Access to streaming video of the June 27 board meeting

El Toro a century ago

     Someone has emailed me to provide a LINK that works for streaming video of the June 27 board meeting. Click here. Then scroll down to the "video" button for the June 27 meeting. Click that. Then, at left, you can "jump" to any place in the meeting—e.g., the discussion of item 6.1 (tentative budgets) or 4.2 (proposed stadium project).

Slide used during presentation of item 4.2 (Stadium project)

Shite hits fan? Poertner's out

Roquemore: handin' out
promotions lately,
violating process

     I’m told that the shite really hit the fan at Monday’s board meeting—a meeting that lasted until way past 11:00 p.m. (In recent years, the meeting has seldom gone much past 9:00.)
     Things heated up in particular during the discussion of Irvine Valley College's tentative budget. (See summary report.) Evidently, there are structural factors pointing to a severe budget shortfall at IVC, a fact that has been known, at least to budget guy Davit K, for some time; but, somehow, nobody listened to, or heard from, the fellow, and the upshot seems to be that the board was sans clue about all this during the recent board deliberations concerning raises. (See transcript of actual exchange between Davit, Lang, and Fitzsimons.)

     Lang’s questions were especially pointed, I’m told. (I’ll be looking at the video. See transcript.)

     There’s other trouble afoot at the colleges and at the district, I’m told. I keep hearing that Saddleback's Tod Burnett is up shite creek, not sure why. And that certain administrators at one college have been badmouthing certain other administrators at the other college, and it's been nasty. 

    There’s a sense that something’s gonna break. Maybe there’ll be a shake up.

* * *

    And then, today, we got this message from the district:

Chancellor Poertner Retires
     Chancellor Gary Poertner has announced his retirement effective today, July 1, 2016. He joined South Orange County Community College District in 1999 as Deputy Chancellor and retired in June of 2010. In December 2010 he returned to the district to serve as Chancellor. Vice Chancellor Debra Fitzsimons will serve as Acting Chancellor until further notice. A special meeting of the board will be scheduled for next week and more information will follow.

     Sheesh. Why would Gary "retire" so suddenly? Is his exit related to the obvious tensions exhibited at the last board meeting? Is a shakeup afoot?
     What's it all mean?
     (Supposedly, one can access the "streaming video" for the June 27 board meeting here. The link doesn't work for me. Could be a Mac vs. Windows issue. But if you get to the streaming video page,  click on the video for June 27, and then jump to item 6.1. The agenda language can be found here.)

P.S.:
ON THE OTHER HAND...
     A good friend and member of the district community tells me that it's like this: Saddleback College gets to spend its money the way it wants to and IVC gets to spend its money the way it wants to. And if Saddlebackians decide that building a Stadium 2.0 is the thing to do, well, then that's swell. "Live and let live," says the friend.
     I guess that makes sense.
     I still say that certain trustees constantly exhibit Saddlebackcentrism. But I hereby no longer object to Saddlebackians seeking to build a Stadium 2.0. That's their business, I guess. None of my business.
     Live and let live.

Monday's SOCCCD Board Meeting: $62 million for proposed Saddleback Stadium project!

They've just gotta have it

     Below: from Tere’s Board Meeting Highlights for Monday’s meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees, under the heading “presentations”:

• [WORKDAY] A current status report was provided on the Workday project and related software projects, following the board's request for report on the subject. Several managers and administrators provided a recap of reasoning behind the decision to move to the new enterprise resource planning system and the 3.5 year rigorous process which included contributions from all constituencies through business process analysis sessions. Moving from paper to online and toward ideal and transparent processes requires systematic change management to make a cultural shift in organizations. [My emphasis.] The group provided an overview…. Some of the challenges include getting used to new reporting and short-term increases in workload due to changes in processes. This will be examined to ensure that front line staff feel supported. ... Some items have been delayed for roll out to allow for adjustment to the current changes. The goal is to increase training and raise the comfort level during the initial two-year stabilization period. This [?] is to be expected in any major change management initiative. 

