County on the Verge of Releasing Drakodaidis Letter (Voice of OC)

UPDATE:
County releases accusatory letter from deputy CEO’s lawyer (OC Reg)

This is the link to the redacted letter that the Reg provides. They acknowledge that they are having trouble with it:
LINK

County Releases Redacted Version of Drakodaidis Claim (Voice of OC)

IVC: the birth of a college with a daffy name

Saddleback North: New Name and a New Valley (LA Times) - May 15, 1985

     After a short search that yielded suggestions such as Gumby College and El Torito College--Home of the Nachos, the Saddleback Community College District board has voted to rename Saddleback College's north campus Irvine Valley Community College.
. . .
     Two of the other names offered by students, teachers and administrators were Rancho Irvine College and Modjeska Community College. Modjeska had a nice ring, [spokeswoman Susan Clark] said, but it presented technical difficulties. "There was a lot of trouble with the spelling, and we couldn't fit it into a fight song."….

     WHAT VALLEY? Some of the wise guys here at Irvine Valley College can be depended upon to note that, despite the college’s name, there is no valley here. According to experts, they say, the college sits upon an “elongated plane” not a valley.
     I came across an old article about the “dedication” of our fair college that sheds a little light on the situation. In “Irvine Gets a ‘Valley’ at College Dedication” (Oct. 23, 1985), reporter Bill Billiter explained that the “5,200-student institution had been the northern branch of the Mission-Viejo based Saddleback College.” Now, he said, it was a “newly independent college.”
     The main speaker for the dedication was State Chancellor Joshua L. Smith, who joked about the college’s name:

Smith

     Smith … noted wryly that “Irvine Valley” created a valley “where none existed before,” adding: “Irvine Valley! ‘What valley?’ we all have been asked. Let’s face it, folks, Irvine Elongated Plane College just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
     “I’m told geologists have argued against the college’s name by pointing out that it is not located in a depressed plane. I say good. I’m delighted this college is not located in a depressed anything.
     “If the ‘sun’ can have a valley; if ‘dolls’ can have a valley; if even ‘the shadow of death’ can have a valley, then surely geologists cannot deny Irvine its own valley,” he observed.

     The audience laughed, we’re told. It was a hot, sunny day. Not a negative word was heard from the people passing by.
     The article goes on to explain:

     [“]Irvine Valley[”] was selected earlier this year as the new name for what had formerly been North Campus of Saddleback College. The name was a way of using Irvine, to please that city, while attempting not to offend Laguna Beach and Tustin, the other communities the college serves, according to officials familiar with the situation.

     OFFENDING TUSTIN.* The decision to build a north campus had been made by trustees in the early 70s. The way I heard it, the people of Tustin were very excited about the possibility of a campus in their city, and, at some point, land in the vicinity of what became the Tustin Marketplace was selected for that purpose. But then (according to the story), the Irvine Company decided to give away some land for the purpose of a community college right here on Irvine Center Drive (and Jeffrey), so the decision was made to build the campus there instead, a couple of miles to the south.
     The City of Tustin has been pissed ever since. It’s like Mayberry over there, so you can’t reason with ‘em.
     That’s the story. Don’t know how much of it is true, but surely some of it is (I got it from a reliable sort).

* * *

     I looked for an article that tells the story of the first appearance of the Irvine “campus.” I found “North Saddleback Campus: It’s Small, Has No Name, but a New College It Is” (LA Times, January 15, 1979), by Tom Fortune. It says

     It will start out the size of a junior high school. And it’s a long way from getting a name of its own.
     But students will begin taking classes next Monday at Orange County’s newest community college, known as the north campus of Saddleback College.
     College officials say they expect to enroll about 1,500 persons at the outset, many of them taking courses both at the new campus … and at Saddleback College (14 miles south in Mission Viejo).
     For a few years, the new school will be merely a satellite campus. No attendance boundaries will be drawn to separate it from Saddleback College. It will not have its own name or a football team.
. . .
     The plan is to develop the campus in 20-acre increments. Each new cluster is to have its own educational theme and central architectural focus.
. . .
     Only two of the three academic buildings in the first cluster will be ready for the start of classes next Monday. A late start on the science building … will delay its availability by a couple of months....
     During a press preview last week, the campus was still very much a construction site. The raw buildings were surrounded by mud. A workman was painting a door through which visitors entered.
     Campus administrator Ed Hart had his full-time faculty there for introduction—all 11 of them.
. . .
     The buildings are of brick with mostly flat roofs. A clock tower is the focus of the central plaza. Lots of outside windows are intended to show off a business machines center and a reading and language lab and entice students inside.
. . .
     Greater things are ahead, promised District Supt. Robert Lombardi. He said the new campus probably will be one of the last community colleges built in the state….

