary (early voting, February). Unanimous approval. Roll call. (electronic)
6.4 - IVC UC Irvine, something. vote: unanimous.
6.5 - IVC soccer practice field.... Vote: unanimous.
6.6 - SC programs to be offered at ATEP... revised.
Jemal: a significant change from original plan. Dr. Stern, could you explain rationale?
Stern: when plan originally laid out... lack of facilities for health care providers. No longer the case. Asked: what would benefit the college, location in Tustin? we put forth revised set of programs that would benefit the community and college in 2020.
Milchiker: emeritus courses there? Yes.
Vote: unanimous
6.7 - Grant...Childcare...(IVC no longer has childcare program. Sheesh. Vote: unanimous
6.8 - Stadium change order.
Jay: says Oct 19th? Not a misprint. Yes. We're way behind. Guestimate? May be done June 2020.
Wright: same comment. Golly.
Staff: we're moving along, making progress. Changing personnel. Better synergy. We can fine them for being late. We're tracking that.
Jemal: maybe better language in contract? Staff: whether this problem could have been prevented.
Accommodating female officials, bathroom. Blah blah blah. Jemal: do we have the right process in place now? Yes. Prendergast: is anyone looking for potential loopholes in the contractual language? Staff: our contractual language is pretty strong.
Whitt: "so many complaints with the stadium" [construction]
Staff: the stadium will be beautiful when its built!
They vote: unanimous.
6.9 - unanimous vote
6.10 - Study Abroad, Dublin
Vote: unanimous
6.11 - master agreement, Saddleback Foundation and district foundation.
Marcia: agreement between SC foundation and district. How did that change? Chance: agreement gives authority to raise funds. You need to do this about every five years.
It's a standard agreement, though there were some changes in Ed Code. "Nothing is really changing."
Chance: like getting married, every five years renew your vows.
The district foundation is very small. (Some didn't know it even existed.)
Jemal: what defines "non-monetary"? Blah blah blah. Boy, they're in the weeds.
. . .
Whitt: why are we rushing this? Wants to table. Prendergast: we're out of compliance, so, we're trying to get into compliance.
Guy (auditor?) comes up and yammers. Prendergast: any harm in tabling? No. Staff: my rec, move forward. Prendergast: let's wait til IVC foundation is ready for this. Blah blah blah. Lang: yammers. "It's not gonna get much better or different than it is now." Jemal: how come no-one here from Saddleback Foundation? My bad, says Stern. Prendergast: I don't see any harm in voting on this tonight. Whitt is quietly peeved. Lisa Greenberg shows up, President of Foundation at IVC(?). Does have problem with language. If we have to do "this," we'll have to shut down.
Whoa!
So we can acat on this one and wait for IVC.
They vote: two trustee "no"s-- Jay and Whitt. (Passes with 5)
Voting on 6.12 - unanimous
6.13 - vote, unanimous
6.14 - Board policy revision. Review and Study.
Milchiker: policy basic aid allocation process. Board removed. Answer: additional language clarifies that "we" are ultimate authority. Evidently, there was a real disagreement here, a real issue. Does change Board's role. (Marcia's onto something.) Perhaps should change language.
Marcia: harassment policy: unpaid interns. Are there paid interns? Blah blah blah
Marcia: everyone waits for Marcia. Harassment policy. Worried about: discrimination by ANAPISI?
Lang: good point, Marcia. — unanimous yes vote.
Motion to extend meeting to 10:30. (Evidently, the board will go back into closed session after this.) Unanimous vote. SOME COMPUTER GLITCH - WE'RE ALL WAITING FOR COUNTING OF VOTE. GOOD GRIEF. —unanimous.
6.15 - Approval of board policy revisions. No requests to speak. They vote: unanimous
6.16 - no changes. Vote: unanimous
6.17 - tenure track hiring authorization. Vote: unanimous
6.18 - Canvas faculty stipend. Vote: Lang votes no, but 6 yes
6.19 - classified personnel actions. Vote: unanimous
6.20 - vote: unanimous
7.1 - reports
8.0 - reports. IVC Academic Senate. Etc. Mostly no reports.
VC business services.
IVC classified senate. Activities this month.
Meeting ended at about 9:00
The Board went back into CLOSED SESSION.
We were told not to expect any actions read out after the closed session—so we went home.
(Why no read out? I think because they were barely making any headway through the closed session agenda and knew they wouldn't get done. Possibly, they were considering a faculty union proposal as well.)
10 comments:
Here!
Hamster ball?
Thanks, Roy, for the update and commentary. As usual, very apt.
Bob
The return to closed session combined with Wright's prayer for guidance and unity suggest to me that they are wrestling with some tough decisions for a board that doesn't like to rock the boat even if it is sinking itself and rocking might help it eventually right itself. I applaud the chancellor for what must have been a Herculean effort to get them recognize that too much has gone wrong for far too long. (The board doesn't like to admit mistakes, especially if they have lasted nearly 20 years.) I hope she can prevail. I expect there will be more news. We will need to be patient.
Rock the boat, baby! Rock it!
When will we find out what they decided? Did they table the renewals and non-renewals? Don't they have to report out any actions?
One year ago, this was the story on this blog, the appearance of swastikas on campus 13 days earlier and the failure of a prompt meaningful response. It took a year but I am grateful that the board and chancellor acted. We all deserve better than what we have had for so long, even if some of us don't think or know we do. Trust me. We do. So do our students. Especially our students. We are a college, not somebody's private business.
https://dissenttheblog.blogspot.com/2018/10/13-days-later.html
A little information or explanation about the recent departures might help some on campus better accept the changes and why they were necessary.
That would, indeed, help staff and faculty: we are after all, as faculty, here to present evidence, facts, stories based on details and explanations. That this college and my college--SC--don't tend to do.
I expect we won't get much information as it is a personnel issue. But since he didn't serve out his contract in office and he left with the usual niceties (cake, etc.) generally accorded someone who has worked so long, one suspects that there must have been pretty compelling reasons to risk bad press, etc. in order to move forward. Perhaps related to Hagan's departure somehow? That's my take.
Post a Comment