[See Workday doesn't work? (A serious district FUBAR?) (DtB, 7-3-15)]

• [STADIUM "RENOVATION"] An overview was presented about the Saddleback College Athletics Stadium renovation and site improvements project…. SC's current stadium was built in 1969 with maximum seating of 4,500 and restrooms located outside the stadium. Concession areas, press box, sidelines and safety zones are all substandard. Maintenance of natural turf is problematic. One of the biggest issues is ADA accessibility. College athletic staff propose that a new stadium would raise awareness in the community and provide a venue for SC to host regional athletic competitions and other community events. Vice Chancellor Fitzsimons provided a recap of forecasted project costs … over the past nine years. She explained how the scope of the project has grown significantly and is currently at $62 million for the total project, with the stadium itself at $49 million. The proposed future stadium would seat 8,000 and include a nine lane track, storage, concession stands, press box, adequate restrooms and team meeting rooms, synthetic turf and energy efficient lighting. Upon evaluation of the proposals, it was determined that the cost proposals exceeded the available combined budget of $39,525,000. College and district staff presented their strategies to address the project shortfall. Funding for the stadium and the site improvements were combined for planning purposes and an RFP was issued. ... The college and district have worked collaboratively on the project planning to develop the scope and identify cost efficiencies. A difference of $22 million is needed to fully fund the project and alternative funding strategies are being recommended from SC’s Promenade income and redevelopment funds.
. . . 

• [TENTATIVE BUDGETS] – The district-wide fiscal team provided a summary report on the tentative district budget including a review of the board’s budget philosophy, assumptions used for budgeting, funding categories…. They communicated concerns about certain budget trends and suggested that tightening of budgets may need to occur. COLA was 0% this year and that was a setback as it doesn’t help to offset increasing personnel costs. IVC and SC student government groups presented an overview of their budgets and highlighted accomplishments of the student leadership groups. Both colleges reported declining bookstore and associated [student] government revenues. Both student leadership groups propose moving to an opt-out funding model for 2016-2017ASG stickers/cards to increase revenues.

Slide used during presentation

The stadium dollar figure keeps changing, growing:

     Allow me to focus on the "new stadium for SC" issue. The topic of building a new ("long-promised") stadium for SC came up during a board meeting four months ago, amid the discussion of the “2018-2019 five-year construction plan.” Of course, that very topic had come up during several previous board discussions of construction plans.
     In my report of that meeting, I wrote this:

     Jemal: athletic stadium costs. They've doubled since last year. Brandye: last year, when we came to you with requests, it was $18 million for stadium. [See May 2015. See also December, 2014.] That concerned original design by consultant. Those numbers were used last year. We moved forward, met with "criteria architect." Ideas were taken to faculty, staff. Has doubled to a $36 million project. So what we do? Process we use: if over budget, we go to college and give options. She explains how other resources became available (I had a coughing fit amidst Brandye's explanation, so I dunno). Jemal expresses consternation with this change in cost. Brandye discusses realities of working with these figures, plans, contractors, etc. Jemal: please don't come to us with "back of envelope" figures again, you dig? Everybody is in agreement. about that, I guess. Pendergast: $36 million just for stadium itself? Or field, etc. also? Brandye: Don't have exact answer. She rifles through files. The $36 million is indeed specific to the stadium. Big money, man.
     Item is moved. Unanimously approved. We're approving priorities, not costs, at this point, reminds Jemal, who is peeved. Prendergast: when this first emerged, big push from foundation. It helps to have a vision to fundraise. Brandye passes question off to Burnett. Burnett says the foundation doesn't nearly have the money to cover this extra cost. Blah blah blah. They vote: unanimous.

     For the subsequent March board meeting, I reported the following (re Board Prez Jemal’s “board report”):

     Trustee Tim Jemal: thanked everyone for awards dinner. Wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful. Will attend something at IVC this weekend. Wanted to mention "the stadium." [Was he talkin' to me?] I'm personally very much in support of building a fancy schmancy stadium at SC. [Did someone suggest otherwise? Was it me?] But process is important, he said. I implore the college and the district to work together on this. But fiscal issues are important as well. We need to do this in a way that makes sense. "We need to do it the right way, you all know that."

     Perhaps [?] this remark was a corrective to my suggestion that Jemal had been "peeved" about the stadium issue in February. He didn't want to get tagged as "anti-stadium."
     During the May board meeting, Saddleback College President Burnett briefly discussed his college’s big needs; he then noted that he hoped the stadium would be built.

