January's meeting of the SOCCCD BOT—live and direct!

Nancy's new friend

     (Be sure to read Tere's Board Meeting Highlights.)
     It's 6:00 p.m. and there's no sign yet of the SOCCCD Board. They're in closed session and they're running late, I guess. Back atcha in a minute.
     The crowd here tonight at the fabulous Ronnie Reagan meeting room is about usual. There are maybe 25 or so people in the room right now, happily yappin' away.
     It'll be interesting to see what sort of action, if any, the trustees will take re the Director of Student Life at IVC, namely, Helen Locke. As you know, five or so weeks ago, IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore suddenly "fired" Helen. Sent her home anyway. Roquemore recommended her dismissal I suppose, but somehow that didn't happen at the subsequent BOT meeting closed session. "No action."
     6:08 - I see that some of the administrators have just arrived. A sign that the board is done with its closed session? We'll see.
     Yes! I see Prendergast and Lang. And the student trustee.
     It's 6:11, and we're still waiting for the rest of the board. Chancellor Gary Poertner is here, conferring with Roquemore. Wright just arrived; now Nancy and Marcia. Glenn seems to be getting his ducks in a row about something. He's smiling, too. So maybe Helen's toast, dunno. We'll see soon enough. Prendergast runs the show these days, and he's stepped out. Haven't seen Jay or Jemal yet either.
     The trustees are pretty quiet up there. Jay just wandered in. But where's Prendergast? Jemal just stepped in.
     6:14 - still no Prendergast. Ah, there he is.

     6:14 - Prendergast starts the meeting.
     Clerk reads out actions: only action, 7/0 vote approved 3 mo. unpaid leave of absence for classified employee.
     Lang does the invocation--a prayer, it seems. Asks that the country continue to be great...
     Next COMMENDATIONS. Tod Burnett steps up. Yadda yadda.
     It's a "commendation" of 9 "Bridge 2 Engineering" students who have been accepted to NASA's "National Community College Aerospace Scholars Program." Burnett is yammering about that. Now he's identifying each of the students. "Thank you very much, we're proud of you...." Applause. Photos.
     Any public comments? OF COURSE NOT.

     Board reports:

Jemal: a "substantial investment"

     Bill Jay: commends students who were just commended.  I wonder if anyone will commend Jay for commending the students for being commended.
     Tim Jemal: he attended Pres breakfast at IVC. Missed some Saddleback activities. Astounding Inventions thing, attended that. "What struck me...how much common sense oriented" they were. Career readiness, etc.
     Marcia Milchiker: the semester just started. Attended professional development week. I attended meetings each day. I found that the two colleges are doing incredibly well. Heard the presidents speak, the constituency groups. (Mentions various individuals.) "Incredibly excellent presentations."
     Nancy Padberg: been busy. Was unable to attend "Astounding inventions." Was educating myself for the state bar (25 hours). Missed the last meeting (December), first missed in 15 years. A brand new kitten. Had a disagreement [with the kitten] and got an infected hand. "More than you wanted to know." Prendergast quips: "You've got a minute [more]." Laughter.
     TJ Prendergast: attended Presidents' cup, first round. Exciting overtime comeback. Classified luncheon. Attended "Astounding inventions." I've been involved for seven years. Now as a trustee. Joy and excitement of students - is great. "Interesting, very powerful event."
     James Wright: attended inservice week, an "exciting week." Heard presentation on civility. "Very well done." I applaud IVC for doing this. Semester has gotten off to a good start at both colleges. Excited about Bridge 2 Engineering program. "A wonderful program." He's getting whispery again.

     Dave Lang: was unable to attend inservice sessions. Heard that it went "very well." Congrats to both college presidents. Congrats to newest faculty members. Hope to meet them. Heard speaker re state's fiscal state of affairs--lots to rejoice about, but I suspect that benefits to us as basic aid district "somewhat muted." We should be "vigilant." Congrats Dr Jerry Rudmann Western Psych., Association Fellowship. Have long known him, have great respect for him.
     Student trustee Robinson: compares student hunting for parking to animals hunting for food. Laughter.
     Chancellor Gary Poertner's report: highlights discussion items. First, informing the board in greater detail about activities to comply w/ requirements of students success act. IVC will be reporting. Assessment, orientation, etc. 2nd item: replacement of Human Resources and Financial Systems software, explanation of the process to make selection (?).

