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September 14, 2022 Meeting of the Board of Governors...
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Good evening, and welcome to the
regular meeting of the Board of Governors for Pima Community College.
This is a hybrid meeting being recorded and live-streamed on
PCCTV. Welcome, Pima family, board members, staff, faculty,
administrators, Chancellor Lambert, and most especially to our
students. Our first item will be roll call.
Mr. Silvyn, would you like to take roll?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes, Madam Chair, be glad to.
Luis Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Present.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Demion Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Present.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Catherine Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Present.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Dr. Meredith Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Present.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Maria Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Present.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: All board members are present.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you.
Item 1.3, the Pledge of Allegiance. I'd like us to now raise, if
possible, from where you are and join in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chancellor, can you please lead us?
(Pledge of Allegiance.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you, Chancellor.
Before I open the floor to public comment, I'd like to welcome
everybody. Good evening, Pima Community College, friends, faculty,
supporters, employees.
On behalf of the Board of Governors, welcome back to the fall
semester. It was for some a long summer and others too short. We
wish to especially thank those who worked over the summer, keeping
the doors open and the lights on, whether it was teaching in person,
hybrid, maintaining the buildings and grounds, keeping the campuses
safe and sound, or working diligently on planning and strategies for
the next semester and beyond.
Bravo, bravo to our students who worked all summer to stay
current, fit, informed, and ready. That includes our student
athletes, musicians, artists, theatre and dance majors, writers,
creators of all specialties. We are immensely proud of you all.
I'd also like to take this moment to acknowledge the 21st
anniversary this week of 9/11. Many throughout the world to include
our campuses took the time to honor, remember, and mourn the events
of that day.
On a positive note, we kick off Hispanic Heritage Month with
special events scheduled from now until the middle of October.
Please take the time to read all about the events that we have
scheduled on campus and off through e-mails, social media, and our
website to see how you can participate and learn from these events.
We have an incredibly full agenda today. I will get right to it.
The board looks forward to hearing about the wonderful things our
staff, administrators, faculty have to share with us. We only get a
small glimpse of your accomplishments, but please know the community,
state, and nation have you on their radar, as evidenced by the Forbes
study which announced Pima Community College as the fifth-best
employer in the state of Arizona. Not the fifth-best college but the
fifth-best employer across the board. Pima had in no way any input
nor knowledge of this study until it came out. Credit goes to all of
you.
We were also awarded by Harvard University for being one of a
handful of colleges capable of working with them on workforce
development. Harvard University was humble enough to acknowledge
even from their ivory towers we must work together with the people
who truly make this country viable on a day-to-day basis. We are
really proud of that project.
Another project that the board is most proud of may seem like a
small feat but is arguably one of the most important steps we can
take towards breaking the barriers to education and ending the cycle
of poverty in our community, and that was the opening of the first of
hopefully five day care centers on our campuses.
The Desert Vista Campus, thanks to our partners at United Way,
Head Start, CFP and PEEPs, with the championing of legislation by
Congressman Grijalva, who helped secure nearly $285,000, our mayor,
city council, board of supervisors, so many people were involved in
this, now we have a beautiful new early childhood learning center
which will provide free day care, childcare, and early education to
all those eligible.
This sets the tone. Thank you, board members here, thank you so
much for approving our budget in June, for without that approval this
project and others, which is near and dear to my heart, would not
have happened.
We are also very proud this week of our athletic department, led
by Jim Monaco, for helping secure Pima College and our local partners
as hosts this year for the National Junior College Athletic
Association, NJCAA, national soccer championship tournament for both
men and women's soccer teams.
I just want to put a plug in that our teams, both our men and
women's, are ranked No. 1 in the nation right now. Pretty proud of
that. Thank you, good job. Our basically our athlete scholars,
thank you.
I don't want to steal the thunder, and I know I already have,
from those reporting on their other efforts today, so with that I
know there are many more accomplishments to talk about during the
information and administration and representatives report. So with
that I'd like to go on to our business at hand.
Public comments, call to the audience. We have a long list, and
the first person on the list is Mr. Richard Hernandez.
We are looking at Zoom.
>> One second. I'll get him on.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I believe we are trying to get our
first speaker on audio.
Shall we move on and come back?
>> He's ready. He needs to unmute right now.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Great.
>> Can you hear me okay?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Please go ahead.
>> Thank you. I stand before you, my name is Richard Hernandez.
I'm a resident, I'm a taxpayer, and I'm a voter. I am here to share
with the rest of the Pima College family that we have a serious
crisis at Pima College. Nefarious actions by the chancellor, Lee
Lambert, supported by Board Members Demion Clinco and Cat Ripley have
put the college in danger.
Did anyone get a chance to watch the television presentation
recently? It was on Channel 13, August the 30th, the investigator's
name was Valerie Cavazos. If you haven't done so, you should.
Some of the concerns that I had, and I had a multiple amount of
concerns, but let me visit with two particular things. In this
country, we have some freedoms. One of them is the freedom of press.
I was shocked to see that the chancellor did everything he could,
including threatening the reporter, her boss, and my sense is he
hired lawyers with our public money to threaten their corporation all
the way up the chain of command, because he does not want the truth
to be shared.
Take a look at that investigative piece, and I know the reporter
did her diligence. I'm sure there is documentation, I'm certain
there is eyewitness accounts, and I am thanking her for being brave,
truthful, and honest, something these three people have no idea
about, and sharing the truth.
It is your right under freedom of the press in this country, and,
Lambert, I'm talking to you, even if I can't see you. This is the
United States of America. This is not Russia. This is not China.
This is not North Korea. We actually encourage the press to
enlighten us, the public, and we trust them to do their due
diligence.
The second thing I want to visit with is also an inherent right
that all of you have who live in this country. It's called the
freedom of speech. Now the chancellor and his two cronies are
targeting me. They have directed people to write notes of anything I
say. I'm going to do you one better: Take my picture. Take your
camera out. Videotape me. Get every single e-mail I have given the
chancellor and this board so they will not lie to you about its
content. Please, go get it.
All you have to do is fill out a Freedom of Information Act, and
they should legally give you any copy of any communication between
them and I. I encourage it. I almost demand it.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much for those comments.
Your three minutes is up. We have a lot of people that are signed up
to comment.
In the spirit of transparency and our regular publicly televised
board meetings, I would like to call the next person who has signed
up. It is, I'm not sure if Michele Bert had any comments, but you
are next on the agenda.
Michele Bert?
>> I don't see a Michele Bert in the attendance. If there is a
Michele Bert, can you raise your hand?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: We also have a Marjorie King. It
actually says no comments, or NA, but they are on the list. Is
Marjorie King present? We will give a minute.
Next on the list is Makyla Hays. Makyla Hays, are you on Zoom?
>> If you are, please raise your hand.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I see her face. I see her hand up.
>> MAKYLA HAYS: I am here. I'm having a tech issue.
Good evening, board members, Chancellor, colleagues and guests.
I'm Makyla Hays your PCCEA faculty president. I come to you today
from a place of deep concern about a pattern of a lack of
transparency to the college community from the chancellor.
I'm concerned that the Faculty Senate had to ask multiple times
this past year for information about the HLC visit scheduled last
March. And although May 24 is the date shared that the HLC report
was due to the college, that date came and went with no update.
I'm concerned there was no mention in the June agenda on the
focus visit or the HLC report. Though a question was asked by a
board member, no answers were given because the topic wasn't noticed.
It is absent from this month's agenda, as well.
I'm concerned that it wasn't until PCCEA e-mailed the chancellor
in July before the college community was informed that the report had
even been received.
Even more so, the response to that e-mail has not been an
increase in transparency but rather a series of actions that make
people feel they are not welcomed to speak up or ask questions.
I'm concerned that this HLC draft report is apparently being treated
as confidential when that seems to be a departure from past practice.
I have asked the chancellor to explain this change and received no
answer.
I'm concerned that since February 2021, the chancellor has been
announced as a finalist at three other community colleges, each
before decisions were made about his evaluation and goals or his
contract and pay.
Now as his evaluation is being considered for this year, the
draft HLC report is being held as confidential. It seems a thorough
evaluation would not be complete without consideration of the report
from our accreditor.
I'm concerned that the public comment section of recent board
meetings have turned into what feels like a popularity contest for
the chancellor detracting from actual business at the college. I'm
concerned that in June, the board voted on new employee salary
structures without hearing public comment first. Now on tonight's
agenda, I see that board member comments are being moved to the end
of the meeting, and hints that this may become a permanent change.
I'm concerned that the chancellor has decided to answer
expressions of employee concern with widespread touting of the Forbes
report and public messages to employees with instructions to not be
negative, minimizing legitimate employee concerns at best and
discouraging them from speaking up at worst.
I'm concerned that the board may not be getting enough
information to carry out fiscal oversight on large contracts because
of the chancellor. The class in comp study by the Segal consultant
is one example. There are too many outstanding legitimate employee
questions for that money to have been well spent.
In addition, the grievance filed by AERC shows a breakdown of
concensus building with elected employee representatives. The
subsequent denial by ODR to even consider that grievance highlights
the inability of employees to be confident in bringing their concerns
through internal channels. Overall I'm concerned the chancellor has
been given too much independence from the board and is not being held
accountable for acting with transparency.
I'm deeply concerned and feel there are no other internal avenues
for me to use. I ask the board to not be distracted by news reports,
high-level charts and graphs, or flashy terminology, but to encourage
follow-up questions, treat each other with respect, hold the
chancellor accountable for consensus building and improving employee
morale, and ensure the main focus is on serving the community and our
students in a transparent manner.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you very much for your comments.
Chancellor, we can discuss any kind of action items.
Next on the list, LaiLannie Williams. Are you present?
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. Go ahead.
>> I'm the new senator at the Desert Vista Campus. I believe I'm
here to introduce myself to everybody.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Super. Thank you so much. Welcome,
and we are glad to have you as one of our senate members.
Okay. We will have more of your colleagues. I think we have a
whole list of them. Thank you so much for being here, as well.
Asusena Hughes is next. I apologize if I have mispronounced your
first name.
>> You can unmute, Asusena. Valerie is raising her hand again.
Let's see.
>> Good evening. My name is Valerie Burdel King. I'm the
director of student engagement and cocurricular activities. Tonight
I was going to introduce all seven of our new student senators.
If we are ready to do that, let me know, and I can give you the
list of the senators who will need to be unmuted. Just let me know
in the order you'd like me to go.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Absolutely. You can go right ahead
right now. We'd love to hear about our new senators. Thank you.
>> So we have, for unmuting, we have Rosa Cruz. Asusena Hughes.
T.T. Martinez. Daniel Shesler. Clinton McCollough. LaiLannie
Williams. Francisco Quintero. If those folks are unmuted, I will
start the introductions.
You can let me know if they are all unmuted.
>> I have Rosa, Clinton, Asusena, you, Daniel unmuted.
>> Clinton and LaiLannie?
>> I don't see LaiLannie.
>> She must have left. And Francisco.
>> I don't see him either.
>> All right. I will start. Tonight I have the pleasure and
honor of introducing the 2022, 2023 student senators. I'd like to
take a moment to thank our Student Life team for all their hard work
with Welcome Week and with Student Senate, and I'd like to give a
special thank you to Julia M. and M. Gamez for their work as the
co-advisors to Student Senate.
At this time I'd like to introduce our student senators. So when
your name is called, please introduce yourself. State your campus
you represent and your role in Student Senate and your program of
study and anything else you'd like to add.
I will start with Daniel.
>> Hi, I'm Daniel Shesler. I am the West Campus representative
in Student Senate. I'm also the chair of Student Senate. My current
program of study is liberal arts. It's an honor to be here, and I'm
happy to meet you all.
>> Thank you, Daniel.
Clinton?
>> Hi. I'm Clinton Mackillop. I'm the representative for the
online campus at Pima College. I am the co-chair and
parliamentarian.
I'm currently on the program or analyst path, so computer science
studies. I started in Pima at 2020. I have been 100% online, I
actually have yet to step foot in a campus for a class yet.
So excited to represent the online campus, and I appreciate the
opportunity to be here. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Clinton. Asusena? Asusena, are you here?
Asusena Hughes is the representative from Northwest Campus, and
she will also be the All College Council representative.
>> Hello. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to
represent all the senators and it's an honor to be a voice for just
students.
I am the representative from the Northwest Campus, and I'm going
to college for biomedical engineering. It's a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Rosa?
>> Good evening to all. I'm Rosa Cruz. I'm the student senator
representing East Campus. I am also the secretary for Student
Senate. My desired program of study is vet tech, which is located at
East Campus.
I want to be able to reach out to students and help as much as we
can, so if there are any students here or anyone that wants to bring
up any issues to us as student senators, our e-mail is
pcc-studentsenators@pima.edu.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Rosa.
Francisco? LaiLannie?
>> Can you hear me? Hi. I'm LaiLannie Williams. I am the
representative for the Desert Vista Campus. I'm so excited to be
here. My major is in biology.
>> Thank you. T.T.
>> Hi. This is Julia M. I'm the co-advisor. Esthena Martinez
is what her name would be. She's here in the meeting if she can be
unmuted, please.
>> Thank you, Julia.
>> Go ahead.
>> My name is T.T. Martinez, Student Senate representative for
ABECC, Downtown Campus. I am the Board of Governors representative.
That's what my job is at Student Senate. I go to school for IBEST
building and construction technologies.
>> Thank you.
So this is our 2022/2023 Student Senate representatives, and the
board members should have received a handout with the bio information
and contact information for all of our student senators.
Any questions?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: No. Wow. That's a great group you've
got there. We are really excited, and we are very proud of you. We
look forward to working with the Student Senate in the future and
look forward to hearing from them. We need to hear more from the
students on everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly, we need to
know as a board.
Thank you so much. Any questions from the board?
