CHANCELLOR’S C-DIRECT
September 28, 2016
Dear Colleagues:
This past week was a stressful time at Peralta and the District office, in particular. The fumigating of DGS and other buildings disrupted the routines of many of our employees, and negatively affected some services provided to the Colleges. As soon as the issue was brought to the attention of Human Resources, VC of Human Resources Largent and Director Whittaker reacted quickly, with help from the Chief of Staff, to protect employees. I want to thank them for their prompt actions to safeguard our employees, and to expedite their return to work. We will be providing updates on the progress.
We were saddened by the death of Dr. Crawford’s father, Jimmy Dandridge. Those who learned of the passing of Mr. Dandridge shared the sorrow of our Chief of Staff. Last week also marked the first meeting of PBC. We had a good PBC meeting, with Chair Cleavon Smith leading the meeting with the support of Annette Dambrosio. Additionally, we received the good news of Laney’s ANAPISI successful grant application through the U.S. Department of Education, as well as a part-time faculty member from BCC’s Media Arts winning an Oscar for his part in a movie.
Clarification of Item in 9/21 C-DIRECT (PFT)
I want to clarify that my meeting with President Ed Jaramillo was not negotiation nor did we have an agreement on enrollment management. This was just sharing of information and nothing more. When I mentioned “healthy enrollment,” my point was not to say we will not have classes with low enrollment. That will happen in some cases and it will be justifiable and supported. One instance can be a class being part of a sequence to have students graduate or complete a program. It can also be part of a curriculum we know will be successful, but it will take time for it to get to high enrollment or a number of other factors. The important thing is for decisions to be made with the success of programs and our students in mind.
Meeting with Presidents Burns and White
There has been an interest in initiating a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program. There is also an interest in providing access to the Nursing program to students in Alameda. The initiation of a CNA program at the College of Alameda would give City of Alameda residents better access to the Nursing program. With Health programs being anchored at Merritt, Dr. Burns, the Interim President of Merritt College, expressed interest in having the same program at Merritt. We reached a compromise to have two sections of CNA, one in Alameda and another in the Fruitvale District. Furthermore, since this is a classic training program for entering nursing professionals with the possibility of non-credit or credit, administrators have agreed to have Workforce Development and Continuing Education run the Program to benefit the two Colleges. CNA is a great opportunity to support those in our community who are underemployed and a great beginning for many in our community who are the first in their families to go to college. No timeline is set for the start of the Program, but it should be soon.
Patrick McCullum Meeting with Cabinet
Patrick McCallum, the President of the McCallum Group (pictured left), and Mark McDonald (pictured right), who represents Peralta and some of the large community college districts in the state, met with our Cabinet to get briefed on and to exchange ideas on the upcoming legislative session. Mark and Patrick discussed highlights of last year’s legislative sessions. One bill awaiting the Governor’s decision, when they spoke with us is a requirement for colleges to open their shower facilities for homeless students. Since then, the Governor signed the legislation into law with the expectation that policies and guidelines will be approved by governing boards in January. One of the highest priorities for the Cabinet is increased funding for full-time faculty and office hours for part-time faculty.
Monthly Meeting with IT
As stated earlier, I have agreed to meet monthly with Information Technology. Furthermore, as reported a few weeks ago, I asked the IT team to give me some honest feedback about their unit and real input into the RFP I proposed to put our IT back to where it needs to be. The classified staff, that are now the permanent employees of the unit, got together and discussed the best way to move forward, and came up with some strong suggestions worth considering. Those include:
· Hiring a Vice Chancellor for Information Technology with the experience and competence to run the unit effectively, to be a spokesperson for Peralta IT, and to work well with the Colleges.
· They would like real ownership of technology in collaboration with staff at the Colleges.
· They would like professional development opportunities and the necessary equipment to get the job done.
Solving a host of IT issues requires an IT leader who is knowledgeable, diplomatic, tough-minded and has excellent people skills. As I discussed with the staff, not only the leader, but also the staff must understand how to educate themselves to achieve visible results and to engender the respect and trust of the community. Over the next few weeks, staff from IT -- who have stepped forward to provide directions for the unit -- will present their findings and recommendations to several District entities, including the Cabinet, the District Technology Committee, PBC and the Board of Trustees. We are determined to solve our IT issues.