College Presidents:

Fitz.

     IVC's Glenn Roquemore: introducing Dr. Kay Reagan. (She stands up in the audience. She looks kinda grim.) Hired to be acting director of "student life." (So she's Helen Locke's temp replacement.) Flex week went very well. Fall leadership retreat: had each manager, director,... filmed. Answer to question: "What keeps you awake at night?" I was "absolutely impressed" by how each of them came out (these video moments, I guess). We call 'em "voices of passion." (I think I'm gonna vomit.) Led to some great advances for the institution. (I'll bet.) Benefit concert coming up. Folk rock music. A former member of the Byrds. Also Toulouse Englehardt. Astounding Inventions gets better each time.

     SC's Tod Burnett: Flex week went "real well." Thanks to Academic Senate. Parking is a little challenging, though "better than we expected." Started construction on new Sciences building. Two major initiatives SC is undertaking this semester. First, working with IVC. $250 million state grant. Career readiness. Partnering CCs with K-12. K-14 training programs for high-wage jobs in CA. Trying to get this grant. Second half of Presidents' cup coming up. "May the best teams win."

     Associated Student Government report, SC: blah, blah, blah. It is "survival of the fittest" in the parking lot. Had to park at business center across the street. Car got towed. $250. Sheesh.

     No board requests for reports.

     Discussion item 4.1: IVC "approach to Student Success Act of 2012."

     Linda Fontanilla is joined by L Cipres, T Tran, R Melendez (and M Scharf). Strategies we are implementing, etc.

     Cipres: School of G and Counseling... accelerated something program. Hands off to Counselor Tran--

     Tran: will discuss educational plans. Has trustees open a packet. Shows educational plan of engineering student. Refers to something called "MAP" [My Academic Plan]. Explains comprehensive educational plan, reviewed by a counselor. We noted first what works well in helping students to create these plans. We need to work with Instruction. Best way is to expand Counseling Curriculum. Develop accelerated academic planning courses that are geared toward students who want to transfer to a specific UC, CSU, etc.

     Created COUN 200A, B, C. For AA/AS, UC, CSU.

     Shows flier for these courses. Turns over to Rob't Melendez

     Melendez: whenever you have a new program or course, you need to promote it. Had good data from Fall 2013. 212 student enrolled. 100% completed the plan.
     Were we successful? 72 hours of instruction yielding 212 completed academic plans. Yeah.

     We want to hear from students. He shows video student testimonials (good Lord). One student says, If only I'd taken the 200 course, I would have saved so much time. Uh-huh. A counselor gives her testimony. Wow this sure is great.

     What's next? Will continue to offer these courses. Extend to Psychology, etc. Honing in on specific majors. Any questions?

     Jemal: He liked the presentation, clear and concise. What percentage of students lack a comprehensive academic plan? Melendez says it's hard to know. How about a ballpark estimate? 40-50%? (They're just making this up.) Jemal: what's our goal? M: Student Success Act wants 100%.

     Prendergast: how does this COU 200 compare with COU 10? M: COU 10 is a studies skills course. COU 1 is closer.

     Milchiker: I particular liked the clips of students. M: Mysite ad seemed to work. Milchiker: yes, reaching students "where they live." (Good grief.)

     Fontanilla: had to give students $20 gift certificate to In-N-Out to get 'em to do testimonials. Laughter.

     Prendergast stops the show to tell student government gal (who's about to leave) that the trustees have collected some dough to offset her parking ticket costs. So moved is the audience by this act of love that they break into spontaneous applause. I vomit upon the floor but no one notices.