Okay. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Our next speaker is Dr. Nic Richmond.
>> DR. RICHMOND: Good evening. Members of the board, I have a
personal comment that I would like to share with you today. I
believe in finding the positives in everything, and that's why I'm
speaking with you this evening.
Around this time last year, I was diagnosed with stage 3 early
onset colorectal cancer. I have had a year of chemo, chemo
radiation, and surgery. I only shared this with a small number of
people, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the group who
have known since the beginning and who have helped in really
substantial ways.
I have really appreciated their support over the last year. In
particular, I'd like to mention Erzam Casira (phonetic) and the STAR
team, Gail Bell, Tom Davis, Michael Parker, Wendy Weeks, Dave Bea,
Marcy Euler, Garby Decavari (phonetic).
I also want to thank my supervisor, Lee Lambert, who has been
incredibly supportive and patient when I have had to delay or
rearrange projects. He's reminded regularly not to worry about work
and to prioritize my health and family. I've really appreciated that
he has prioritized my health and has given me space from work when I
have needed it so I could focus on treatment.
Thank you, Lee.
My second point is this. None of us know what challenges we are
each facing. This past year I have been late with work, canceled
meetings on short notice, and generally messed my colleagues around.
It was unavoidable. Cancer treatment is tough.
In pretty much every case, no one has complained and everyone has
been flexible. Thanks to those of you who had no idea what was going
on but who didn't complain and just gave me flexibility when I needed
it. That wasn't my experience 100% of the time, but it was for most
of it.
I'd like to remind everyone that we all have challenges we are
dealing with, some of them very serious. Compassion and empathy are
really important, and I encourage everyone at work to be considerate
and aware that there may be issues going on that are impacting their
colleagues when work is late or e-mails are missed.
Lastly, I have no family history of this disease. In fact, I did
the genetic tests, and I have no genetic risk factors for any kind of
cancer at all. I had one symptom. It was dramatic enough that it
got me to the doctor, and I'm fortunate he sent me for tests and this
was caught when it was.
Things would be a whole lot different otherwise as this could
have easily reached stage 4 before it was caught. We're all busy
people. It's easy to put off getting odd symptoms checked by a
doctor or to make time for routine screenings. We never expect to be
in our 40s and diagnosed with cancer.
So please, everyone, tomorrow, if you are overdue for a medical
screening or if you have an odd symptom of some kind, call a doctor's
office and get the screening or an appointment scheduled. It could
save your life.
That's the positive that leads me to be here today. I wanted to
publicly thank the people who have helped me, but I also want to
encourage everyone to get screened. If I can encourage one person to
take steps to take care of their health, then it's worth me being
here and sharing this comment today.
Thank you for listening.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much, Dr. Richmond, for
everything you have done for this college, but mostly for your
bravery and for your selflessness by coming on today and sharing your
story and giving us that very serious, very grave warning.
We really appreciate you in so many ways, but mostly, please take
care of yourself, and we are here with you and we send our love and
our well wishes. Thank you.
Lastly we have on our list, since the rest of these were student
senators, we are really excited about them, I have I believe Ariana
Torhone (phonetic)? I'm not sure if that was one of the student
senators. There was a blank next to your name.
Was that a student senator is this another speaker?
She was part of the students? Super.
We have one more speaker, then, Mr. Matthew Thrower. Are you on
Zoom?
>> Hello. I'm Matthew Thrower. I am the board chair for the
board of directors of the Pima Foundation, and I just wanted to
report some great progress and great ways that the Foundation is able
to support the college.
I lead the board of directors, along with Bryan Hannley, who is
our past chair. Norm Rebenstorf, our treasurer, and Amber Smith, our
secretary, making up the executive committee.
This year the Foundation supports the students programs and
faculty projects that are important to Pima Community College.
The years fiscal year '21/'22 we distributed $354,500 for 447
awards' worth of scholarships. I'm going to say that number again.
$354,500 in scholarships for 447 awards. That's pretty incredible.
We have awarded program funds of 1,029,700 to the largest annual
disbursement to date. So great program funds to departments within
Pima Community College.
The year 2022 to 2023 we anticipate similar disbursements in
scholarships and additional expenditures to programs. So great
progress this year, raising funds, supporting programs, and
distributing scholarships.
Now, really exciting is the Hillman challenge grant. The Hillman
college grant is to raise $10 million to receive $5 million in match
money through November 30 of 2024. To date, $535,000 has been
released of the 5 million due to this challenge. Calculating a third
release and anticipate another 250 to 270K to be released later this
year. Working on a number of large gifts moving steadily towards the
important goal of the $10 million that will yield the $5 million in
challenge grant money.
So great, great progress, great success by the Foundation. We
thank the leadership of the Foundation and Marcy and the entire team,
and super proud to be able to support Pima Community College, its
growth and its great programs, and the chancellor.
Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much, Matthew. We owe a
great debt of gratitude to Pima Foundation, Marcy, for all your work.
Matthew, thank you so much for your staff and everybody that's making
all of this possible.
As everybody knows, with no state funding, we really rely on the
efforts by the Foundation and all of our benefactors in town.
Otherwise we wouldn't be able to do what we do. Thank you so much.
It's very much appreciated, all your hard work, and all the stuff you
do behind the scenes that we don't even know about. So thanks for
that.
I think that concludes our call to the audience. Thanks to
everybody, the call to the audience, for making your public
statements. We will, I assure you, the chancellor and the board will
get together and address those as necessary and assign the
appropriate staff to look into items that do need to be looked at.
Thank you for that.
The next item on the agenda, 1.5, is the Pima Mission Moment. 10
minutes for that.
Chancellor, would you like to introduce this topic?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, it's a pleasure to introduce
our new dean, James Palacios, (off mic).
James? I turn it over to you.
>> Hello. Was there an introduction? I didn't hear that, I'm
sorry.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: You can go ahead, James.
>> Okay. Can everybody see my presentation?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes. Thank you. Go ahead, James.
>> Good evening, Chair Ripley, members of the board, Chancellor
Lambert, colleagues and guests on the call. Thank you for allowing
me to provide a snapshot of our progress as your dual enrollment team
here at Pima Community College.
First I would like to say thank you for your continued support as
we work towards developing and providing a new culture of educating
our community and our community students.
As dean of dual enrollment, and a former high school principal,
including our department, we are most grateful for all the support
that we are given here at Pima Community College.
With that, I'd like to just go over a presentation and just kind
of talk about our data and our progress in the three years that we
have been together. As always, why do we want to support dual
enrollment? It's good for our local community. It proves our
commitment as a college to our community, students, our schools, and
our county.
It supports our overall increase of our FTSE, and it's a
jump-start to a lot of the things that we are trying to accomplish
here at Pima Community College that's aligned to Achieve60AZ, but
most importantly, inside of that is building a stronger pipeline with
our schools, completing, helping increase our strategic goal of
completing professional certificates or degrees, and increase access
and beyond for affordability of our students affording postsecondary
education.
It's also helping us through this pandemic really working on
trying to align the things that we are doing in the high schools and
at the college, aligning our workforce needs and really closing that
gap. So that's why it's a jump-start that we begin in our high
schools.
Just a quick summary of our progress. Prior to me starting as a
dean or as a director at that point of dual enrollment, we were up
2,290 students participating in dual enrollment. In 2019 and '20,
that's when we were able to establish our department and bring in our
coordinators, program managers, and our staff members to help support
this.
So we increased our enrollment to 3,279. In 2020/2021, our
second year, we jumped up to 4,155. This past year we completed with
4,556 students drawing in 8,047 of total enrollment. That's
approximately 2,600 students that my team was servicing per
coordinator.
Now, according to ADE, there is nearly 50,000 high school
students that are residing here at Pima Community College and also
including Santa Cruz County.
So last year, you supported the budget of adding positions that
would help us with our transitioning of our dual enrollment students
and our senior recruitment to target our high school seniors to come
to Pima Community College. The fortunate part, it started in March.
The unfortunate part, we only had a month to work with our high
school seniors, but we have a good start this year to really create
some momentum and really draw into what we want to do in terms of
bringing students to our campus to obtain their degrees.
Here's just a little -- well, it's not little, this is huge, but
just to kind of give you some perspective, as we are looking at our
strategic plan, we have already surpassed our goal of 8% growth
annually, but we are beyond that. We are really working to try to go
above and beyond the things that we are doing, make sure that we are
supporting our goals for the community college, but more important,
supporting our community and supporting our students.
This gives you an idea of our growth from before we started to
what we ended last year. Again, we started with 2,495 prior to the
dual enrollment department starting here at Pima Community College
to ending at 8,047 this past year.
Here is our five-year trend of our FTSE growth. We are seeing
great improvements, great growth, and we just want to continue to
support our schools and trying to figure out ways how we can support
them to establish dual enrollment at their schools or grow what they
already have.
This here gives us a perspective of our demographics, our
ethnicity groups participating in dual enrollment. When we look at
the bottom left, our percentages of trends, we see American Indian
and Alaskan Native, a 4.5% decrease. But why we see that is because
we are seeing a lot of our students selecting two or more races. So
what that's telling us is in that grouping we are seeing a 33%
increase of those particular students participating in dual
enrollment at their high schools.
For Black and African American, we see an 18% increase. Hispanic
Latino, 7.5% increase. Those are our bigger groups. For unknown
populations, which we know that that's a lot of our undocumented
students and that's a lot of our Hispanic students who prefer not to
label what race they are at their schools, we are seeing a 52%
increase there.
If we are talking about jump-starting here to meet our strategic
goals, more specifically double the computer counts of Hispanic
Latino, American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Black or African
American learners by 2024/2025, we are seeing, in those groups, we
are seeing increase of participation in dual enrollment at the high
school of 37% of these groups.
Now, overall, including all ethnicities, we are seeing a 40%
increase of participation in all of our ethnicities. So what that's
telling us is in that percentage of trend of groups that we are
targeting for our strategic goal, we are seeing a huge increase and a
huge participation with those groups.
I want to introduce our dual enrollment team. For those of you
that have not had the opportunity to talk to them or meet with them,
Manny Carrillo is our manager. Kathleen Kent is our administrative
assistant. Susana Armenta is our academic advisor who retired last
year but came back to help us.
Mary Morales is our advanced program coordinator. Selena Ortega
is our academic advisor. And Carolina Sestiaga (phonetic) is our
advanced program coordinator.
For our transition team, our coaches who are working with our
high school seniors in their schools, applying to Pima, supporting
FAFSA completion applications, going through all that, are trying to
draw those students here, we have Tyler Bertrise (phonetic), Brianna
Felix, Quinn Sweeney, Christy M., and Kathleen Murphy. That's our
transition team.
With that, I have two special guests that joined us today. They
are former students of dual enrollment at their high school, and they
both come to us with unique stories. First I'm just going to say
with Logan Eagle, I think she's still with us, I know she had
connection issues, but Logan Eagle was a past student of mine when I
was a Santa Rita principal. She graduated high school with 28 dual
enrollment credits and is here with us as a liberal arts major here
at Pima.
So Soleil Locero is a unique story as well. When I was a
principal, her superintendent of schools reached out to me and asked
me I'm hearing that your students are completing college credit while
in high school. How is that possible? How are you doing that?
Through that conversation, established a dual credit program at
Sahuarita High School. Because of that conversation, it created an
opportunity for students like Soleil to take advantage of completing
dual credit while in high school. She completed 23 credits while she
was there.
They have joined me today. They are here to answer any questions
if anybody from the board or leadership would like to ask them.
Soleil and Logan, are you with us?
>> Yeah, I'm here.
>> Madam Chair, board members, if you would like to ask any
questions to our two wonderful past dual enrollment students who are
current students, please feel free to ask them any questions you
would like.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Fellow board members, do you have any
questions?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I have a question. I'm just curious if
you could just share with us the value that you saw in doing the dual
enrollment program and how it's impacting, how you see your future
now.
>> Who would like to answer that?
>> I'll answer that one.
>> Logan?
>> Yeah. I'm sorry, don't know if you can hear me. I don't have
great service over here.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: We can hear you.
>> Okay. So it's impacted me a lot, because with the dual
enrollment classes, we are able with my program of study, was able to
take all the gen eds before. And so now going into my freshman year
of college, I'm able to just skip right to my prerequisites, which
has gotten me farther ahead.
Along with those dual credits I also got were from JTED which has
furthered me into my studies and everything. Yeah...
>> Oh, we might have lost the connection. Sorry.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Any other questions from board members?
We have one. Board Member Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Outstanding presentation, Mr. Palacios. I
have a couple of questions. I know that you expressed that the dual
enrollment has gone up. That's great news for all of us.
One of the things that I am concerned, have always been concerned
in reference to our southwest area high schools, for example, Cholla,
Tucson High, Pueblo, but also the O'odham high school, Ha:san, as
well, too, has there been a lot of increase in reference to that
population going up?
>> So there has been increase of conversations in meeting to try
to create some opportunities for them to be out there. You know, for
example like in Cholla, a lot of the high schools, it's driven by
leadership, right? So in Cholla, which could be to our benefit, and
to the students' benefit mostly, not ours, but we have a new
principal there at Cholla High School who actually I know and have
established friendships with them for quite some time, he's very
interested in dual credit.
So what he had asked me to do is to bring my staff in to do a
presentation to one of their staff meetings to talk to them about
what it takes to become dual credit certified. So we are going to be
doing that here at the end of this month to kind of start talking
about those opportunities for those teachers that are on that campus
or even provide them access to the Arizona Teacher Academy program
which does now support certification for dual credit teachers that
are interested. That's that part.
Pueblo is another one that we are really working with, as well.
That one, they have increased drastically in the last two to three
years. Just, for example, in the last two years they have grown
about 133% of students participating in dual credit opportunities.