     Eventually, of course, “attendance boundaries” were established. I do believe that El Toro Road is used to divide the district neatly in half.
     And, in 1985, the college did become independent and was indeed named—an unfortunate name, for a college, if you ask me. (“Not really correct, but close enough!” said the politician.)
     I’m not sure what Fortune meant by “educational themes” and “architectural focus” distinguishing the college’s “clusters.” It all looks kinda random to me. The campus does look good, however, and so I don’t mean to complain about its appearance.
     Those buildings were not made of brick, dude. The brick is veneer, like the fake wood on a Walmart office desk. Oh, how shitty it is to tear open the veneer and to behold the particle board beneath!
     Our leader, Pres. Glenn Roquemore (a protégé of Raghu F.U. Mathur), tore out the clock tower about ten years ago—supposedly cuz he and his predecessor (Mathur) had let it become rotten. (The Reb and I deftly liberated the hands of the clock. We occasionally break ‘em out and do performance art.) So the “central plaza” no longer has a focus, unless it’s that goofy sculpture smack dab in the middle.

     The science building? Well, that will soon be gutted and transformed into the new Humanities & Languages/Social & Behavioral Sciences building.
     Twenty years ago, owing to the high percentage of IVC instruction that occurs in that School, H&L was slated to get its own building. But then the odious Raghu Mathur happened (1997). Since his chief critics were among H&L faculty, Mathur, a petty sort, continually contrived to prevent the School from getting new facilities. Luckily, he finally got booted a couple of years ago cuz he had really pissed off trustee Don Wagner. (The initial story was that Mathur had deviously written to the Accred maven, Babs Beno, in an effort to get her to pressure the district not to create Accred committees that mixed faculty and trustees. Mathur had long presented trustees with a negative caricature of faculty and did not want his distortions refuted by trustees' exposure to reality.)
     In recent years, we’ve been promised a temporary “new” building. It is the remodel of the old “science” building (A400). "Gosh thanks," said H&L faculty, warily.
     For months, our School has been meeting with administration and architects to plan the building. At first, the plans looked pretty impressive. Gradually, they've been whittled down.
     By now, we just call it the “incredible shrinking building.” Cynicism and skepticism reigns supreme.

Smith (contemp pic)

*In late 1973, Tustin residents sought to move Tustin out of the Saddleback District and into the Santa Ana District—on the grounds that the distance to Saddleback College was too great for residents. The matter was taken to the Saddleback District trustees, who rejected the proposal. Tustin residents then sought the “petition” route: enough signatures were collected, and then the matter was taken up by the state. (See “Petition Asking District Shift Nears Goal,” LA Times, Nov 25, 1973.) The only other article about the matter I have found (“Tustin Bid for College Shift Suffers Setback,” LA Times, April 18, 1974) states that “The Orange County Committee on School District Organization has Recommended that Tustin remain in the Saddleback College attendance area and not be switched to the Santa Ana....” At present, parts of Tustin continue to be in the SOCCCD.

SEE ALSO
 New College Born: Irvine Valley Becomes Official, Independent Entity (LA Times, July 2, 1985)

Irvine Valley President Plans to Retire Nov. 1 (LA Times, Aug. 26, 1986)

Agenda for Monday's regular BOT meeting

Tom is now a ghost

     AGENDA for Monday's regular meeting available here (a large pdf)
     I just gave it a quick once-over. Obvious points of interest:

2.4 Resolutions/Commendations
     Swearing In: Trustee James R. Wright

4.1 SOCCCD: College Completion [Discussion item:]
     Chancellor Gary Poertner, Saddleback College President Tod Burnett and Irvine Valley College President Glenn Roquemore will provide an overview of the College Completion Agenda and how the colleges are addressing the Student Success Task Force recommendations that are part of this agenda

6.5 Irvine Valley College: Management Reorganization
     Approve the proposed Irvine Valley College management reorganization. The proposed reorganization realigns workloads and managerial responsibilities of four deans in the instructional services division, as follows: 1) Dean, Online Education and Learning Resources; 2) Dean, Fine Arts and Business Sciences; 3) Dean, Liberal Arts; and, 4) Dean, Academic Programs. This proposed reorganization does not create any new positions and there is no fiscal impact.