     Item 4.2: [This is liable to be dull. D Fitzsimmons is up with the usual suspects: Bugay, Hilton, Davit.] Business Process Analysis, Software project.
     OK, I refuse to pay attention to this. Just too painful for my brain....
     Current software systems for HR and Finance are "old and out of date." She spells that out. Thus lots of our processes are "manual" and labor intensive. We knew we wanted to improve these processes.
     Hilton: blah, blah, blah. Outlined existing process. Very depressing. Came up with small, nimble process. Described ideal model that is simple, user friendly, compliant, transparent. Wanted to avoid the "COSTCO effect." Not sure what that was, though she explained it. "If we automate a mess, we have an automated mess." --Motto, I guess. They self-examined. She started talking about "BPAs". Don't know what they are. Oh yeah, business process analysis. Blah, blah, blah. They're hoping the board will approve the new streamlined system and processes. She hands off to Bugay:
     Bugay: we want a "one source system," i.e., one entry point. Current. Blah, blah, blah. We want to eliminate "shadow systems." We learned that transparency works very well. Everyone knows what's going on. A series of common themes emerged. Starts talking about DFPs. (?) Turns it over to Davit.
     Davit: seven initial responses from vendors. 3 were invited to give presentations.

     Workday, Inc. is recommended as the HR/Financial Software system
     CedarCrestone, Inc. Is recommended to be the implementation partner for the project.

     Why Workday? Blah blah blah. Starts saying things like "cloud based," "object oriented," "data analytics."
     Lists "technological advantages." These are mere assertions, of course. Promises made. Blah blah blah. Available on any mobile device. Davit liked that. Turns it over to Fitz:
     Fitzsimmons: expands on "mobility of this product." Talks about dashboards. User-friendly. Fitz seems genuinely excited. Implementation will take 18 mos. for both phases. Blah blah blah. We anthicipate going live at end of fiscal year 2014... Mentions "steering committee." Consultants. Lots of college input.
     Now turn to 6.1. They advance that (approval of agreement with these firms).
     They divide the question--for the two vendors. That is approved unanimously.

     So 6.1A: approve Workday, Inc.
     Questions?
     Milchiker: it appears that the process went well. How did you get people to participate? Fitz: we invited folks, had much participation. They had much to say.
     Padberg: so impressed that we're finally doing this. Such an important activity, hiring.
     Jemal: I concur. Long overdue. But this is a very substantial investment. Fitz: has Bob Bramucci explain. B: student-centered. An expectation of that now. This is true cloud-based software. New paradigm. Has a different data model, thus more upgradable. Object-oriented model. Talks data and codes.
     I have no idea what he's talking about.
    A "tower of Babel problem." Huh? Service-layers. Hard coding. --Whatever. What he said: it was a "nutshell," evidently. That's some nutshell.
      Jemal: current process is labor intensive. This new process is less labor intensive, presumably. New training in the district? Is cost of that factored into this? Fitz: will eliminate some duplicative processes. People will be doing more service oriented tasks, not menial tasks. I can't give you a dollar amount. Yes, training of our employees is "embedded in the cost." Software is more "intuitive." Jemal: hope this happens smoothly. Hopes this will follow timeline presented.
     Prendergast: I didn't hear answer about "ongoing costs." Maintenance costs. Fitz: "data migration" .... yadda yadda. I dunno what she's saying. Looks like this is less costly than others. This was the better product in terms of price too. Prendergast: I've heard that it has "superb security." What do you know about that? B: better role management. Again, I dunno what he's talking about. Prendergast likes B's answer, though. It's because B plays the guitar, I think.
     Jay: the complexity of this program, its "hugeness" is "beyond imagination." He seems to be advising that "we" take this in in bite-sized chunks. Yes, overall a simpler model. But this process is going to be big. He seems to be saying, "Don't blame me if, in the end, we don't like this" cuz its fucking big.
     Wright: want to applaud all of you for your hard work. Were all the committees on board with this? I guess so. Bugay comes up to praise Fitz bigtime. Agrees with Jay, will be "big." Describes the way updating occurs. Micro-updating occurs all the time, etc. Thanks Debra's leadership.
     Lang: what sort of due diligence have we done? Other districts using this software? Fitz: quite a bit. Workday is a fairly new product. Their HR much older than Financial. Had conference calls with other districts/universities: USC, et al. U of Texas, Washington system, et al. Examined contracts: we got a better deal. "We feel that this is a good product."
    Milchiker: blah, blah, blah. Keep us apprised, how this is going.
    Prendergast: let's vote on 6.1A. Unanimous, except for one abstention: Lang.
    Jay abstains on vote re 6.1B, I think.
    Poertner: how much work has gone into this project. Special thanks to VC Fitzsimmons; an unbelievable amount of work shepherding this through. Did this while negotiating the ATEP agreement. Applause. (Looks like Fitz is riding high.)