But, yeah, we are working with them. We are trying to establish
an online program. That one is a little bit more trickier, but we
are trying to create an easier way for the students or schools who
are having a hard time finding instructors to have access to the
online programming in terms of dual enrollment. So we are trying to
establish that so that we can help support schools that are
interested in dual credit.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Thank you.
The other question that I had, you mentioned new leadership. I
know Mr. Armenta, the previous principal, left at the end of the
year. I haven't yet met with the new principal. I was very familiar
and knew Mr. Armenta for years and years and years. But one of the
things --
>> Same here.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: One of the things I'm glad to hear
reference to the increase of our Native American students, but more
important, one of the other things that I share with Lambert, our
chancellor, Mr. Lambert, and I want to address you in reference to
the course offerings in reference to those high schools, as well,
too.
I did see part of the schedule. I think we can do better. To
me, I think we need to offer more in reference to opportunities for
those high schools, as well, too.
Is that in the progress? Is that in the process or are we
looking at that?
>> And I agree with that. For all the schools, I want to make
sure that we try to increase that as much as we possibly can. That's
already part of the discussion.
As a matter of fact, it's ironic, this weekend I was texting with
the new principal there at Cholla High School, and he was asking
me -- this is how we started the conversation, is that how do we
increase more dual credit at my campus? Our IB scores came in, and I
think we can do better with providing a dual credit program for these
kids. They could probably benefit from this for those that are not
in that program.
So the conversations are already happening. As a matter of fact,
one of the pilot classes that we were working on last year and we are
finally offering it for Cholla as one of them, Pueblo is the second
one, is the Mexican American studies 165 is a course that we really
have been trying to work on getting there.
The last time we offered it was when I was at Santa Rita High
School. It was a different number. There was a gap there, and the
conversations started happening again.
These kind of unique situations we want to provide for our high
schools, and yes, the conversations are happening, and he wants to
try to see if he can double his offerings next school year with
conversations and helping instructors become qualified or if we
provide an option of online to them, as well.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: One last question, sir.
In reference to the dual enrollment, I'm a firm believer on that,
too. In fact, I have several of my grandkids that were very and are
still taking those dual enrollments in high school, as well, too.
But I think it provides not only the opportunity but more importantly
experience in reference to what is the college system, what is the
college, what does it take.
But I'm very happy to see the advisors that support this, and one
of the things I would like to do is meet with you too in the near
future. Like I mentioned, I think those conversations have begun,
but I think one of the components that's very important and critical,
as I mentioned before many times, is the parent component. I think
not only the students but also your staff need to do round tables
with the parents as well, too. Thank you for doing a great job.
>> Thank you. If you want to meet the new principal out, for
example, at Cholla, by all means just let me know and I will get in
connection with you and we can just get an introduction.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: That's great. That's a deal.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I think we have one more question.
Board Member Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Hi. Thank you so much for doing such a
great job. I'm very impressed with the efforts you have made and
what you have accomplished.
One of my questions is what percentage of students complete when
they take dual enrollment classes? Have you measured that? Then my
second question is what kind of barriers have you seen that they may
have? Are you aware of those?
>> So when you are talking complete, are you talking complete a
degree and certificate?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Well, it's the dual enrollment class. They
sign up for classes. I know high school students drop out or they
drop a class or whatever. So I'm asking, when they sign up for dual
enrollment, I'm pretty sure that most all of these are kids that are
striving to do a heck of a lot better than your normal students
because they make that effort.
But the other thing is are you seeing people stop, like, you
know, pull out of the class for whatever reasons? And do you
understand those?
If that's the case, what's the percentage of students that get
out of it? What kind of barriers do they have and the reasons for
that?
>> So a percentage that we are very proud of, that I think we all
can, we have a success rate of over 90% of -- we are probably about
94% this year, meaning they are successful, receiving good grades, C
and above. So we don't see a lot of students that are dropping out
of these courses.
So when we start at the beginning of the year, it's very minimal.
So what's really nice is that they still have the support structure
at their high school. So whenever they need some extra support, you
know, they still go through their Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday college
course, but the other days they are not in their college course, they
are able to talk to their counselors at the high school, communicate
with us, be able to look for support, tutoring at any of our
community college campuses. The support structure is very strong
when they are in a dual enrollment program, which is very unique to
anything else, any other type of programs.
We are very proud of that, and we stand behind that, because
that's what dual enrollment is supposed to do. It's supposed to
support our underrepresented populations.
So now that we see that our underrepresented populations are
increasing the enrollment in these schools, I think what's happening
is they are starting to understand that, you know what? Dual credit
is probably a better fit for me.
That's probably why we are seeing a huge increase right now,
because of the support structures that they have not only at the
school but the supports they could have from us, as well.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Thank you so much. You are doing a
fantastic job. I really appreciate your efforts.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I guess we have another question.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: One last question.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Before you go on, and feel free to ask
it, but I think what this might call for, because I talk to you all
the time, James, and I'm always bending your ear and I have heard all
of this before, and I know you have much more to share with us, but
perhaps this might be, if the board agrees, a really great study
session for us all to really learn in-depthly all about the dual
enrollment programs, especially since you are doing such a bangup
job. If you'd like, we could have a whole study session dedicated to
listening to you and your team, James.
But I don't know -- we are way behind, but go ahead, Luis.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: I look forward to the study session.
The last question I had, Mr. Palacios, is the instructors,
reference to the dual enrollment being taught either by online or
on-site. I think that's one component that really needs to be looked
at, and we will probably hear from yourself, in reference to be more
reflective of the community. But I'm more concerned reference to the
instructors as well. Those southwest high schools that I mentioned.
Thank you.
>> And thank you for that. When you talk about a barrier, those
are some things that we are going to have to work on. Obviously
that's just because it's two entities trying to work with each other
and we are trying to find those dual enrollment instructors.
It gets a little challenging sometimes, but I think we can come
up with a plan to kind of attack that and be able to improve that for
our schools, as well.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Not only attack but meet that challenge as
well, too.
>> Well, we are up to that, and that's something we are willing
to do. We want to try to create a new culture of educating our
community.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thanks, James. Thank you so much.
You guys are superstars. That transition and recruitment team
are super heroes. Thank you so much for leading the way, and we look
forward to hearing from you and we will talk more about a study
session. How is that?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: And congratulations.
>> Thank you for your support. We really appreciate it.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you for all you have done.
Looks like we have the air conditioning fixed. I was going to
take a break, but we will charge ahead now that we have AC.
Next we have 20 minutes for reports from our administrators and
representatives to the board.
Chancellor, would you like to introduce the first speaker?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, I'd love to introduce Dr. Nic
Richmond, who will talk about the administration reports and timeline
that we want to share with you.
Nic?
>> DR. RICHMOND: Thank you, Chancellor Lambert. Chair Ripley,
members of the board, Chancellor Lambert, colleagues and guests.
As the chancellor introduced, I'm here to speak briefly about a
proposed set of administrative reports for the Wednesday evening
Governing Board meetings.
Accompanying the brief slides that I'll use today is an executive
summary available in the board materials, and that executive summary
provides additional information.
The proposed reports for the board meeting for fall are listed on
the slide here, and the topics are framed around the chancellor's
goals. There is also a monthly update related to the Higher Learning
Commission, with each update presented by Wendy Weeks and the
co-chairs for one of each of the five criteria for accreditation.
The proposed reports, moving into the spring, follow much the
same theme, so a follow-up report related to the chancellor's goals.
Please note that in February and March when these are proposed here,
those goals will not yet be complete. Some items may be done, but
some may not be, but this will provide an update on progress.
The HLC updates continue throughout the spring, and in addition,
in April and May, we propose providing a report on some of the major
plans at the institution. So the strategic enrollment management
plan, the climate action and sustainability plan, and of course the
diversity, equity, and inclusion plan, which is actually reflected
here in March.
Enrollment planning is included both in the fall and the spring
as well, and a final report related to our progress towards Achieve60
and the strategic plan.
I should note not listed here but an additional proposed topic
for May, based on a discussion with Wendy Weeks, is to add an
additional HLC update that month, that time focusing on federal
compliance, which is a very important area of our next visit.
In addition to the oral reports and executive summaries that will
accompany them at the Wednesday board meetings, we are also proposing
this list of written reports to be distributed to the Governing Board
primarily by e-mail in the approximate months listed here.
This includes the reports that were released to the board last
year, such as the FTSE report from the state, the voluntary framework
of accountability outcomes reports, but it includes some additional
items that are unique for this year. So a report on the College
Employee Satisfaction Survey and the engagement surveys, both of
which were administered last year. They aren't annual, but we do
have updates to provide to the board this year.
We also have some additional reports that we plan to bring online
this year, including an annual institutional effectiveness report
which will look institution-wide and share with the board progress
and opportunities for improvement moving forward.
These are the topics for discussion, and I would like to open
this up for input from the Governing Board to see if this meets your
needs, if there are other topics you'd like to see included.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much, Dr. Richmond.
Any comments or questions from the board?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Dr. Richmond, can you include in the report
when you do the climate survey the percentage of people that actually
participate or try to increase it? Because last time the
participation was fairly low.
>> DR. RICHMOND: Absolutely. I'd be pleased to include that.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Any other questions for Dr. Richmond?
Thank you so much for all the work you have been doing. I know
it's a lot of work, and it's just a list of reports, but I can't
imagine how much work goes behind putting together each and every one
of those reports.
Thank you to you and your staff for keeping us on our toes.
Thanks a lot.
In our next report...
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, I'm pleased to introduce
Dr. Wendy Weeks who will give us an HLC update as it pertains to our
multi-location visit as well as getting ready for our reaffirmation
process.
Wendy?
>> WENDY WEEKS: Good evening, Chair Ripley, members of the
board, Chancellor Lambert, and guests. Hopefully you can see my
screen. I am unable to find my video, so I'm going to proceed.
Sorry about that.
So the first thing I would like to say is I really want to thank
and make this public to Ariana Laguna. She's on loan to me and was
helping me with HLC items that are going on right now.
So we do have additional location visits coming up. This is a
normal behavior that the HLC does. It occurs approximately every
five years, so this is not anything that has come up that is special
or anything of the sort. This is just a normal behavior.
The one thing I did want to point out is on these additional
locations is they are looking at the programs that are taught at
these additional locations. The additional locations are listed on
the left. This is where they are going to be visiting. And the
programs are listed on the right.
The piece we need to be really careful about is their definition
of a program. A program to the HLC does not match Pima's definition.
It's when 50% of the courses of a program are offered at a location.
So, for example, we do have some programs from Pima's definition
that only have one course in it. If that one course is offered at an
additional location, it's considered a program to the HLC. So just
keep in mind that their definition is a little bit different.
So these are the visit locations coming up. Right now we have
one scheduled in February for February 14, 15, and 16, and there will
be two more in March. We do not have the dates for March yet.
So that was the first HLC update. Here's the second one. The
second one is our assurance argument that's coming up. The assurance
argument will be in fall of 2024 or spring of 2025. We don't have
that date yet.
On the left are the various criterion. We have 1 through 5. And
I also want to mention I have added federal compliance this time,
because federal compliance has as much to do with our 1 through 5
criterion, but they really haven't been included before, so my first
thing is thank you, Dr. Richmond, for adding federal compliance to
part of the presentation. We really need to get them in the groove
so that we know where their gaps are and what's going on with them
and if there's anything we need to help them with.
Next to each criterion are the leads. You can see the name of
the leads on there in the middle. To the right is what Criterion 1
is. Criterion 1 is the mission. There are subcomponents underneath
of that, but these are the people who are going to lead those areas.
My last one here, this is what I call the gap timeline. So since
they aren't going to be here until fall of '24 or spring of '25, we
have to start working right now. This is for our gaps. Gaps are any
areas where we have already identified previously that we are missing
components, we aren't doing it, or there are areas that the HLC has
pointed out to us that need work. Right now we are working on the
gaps.
In August of this year, all of the criteria leads got together
and submitted their gap sheet. So this sheet has a list of areas
that we self-identified or that the HLC identified last time that we
needed to put more energy and effort and have more evidence in.
From September to May of 2023, these plans, based off the gaps
that have been identified, we are going to implement these plans. So
several areas have plans to make sure they have evidence.
By June 24 to July 24, we are going to evaluate the data from
those gaps. So valuing the data, then we can implement some
continuous quality improvement starting in August of '24.
Oh, I don't have those dates right. Yeah, I guess I do.
So that's what's going on with HLC right now. Those are the two
items is our assurance argument coming up and also the site visits.
So I'm done, pending your questions. I can find my video now.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Any questions?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you.
Ms. Weeks, in the past, as these reports have come to the board,
it's been very helpful to have a very structured approach in terms of
identifying where those gaps are and then the progress we are making
towards fixing it.
We, in the past, have employed a very rudimentary green, yellow,
red light approach, which I think was very helpful for providing a
real graphic sort of assurance to the board of how the progress we
were making, how far we were, and really the speed with which we
needed to complete that prior to the visit.
Do you anticipate or could you create a tool? Because as we move
into this sort of next cycle, I suspect you will be back to the board
fairly regularly reporting out.
I will leave it at that.
>> WENDY WEEKS: Thank you, Mr. Clinco. Actually, we already
have it. It's done. It's ready. I actually was contemplating
bringing it. It's already been designed. It's a great dashboard
that was created by Stephen Ebel from my office.
The only problem is since we are working on gaps, a lot of it
looks blank right now. Having to try and explain the blanks that we
have, because we are only working on the gaps, I decided to wait.
We may be presenting it next month when Criterion 1 goes. I will
be here, so will the leads who actually know the information in depth
and where those gaps are and where our struggles are. I may ask them
to bring that dashboard with them.
Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Maybe we can put this on a future study
session rather than doing it piecemeal as you sort of have the full
gap document together, and then you could really report out like a
much more in-depth period with all of the leads available to answer
questions as to sort of provide an effective snapshot of where we're
at versus a piecemeal approach.
I think that might be useful for the board.
>> WENDY WEEKS: And we do have that ready.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yeah, no, thank you, Board Member
Clinco. I think that's a great idea.
Wendy, thank you so much for working on this behind the scenes.
It seems a way off, but really it's around the corner. By virtue of
the fact that -- we are thankful that somebody is looking at this and
you're on it, because it is something very serious that we all take
serious on the board.
Yeah, I think a study session would be in order for us to fully
understand what's coming ahead.
Any other questions from the board?
Thank you so much, Wendy.
Chancellor?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, our final administrative report
is going to be presented by Dr. David Bea, an update on
classification and compensation, and this will be followed up with a
study session to do a little deeper dive.
Dave?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Good evening, Chair Ripley, members of the
board, Chancellor Lambert, colleagues and guests.
It is my pleasure to do a very quick overview of an update of
where we're at with our class compensation implementation. As the
board knows, they approved a new structure for both staff
classification and faculty classification through the budget process
and the special action item in June.
The goal, as we have discussed, and I'm not going to go through
all these slides because some of these are recapping where we have
been, but we had an old compensation structure that was 22 years old,
had a lot of problems associated with it, particularly related to
compression where people were, no matter how many years of experience
they had in their positions at the college, they were at the minimum
of the grade level, is the quick and dirty summary of what the
biggest problem was.
There were a number of other problems that we had, and the idea
with the class comp adjustment was to have a big study done where the
job descriptions were redone and reviewed by an external partner, and
then tied to market positions and market wages, and then a new
proposed structure was put in place and recommended and then
approved.
Where we're at right now, this is a quick dirty of what was
impacted by it. There were more than a thousand positions, well over
a thousand positions impacted by the study. About 60% of those
positions in total received increases that were above the minimum.
That is that the new salary structures, whether it's for staff or
faculty, resulted in increases that were greater than $2,000. And as
the board knows, we also proposed and you all approved a minimum
increase for folks that was $2,000 above the prior year pay. So
about 60% of people received more than the $2,000. Then about 40%
received that minimum increase that we just talked about.
Getting some averages, the average increase across the board was
around 9%. The average increase for those who moved on to the new
schedules were about $8,000. It was a notable increase for lots of
people at the college and I think puts the college in a good position
to be able to attract and retain the talent that we need to do the
jobs at the college.
So where we are at right now is we are in an appeals process
where individuals have received their information early in July, or
actually it was a little bit before July, about their placement, and
if they have any questions, they have been encouraged to either
submit a formal appeal or to contact HR to walk through how the
placement works.
To date, we have received a little bit over 200 appeals. More
than half of those have been resolved already. This chart on the
side, if you look at it, shows essentially the flow of the appeals,
how they have come in since this program rolled out, and then the
blue line shows how many are resolved.
So the difference between the blue and the orange is essentially
those are the ones yet to be resolved. There is around 90 that are
still in the works. A lot of those in the works still are this job
description related, and they may involve more than one position so
that the HR group, the class comp folks are working with a number of
different areas right now to sort of make it clear that among
multiple people that the job description fits their job duties when
they have similar duties, and if they have unique duties, that those
get identified, title changes, those types of things.
The majority of the appeals are job title and description
related. There are a handful of adjustments that have happened where
people identify that they had more years of experience in the
position than we had in our records, and they showed that and then
have worked through that. There are a number of those kinds of
appeals are processed relatively quickly, and some other minor pay
adjustments are resolved relatively quickly.
We are making good progress with that. We extended the deadline.
That was one of the things that we heard from employees early on was
they wanted a little bit more time to process it, so we extended the
appeal deadline to be the end of September so that that will set us
up to, as Chancellor Lambert mentioned, to do a thorough debrief with
the board in an upcoming study session where we can follow up on what
the appeals were, give a really more comprehensive overview of the
impacts and the information related to how were positions changed,
how were they impacted, how did that roll out, and then what work we
need to do remaining.
As we have talked about, this is going to be a continuous
improvement effort. It is by no means perfect yet, and there is a
fair amount of work that still is outstanding. As mentioned, we are
going to be concluding the appeals, continuing to refine and revise
the communications, making it clear how the system works for folks.
It's a big change for staff side in particular, so trying to provide
as much as information as possible so that they understand how the
new system works.
We will be reinstating the steering committees, and we are
working with AERC on some specific issues and communicating on a
regular basis with them. There is a meeting with some of the faculty
reps tomorrow, and the staff meeting is coming up in the next week or
so.
Some of the work, as we have talked about with the board, that is
upcoming will be working on defining the parameters around
performance-based pay and how that would fit into the structure.
Then other adjustments that might be related to hard-to-fill
positions, alternate educational attainment, things like that that
we've talked with the board about, so those are still upcoming and we
are going to be getting those groups back together to have more
conversation so that we can then build it into the upcoming budget
process and any recommendation we do next year.
With that -- oh, the one other thing is that we had a really
good, more comprehensive conversation with the HR, the board's HR
committee last Friday and got into a little more detail than we are
getting into tonight, and we will continue to keep that group updated
as well.
With that, I will ask if the board has any questions for me.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much for that. Of course
we want to thank you and the team. This was a Herculean effort that
was long time in coming. We don't want to look back and figure out
why that happened. It was an overdue process, and you got it done.
I was at the HR committee meeting last week where I was able to
ask the hard questions, probably uncomfortable, awkward questions.
Thank you for that, I think you and Carlene, for answering those
questions very directly. This, for many people, salary is an
emotional topic. Thank you for your sensitivities and for answering
all of the questions.
One of the things before I go on, I have two things I want to
say, but the first thing, I do want to applaud a couple of things.
The fact that our minimum wage is at $16.15, well above Tucson's
minimum wage of $13, and well above the federal -- I think Tucson
just raised theirs to $13.85. So ours at 16.15, it's amazing, and I
thank you for making that happen and doing the magic you needed to do
for that.
And also, across the board, to 2 to $3,000 raise and the 7 to 12%
raises for the majority of our employees. I think it's noteworthy,
and I think a lot of people appreciate it as a game changer for a lot
of people, especially at that minimum wage region. So thank you for
that.
But with every project of this magnitude, there is a sigh of
relief, it's done, it took a lot of time, but as everyone knows and a
lot of people may have mentioned at the HR committee meeting, there
is going to be a lot of lessons learned, and I look forward to
hearing about those. Something of this magnitude is bound to have
lessons learned and a lot of imperfections, if you will.
So I appreciate that you're going to reinstate the committees,
and please, please, please ensure that everybody who wants a voice
will get a voice. I think that will be really important. Working
closely with the AERC and the ERGs is going to be hugely important.
Just in the spirit of shared governance with AERC, I know you're
going to do this, and we look forward to seeing the implementation
first, and then let's go back so that the next time is an even better
process. I'm sure it was painful but you got it done. Thank you for
that.
With that, we do have a couple of comments.
Board Member Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Dr. Bea, I'm just trying to understand this
graph and I'm not sure. So where you're saying that there is a
placement in new scales, so there's 515 staff and then 165 faculty,
680 total.
There is more staff and more faculty than that. Am I correct or
am I wrong?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Absolutely. Those represent the number of
discrete positions that were used in summarizing the information.
There is a lot more people who are impacted than what is indicated
here.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: So when I look at the percentage of
positions adjusted, faculty, 73%, so that means 22% were not
adjusted? And on the staff, 56. So that would be, I think it's 40
or 34, 44 maybe.
That means -- I guess my next question is what happened to those
other people?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: So when it says that they are adjusted, that
means those positions were moved up more than $2,000 into the new
schedules. So the adjustments were quite significant.
The percentages that less, one minus those, so 40% overall, it's
about 44% of staff positions, those are the individuals who received
the minimum increase of $2,000 more than the prior year pay.
So it's around 40%, 27% for the two different groups. Again, 40%
total received minimum increases of a $2,000 increase over the prior
year. The other people received more than that because they were
placed up into the schedule.
So in other words, the target on the scale was higher, and they
got higher adjustments than $2,000.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Well, I would agree, I would like a study
session with your agreement, with the board's agreement, to
understand the compensation a little bit better, because, you know,
we get complaints and we want to fully understand what's going on.
So thank you.
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Absolutely.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Any other questions?
Yes, Board Member Gonzales.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes, good afternoon, Dr. Bea.
I was also there at the meeting, and there was a lot of
information that was shared. I know that the meeting, a number of
the faculty and staff that we have basically, the appeals was about
20%, correct?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: It's in that neighborhood, yes.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: The 200 will equal about 20%.
The other item -- like I mentioned, there was a lot of positive
information that was shared, but also, there were rumors -- what I'm
trying to say is of the 30%, so that pretty much provides the 80%.
Are all our staff and faculty happy at this point? I know that the
deadline was extended and the deadline was extended to September 30,
so we actually have about two weeks left, correct?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Yes.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Okay. The other thing too that I wanted
to share is that, I don't know in reference to reinstate, but I guess
at the HR committee meeting, it was mentioned that we are still
recruiting for HR members to be on the advisory group?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Yes, people in the community to serve on the
board's committee.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: How many are still not complete?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: I think we'd like to get at least three more
members to really fill out that group effectively.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Repeat that again, please?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: I think we are looking for at least three more
members of the community to fill out that committee.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Can I confirm and reaffirm what Ms. Garcia
mentioned. I think we need a study session on this.
The other last question that I want to share with you is I think
it's good that we have this compensation thing. There was a lot of
good information. I liked it. I'm glad I was there as well, too.
Unfortunately, things happen. I know that we almost went to
reschedule because we didn't have a quorum, and that's my concern
that I had. Correct?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Yeah, we were in that committee meeting there.
We needed to have...
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yeah, that's almost correct. Thank you.
I hope to meet with the study session with reference to HR and the
compensation program. Thank you.
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Great.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much, Dr. Bea. And we
look forward to the completion of the implementation of this class
comp study.
Next on the agenda I think are the reports by representatives to
the board. We have 20 minutes.
Our first representative will be adjunct faculty report by Sean
Mendoza.
>> SEAN MENDOZA: Chairwoman Ripley, Chancellor Lambert, members
of the board, and honored guests. On behalf of the adjunct faculty,
I want to thank the board and the college administration for your
continued support.
Thank you, Chancellor Lambert, for attending and answering
questions at our September meeting. Your insight and the role of
adjunct faculty on the future of the college was appreciated.
Since the May board meeting, the college adopted a number of
additions to the employee handbook, most notably the adjunct faculty
two-tier system available to full- and part-time faculty. Many
people were involved in the development of the tiered system. It was
through the leadership of the provost's office, Kate Schmidt,
administration, Dr. David Bea, and Dr. Sarah Jansen of our adjunct
faculty group that this important initiative was presented and
adopted by the board. Thank you.
Having completed this task, it may be easy to sit on our laurels.
Unfortunately, it still does not address some of the more pressing
benefits issues adjunct faculty live with every day.
I would ask that the board and the college administration please
support a third tier, which would go beyond recognizing years of
service and professional development which is required for Tier 2.
This third tier would identify and support the outstanding
adjunct faculty who play an integral role in the governance and
success of our students every day. A lot of work still needs to be
done, but I know that with the leadership of the provost's office and
the financial wizardry of Dr. David Bea, we can also find a way to
move this initiative forward.
Lastly, I wanted to say thank you to the board for your kind
words during your June meeting. As an adjunct faculty member nearly
three decades ago, I remember being forbidden from speaking in
meetings at the college, which is in stark contrast to speaking to
you today at this board meeting.
With your help and support, we have made some great strides in
supporting our students by providing adjunct faculty with access to
professional development funds.
I believe we still have more to accomplish like ensuring adjunct
faculty are timely compensated for all meetings integral to policy
development and student success.
As always, thank you to the board and the college administration
for your continued support. This ends my report.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you, Sean.
Any comments from the board?
And again, Sean, I have said this to you, I say it every time I
see you, but without adjunct faculty I don't know where this or any
college would be. You are vital, vital to this school. I think the
adjunct faculty are incredibly lucky to have you as their voice, as a
representative, and I'm happy that you're comfortable enough to speak
freely and to let us know what you need, because we will do
everything we can to help you out because you are so vital.
Thank you.
Next report by representatives to the board is staff report by
Erica Elias. Are you here?
>> ERICA ELIAS: Good evening, Chairperson Ripley, members of the
board, Chancellor and guests.
Student Affairs hosted a Super Saturday starting the end of July
and through the month of August. The Super Saturdays were held to
help students register for classes. We had large student turnouts.
We also connected them with resources for financial aid, ADR, and
other needs and resources that the students were requesting. So we
were really excited about that.
Also, on August 26, the Behavioral Health Summit was held with
local employers to address the needs of behavioral health.
That will conclude my report. Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. Any questions from the
board?
Again, I repeat my comments from Sean. Erica, without the staff,
I don't know where we'd be. You make the doors open and the lights
stay on. The day-to-day work that you do is not overlooked by us on
the board. We appreciate you. Thank you.
Next faculty report from Denise Reilly.
>> DENISE REILLY: Hello. Good evening, Chair Ripley, Governing
Board members, Chancellor Lambert, colleagues and guests. My name is
Denise Reilly, and I'm your continued faculty Board of Governors
representative. My role is to serve as a conduit between the faculty
body and the board as well as administrative leadership of the
college.
Faculty are excited about the new year, more challenges, more
in-person classes, and increased enrollment at the college. As your
representative, faculty senator officer teams are working hard to
continue our goals of transparency and shared governance among
faculty at the college.
