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Our first question here that was
developed by faculty
in an effort to reduce
cost for summer school and provide more classes for students
CCFF has proposed to do away with the pro rata pay a long standing tradition at
Cerritos College
for fulltime faculty in return for a 7% increase to their
base pay
what is your position on that matter
we're going to get started
uh before we begin and before i provide a response I also want to introduce to
the audience
Tom Jackson who is a member of the Board of Trustees in our audience and
Dr. Tina Cho
(clapping)
In response to your question
i greatly
appreciate the position that CCFF
has proposed to the college regarding
the elimination of pro rata pay
teaching summer school classes
this is a huge
step forward in recognizing the
california budget crisis
that is affecting not only
all of the community colleges up and down the state
but our CSU and UC systems as well
however, with that being said
without seeing the numbers on how a seven percent increase to the base pay
schedule
for faculty would
affect the overall budget picture
uh... i cant stay at this time that i would be supportive of that particular proposal
but with that being said
let me go on to say that I've been giving that a lot of consideration. A lot of thought to the financial issues
in the struggles that we're all facing
for example i would strongly
strongly recommend that we evaluate the
development
of the property
historically known as the strawberry patch
years ago we contracted
with
the City of Cerritos redevelopment issue that where Vintage of Cerritos comes from
and its a revenue stream for the college, I would be strongly supportive of that
as a revenue stream a long term revenue stream for the college campus
in addition it just doesn't seem right to me that we
lease that property to a farmer for
to grow strawberries for a
tune of about twenty thousand dollars a year
additionally i think that we could support the possibility of other items
such as the elimination of the lower step
on the salary schedule and
move up to
perhaps move up a step in column
i could also be supportive of compensation for our part time faculty
members for
payment of their office hours
those are just some of the positions that i see that we
can as a member of the board and part of this community college
address those issues in
raising the salaries of our part time and looking at alternative revenue streams as we move forward with this budget crisis thank you.
Thank you Mr. Arthur
Leonard Zuniga go ahead
uh... good
good
good morning everyone first of all I'd like to
thank you forgive me the opportunity to come up here and
let you know a little bit about my views in regards to the issues that are
at hand
first of all
if we wanna abide by our mission
we need top notch quality instructors therefore I
strongly support
the proposal
for example
my wife holds a masters disagree with credentials
have been elementary school for twenty one years same classroom
and there have been many days
and hours that i have to put in just to assist her
as a result of reducing assistance
in her classroom
therefore i understand
what top notch quality instructors are
and in some cases
under-appreciated but their superiors
i strongly believe
if we want to keep our top quality instructors
we need to support
the proposal strongly
we need to support
to continue
the excellent reputation
of our courses and programs that we have here at
Cerritos College
in the hopes
that the three hundred and fifty million dollar bond
for CC passes
if not
then we need to find the money in other places
my understanding of shared sacrifice is to find a way of
equally splitting
i recommend that a committee be formed among faculty
preferably one from each department to come up with suggestions
that are reasonable sacrifices
first of all
first of all our faculty are very important and very valuable to Cerritos
next question
we want to let our
staff know that
we are going to ensure
that they're going to be listened to
we're gonna
listen and find out what is very important
from them
recognize
whats valuable them
and form a research committee
to present to the board of trustees suggestions and positive open
and most of all constructive manner
and ask the board to consider
how can we fulfill the recommendations
mister moderator
with all due respect
my challengers time expired
well over ninety seconds ago. This is inappropriate
Let's move on then if we can reset the time there please
Let's just go ahead a formally address the second question I appreciate that Mr. Arthur before we move on
I'd like to acknowledge Mr. Huglett who's in our audience and
Bob Chester
our Senate president here Mr. Huglett is one of our trustees
um... Let's move on to the second question I appreciate that Mr. Arthur here
Let's move on with the second question here this is a two part question
In these economic times, there's a call for shared sacrifice
how would you implement this?
And B, how would you boost the morale of our part-time faculty who teach a
significant portion of our students
yet earn one of the lowest pay scales in the state who are not compensated for office hours
and have neither benefits
nor job security
before i respond to the question i'd like to take an opportunity to respond to
Mr. Zunigas comments
but he mentioned about establishing a
committee to
investigate additional
potential revenue streams
you all know
as well as i do
that these committees already exist
there's nothing that mister Zuniga has said that is
in my opinion, new or creative or inventive
mister Zuniga unfortunately i don't think is qualified
but in response to the question
i would request
personally i would request that Dr. Lacy
provide the board of trustees with a spreadsheet
or a chart
of how the effects of a shared sacrifice would have on
each and every one of the constituency groups here on campus
if it wasn't equal or fair across the board
i would have
great difficulty supporting
whatever plan was brought forward
with regard to the morale issue
as i've mentioned in my response to a last question
i am supportive of paid
office hours for our
part-time faculty
and i'm willing to listen to
additional
proposals that are presented at the negotiating table
uh... however
we can better comp and any of these issues on however we can compensate
our full-time and part time faculty
as you know
we have
years ago
three years ago we offered an early retirement package to
uh... faculty and staff
it was very well supported we had close to 80 individuals that
participated
potential revenue stream again
we are considering offering another early retirement package
that will open up a number of opportunities
for cost savings as well as opportunities for
employment of some part-time
instructors to move into position of full-time positions
uh... i'd believe that
the presentations that have been
presented by the
vice president business services
to each and every one of the constituency groups regarding the budget crisis facing this college
have been open, honest
and received well
and i am one that would be supportive
of listening to
each and every group
on campus for whatever
potential solutions
anyone could bring forward
that could address
and alleviate
potential problems that are facing this campus
thank you Mr. Arthur
in terms of looking at time do you want to go ahead and respond to the second part of that question