Special BOT meeting Monday: Chancellor eval

AGENDA for Monday's regular meeting available here (a large pdf)

Early Saddleback College history: dress codes, censorship, faculty wives clubs, and more!

SOME STRAY FACTOIDS culled from LA Times headlines:

“Saddleback College Bonds Approved by Wide Margin,” LA Times, Apr. 10, 1968:
—“Midway returns in the Saddleback Junior College District showed voters were approving a $9.5 million bond issue Tuesday night.” 

“Architects Get the Go-Ahead at Saddleback,” LA Times, May 17, 1968:
—“Trustees of Saddleback Junior College District have authorized architects to proceed with specifications for temporary classroom buildings for Saddleback College.” 

“Saddleback's Campus Construction Starts,” LA Times, May 25, 1968:
—“The brand of Saddleback College was added to those dating back to the area's ranching days when ground for the college's interim campus was broken by trustees in a ceremony...” 

“'Instant Campus' Takes Shape for Saddleback College,” June 21, 1968:
—“Transformation of a graded field into a college campus started Thursday with the assembling of the first steel classrooms for Saddleback College.” 

“Saddleback College Chief Rejects Offer of 3-Year Contract: College Head to Leave Post at Saddleback,” LA Times, June 26, 1968

“Saddleback JC Picks New Superintendent,” LA Times, July 3, 1968:
—“Dr. Fred H. Bremer, 45, dean of instruction and vice president of Saddleback College, will become district superintendent and college president on Aug. 1.” 

“Saddleback Trustees Reject Bid for Delay on Dress Code,” LA Times, Oct. 15, 1968:
—“A student request that the dress code, particularly as it pertains to boys' long hair, be suspended until the new Saddleback College has a chance to form an Associated Student Body was turned down Monday night by the Board of Trustees.” 

“Reagan Dedicates Saddleback, Cites Need for Viewpoint,” LA Times, Oct. 16, 1968:
—“Gov. Reagan told students at the dedication of Saddleback College Tuesday, ‘You are brighter than we were at your age, you are better informed and even healthier’ and ‘we owe you the right to want a purpose, a cause, a banner to follow.’” 

“Long Hair Ban Sets Tone: No-Nonsense Image Marks Saddleback JC’s First Year,” LA Times, Dec. 1, 1968:
—“Saddleback College is only two months old but already it has a reputation as a nononsense campus.” 

“Saddleback to Have More Than 1 Campus,” LA Times, Jan. 22, 1969:
—“Saddleback Junior College District eventually will have a second campus, trustees have decided, but the site won't be selected for three to five years.” 

“Saddleback Adopts highest JC Salary Schedule in State,” LA Times, April 16, 1969:
—“Saddleback College District has adopted a teachers' salary schedule which makes it the highest paying district in the state, at least $5,000—at top of scale—above any other junior college schedule in the county.” 

“Wives Plan Fantasy for Funds,” LA Times, May 23, 1969:
—“Astrologers are predicting good fortune for Saddleback College Faculty Wives as they plan their first major fund-raising event Saturday at the Revere House. 

“Permanent campus to open,” LA Times, June 27, 1969:
—“Saddleback College is on the move again—for the third time since its inception.” 

“College Trustees Slate Meeting,” LA Times, June 30, 1969:
— New trustee officers to be elected “Wednesday.” The meeting was in Crown Valley School. Since last July, Collins had been board pres., Backus had been VP, and Brannon had been clerk. 

“Dress Code Amended: Hair Below Eyebrows is Out at Saddleback College,” LA Times, July 4, 1969:
—“Saddleback College, the only junior college in Orange County with a dress code, is amending its regulations on men's hair styles to make them more specific.” 