At All College Day, faculty were present during chancellor
remarks as well as afternoon faculty sessions. While the messaging
was very unclear, many faculty felt that faculty public
acknowledgement is lacking and in fact a bit disparaging. There was
a lack of clarity and focus in the annual message.
At a later meeting, the chancellor clarified his message as
explaining that the landscape of education is changing and that
Arizona is failing our K-12 public education system with
(indiscernible) for PCC.
As a reminder, I'm a proud 23-year public educator in the state
of Arizona, in K-12 education and higher ed. I can say one thing
that K-12 public education does get right and PCC could learn from.
They create a supportive environment for teachers, and administrators
support the teachers with the main goal and focus of allowing
teachers the ability to do their jobs and do it well.
No school is successful without great teachers which require
great administrative support, guidance, and leadership. No teacher
stays in the job of K-12 public education with low pay and difficult
working conditions without a positive culture and community of
support.
On behalf of faculty, I ask the board, chancellor, and
administrative leadership teams to remember that the heart and soul
of education begins in the classroom with the faculty and in turn
directly impacts student success.
Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much, Denise. I thank you
for your honesty in expressing your views. As someone who has
marched miles in my Red for Ed T-shirt, I will let the chancellor
speak to this, but I hope that that message was actually misheard,
because K-12, the teachers are super heroes. They really are.
As a mother, preschool through 12 really, those are the people
who should be getting all the awards and accolations, because they
are, as you said, the lifeblood of our future and our community
leading into Pima Community College.
But with that said, the direction is really, it's not at all at
the teachers. It's at state funding. It's at the lack of support we
have been getting in Arizona for teachers. We are No. 49, sometimes
50 in the country for support to teachers, for teacher salary, and
for student support and per-student funding.
So this is why we work so hard at Pima Community College to get
any funding we can from anywhere that we can, because we don't get
state funding. K-12, you know those teachers took a huge hit in 2008
and 2009 and they have not recovered.
This is why we have dual enrollment and Pima doesn't charge for
it. This is the reason why -- and, yeah, we don't say it enough, but
you are the lifeblood of Pima Community College, as is preschool
through K the lifeblood of our world.
If I don't say that enough, I'm really sorry. It's near and dear
I know to my heart, and I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone on this
board. If it weren't for you, I cheer on the adjuncts because I feel
the adjuncts don't get cheered on, and maybe I'm assuming that we
publicly acknowledge you more than we do, but I guess that was a bad
assumption, because please know this is the reason we are here. You
are the front lines of this school.
This is the only reason we are here is because of the amazing
faculty we have. I brag about you guys all the time. It needs to be
said to your face a little bit more and I know that now.
I'd like to let the chancellor maybe comment as well, because
this is very important. Chancellor?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Thank you, Board Chair.
The faculty are the core of everything we do. We would not be
able to achieve the level of success at this college without the
faculty. I say that always, especially when I'm out in the
community. We wouldn't have been recognized by the Harvard project
but for the great work of the faculty.
I want you all to know that. When I'm talking about K12, I'm not
talking about the faculty or the staff. The state has not done a
good, I should say a good job, minimum, of supporting what's going on
in K12. That's why those outcomes are the way they are, and we feel
it the most in this community.
Also, we're not supported, as the board chair pointed out, here
at Pima Community College or at Maricopa Community College, and so
those are the things I'm talking about when I address all of you.
But also, I feel like it's my job to point out the gaps, which
represent opportunities for us to close those gaps. I believe Pima
has stepped up in a major way to do that. That would not happen
without the faculty. The micropathways, that's because of faculty.
Not because I say so or Ian Roark says so or anybody else says so.
It happens because of the faculty.
We created an AIT program in collaboration with Pinal County,
that's Central Arizona, and Maricopa County, because of the faculty.
We would not have pulled that off but for the faculty.
What I'm really focused on is making sure we continue to support
you, make sure that we bring the humanities to the level of relevancy
that they should enjoy. Humanities are getting shorted not just here
in the state of Arizona but across the country. It's reflected in
the enrollment.
I think a lot of it has to do with how we reframe it, make it
more relevant, and that's what you have seen us do on the CTE side.
I believe we can do that on the humanities and liberal arts side.
That's why I'm here for, and I'm committed to making sure that we
deliver on that.
But I'm going to push us. You can always hear me push us. I
know we can always do better, but Pima is a leader, and that's in
large part because of the faculty.
I also don't want to short-change the staff. We would not be
able to do what we do without the supporting cast. So it's not one
group versus another. It's how we all work in our respective lanes
to be a team to accomplish the level of success that we have enjoyed
up till now.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you, Chancellor. It truly is a
team effort. With that, I will say it again, I say it every meeting,
as a former military person, you guys are the boots on the ground in
the front line. We know that, acknowledge that, we applaud it and
appreciate it. We need to say it more.
Thank you so much, Denise, for bringing that up. Appreciate it.
Next up and last on the representatives reports is administrator
report by Jim Craig.
>> JIM CRAIG: Chair Ripley, Chancellor Lambert, distinguished
board, fellow representatives, PCC family, and friends. My name is
Jim Craig, and I'm the dean of business and information technology,
and I will be your administrative board representative for the year.
The administration is very excited about the start of the fall
2022 semester and students returning to class with overall college
enrollment up 6.7% over fall of 2021. This semester starts off with
the hope and promise for even more students to pursue and achieve
their goals. All of the campuses have had wonderful welcome-back
celebrations for their faculty, staff, and students.
For example, East Campus welcomed students back with a new game
room area by the front entrance and bookstore. I even heard about a
certain dean and campus vice president who showed up some players how
it is really done with foosball.
No names, but good job, Nina.
In July, PimaOnline received recognition at the annual D2L
conference with a D2L excellence award. D2L is our learning
management system. Pima was one of the first colleges nationally to
design and host an educator conference that repurposed D2L as a
conference management system. It included using two- and
three-dimensional collaboration tools. Special thanks to Reed Dixon
and Josie Milliken.
The Aviation Center ribbon-cutting event is scheduled for Monday,
October 17. This was preceded by the SkyWest Airlines August 31st
donation of a CRJ200 airplane to our aviation technology program.
This will help our students and program tremendously.
The PimaOnline Educators Conference will be held November 2
through 4 and will feature keynotes from Dr. Gina Garcia and
Dr. Thomas T., and all members of the Pima community are welcomed to
attend.
In May, leadership from the PCC Center of Excellence for IT and
cybersecurity presented at the Community College Cyber Summit in
Dayton, Ohio. The session was titled Disruptive Learnings, Failure
As a Path to Success. PCC's innovative experiential approach to IT
and cybersecurity education was very well received by the summit
participants. Special thanks to Chris Bonhorst, Will McCullen, and
Jim Craig.
On August 31st, deans from University of Arizona and Pima
Community College had a joint meeting on the UArizona campus to share
transfer ideas, to discuss a joint MLU on the collaboration of
UArizona and PCC and our commitment to offer learners the best
programs in our Tucson community and Southern Arizona. The
respective provosts were present with their respective deans and
teams. The next meeting will actually be hosted here at Pima.
The his STEM Title III IT Knowledge in Context grant was just
awarded the second year of funding for $1 million. Since October 21,
the grant team has accomplished several outcomes including serving
our local community by presenting IT and cybersecurity workshops and
presentations to over 200 high school students. We have also hired
15 IT cyber students into paid IT technician internship positions
within our own Center of Excellence.
No All College Council committee meeting has been held yet. The
first meeting of the semester is scheduled for October 14.
The administration is also eager and ready to jump in and work on
the college's institutional goals, the chancellor's goals, and the
college's strategic plans.
We have a lot of work to do. Our mission to empower every
learner every day for every goal is in the forefront of all of our
hearts and minds.
This concludes my report.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much, Jim. We really
appreciate everything you do. I saw a picture of that airplane. I
can't wait to see it in person. It also illustrates the importance
of having these community relationships, because again, without state
funding, we do have to be creative.
We are really fortunate to have foundations, the Pima Foundation
and community partners who are pitching in to allow for scholarships
and internships, airplanes, and stuff to work on. I think it's
really important that we continue this. Thank you for that.
Thank you for your positivity, too. We need more of that in your
position. Thank you very much.
With that, any questions for Jim? All right.
Next item is 15 minutes for the chancellor's report. Chancellor?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening,
everybody.
So pleased that we are starting out the term with a strong
enrollment boost that is -- I shouldn't say equal to, but just a
little above where we were in the fall of 2020. That's really a
positive place to be in.
Not all of the districts in the state enjoy that same position,
so I think it says a lot about what this college has done, not only
over the last two years but really over the last few years to really
start to ensure that our programs are relevant so students want to be
here, that we are providing better customer service and support.
I think we are starting to see those things paying off, that we
are going into the high schools, providing greater support through
our dual enrollment high school programming, and that we are really
focused on the work-base learning pieces, working with our employer
community.
I think when you look at all of those pieces, they are starting
to come together. But I also caution us. I was just in a meeting
recently where the state is very concerned about the state of
education and declining population. So we need to recognize that
enrollment is going to be a challenge for quite a while, not just for
Pima but for the entire state. Every single person counts.
I think that's why dual enrollment is critical, because we've got
to get more of our kids wanting to go to college. But that's not
going to get us to the enrollment numbers that we need. So that
adult population, especially those who have had some college, no
degree, and those who have not even gone to college, if we can reach
them, then that's going to help us do a solid job of serving our
community. But I don't want to lose sight that it's an enormous
challenge that's in front of us.
I want to thank East Campus faculty, Andy and Jamie, two math
faculty. I have heard positive comments from students about what you
are doing in the classrooms there. In the case of Andy, a student
saying you actually made calculus fun and relevant. I mean, that
says a lot when you have students recognizing the value of calculus,
right?
Then I also want to recognize our teacher prep faculty and staff.
Our teacher prep program is the leader in the state of Arizona. When
the state passed a new law around reading requirements for K through
3 grades for certification of teachers, as well as the requirement
around having a certified dyslexic faculty member on staff at I think
it's the K-5, I may have them reversed, but Pima immediately stepped
in and got to work. So we are the only college at the moment who can
actually certify in these two areas. That says a lot about our
faculty and staff and teacher prep.
Also, some of us had the pleasure of visiting the West Campus
library. If you haven't had the chance, I really encourage you to go
and take a look at our West Campus library. They have done a
phenomenal job of reorganizing the library, creating a better look
and feel for students.
We have those learning pods there, remodeled some of the rooms,
and then just putting things more out in the perimeter that are more
welcoming, inviting for our students.
Also, they have a great Pride display there. They have a great
display on banned books. In the book, they have the reason why this
book is banned. I'm, like, looking, really, this book is banned? At
some point if we continue on this trajectory, every book will be
banned.
I think there is some -- reasonableness has to come back to the
table at some point in terms of books. Our faculty, librarians, they
are leading the way, working with students, allowing our students to
be leaders. I think the displays reflect that with the librarians in
this case being the guide to help them step up into that leadership
role.
I want to thank Phil and David and Irene and so many others for
the great work on putting together these Super Saturday events. I
had the pleasure of going to one of them. Lots of individuals
showing up.
Then using the technology, the Qnami. Even though you show up
and can't be seen right away, you get your little text message that
tells you when it's your turn, so you don't have to just sit there
and wait. You can go do other things and come back when you get that
message saying your turn is now ready for you. So great job by the
team there.
Also, I don't think it can be said enough, but when Harvard
University recognizes your college as one of the five exemplars
across the country, we should be singing that from the rooftops. I
don't care about our differences, folks don't feel I'm being
transparent or accountable enough, but the fact remains that Harvard
University would not choose a college if that college isn't hitting
it out of the park. Let's not lose sight of that.
And also, Forbes would not choose Pima Community College to be a
top five employer if this place is so bad. I want us not to lose
sight of that. If this place is as bad as some people say, we would
not be a top five employer for people to work at. Our employees are
telling us, this is a great place to work. We have some of the
greatest benefits in this community. We pay way better than minimum
wage, as you pointed out. Let's not forget that.
Yeah, we've got things to work on. We're not perfect. But let's
take a step back and say the glass, when you look at it, is half
full. We're doing better than most. And we are doing better than
most with probably the least to work with. I mean, how do you
achieve that, right? You have the least to work with, but yet you
are achieving way better than the folks who have a lot more.
I want us not to lose sight of that. We have so much to be proud
of. Let's talk about the things we have to be proud of as well as we
have things we need to work on. I'm committed to working on them.
My team is committed to working on them.
But you don't get this kind of success if there is unshared
governance. I will tell you that now. You will not get this kind of
success. Let's not forget that.
Childcare center. I mean, it broke my heart to come to a
district that wasn't offering childcare. But I also knew that we
couldn't fix this right away. We had a lot of other things to do,
but it was never lost that we needed to do something. Finally, we
got the opportunity.
You know, thanks to Congressman Grijalva and our congressional
delegation, so many people in this community, it really reflects that
as long as we keep doing the right thing as part of our agenda and we
don't lose sight of that and we wait for the right timing for things,
things happen. The childcare center is a fine example of that.
We did this with partnerships. That's the key I think to our
success long term. As you put it, Chair Ripley, when you have no
resources, you've got to look for them in a different way. Well, I
think it's a gift that was given to us, because that gift said go out
and develop the relationships. You don't have to go it alone. I
think we are seeing that come back in spades for the college now.
Let me just close with we are starting National Hispanic Heritage
Month tomorrow. Today, on the front of the National Heritage Month,
a small group of us were up in Phoenix at a breakfast meeting of the
Victoria Foundation, so Pete Garcia started the Victoria Foundation,
and our very own Dr. Irene Robles-Lopez was awarded the Dr. Alfredo
G. De los Santos Outstanding Latina Latino Community College Award.
Irene, congratulations to you.
(Applause.)
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: This reflects we have so much great talent
here. So let's talk about that more, not just what we're not doing.