Northern Alameda Adult Ed Consortium
This group is called the Peralta Consortium, in that it involves the school districts and the colleges within our district. At our recent meeting, there were several presentations highlighting partnership activities between the Adult Schools and Peralta, including OUSD, Berkeley, Piedmont and Alameda Unified. Here are some examples of activities discussed at the meeting:
· Adult school basic skills teachers imbedded in college CTE courses to assist students with the basic skills component of the course
· Oakland Adult School hosting ESL course on Merritt campus and exposing adult learners to a college campus
· Piedmont tracking adult learners under SB 172 to award high school diplomas. Sharing student data w/college district to encourage college enrollment.
· Offering concurrent enrollment in a Business course at COA with Alameda Adult School students and exposing them to a college course and campus
Peralta Colleges Foundation Board Meeting
The Peralta Foundation met last week for its annual meeting. They heard a presentation from the SCION group, after which the Board engaged in a robust discussion on the potential of sponsoring student housing for Peralta Colleges. At the end, a Committee was formed to study the issue and bring results back to the Board soon. There is a Foundation Scholarship event scheduled for October 20 at 5 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Temple. Scholarship recipients and donors will be honored. In a move that may bolster the effectiveness and growth of the Foundation, the Directors approved four new members for the Board. They have strong ties with industry and, most importantly, with three of our Peralta Colleges.
PBC
The Planning and Budgeting Council met last week to hear reports and take action, as needed. Melvinia King, Interim Associate VC for WDCE, presented the Strong Workforce funding model and explained the distribution of the funds to the Colleges and WDCE. In a move to help support the development and rolling out of WDCE, the unit has retained $325,000 that will be returned to the Colleges in a partnership to share revenues.
The Colleges will contribute funding for joint professional development and assessment. The sentiment of the PBC was that the $120,000 should be controlled by the Colleges and not WDCE. Furthermore, I made a presentation to PBC and shared a proposed model for the establishment of a District Participatory Governance Council that could streamline the PCCD governance and decision making process. In response to my presentation, members of PBC asked for the following:
· Clarification of the proposal in a chart format.
· Comparison of the proposed structure to the existing structure.
· Mapping of the positions involved in this proposed structure in color so that interim positions do not become permanent simply to run the new structure.
· Evaluation of the current structure to determine what we are trying to solve with this new format.
The proposal will return to PBC in October.
Open Forums at the Colleges
Accompanied by some of our Vice Chancellors, I am holding two-hour open forums at all Colleges and the District Office. These forums will provide continued discussion and dialogue with all of you as a result of a shortened speech at Fall Flex Day to accommodate the our packed schedule, but also a deliberate way to connect more personally with faculty and staff from the Colleges. The dates are:
Oct. 4 Open forum at Laney (1-3)
Oct. 5 Open forum at COA (1-3)
Oct. 6 Open forum at Merritt (2-4)
Oct. 11 Open forum at BCC (1-3)
Oct. 12 Open forum in District Office (3-5)
I plan to address a variety of topics, which will underscore the broad vision of improving the District in the following areas:
· Improved academic focus – improvement of learning through faculty support.
· Improved services to students through better coordination and planning.
· Improved outreach and enrollment for greater access to our Colleges and success of enrolled students.
· Improved connections with the community and strengthening of social justice by reaching out to the least fortunate in our community and those left behind in the economy.
· Development of advocacy and resources to support our Mission.
This will be an opportunity to also discuss the vision for the establishment of the structure in the District Office.
Outreach Event at Christ the Light
Father Jay Matthews, the priest at Christ the Light, had invited Peralta to host conversations with the Vietnamese and the Latino communities. Tamika Brown led several staff members in interacting with visitors at the event this Sunday. Angelina Finlayson, retired Financial Aid Supervisor from COA, came and gave us quite a bit of advice on connecting with the Vietnamese and Latino communities who attend the Cathedral. JoAnn (did not catch last name) from Bananas commended Peralta for going out and meeting the community because of the critical role community colleges play in changing lives. She stated how much Peralta is needed in the community.
Jowel
Jowel C. Laguerre, Ph.D.
Chancellor
It used to be that a man could keep out of trouble if he behaved himself. Now he will only keep out of trouble if he behaves himself, the police behave themselves, and court behaves itself.
― Agona Apell, The Success Genome Unravelled: Turning Men from Rot to Rock
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