     No doubt about it. Saddlebackians have "big new stadium" on the brain, and they've had that conditions for many years. Several trustees have been likewise afflicted.
     But the notion that there's a crying need for a big new stadium at Saddleback College (never mind that IVC doesn't even have a stadium) is rank Saddlebackcentrism. Yep, I've been carpin' about Saddlebackcentrism, especially at the district (e.g., among trustees), for a while.
     Recently, too. In my UPDATE (6-17-2016) to DtB’s saga of socccd, I wrote:

Saddleback's [relative] shrinkage amidst continued Saddlebackcentrism

• Facts is facts: as Saddleback College slowly sinks into a secondary role in the district, population-wise (they’ll deny this, of course), many of its denizens continue to imagine that that college is the center of the universe; and they are determined to construct an enormous new stadium befitting such a grand entity. Expect much Sturm und Drang over this. Some of the trustees (including current Board Prez Tim Jemal) seem prepared to just say no to the pro-stadium crowd. [Well, not “no,” I guess. He's just concerned about cost and process. He's made it clear that he says "yes," despite the new and alarming cost figures.] 

• (We at DtB have long complained about the endless Saddlebackcentrism of the district, exhibited routinely by such board members as Mr. Wright, among others (see here). One manifestation: the board’s refusal to see the wisdom of moving district headquarters off of the SC campus to a more “neutral” location. See here.)

     Don't know what I mean by "Saddlebackcentrism"? Here's the, um, definition:

Saddlebackcentrism: regarding Saddleback College as the central or most important element of existence, especially as opposed to God or Irvine Valley College.

     A "for instance":

     Bill Jay: some of us went to the Foundation event recently [he reported]. People don't realize the tremendous job the Foundation does. (Annoyingly, when he refers to "the foundation," he seems to be referring to Saddleback College's Foundation.) We've won three national championships, but we have no stadium. The Foundation is working on that. We'll have a stadium. [Note the “we.”] 

–My description of Bill Jay’s board report, April 29, 2013

     Those people always talk that way. Pisses me off.

SEE ALSO

The February meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees: Saddlebackians want a new stadium and it's all that matters! (February, 2014)

Planet Der Socccd

A lovely graphic for the district

Part II is HERE

Report: Hundreds of thousands in Orange County are struggling financially (OC Reg)

     …[B]efore we boast about our quality of life, consider the grim statistics in the county’s annual Community Indicators Report, released last week.

• Nearly 1 in 4 residents lives in poverty.
• Nearly two-thirds of local jobs don’t pay enough for a worker to rent a one-bedroom apartment.
• Orange County’s cost of living is 85 percent above the national average, but its median income is only 42 percent higher than the nation’s median.

     The stark reality is that hundreds of thousands among our 3.2 million residents struggle against immense odds....

Accreditor on Life Support (Inside Higher Ed)

     The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools got closer to being terminated Thursday after the federal panel that oversees accrediting agencies voted to de-recognize the council, the largest national accreditor that oversees many for-profit colleges….

For-Profit-College Fiasco: Why a Watchdog Needs a Watchdog (NYT)

     Last year, the for-profit Corinthian Colleges chain collapsed under the weight of government investigations and allegations of fraud. Its demise left tens of thousands of Corinthian students with loans that will ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to forgive.
     This week, the private accrediting group that allowed Corinthian to stay open for business will face its own existential threat, when federal regulators decide whether to shut it down. That decision will go a long way toward determining whether education companies will continue to have free rein to profit from government financial aid programs.
. . .
     Considering the scale of what went wrong for many students enrolled in ACICS-accredited colleges, it’s hard to see how to fix things without government action. If the government’s committee does intervene, it will need to establish standards for what constitutes “bad enough” in college accreditation — and, thus, in colleges themselves.
     Many accreditors and colleges would probably prefer this didn’t happen. But given the severity of the problem, the committee may have no choice.

Scorecard for Accreditors (IHE)

     The Education Department has created new data reports on the performance of accrediting agencies, using measures such as graduation and loan repayment rates at colleges the agencies oversee.

The SOCCCD saga: an update

     Perhaps you're aware that DtB offers an account of our district's history called the "SOCCCD saga." It's an interesting history.
     You can find it HERE. (It is among our "pages," some of which are indicated on the "tabs" above.)

     Recently, I appended an UPDATE, covering events of the last two or so years. Check it out.
     Feel free to critique it. I would be happy to add others' verbiage and ideas, subtract my bad verbiage and ideas. Anything to improve it.
     The update is, of course, at the end of the POST. Way down there. It's dated June 17, 2016.

I'm not a big fan of the bombastic and unsubtle Mr. Maher, but this rant is pretty funny.


Love this guy. He's a sort of contemporary Texas bluesman. His real name is Alejandro Rose-Garcia.