Unfortunately when we're in this group, we seem to hear only about
the things that aren't working instead of the great things that are
working.
Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you, Chancellor Lambert. Just to
echo, yeah, it's fun for me personally, because I'm an
ex-cheerleader -- will admit that (smiling) -- many decades ago, it's
fun, that's the easy part of the job is to praise people and tell
them how great they are, and it's easy here because everyone is doing
a bang-up job. It truly is easy.
But in the spirit of transparency and in the name of shared
governance, I think that the audience needs to also know that what
you don't see behind the scenes, and our counsel will let you know,
our chief of staff, the chancellor certainly will let you know, if
you really ask them, how many times I have actually called them or
texted them with not-so-nice things to say and demanded answers and
not always agreed with them.
But we are a family, and if a family can't debate and argue
issues civilly, then we'll never get anything done. That's what
families do.
So you don't see that, because we try to reconcile those behind
the scenes as much as possible, through study sessions, through board
documents, and through just conversations, just face-to-face
conversations. Nine times out of ten, it's a misunderstanding,
mostly on my part because I don't know how to read certain documents
or charts or graphs, but sometimes it's not. Sometimes they will go
back and say, yeah, you're right, Cat. Let's look at that. We
didn't see that. Or "my bad."
I think you saw today, if you're going to call me or anyone out
on anything, please do. Please make it specific. If you just call
me a poopy face, then I don't know how to fix that to my face. But
if you tell me I did this on this date, and it's my bad, I'm first to
admit my wrong. I know the chancellor is, too, because he has done
that. He has admitted to me several times.
So I just wanted to say that just in the spirit, because there is
a lot of rumbling around this room, and I want to also just point out
that we are family. I mean, maybe it's a little crazy and maybe it's
a little bit odd sometimes, but we are Asian, we are African
American, we are Hispanic, we are Native American, we are gay, we are
lesbian, we are Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, nondenomination, and
I'm just looking at this room of a handful of people alone, but this
is what you have as a board and as senior leadership.
So know that diversity of thought is hugely important and
transparency is hugely important. We can take it. So thank you for
being honest, the people that have spoken out. Anything tangible
that we can fix, we will do all we can as a board to address those
items.
Thanks a lot, Chancellor, for being open, as well. And
especially open to me throwing things at you when you need it. But
thanks mostly again for the best part of my job is to go to these
ribbon cuttings, visit the schools, to go to high schools, to talk to
principals, and go to the veterans. I mean, to go down to
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and speak at a Air Force paramedic
graduation, that's the great, the fun part of the job is to see the
good things we are doing.
It's all due to everybody listening, staff, faculty, adjunct
faculty, permanent faculty, facilities, every employee that works
here. Look at our IT team today, security staff outside, Andrea,
Gabby, all these people make this happen. Thank you so much.
I will stop, because the next item on the agenda, I want to move
this along, sorry about that, is the information items which were in
the board packets and are for everybody to review.
The information items were provided to the board for general
information purposes. If any board member has clarifying questions
regarding any of the information items, let me know and we can have
the chancellor follow up or add the topic to a future agenda or even
study session, as we brought up today, which we hope to do.
So with that, consent agenda. Item No. 4. We have about five
minutes if we want to discuss this, but the consent agenda was
provided to our board also for review.
So at this point, may I have a motion to approve the items on the
consent agenda?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I would like to table 4.16 and 4.17,
please. Discuss.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Discuss, move to action items, you
mean, or move for discussion or move to the next meeting?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Move for discussion.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: If I could clarify, I think what you're
saying is you'd like to pull those from the consent agenda and then
we'll address them in the subsequent action item section of the
agenda? Is that what you had in mind?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Okay. We will move items 4.16 and
4.17.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: I'd like to remove 4.19 for discussion as
well.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: So 4.19 will also be removed.
With that said, minus items 4.16, 4.17, 4.19, may I have a motion
to approve the rest of the items on the consent agenda?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So moved.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Moved and seconded. If you approve,
please signify by saying aye.
(Ayes.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: The motion has been passed to approve
the consent agenda minus items 4.16, 4.17, and 4.19, which will be
moved to the action items.
At this time, action items, we do have 20 minutes. We will
consider the action items on the agenda.
Mr. Silvyn, would you read the first recommendation from the
chancellor, and Chancellor, can you subsequently provide any
information regarding that item.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Could you clarify? Which one do you want to
do first since we do have the three items moved from the consent
agenda?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Why don't, just to keep some semblance
of order, start with 4.16, then 17, 19, then go on to the originally
agendized action items.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Thank you for that clarification.
Item 4.16 is a contract amendment, Chase Building Team for
general contracting services for the Advanced Manufacturing Building.
The recommendation is as follows. The chancellor recommends the
Governing Board authorize the chancellor or designee to execute an
amendment to the agreement with Chase Building Team for general
contractor services for the construction of the Advanced
Manufacturing Building. Total value of the amendment is $1 million
and the total costs for the agreement are not expected to exceed
$28,500,000.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I would move the item. I would move the
recommendation.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: You would move the recommendation?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Mr. Silvyn read the recommendation and I'm
making a motion to move the recommendation.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Clarification on that. I'm not
understanding it well.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: If I might, when an item gets moved from the
consent agenda to the action item, we are going to treat it exactly
the same as a regular action item.
In this case, we are following the regular routine. The
recommendation is read. There is a motion to approve the item. It's
seconded. And then we turn to discussion, information, amendment if
that's what --
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: It's going to go to discussion?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes. The item has been moved, been
seconded, and now I'd like to open up for discussion after comments
from the chancellor.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, I have Greg Wilson who will be
glad to share the programmattic aspects related to this
recommendation, because it's very illustrative to why we are bringing
this forward.
Dean Wilson, are you on?
>> Yes. Thank you, Chancellor Lambert. Good evening, Chair
Ripley, board members, Chancellor Lambert, colleagues and guests.
I'm happy to answer any question specifically about the welding
area. What I would want everybody to know is that we did -- I'm not
a welder, so I will state that right off the bat. We really rely
heavily on the expertise of our faculty and staff in the welding
department. I want to thank Jon Mount, who is the welding department
head; Phil Abbott who is faculty; as well as Nolan Phillips who is
our lab specialist.
In speaking with them about the options and preparing for moving
into the Advanced Manufacturing Building, we did a lot of research on
potential equipment and booths. One thing they will all say is that
whatever manufacturer you're going with, what you will find is that
everybody is geared those AWS, American Welding Society standards.
So in that respect, manufacturers are pretty much all alike.
They have different equipment that they offer, different services.
But what really came out in discussing this issue with the faculty
and the staff is that when it comes to booths in particular and
working with different groups, we have found that Lincoln has been
very supportive when it comes to -- any time we have issues with
equipment or questions they are very responsive.
That has not necessarily been the case with other manufacturers.
Please note that most of the folks, when we do require service in our
welding program, it comes from Phoenix. What we found is that a lot
of times it's easier for folks to maybe not respond via e-mail or
phone, but that has not been the case with Lincoln.
We are trying to deliver services for our students. If a machine
goes down, you kind of build up relationships over time with those
who perform. That was certainly a big factor when it came to
thinking about what we wanted to do going forward.
We are certainly always open to the best, but if all things were
equal when it comes to equipment, the services and the features, you
start to look at what matters when it comes to building a
relationship. In this case, Lincoln not only provided the best
customer service, but also, it ties into how we assess our students.
You can earn certifications in many different ways, and I'll be
honest with you, a lot of times when we speak to employers, they may
not necessarily even be aware of certifications that are offered.
What they really want to know is that our students can perform.
So then the question we talk about within a program, welding or
any other program, is do these programs align with how we are
assessing students and do the certifications provide faculty with
resources and assessments that help them do a better job? In this
case, it would be the same.
That's a quick overview of thinking...
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Greg? Let me pause you there for a moment.
One of the issues is why the increase. So a big reason for the
increase is the demand for welding has increased significantly in our
community, especially from JTED students. And so we have over 75
JTED students sitting on a wait list that we cannot meet their needs
because we don't have the welding booths to deliver.
So part of what we want to do as we move into this new facility
is to open up more booths. We have flex space in the facility to do
that, so this request is tied to let's open up more booths.
What Greg is talking about is the reason why the Lincoln piece
versus other manufacturers, but the other thing he doesn't mention is
there are like three facets. There's what's in the wall. What's in
the wall part is not tied to a specific manufacturer.
Then there is the equipment itself. So there's the Lincoln
equipment, the Miller equipment, we use all of those. But the
Lincoln piece is the booth.
So I just want to give you that context.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Board Member Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Just to be clear, we need this overage
because we want to serve more students who want to take welding and
there is a demand and the costs are itemized in the documents?
Essentially the students, we need to serve more students and we
need more welding booths and training? Got it. Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have
read this documents and I have asked a lot of questions about this
topic, whenever we increase any kind of funding the board has to
raise our eyebrows, but it's 16 or so more booths, which is the bulk
of this ask, but also the greater, bigger picture here is the need in
the nation but in Pima County and in Arizona especially for more
welders.
It's not just a one-off. We have 75 welding students that want
to come here, but it is basically a demand, so please correct me if
I'm wrong, is it a demand we are trying to reach with a look towards
the future in our offerings, correct?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: So you have a number of drivers. You have
the aging out of the workforce. Probably that's the single biggest
driver.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: That's huge.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Remember, not too long ago the president
signed the infrastructure bill. The roads, the bridges, all that's
going to require welders.
With limited welding programs across the state, and we are in a
position now to expand the capacity to help deliver and meet that
workforce need in this space.
Greg, did you want to add anything to that part?
>> Yes. Not only is the demand really high when you look at the
high school pipeline from JTED, because we have had to turn students
away, the other piece we are adding is the flex area, and that
specifically is to help us upskill existing employees.
We had a visit, for example, recently from PVB Fabrications, a
local welding employer. They are looking to partner with us and
potentially train some of their employees within our spaces.
So just don't think of the incoming high school population. It's
about upskilling, which everyone knows, that's part of the mission of
the Center of Excellence. That's why we are building these types of
flexible spaces.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: So I had a meeting with the chancellor
prior to this meeting. Who was with us, chancellor? David Dori.
So my concern was about the increase in cost. My primary concern
was did we go out for an RFP when we bought these welding booths.
And if you did, how much were the differences in price? I mean, I
understand, Chancellor said there is the Miller and there's two other
welding equipment that is being used. Yes, I understand that these
are booths.
That being said, you know, the taxpayers from this community want
to know that our money is well spent. I see that it's a considerable
amount of booths. So does that mean that the other equipment is
going to go in there, but we only selected the Lincoln Electric?
And the other reason that I'm concerned is that it was tagged to
being NC3 certified, and I happen to know that Lincoln Electric
happens to be a partner with this organization. So that's all I want
is an explanation as to why this, if you tell me you did an RFP and
these other reasons, it's a better unit, service, okay, I understand
service is very important. I understand that we need to provide the
training for the community, for the people that are going to take the
classes.
But the other part of the services, you don't always call the
vendor to come and do the repairs. Your own facility people come in
and do some of the repairs. I don't know what the percentage is.
I'm not an expert in that stuff. I'm just asking questions.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Board Member Garcia, I hear different pieces
in your statement. So the first thing is the college will always
follow proper procurement processes to obtain a service, equipment,
et cetera. So we will do that. We will make sure those things are
followed.
So that's I think probably the heart of your question, right?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Right.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: And in terms of the specifics related to
this project, I don't know if Dr. Dave Bea is available to just
answer how it works in this particular project. Sometimes the
contractor is the one who goes out and acquires the equipment and the
materials, et cetera. Sometimes it's the college. I don't know in
this instance which one it is. But in any event, we make sure that
things are followed properly.
Dave, are you on?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Yeah, I can answer the question relatively
quickly. Right now what we are doing is we are asking for
authorization to spend the money. There will still be a vetting
process to confirm appropriately that this equipment follows the
procurement procedure of the college. So as Chancellor Lambert
mentioned, we will always make sure that we are properly purchasing
things.
In this particular case, we will likely have this run through the
contractor. Procurement would then verify the purchase of the
equipment that it's an appropriate vendor, that sort of thing.
The reason you run some of these through general contractors is
that it helps facilitate the timing when equipment comes along with
the construction of the project. It streamlines how those things
work. But we will continue to review these purchases as well as we
should through our procurement policies.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Well, I know it's a huge expense. That's
what I was looking at too. Normally, at a certain amount, we do go
through procurement. I'm just surprised that in this case we are
going through the contractor.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Any other comments?
Yes, Board Member Gonzales.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: The only comment, as I mentioned before
that I had, and I was in the meeting with Dr. Dori and also
Mr. Lambert when we met, my concern right now is the amount in
reference to the changes, the additional $1 million to the existing
$28,500,000. Combined together it's 29, over -- it's significant,
what I'm trying to say, significant in reference to, as Dr. Bea
mentioned a while ago, is that right now we are here in reference to
authorizing for the expenditure of the money.
I think it's a lot. One of the things that I did ask when we
met, because other companies were mentioned that afternoon, did we do
a comparison study. If we haven't, I think we should in reference to
that.
The other question that I have right now, I know that I do
realize and I'm aware of reference to the waiting list of 75
students, but also in reference to the booth. I believe you
mentioned, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Lambert, you mentioned 13,
and we hear from our board chair 16 right now.
That's significant as well, too. I don't know which is right or
not. But I think it's very significant, as you mentioned a while
ago, coming back to the transparency, but I really would like to
really get the answers in reference to what's there. Let's do a
meeting, follow-up meeting on this, and I highly recommend that.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Just to clarify, Madam Chair, we are asking
to be able to increase our spending capacity from 27.5 million to
28.5 million. We have not spent the money yet.