Last grizzly shot in the Santa Ana Mts., 1908

     Consent calendar is mentioned; Jay roars "so moved." 5.0, 5.15, etc. are pulled. 5.6, 5.7. 5.3..... I didn't get all that. They voted: unanimous. Marcia's button isn't working. Natch.

     5.3. Wright corrects a typo. Approved unanimously. They vote without the fancy system which is somehow busted. Not for Marcia.
     5.5. Jemal: political science/anthropology. UC system? No. Specifically at Cal State. Approved. Buttons working again.
     5.6,7. Prendergast: working with these two companies 30 years. Why do we do this a year at a time? Fitz: It's ed code. Approved unanimously.
     5.15. Lang: one of my clients is on here as a subcontractor, p 23/25. Corrects the name. It turns out the name is correct. Approved unanimously.
     5.16. Jemal: original contractor, life sciences building, went bankrupt. Is there a triggerpoint to request an audit? (during the bidding process). Brandye comes up: yes. Blah, blah, blah. Our switch to design build fixed this. (I think.) Lang: pump in cooling system of HVAC too small.... Tracking for gold certification.... Unanimous.
     5.21 Jemal: 30 duplicative memberships to organizations. IVC and SC paying the same organization, etc. I have concerns. How much does this cost the district? Can we reach out to these associations? Some of the dues or nominal, some are not. Fitz: 27 memberships might be duplicative. Some memberships are necessarily college-specific. But there were some opportunities. We can take a look at those, see if we can coordinate. (Chambers of Commerce, etc.) A good suggestion. Burnett: we're always looking for ways to economize. We're often trying to get on district-wide basis to save money. We've saved lots of resources and dollars on weekly basis. [Sounds a bit defensive.] Lang: Education Avisory board CC Forum--this really stood out as an expense.... nearly $30K. Fitz: the very large grant accepted a few months ago is tied to this. Called a membership; really, subscription services. Item approved unanimously.
   
     6.2 SC grant acceptance. No discussion. Unanimously approved.
     6.3 nominations for....
     6.4 Trustee absent, payment - unanimous (one abstention - from Padberg; Lang refers to Padberg's "cat story." Laughter.)
     6.5 ATEP demolition ...
     6.6 notice of completion... approved unanimously
     6.7 SC architectural agreement ... approved unanimously
     6.8 BP for review and study. Approved unanimously
     6.9 Academic Personnel. Approved unanimously
     6.10 Classified Personnel. Wright makes minor correction. Approved unanimously.
     6.11 Sabbatical recommendations. Approved unanimously. Wright makes belated correction.

     7.0 board requests for reports. They zip through. No one requests to speak. Prendergast mentions how healthy we are compared to other districts with regard to ... some trust fund, I guess.

     8.0 reports from administration and governance groups

I'm outta here.

We're screwed

     A couple of hours ago, the Reb called from IVC to tell me that administration has decided to deal with the security issue in A200 by nailing (or screwing) all the windows shut.
     That's just great.
     Typical.

IVC's securitygate: another bold theft

An update on IVC's "security" issue: this morning, the instructor whose fancy Mac was stolen a couple of weeks ago in A200 reports that her replacement Mac has now been stolen, too, apparently over the weekend. UPDATE: correction: this information comes from a colleague who spoke with a member of IVC staff while he and Irvine Police Dept. officials examined the scene (of the aforementioned computer theft) this morning. Looks like entry was through the window.

Sheesh.

Near as anyone I know can tell, administration has yet to see fit to alert the campus community to this series of thefts, though the IVC Chief of Police has been communicating with denizens of A200. Chief Glen has scheduled a meeting with them tomorrow at 2:00 (in A200). That could be an interesting meeting. UPDATE: a police officer told me that an individual who had been lurking near the windows of B200 was apprehended early Saturday morning (about 1:00 a.m.). He fled from police but was arrested. The officer implied that another suspect got away.