“Tea Will Greet Faculty Wives,” LA Times, Aug. 28, 1969 

“College Adopts Speaker Policy,” LA Times, Sep. 17, 1969:
— According to the trustees’ new policy, programs open to the public must get pre-approval from the Board. Programs limited to student units (departments, classes, etc.) must get prior approval of the superintendent. 

“Trustees Maintain Dress Code, Say Economics Dictate Move,” LA Times, Oct. 29, 1969:
—“Saddleback College's no-nonsense image will continue, partly as a matter of economics.” 

“Student Editors Stir Concern—and Reaction,” LA Times, Dec. 7, 1969:
—Tells of new policy by Saddleback College board that governs the student paper, Lariat. The faculty advisor (who is also head of campus PR) is supposed to delete anything he judges not to be in good taste. Students cry "censorship." 

Math/Science 1970

“Avoid Complacency, Chancellor Urges,” LA Times, July 1, 1970:
— The chancellor of the CA Community Colleges warned during a speech to Saddleback College graduates that “complacency and lack of consideration of student rights” could lead to disorder on campus. He was alluding to the trustees’ restrictive dress code for students, which forbade long hair on men. The trustees also acted to deny students a “free speech area” on campus.

The 1967-9 board: the "immorality" of district membership in the School Boards Association

     CONSERVATIVE SLATE. It turns out that the SOCCCD got its start in life with a dollop of arguably inappropriate partisan politics. Essentially, local Repubs took an opportunity to pack the BOT.
     A Feb. 16, 1967, LA Times article (“Last-Minute Push Elects 5 in New JC District”) explains that all five of the men who received the most votes—and who were by that fact elected to the board—during the Feb 1967 special election were part of a slate endorsed by the “conservative” Committee to Elect Competent Trustees (CECT).
     The CECT, said the Times, engaged in “a last-minute, house-to-house distribution of a pamphlet in populous areas throughout the huge district.”
     Looks like it worked.
     Thirty-four people had filed petitions for candidacy by late December, 1966. (See LA Times, Dec. 31, 1966.)
     Among the 29 losing candidates were a chemist, a library administrator, a surgeon, a writer, a carpenter, an actor, and a woman (LA Times, Dec. 31, 1966).
     But those people never had a chance.
     The five anointed ones were:

Louis J. Zitnik: he’s described as a financial analyst for a stockbrokerage firm. He’d been on the Laguna Beach city council (1952-56). Did some teaching. 

Alyn M. Brannon: he’s described as the “owner of the friendly Quality Dairy in Tustin.” He was a past president of the OC Young Republicans. (Later in life, it appears, Mr. Brannon became a convicted tax-evader.)

Michael T. Collins: he’s described as an attorney with Kindel and Anderson in Santa Ana. Also involved in GOP politics. 

Hans Williams Vogel: he’s described as the “publisher-editor of the Orange County Republican Observer.” He was up to his red, white and blue eyeballs in the local GOP. 

Patrick John Backus: He’s described as a counselor in the Huntington Beach Union High School District and an unsuccessful candidate for the OC Board of Supervisors in 1966. (The "Coordinating Republican Assembly" had endorsed him for Supe.)

     Zitnik, the big vote-getter, claimed that he had not been consulted about his inclusion on the slate, though he did not “object” to the group’s support.
     Brannon, Collins, and Vogel, reported the Times, were members of the California Republican Assembly, but they denied that CECT was “promoted” by the CRA. (Among CECT's members were former OC GOP chairman Tom Rogers and other local Republican regulars.)

* * *

     THE SIX THOUSAND. You’ll be surprised to learn that only 27% of 45,000 eligible voters (in the south county area) voted.
     It gets worse (er, more surprising): “The final, unofficial tabulation of votes showed 6,280 favored forming the district and 3,027 opposed.”
     Wow. A meager six thousand voters brought about the SOCCCD!
     Of course, it wasn’t called that then; it was temporarily called the "South Coast Community College District." The district’s name ("Saddleback") would be decided during the board’s organizational meeting in March.
     Taxes? You bet!

     The district will go on the tax rolls July 1, 1968, with a 35-cent tax rate. Whether bonds will be sought or a pay-as-you-go plan will be adopted for construction purposes is one of the questions to be decided.