We are just asking for that ability should additional changes
need to be made. We anticipate because of the welding booths, that
that's the lion's share of that, but there are other pieces that are
likely to emerge.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So just to summarize Dr. Hay's comment,
this is meeting a programmattic need that the college has identified
in the community as part of our workforce development --
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: -- opportunity because there is a huge
wait list for welding students. The costs associated with this
follows procurement procedures within the institution, and it's to
increase the number -- what the concern is is a $400,000 line item in
this package specifically related to welding.
It's going to increase the number of booths to be able to meet
that demand. These booths get installed physically into the new
Center of Excellence, which we hope to have open in the new year.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I don't see what the concern is. This is
specifically why these spaces were built as flex spaces, to be able
to rapidly meet the changing needs of the community. That was the
entire purpose of designing the buildings and the space the way we
have, so this seems that it's completely consistent with the vision
that the board has outlined.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Correct.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. I just wanted to be clear.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. This is good to get
clarity, because also for clarity, we are adding welding booths,
correct? We are just adding on to what's already being built?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: So it only makes sense to have the same
contractor do the same work so that the booths are consistent?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: And at the same quality. I, for one,
when I look at the career path of a welder, it's much more than a
bunch of tools and bookshelves. It's a huge safety issue.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Huge.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: If we are not to code and not giving
the students the safest possible way to learn this skill, it is a
giant hazard. They should get hazardous pay, welders, in my opinion.
But the fact there is a demand, but also more importantly, back
to the topic at hand, it is a continuation of the current contract.
This isn't a new program or something out of the scope of what we
originally did. We are just trying to get more --
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Expanding.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: We're just trying to expand it? I just
needed to understand that. That's why I said it out loud. Thanks
for indulging me.
Any other questions, anybody?
Okay. With that, if there is no further discussion, I would like
to open it up to vote. All those in favor of passing this action
item please signify by saying aye.
(Ayes.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Those opposed?
(Nays.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: The vote passes 3 to 2 at this point.
Next action item please, Mr. Silvyn.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Point of clarification, just for the
record, it was 3 to 2 with Board Member Garcia and Gonzales
dissenting.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes, I think Jeff's taking notes on the
votes.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Silvyn?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: That's correct.
The next item, 4.17, is a contract amendment with Division II for
the West Campus Building F science lab renovation. The specific
recommendation is as follows.
The chancellor recommends the Governing Board authorize the
chancellor or designee to execute an amendment to the agreement with
Division II for the West Campus Building F science lab renovation to
add additional scope and general condition due to the unforeseen
conditions discovered during demolition. Total cost of the amendment
is $2.2 million, and the total value of the amended contract is not
expected to exceed $9,500,000.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Do I hear a motion?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I would move the recommendation.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I'd like to ask the chancellor for his
input.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, so the reason why this is
before the board is due to unforeseen circumstances, as we all know,
the impacts of COVID on supply chain and a number of other
implications of that reality, we want the spending capacity to
increase by $2.2 million so that we have the flexibility to negotiate
with the contractor to address the increased costs associated with
this project.
So that's essentially what we are asking is the ability to enter
into negotiations to address the unforeseen circumstances.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you very much. I open it up for
discussion.
Board Member Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I just want clarification. So we are
remodeling two buildings, correct? Are we adding the scope to
another building or is it just the one? I thought it was two
buildings.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Thank you for asking that question, Board
Member Garcia. There is different projects going on at West Campus.
My understanding, this is the F Building science labs that we are
talking about.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: One building.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: The F Building. Now there is another
project where there is multiple buildings related to the same program
area that's tied to healthcare.
Now, Dave, maybe you can just clarify a little more even my
understanding, if needed.
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Yeah, I think perhaps the confusion may come
from the fact that there are sort of alternatives were listed in the
board report, the alternative scopes. Those things were put out when
the bid happened, and the idea is you put in different alternatives
to see what you might be able to fund if you're at the edge of your
funding.
So the alternatives, this is really to follow up as we have been
talking with the board. They are just cost escalations related to
already approved projects.
Brandy, if you want to add anything to that.
>> No, I think that pretty much covers it as identified in the
tables identified in the board report. We're talking about cost
impact and escalation and then delays as a result of procurement and
staffing issues and the unforeseen conditions.
I think you have pretty much covered it all.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Just points of clarification. One, this
will return for final approval from the board? I see you nodding
your head yes.
Because over a 20% escalation for unforeseen is significant, and
I definitely am concerned about the percentage of the increase to the
total budget. So I think coming back with the clarification on the
agreement and our position on what was acceptable is appropriate.
So again, we are just approving the increase so this negotiation
could happen but you're coming back. So I would support that with
that in mind.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: The other question that I have, and it may
not be related, but I'm concerned about it, is that we are going to
continue to be offering classes in the health field. We are not like
shutting down. Students are still going to be ability attend class,
right?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Absolutely.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I was privy to a discussion with the
chancellor about having to, ensuring that well ahead of time the
faculty, the staff, are moved to an alternate temporary site while
all of this construction is happening, and with as minimum -- there
is going to be some confusion, but with minimum confusion as possible
so they are all going to be briefed and everyone is going to be moved
as efficiently as possible with that.
So thanks for that question. Definitely. It's important.
Thanks, Brandy, as well. Any other discussion or questions on
this item?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: It's not a discussion, but it's a concern
in reference to the $2,200,000 increase, red flags in reference to
that big amount. Like I mentioned before, it is very significant,
and I will leave it at that.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thanks for those comments.
As was briefed to us by Brandy, she's working really hard to
minimize that. This increase is really being pushed upon us by the
contractor. I know she's going to fight and do as much as she can to
minimize all of that. I mean, for the greater audience, there are
supply chain delays, everything is going up, construction costs are
skyrocketing. So we want to do this as fast as we can to get those
students back in and at minimum cost, because I think it's going to
get worse over the year. That's just some more information.
Any other comments or questions?
I'd like to go for a vote then. All those in favor of this
motion, please signify by saying aye.
(Ayes.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Those opposed?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Opposed.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Four ayes, and Mr. Gonzales has
opposed. The motion passes. Thank you.
Mr. Silvyn, when you are ready, next item, 4.19.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes, the next item is 4.19. Contract with
Arizona Restaurant Supply for furnishings for the Center of
Excellence in hospitality.
The specific recommendation is that the chancellor recommends the
Governing Board authorize the chancellor or designee to execute an
agreement with Arizona Restaurant Supply for furnishings for the
Desert Vista pastry and bakery kitchen located in the Center of
Excellence for hospitality and tourism. Total costs for the
agreement are not expected to exceed $410,000.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Do I hear a motion?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So moved.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Motion has been moved and seconded.
Chancellor Lambert, would you like to comment?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, so this is an example of where
we've come to an agreement on a number of items with a specific
contractor that we now need you to approve so we can execute on that
agreement.
I'm not familiar with any of the questions or concerns related to
this, so I look forward to hearing from the board members who may
have a concern, and then we will be glad to answer any questions
associated with that.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. I now open it up to board
members for any questions regarding this.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: The only question that I would have in
reference to, for the equipment, as it's 410,000 is a lot of money as
well, too.
But was it an oversight in reference to the contract? Was it an
oversight in reference to the plan? If it's an oversight, I'm
disappointed. I'm asking.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Okay. Jim, are you on? Jim Craig?
>> JIM CRAIG: Yes, I'm here.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Did you hear the question, Jim?
>> JIM CRAIG: I did.
So this equipment is what is needed to complete the bakery and
pastry kitchen for the Center of Excellence.
The grant that we got, Title V grant, only went so far for us in
terms of provisioning the kitchen and supplying it. Then as far as
oversight, I don't think there was any anything missing other than in
the past for these last couple years there has been increases in
costs. There have been increases in supply chain delays that
certainly impact things.
But in this case, this is an approved budget amount for the
college, and it's part of completing this phase of our grant as well.
We are under the gun in terms of time frame because of all the other
supply chain and construction delays.
So this is really going to help us wrap that up and get this
entire kitchen and the rest of the Center of Excellence up and
running in the spring semester, which is severely impacting our
students right now because right now everything is shut down because
of construction.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Just for clarification, this was part of
-- the funding that we are authorizing was specifically part, as
stated in the board report, part of the Title V grant, and approved
by this board as part of the 2020 and 2022 capital budgets? So there
is no surprises here.
So this isn't an override. This was already approved funding
that was authorized by this board and funded through a grant
specifically to enhance the program at the Desert Vista Campus to
include this new culinary arts expansion?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Maybe I can clarify, and Jim can correct me
if I'm wrong. Typically what happens with big projects is we come to
the board with the budget. The board approves the budget. And then
we go out through competitive or other sourcing processes to find
specific vendors. Then we come back to the board for authority to
contract with that vendor.
This is step 2 of that process. This was part of a budget item
that the board already approved, and the reason it's coming back to
you is now we have gone through the process that refines exactly how
much we're going to spend and with which particular vendor, and
because of the dollar amount involved, it requires board approval.
That may be what caused some confusion here. This was expected
to be a two-step process. This is step 2 of the process of
finalizing kind of how this project is going to work.
Hopefully I said that correctly. Jim, you can correct me if --
>> JIM CRAIG: Yes, that's correct. Thank you. Perfect.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: This goes to the outset of my comments, that
now we are coming to you for your final signoff. This will be the
same thing that will happen with those other agreements we discussed
earlier.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Right. It's nothing new. This is step
2 of something we've already approved.
Does that clear things up, Board Member Gonzales? Great.
So if there are no further discussion, I'd like to move for a
vote. All those in favor of this action item, please signify by
saying aye.
(Ayes.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: All those opposed?
The motion passes unanimously.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Was that a yes? Yes. So it is indeed
unanimous. Thank you very much.
Let's move on to the other action items. Mr. Silvyn, could you
read the next action item.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes, Chair Ripley, be glad to. So the next
item is 5.1, intergovernmental agreement for joint collaboration with
the Arizona Court System. The recommendation is as follows.
The chancellor recommends the Governing Board authorize the
chancellor or designee to execute a three-year intergovernmental
agreement with the Arizona Supreme Court through the administrative
office of the court for joint academic collaboration to benefit the
college's interpreter studies program.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you very much.
Chancellor Lambert, would you like to... sorry. It's getting
late.
Do I hear a motion?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So moved.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Now, Chancellor Lambert, please provide
some comments.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Chair Ripley, we are so excited about this
partnership that we are having with the courts that we just wanted to
highlight it by putting it on as an action item as opposed to consent
agenda. Took a lot of different parties to come together to really
get to this place.
So, Jeff, was it Jim that was going to talk? Provide a little
more detail on this? Or did you want to do that?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: I don't think it's me.
>> DR. DOLORES DURAN-CERDA: Jeff Gabbitas, are you here?
>> I'm here.
>> DR. DOLORES DURAN-CERDA: We can hear you. Jeff leads the
translation studies program. He's going to share the impacts of
this.
Go ahead, Jeff.
>> Thank you so much for actually putting us on the action item.
I'm excited to be here. A lot of people don't know we actually have
one of the very best translation and interpretation programs for the
price in the country.
This is a really exciting collaboration, because like the other
premier programs at Pima, one of the things that makes a program
premier is that we offer the certificate, but then there is generally
tied to that external certification. That external certification
looks really good for these students who are leaving Pima when they
are trying to find employment.
This agreement just allows the Arizona state courts to come down
to Pima, administer the exam, so it's no cost to the college, because
the students have already paid for this through their course fees.
They administer the exam, and the students can then take this exam
and get an external certification to start in that process so they
can actually work as interpreters in the superior courts in Arizona,
which is a fabulous thing. We have great collaborations with the
courts.
Just to kind of let you know, our own court here in Tucson has
two of our own students working as staff, full-time staff there, past
students that have graduated and gone on. So that's a great thing.
We also have students working at TMC, medical center here, as
interpreters. Not a lot of people know that. They come from Pima.
This is a wonderful thing. Thank you. If you have any
questions, I would love to answer them.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Great. Thank you so much. It is
indeed a pretty amazing program. Thanks for your tremendous work.
Any questions or comments from the board?
Thank you again so much for this. With that, I would like to
call for a vote for the intergovernmental agreement for joint
collaboration for the Arizona Court System.
All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.
(Ayes.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: All those opposed? Nay?
The motion passes 5-0 unanimously. Thank you very much.
Next item, please, Mr. Silvyn.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: The chancellor recommends the Governing
Board appoint the community members listed in the accompanying board
report to serve on the Governing Board's enrollment and external
relations committee. Some specific background, biotype information
about those individuals are listed in the board report.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Do I hear a motion?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So moved.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I will open this up to the chancellor
for information.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: We are excited that we have a number of
community partners who have been willing to say that they would love
to help Pima Community College around our enrollment and outreach
efforts. So you have a distinguished list of individuals here.
Dr. Linda Arzoumanian, former Pima County School Superintendent.
You also have Marla Franco who oversees the HESI initiatives for the
University of Arizona. Rosie Garcia who is with the U.S. Office of
Refugee and Resettlement here in Tucson. Mark Hanna, our former
board member and a staunch advocate for our refugees here in our
community and a big proponent of students overall in recruitment and
retention. Julie Castle, University of Arizona.
And the list goes on. I won't read through them all. I think
you get the idea. We are just so fortunate that we have so many
committed community members who love to partner with us, to help
support our ongoing success.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you so much. For those
listening, this is a brand new committee we are standing up. I'm
proud to be a member of this committee as well.
It's an effort to perform some outreach into the community. To
get community members on the board is really important. I'm so happy
to see there are refugee and immigrant folks advocates on the board
as well.
So it sounds like we have a really -- I read the list, and we do
have a very diverse, wide, and broad group of people on this board,
which is really necessary to really tap into all the diversity and
all the voices in the community.
So thank you. I'm really proud to be a part of it.