SEE ALSO
Brazen thefts at Irvine Valley College (Jan 17)
Brazen thefts, part 2 (Jan 21)

This waste of resources

   UNO. Two things. First, my best friend, Jan, who lives in Irvine, keeps pestering me about Irvine Valley College’s derelict cable channel. Recently, he wrote:

     Sorry to sound like the proverbial dog with a bone, but here's the official web page of the IVC cable station. Whenever I'm looking for something to watch on my Cox cable, I take a look at channel 33, and with the two exceptions I mentioned yesterday, there is the same recycling of the same text with a very good selection of classical music playing in the background. The announcements/info do change as they age, but at a snail's pace. I can imagine any number of reasons for this waste of a resource—maybe funding to properly maintain and coordinate is lacking—who knows?

Jan

http://www.ivc.edu/resources/administration/pio/tvvideo/Pages/default.aspx

     I’ve asked him to keep tabs on channel 33, and he has—for several weeks. Nothing’s changed.

     DOS. I wanted to give you a Teddy update. Teddy, of course, is my new cat, though I guess I’ve had him for quite some time now, maybe six or seven months.

Young Theodore, cat

     As you know, the death of young Bugsy hit us hard. It was devastating for my mom—she's in her 80s—who, like me, was seriously devoted to the little guy. So I’ve encouraged mom to drop by my place and visit young Theodore, hoping to spark some kind of bond there.
     Well, that’s happened big time. Mom comes by nearly every day to visit “her boy,” Teddy, aka “Mr. BooBoo.” They usually play madly together for anywhere between ten minutes and a half hour—with strings, rags, mouse toys, etc. (In truth, all women who have come into contact with young Theodore have fallen madly in love with him. He’s the new “It” Boy.)
     Mom loves it when big old Teddy responds to her approach by plopping his furry frame down upon the carpet and then waiting to get his belly scratched or his chin rubbed. She melts. And then, as they play, he commences purring loudly and occasionally rubbing himself on her. Sometimes, he hops several feet, pouncing on his goofy string prey. Given his size, such pouncage is invariably hilarious and wicked cute. And that Teddy is a seriously sweet kid, with nary a mean bone in his body.
     Often, she reaches down and kisses his big furry head, hugs ‘im. Then they play some more. He'll do that with her all day long, 'cuz he likes her.
     That's a good thing, that is.

     For more recent installments of the Bauer saga, see The red cat; the clueless couple & Maybe she’s really great with teeth

My folks and sister Annie in SJC recently

Monday's board meeting will be covered LIVE

Night of the Hunter: a masterpiece of American cinema

Maybe she’s really great with teeth

     This morning, I taught my morning class, stopped by Pet Smart, and then swung by my folks’ place just before lunchtime.
     My folks. You remember them. They are German immigrants. They’re elderly. My mom has a charming German accent. They’re pretty wacky. Warm but zany.
     I got to talking with them. For months now, my folks have been yammering about their latest saga, this one concerning their teeth. Evidently, both my father and mother are having dental problems—expensive and difficult ones—and they’ve now got a new dentist, though I’ve never heard the woman's name. This dentist is pretty odd, I guess, and she’s got an assistant, and she’s odd too.
     I barely listen to this stuff—mostly because neither of my parents is capable of telling a story that make any sense whatsoever. Dad always seems to start a story in the middle, leaving his audience clueless and annoyed. Mom repeatedly says things that throw one for a loop. It's as though she were presenting a unique sideshow shell game, but one so perverse, intellectually, that it invariably pains my philosopher's mind. (Natch, her pinball palaver charms all others.)
     Despite my inattention to these endless dental yarns, I have gathered that my folks’ new dentist is a Russian and that her assistant is a Pole. (“She’s Polish, but she never tells me exactly vere in Poland she’s from!” says mom.) I gather, too, that one or both of these women is distinctly attractive: I seem to recall some bullshit about my mom being annoyed that my dad found the dentist so. That mini-saga ended with my father’s declaration that, “she may be attractive, but she’s got a big ass.”