* * *

     ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, AND FATTENING. In the past, we've found indications—e.g., Vogel and company's peculiarly last-minute, protest-minded modifications of the design of Saddleback College's first building, the library—that the board often acted in a fashion that reflected its degree and kind of staunch and primitive "conservatism."
     Another example: naming the new library after a Republican Congressman (James Utt).
     Another case in point: according to an August 27, 1969, Times article (“Saddleback Trustees Quit Statewide Group”), the board acted to “resign” from the California School Boards Association (CSBA).
     How come? Well, the trustees “questioned the ‘legality and morality’” of using taxpayer money for membership in this "private" group. 
     Commies, I guess. Maybe they had pink erasers at the ends of their #2 pencils.
     Evidently, Mr. Vogel led the charge, and got unanimous support from the other trustees in attendance. Further, the trustees

adopted a resolution asking that the Legislature and the governor “make a full investigation of the legality and morality of using tax monies to further the interests of a private corporation which is controlled by an unrepresentative and small group of individuals which is not responsible or responsive to the electorate which must supply the tax monies.”

     I wonder if the Legislature responded to our heroes' request? Doubt it. This sort of thing, of course, explains Orange County's enduring reputation as a haven for and generator of right-wing loons.
     You’ll recall that, several years ago, then-trustee (and right-wing loon) Don Wagner acted to cease our Libraries’ membership in the American Library Association—essentially, on the same grounds (see video below). Don didn't like the ALA's stance on the Patriot Act and such.
     At the time, he was supported by a majority of trustees. The decision has not been reversed.
     In the 1969 article, the Times noted that

     Virtually every Orange County school board of trustees belongs to the statewide organization [CSBA] which operates on a voluntary basis. The organization is authorized by state legislation to enable a district to utilize tax funds for membership.

     I’ve been unable to determine whether our district is currently a member of the CSBA. However, a perusal of old agendas shows that it is a member of the Orange County School Boards Association, which is affiliated with the CSBA (see here).

Times, Aug. 27, 1969

* * *

     For more about the inaugural board of trustees, see

• Charter trustees: the curious Mr. Alyn Brannon 

• Did right-wing loons establish the SOCCCD? 

• A weird windowless library, alleged marauding flag-swiping Hippies, the protean name, and other district mysteries—Solved!

“We have a DA where law takes a backseat to politics.”

Drakodaidis Attorney Levels More Charges Against Supervisors (Voice of OC)

     Tuesday, moments before the Orange County Board of Supervisors entered closed session to consider the fate of CEO Tom Mauk, an attorney representing Deputy CEO Alisa Drakodaidis unleashed a new set of allegations against supervisors and District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
     It was the latest dramatic turn in what is increasingly becoming a housecleaning at the county administration building in the wake of charges by Rackauckas this month that Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante committed multiple sex crimes against women who worked for him while he was an executive at OC Public Works.
     In a three-page letter that was made public during the meeting, Attorney Joel Baruch took issue with the recent release of the county’s scathing report on the operations of the OC Public Works department, which was one of the departments Drakodaidis oversaw.
. . .

How 'bout a big paper clip?

     In his letter, Baruch alleged a pattern of harassment against female workers and executives at the county. The letter took direct aim at the public works internal investigation saying it was a character assassination on Drakodaidis.
     “The political and disparaging attacks made against Alisa are examples of why witnesses, women, and other members of protected classes in the County of Orange workforce were and continue to be fearful to come forward,” read the letter.
     In addition, Baruch took direct aim at the Board of Supervisors, saying their penchant for placing friends and colleagues in top jobs triggered Drakodaidis’ whistle blowing complaint.
     “Your organization’s incompetency and disregard in following Equal Employment Opportunity laws has enabled rampant cronyism to permeate the work environment of Orange County,” read the letter.
. . .
     The letter goes on to say that a state investigation is warranted. “It is obvious that a truly independent review of the county’s compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity law is needed,” the letter read.
     Outside the hearing room, Baruch intensified his attacks against supervisors and Rackauckas.
     “Here’s the problem in this county,” Baruch said. “We have a DA where law takes a backseat to politics. And that’s what happened here.”….