Any questions about the board?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: It's not only questions. I think it's
something that is going to be very positive.
The comment that I want to make, it has to be hopefully on the
list that you have, Chancellor Lambert, you have a couple of the
people from the two flags we have here from the O'odham Nation or the
Yaqui Nation to be reflective of the community. Those two nations
are No. 2 and No. 3 tribes in the whole state of Arizona.
So I think it needs to be reflective, and if it's not there, I
really would like to see somebody from there, from both nations.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Thank you, Board Member Gonzales. I will
keep that in mind as we continue to build membership for our
respective committees.
Also want to say a thank you to Phil Burdick and his team helping
to coordinate the logistics around this.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you very much. Yes, I think it's
an opportunity to recruit some new members. This is not limited to
the list we have.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I want to express thank you to all the
individuals who are stepping up to serve the college. These are not
glamorous positions on these boards. They are very time-consuming,
but they really have moved the needle and make a difference and they
really support this board and its ability to effect a positive
outcome and change for the community. I want to thank all of the
individuals who have stepped up to participate.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you for those comments. Indeed
these are not paid positions.
Any other discussion or comments?
With that, I would like to open it up for the vote. All those in
favor to pass this.
(Ayes.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Opposed? And the motion passes
unanimously.
I think we have one more action item. Please read that one,
Mr. Silvyn.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Thank you, Chair Ripley.
So the final action item addresses format of board meetings.
Those have changed in different ways over the last couple years.
Presently we are using this hybrid format in order to balance
different considerations, access, safety, variety of considerations.
Administration would propose to continue in this manner, but we
wanted to provide the board an opportunity to share their
perspectives.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. Do I hear a motion?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I would move to adopt the recommendation.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Motion has been made and seconded.
Any comments from the chancellor first?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Madam Chair, Jeff said it well. We really
would love to hear your direction as we help support all of you in
terms of how you want these meetings to continue to be formatted and
structured going forward for at least the next few meetings as we
move into the new year.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. Board Member Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Thank you, Chair Ripley.
I think, you know, obviously COVID is going to be with us
forever, but I think the hybrid model, whether we are teaching or
having meetings often allows for greater participation. So those who
want to do a call to the audience who can't make it here, maybe they
can.
So I know it's probably a little bit more difficult, but I would
be open to maintaining a hybrid format, or that's just my idea.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. Any other discussion?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I would rather see board meetings that
allow people to be present. I think it's better to be able to see
each other and talk to each other, and even the people that come
forward and want to do a call to the audience.
If things got bad, you know, where COVID or any other illness,
monkeypox, we just go back to hybrid and we just vote on it.
Re-evaluate the situation.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. Board Member Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: I agree. I really would like to see
in-person audience here. I would like to promote that. More
important, also, one area that I have promoted since day one, even
before I got elected, is for the board, since we have a new
committee, reference to the community relations, I really would like,
and this is not the first time, second time, or third time I say it,
the board needs to be out there in the community as well, too.
We have the different campuses. I think with this new
technology, Pima has survived and done a lot in reference to the
classes, but I think we as the board members, we need to be out in
the community.
I would recommend the first campus we go out there be West
Campus. In the southwest as well, too.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you, Board Member Gonzales.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: When this started, we said we would have
unanimous agreement for this particular item. I would suggest,
because we don't seem to have unanimous agreement, we have moved to
now we are here, that's one step closer, but maybe we could revisit
in November and just sort of every two months touch base so we are
not every single month talking about it, but November is very close
and we could readdress it and see where we are at.
I know moving it around may be more complicated because of the
PCTV security and other issues that have come up recently. Let's
explore it in November. Maybe we could have it as a more extended
item, add it to a study session in November to talk about it more in
depth, if that's agreeable.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Secondary comment?
I agree that in terms of the site of the board meeting, I think
we can put that off for another day to discuss.
But when you say in-person, does that exclude hybrid? Hybrid
means you can come or you cannot.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: (off microphone.)
>> Just so you know, the audience can't hear you.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Sorry.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Sorry. No, my response is that I would
like to see the audience come down here and be here like it used to
be. I'd like to see the board members' discussion.
She asked whether if we could still have hybrid, there was some
extenuating circumstance that people couldn't make it, we could
accommodate that. But I think the majority of the people, the
administrators and stuff, I would like to see them all here.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: I support that.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So would it be agreeable that we could
reexplore that in November about exactly or can we have a study
session to come up with a phase plan how to address it and
comprehensively approach all of this?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yeah, I think that's a great idea,
because I think all of us want to be in person. We all miss each
other, the public, anyway. So that's not an argument.
But again, as, for now, leader of the board, I do have to
consider the safety and security and health of everybody. So I agree
it was the right decision today and we should just keep readdressing
it, because this is a moving target with COVID and safety and
security. There is a lot happening in the world.
Yes, I agree, let's try to move it, yeah. Do I make a motion?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Can I add just something? Both of you,
Board Chair and Mr. Clinco, you made a reference to safety. Now, we
have designed this room to address the safety concerns.
If we take things on the road, as suggested by Board Member
Gonzales, that's a whole 'nother level of consideration on that
particular point. It does put greater demand on our CCTV
infrastructure, our IT infrastructure to move something. You are
talking at least a day if not more of work for them to set up that
new site, not to include the safety aspect.
I think if we are making that kind of move, I just need enough
lead time to start to set those pieces in motion
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I think alternatively, too, because
that's a lot to ask of staff, alternatively I think it's been brought
up by both Board Member Gonzales and myself, is to look into town
halls in the various districts.
I'd love to get more input from you and some leadership, Board
Member Gonzales, on making it happen. I think someone just has to
step up and do it, I think having the town halls.
The chancellor and vice-chair and myself had one town hall and it
was outdoors. It was out near the soccer field, I believe it was,
and it was well-attended and wonderful, and it was pretty full, under
a tent, not too hot. I think revisiting that maybe and maybe the new
committee could talk about it.
I know Board Member Garcia is on the committee as well with me.
That could be something that could add to community outreach short of
having the entire board meeting conducted at the different campuses.
Again, let's table it for now, and what do we need to do legally
to make that happen?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: So that was going to be my suggestion, just
kind of hearing where I think things were going to be going. What
about a motion to table until the November meeting, and that would
also give us time to have staff prepare to talk about those
particular aspects of what the different options would look like from
a time and logistics standpoint.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: If I could withdraw my motion, if it's
suitable to the seconder, and then offer a substitute motion which
would be to table the item per Jeff's recommendation to November.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Can I just make a quick comment?
Basically, so we are building the new Centers of Excellence in the
Downtown Campus. Are we going to have the ability, is it going to be
set up to be able to do this kind of a format? I would think so.
It's state-of-the-art, correct? That would be one option, would be,
if we could go to.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So perhaps as part of our October meeting
we could agendize an item in the executive session to talk about the
security implications of this particular room that might help address
some of those questions.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Certainly those are great brainstorming
ideas to just throw that out. We can brainstorm other ideas, and
like I said, the town hall idea as well.
Motion to table?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Motion to table till November.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Do we hear a second?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: All those in favor?
(Ayes.)
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: It's been approved unanimously.
Thank you. We have concluded the action items.
We have one more major thing. Hold on. Let me follow the
description here.
The last thing we do have is remarks by the Governing Board.
Hopefully we'll keep it under 20 minutes. I will first open it up
with just some closing remarks, and then we will go around the table
with our board members.
I want to thank everybody, especially students, students,
students. I will just keep repeating students. This is why we are
here is because of the students. Shout-out to the IT staff,
security, Andrea, Gabby for making this happen and just everything.
I just want to echo everything that everyone said here in terms of
thanking and applauding all of the efforts.
Especially -- I mean, these last three years going through the
pandemic, I think we have really come out relatively clean from that.
There is always going to be something else. If it's not a pandemic,
something's going to happen.
So your resilience is what's important, the resilience of
everyone that's employed at Pima, this board, everybody that's really
got their heart in this school. It's important to know that, and I
see it in everybody's eyes is the resilience is there and the love
for the college is there.
Thank you. Let's not ever forget that. Let's not ever forget
the love for the college and the fact that we are here because of the
students.
With that said, stormy waters, they are there. There is the
good, bad, ugly. This is what we do. As a board we want to hear it
all. Although navigable, these stormy waters, we can only survive
them if we all agree to common course and common goals.
We had a board retreat last week. The board retreat, the purpose
of that was to get together once a year as a board, the five of us,
very diverse, five-member board to look at our goals, look at the
chancellor's goals and his accomplishments. His accomplishments and
success is the success and accomplishments of the school's. If he's
not successful, the school is not successful.
We looked at each other, looked at ourselves, took a really hard,
hard and not-so-easy look at ourselves, and we came up with some
goals. We will be publishing those soon. We also came up with the
fact that we all promised if not vowed to each other to follow
ethical and civil discourse to help each other out, because we have
to, at the end of the day, always, always come back to the fact that
we are here as volunteers, elected officials, and our obligation is
to the students and to the community and that alone.
With that said, I had a lot of notes here and I'm not going to
read them. I even had a quote from Socrates. But it's getting late.
With that, again, I want to thank everybody for being here. I
want to thank all of the people that make this school happen. I want
to thank Chancellor Lambert for all the hard work. People don't
really realize that he does put in over 80 hours a week and no one is
going to say that, so I will.
Thank you for that. Thank you for taking all those late-night
texts and calls. We are here as oversight. We are here to keep
everyone accountable, specifically the chancellor.
So it's oversight, accountability, but we still want to thank and
still want to applaud all the good stuff, because there is so much
good stuff here. Thank you for that.
I'm done with that. I will turn it over to the rest of the board
for final remarks. First up is Board Member Garcia.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I just wanted to read something.
On September the 7th and 8th of last week, all the board members
attended a retreat at the Hacienda Del Sol. I was greeted at the
board by security personnel. An officer proceeded to perform a check
on me.
Chairperson Ripley greeted us and announced she had requested the
presence of a security officer, because she felt threatened and
implied that she feared for her life. She referenced the shooting of
Gabby Gifford and the judge that was killed. Other members of the
board made similar renditions, including the chancellor.
I am very concerned that the board feels threatened and in fear
of their lives and demand that the Pima Community College board and
chancellor file a formal complaint with Tucson Police Department,
campus police, and the FBI. None of us should be in a position where
we fear for our lives.
So again, when Loughner shot that other person, there were some
incidents there that were actually filed and we didn't take care of
it, and this is why this happened to Gabby.
So please, if you are really concerned -- I don't feel that way
because I haven't been confronted with it, haven't received any
calls, haven't been threatened. You know, if that's the case, let's
do something about it. Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you, Board Member Garcia.
Board Member Gonzales, would you like to go next?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: I just want to say good luck to all our
students. I know I have a couple of grandkids attending Pima, as I
mentioned before on our retreat.
Our retreat went well in reference to what we want to do and
establish. I think we all need to move forward in reference to
providing the best possible resources, instruction, but more in
reference to safety. Safety is an issue that transpired at a board
retreat, but I think we can work it out.
Let's keep the board informed as well. I was very surprised and
kind of disappointed in reference to the comments that were made.
Nonetheless, I think Pima can do better and will do better. All of
us are not perfect, but we have to make it as part of the goal is we
need to make it, unite, and work together as well too.
I don't see anything wrong in reference to sharing our concerns
or issues that we have, because that's what we are here for. We are
here to share, hear the community. That's why I recommended let's be
in the community. But more important, we need to provide the best
possible resources and instruction and classes.
I know the classes, some are obsolete, but I think there is
individuals that, as all students, when they come in and register,
for example, in 2013, 2016, 2019, they all follow a catalog. I think
that Pima College needs to grant them and provide those classes that
were initially registered for in following their program of study.
I think that's very beneficial and productive for each student to
follow their program of study. If classes are not there, how can our
students with the hopes to finish up do not have those classes within
each of the semesters.
In closing, I just want to say in two, three words that we are
here, we volunteer, but we are also promoting and actively within the
community as well too. The citizens of Pima County deserve the best,
and we are trying to do what is the best. I just don't like in
reference to one word, the last one that was mentioned, "stormy
waters."
I think stormy waters can be good and can be bad as well too, but
I think in my opinion myself, we need to keep on moving forward,
providing the best that we can for our students out there, and the
faculty and the staff as well too.
I know it, and I did mention it in reference to the HR
compensation, there is a lot of room to build, but also a lot of room
to improve as well too.
I know that we are all looking at it, and I think that should be
some of the stuff that we need to move forward with. Thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you. Board Member Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: No comments. Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much. I will keep my
comments very brief.
I just want to welcome everybody back to another year. I think
the trajectory of the institution is so strong, and as we have said,
I have said for seven years on this board, it's really a team effort.
It takes every single person working together, rolling in the same
direction to make this transformational change.
I want to thank in particular Chancellor Lambert for his steady
hand and his guiding, thoughtful, calm wisdom that continues to
propel the vision of this institution forward.
As we know, it takes a leader but it takes everybody working
together, as you noted this evening, to make the transformational
change. It's the faculty and the staff and the administration and
everybody working to the benefit of this community.
So thank you.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thanks, everybody, for your comments.
I would like to make one announcement. September 26 study session,
the board will be voting on our amended bylaws, just a reminder for
that.
Before we adjourn, any board member like to request another
agenda item now or within the next couple weeks, please do so.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I thought I had asked for, I sent you an
e-mail about a board meeting, not sure if I said how to run it.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: For the next board meeting. Yeah, we
are considering that for the agenda, definitely. Yeah, so any other
agenda items for the next meeting? Okay.
With that, we have completed all items on the agenda. If there
is no further business, is there any objection to adjourn?
Hearing none, this meeting, is now adjourned.
Thank you. Thank you IT team, wherever you are back there.
(Adjournment.)
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