Mom, c. 1963

     OK. Many a mini-saga, in Bauer land, has ended with those words or the equivalent. Don’t even ask. (And Orly, just in case you're reading this, trust me, my dad thinks your ass is just fine.)
     I am also under the impression that the dentist fits the stereotype of the crude Russian: brutally direct and plainspoken, the sort of galootnik who will yank a tooth out with her bare hands and then declare, “Strong, like bull!”
     But who knows what really goes on. My folks exaggerate, and they're pretty wacky. They get things wrong. They're still talkin' about "blood cloths" for chrissake. I can't do a goddam thing about it.
     So, this afternoon, as it turns out, my folks are going to the dentist yet again. My mom wasn’t looking forward to it. “One of my teeth broke in two the other day, and she von’t be pleased,” she said.
     “Your dentist won’t be pleased?”
     “That’s right.” Mom reached into her pocket:
     “Here it is.” She showed me her half tooth.
     “Wow,” I said. “I guess they can glue that thing back. Or something.”
     Said mom: “She gave me a card. She’s not a regular dentist. She does dental verk to make you look good.”
     “She’s a cosmetic dentist?” I asked. “Something like that?”
     “Yes, but it’s nicer than that.”
     I had no idea what that meant. I asked: “What is nicer than what?”
     “She calls herself something, not just a dentist.” At that point, my mom got up to look for something. –That business card, no doubt.
     Pretty soon, mom returned. She handed me the card. Here it is:

     I looked at it. I recognized the name. Inside my head, I said a loud “Good grief.”
     Said mom: “See? She doesn’t call herself a ‘cosmetic dentist.’ She calls herself an ‘appealing dentist.’”
     “No,” I said. “That’s not the kind of dentist she is; that’s just the name of her business. You know—like ‘Happy Happy Dentistry’ or ‘Saddleback freakin’ Dentistry.’”
     “Oh,” said mom.
     After a moment, I said: “You don’t know who she is, do you?”
     “She’s my dentist. I told you!”
     “Yeah, but she’s famous. Or infamous. Orly Taitz is known all across the country for her efforts to prove that President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. They call her the ‘Birther Queen.’"
     My mom just stared at me. So did my dad. These days, messages take time getting from my mouth to my folks’ brains. You can actually count the seconds. I often think of doing that out loud. “One…two….three….. —Let me know when you've got it!—...four...five.....”
     My sister was there, too. “Good grief! I know who she is! That wackjob is your dentist?!” she exclaimed.

Pop, c. 1963

     “Yeah, that wackjob,” I said. “She’s a dentist and she’s a lawyer, and she’s probably into real estate and homeopathy, too, an’ she’s always in court somewhere losing and being slapped down by some judge. She’s been trying to establish that Obama is Kenyan, or Martian, or some such shit, for years now. Except for Tea Baggers—and those people are about as dumb as a sack of rocks—Orly Taitz is regarded as a total joke.”
     “No vay!” said my mom.
     “Vay," I said. I handed her back her card. Her tooth, too. “There’s only one Orly Taitz, I’m sure. I think she’s from Israel. And from Russia. An’ she’s a nut. A boiled and salted Tea Party nut.”
     My mom then turned to my dad, who, as near as I could tell, was still processing my info about Taitz. The info was like a cardboard box just sittin’ there in front of him and he still didn’t recognize it. He was about to touch it.
     “Vat kind of dentist did you get us!” mom roared, half accusingly, half jokingly, at my dad. Dad started to stir. His mouth started to open. Naturally, mom cut him off and commenced talkin' about orchids or kittens or something. My sister got 'em back to Taitz. Blah blah blah, she said. "Blah blah blah blah blah."
     —Well, on it went. The usual thing.
     At some point, I said: “Well, Taitz isn't much of a lawyer and she’s some kind of nut, but that doesn’t mean she’s a lousy dentist. Maybe she’s really great with teeth. Who knows.”
     Yeah. Who knows.

SEE ALSO The Life and Times of Roy

Found this here.