Board of Trustees Report

Mission College

April 13, 2011

Open Session

Today was the first Board meeting under its new schedule. That meant that there were no committee meetings today, only the Closed and Open Sessions.

Kathleen Burke-Kelly welcomed the Board and introduced college faculty, staff, and administrative leaders. She reviewed the progress on the bond program. The new Health, Fitness and Athletic Complex and the Family and Consumer Studies and Bookstore are being formally dedicated on May 7. The Media Arts and the Math/Science buildings will open next year. Extensive work has been done to get ready for an accreditation self study coming up next year. Burke-Kelly thanked the Mission community for its warm welcome back. Monte Perez will begin as the new president on May 1.

After ASO President Brian Rodriguez welcomed the Board very briefly, there were several public speakers:

Gene Hernandez, president of the local homeowners association, stated his strong opposition to a 500 student charter high school across the street. Lack of enrollment need, traffic congestion, and the lack of adequate facilities and space were the main reasons given.

Three students spoke regarding the ITAP bus passes, concerned about how a possible mandatory fee for all students would be handled, but also eager to see passes maintained. James Bates, for example, discussed how class-based our society remained and asked the Board not to disappoint students by eliminating the passes. Kelly Candaele and Tom Hall later responded with a history of ITAP. It has been funded up to now with bond monies (for traffic mitigation) but bond funds can't be used after this year. It can only be continued if the Board institutes a mandatory fee for all students. They will not do so, however, unless this is clearly recommended by the Student Affairs Committee, based on a referendum at the colleges.

Student Lionel Mares complained about bond mismanagement at Mission under Karen Hoeffel. Norma Ramirez, community activist, reiterated his complaints, saying the district should sue Gateway, the CPM at Mission, for negligence. She implied that Gateway was involved in the high school property in question and asked where the accountability was for Mission construction projects.

Several students followed, all decrying the cutbacks in classes and services at Mission. Daniel Campos said the trustees should "fight for students, and be against bailouts for banks" and not cancel summer session. Maria Valencia agreed and said she had a signed petition to present to the Board. Adamil Villacorte complained that Mission was always getting "the short end of the stick" in terms of district budget allocations.

Miguel Santiago said the Board shared the students' belief. He reviewed the state budget situation and the state community college allocation model. Mona Field reiterated his points and explained district decentralization.

One item was reported out of Closed Session: there was a unanimous vote to rescind the notice of non-renewal for an unidentified academic administrator (if I heard this correctly).

Resolutions were passed in support of the following: Asian/Pacific Heritage Month (May); Mexican-American Heritage Week (May 1-7) and Recognition of Cinco de Mayo; National Nurses Week (May 6-12); National Police Week (15-21) and National Peace Officers Memorial Day (May 15); and El Dia del Maestro (Day of the Teacher) (May 11).

An additional resolution was passed in support of sustainable operations (in particular, avoiding the use of unnecessary paper and coverings). Finally, eight candidates for the CCC trustees Board of Directors were selected, among them Tina Park.

Chancellor LaVista thanked Mission and Burke-Kelly for their hospitality. He also thanked Burke-Kelly and Joy McCaslin for stepping in as interim presidents during this transition period after Judith Valles’s retirement. He then talked about Higher Education Lobby Day on April 5 in Sacramento. The UC’s, CSU’s, and CCC’s coordinated their efforts this year. The approach appeared to be effective and will be repeated next year. The chancellor spent the day visiting legislators with Chancellor Gene Block of UCLA, CSLA President James Rosser, and Santa Monica College President Chui Tsang. He distributed a copy of the handout they presented.

The rest of his presentation was devoted to a summary of the March 11 Math Summit. Bruce Yoshiwara, chair of the Pierce Math Department, and Steve Castillo, chair of the Math Discipline Committee, reviewed the latest figures on math preparation for our incoming students, as well as key highlights of the day. Daryl Kinney spoke about pedagogical reform work in progress. We were careful to note that not all math faculty are in agreement with Statway, an accelerated math sequence that was highlighted at the summit, thought it is one possible path forward. Our comments led to a question by Pearlman as to the usefulness of algebra. The chancellor and I both responded that it was excellent critical thinking training (though I added you wouldn’t want to take this argument too far).

In Consent Calendar discussion, Tina Park had some pointed questions about our building inspectors. She wanted to know what accountability our inspectors are held to when projects are rejected by DSA even though the inspectors had signed off on them. The response was vague.

The next meeting day is April 27. Committee meetings will be held in the morning and the new Capital Construction Committee (a Committee of the Whole) in the afternoon (not necessarily at 3:30). The Board will not have an operational Open Session again until May 11.

Miki Jackson from the Van de Kamp Coalition was the final public speaker. She restated a number of criticisms of the Board for its handling of the bond program and Van de Kamp issues in particular.

Comments

The students spoke intensely and intelligently. I also noticed more of a class consciousness in their comments than is usual. Why do banks get bailouts and not students? Not an unreasonable question. However,I was sorry to hear the allegations that Mission is getting less than its proper share of district money. We have worked very hard in the DBC to be sure the district allocation is fair. In fact, we're looking at the model again this year, as it may be necessary to make adjustments.

Nancy Pearlman's resolution on sustainable operations felt odd, given the recent articles in The Times. I can't help but think the rest of the trustees would rather not say too much about sustainability anything for a while.

While the presentation about the math summit was very low-key, at DAS insistence, I would still have preferred not to have made it at all. I'm glad the trustees are interested, but the important task now is to engage math faculty in discussion of next steps. They're the ones who have to drive any changes. The Board, the administration, even the DAS, can only serve as facilitators. If we overplay our role, it’s sure to lead to problems. These presentations risk doing that if they’re not done carefully.

The two new buildings look great, with strong sharp lines, and a pleasing contrast. They've dramatically changed the look of the campus.

David

David Beaulieu

District Academic Senate President

213/891-2294