cause you started off with
the question
I'm not going to respond to any negative, first of all by my opponent so
I'll try to be as positive as
possible
um
I did start
you're going to run out of time here so go ahead
my understanding
of shared sacrifice basically is to find a way of equal splitting
i'd recommend that committee be formed among faculty
preferably one from each department to come up with suggestions that are reasonably sacrifices
first of all
recognize our faculty are very important and valuable to the Cerritos Community
College
number one and sure they're being listened to
we are now referring to our
faculty
be sure that they're being listened into
and im gonna
emphasize
that what they say is very important
recognize
that they are valuable individuals
and four
form a research committee to present
to the board of trustees
suggestions in a
positive
open, fair
and most of all constructive manner
and ask the board to consider how we can
fulfil their recommendations
next one would be
positive
creative fundraising events to increase profits
again
forming committees
together students
openness
and allow them to be open
the board of trustee to listen to their opinions
their wants
their needs
then presented to the board of trustees
for their suggestions and
recommendations
we're going to go ahead and move on to the next question here. As we go on
these are gonna be questions that were created
by the students, by ASCC
Mr. Arthur
students are concerned about increasing unit costs
rising book prices and fewer classes offered by the college
what is your plan to reduce costs directed towards students
it's a very good question
my first thought comes to mind
we recently had to settle
a frivolous lawsuit that cost the college approximately
$350,000
Mr. Zuniga is one of the ones responsible for that
unfortunately
the cost to our students
for tuition in textbooks
is not in the control
of the board of trustees
they're dedicated, those fees are
dictated
by the officials in Sacramento
not the local governments
additionally the cost of books
we have no control over that
that's the publishers
but I am proud of the work the college has done regarding open
and online registration
revisions to the policy regarding priority registration
as well as the
so that those policies could be
equal and fair to all students attending the college
i'm also very
pleased
as each of our students will know about the Kaleidoscope Program
that is implemented here on campus where books
are available online
free to our students in certain disciplines and I
speaking for the rest of the board of trustees
strongly support
and invision
those opportunities of online books available
to each and every student
in each and every discipline in each and every category
regardless of whether that student is moving forward to
an AA Degree and a transfer to a four year institution
or work towards
a certificate to
increase their
working abilities
and pay scales at
their current levels of employment
uh... those are the types of things I envision for the future that
the day to day routine things as a member of the board of trustees are the bills gonna get paid
are the trees gonna get trimmed
is the campus going to be clean? yes
its the long term
adventures
that we all face
that keep me up at night whether or not
i had made the right decision
and in the terms times that i have spent
on the board of trustees im very proud
of the way this college and this board of trustees have moved forward I would
challenge my opponent to name
one incidence where
anything board of trustees has done that has negatively effected this
institution
thank you. Thank you Mr. Arthur
Mr. Zuniga you can go ahead and respond as well
I'm not gonna answer to your question
that you just proposed. However, I do want to get to the $500,000 that you indicated
first of all
of many of you know the reason why we're actually here is because of the uh...
california voting right act of two thousand two
that was an act that was
instituted
in two thousand three
so we're talking about almost nine years later
you would not had to pay one penny secondly our
constitutional attorneys only charge
$55,000 so i don't know where you got that $500,000
but i will go on my question now
first of all to reduce costs
directed toward students
i'd like to research book prices among
various community colleges
second
unit costs, third
classes offered in general
research
book prices with the local community college
consult with other
community colleges to find out how
they are
what system they are using
and how
much their books are
and if they're less, then why
research
is important here
it appears that there's no communication previously
second one suggestion
is to research if we can find a way of streamlining
finding money from other budgets
other areas
of course
abiding by the guidelines
and look into the student fees
if there are any unnecessary
extra fees that are added to it
attach to it
that can be reduced or eliminated
in addition
positive creative
fundraising events
to increase the profits
that could
that could create a
slush fund if legal I'm sorry Mr. Zuniga that is time
we want to go ahead and move on to the next
question posed by students
Question B here
its a little bit lengthy, bear with us
as vast majority of students at Cerritos College lack basic skills
that need academic guidance
traditional classroom instruction as opposed to computer aided instruction
at the same time
in this physical crisis and increasing
number of students aren't able to transfer to a four year university due
to the section cuts
How do you ensure an open access community college stay true to its mission?
I just wanted to make one thing perfectly clear
the figure that I raised to Mr. Zuniga of the lawsuit was $350,000 not a half million
and that cost included not only settlement to the attorneys but the cost for the college
to defend itself
its payment to its attorneys as well as all the staff time involved.
something that Mr. Zuniga obviously doesn't understand
the Math twenty
program
here at Cerritos College is a
very good
example of the
aids student's
that aids students who require
remedial work in their studies
i have requested Dr. Lacy to work with the faculty
other outside sources to develop
other similar programs
in the reading and science areas so that students can be ready to do college work. how important is that? we know
approximately eighty to eighty five percent of the students
enrolling in Cerritos College need
remedial work in reading, writing and science
that's just sad
the college has been working with
our k-12 partnerships
meeting with them
the trustees and the superintendents
coordinate every year
our president's council
and superintendents counsel worked with the
administrations or your school's in moving forward towards having
the students that come to Cerritos College
better prepared and able to do college work
this is not something new
this just something that I take pride in
what this college has done to move our students forward. I'm
encouraged by the students
that I have encouraged students over the past years when it comes to
uh... opportunity up for transfer
in suggesting that they look at
those private institutions for example Northwood
right here on campus where the
students can attend three years at Cerritos College and enroll in
Northwood university for their bachelors degree in Business
this is a terrific program
additionally i wanted to bring up just the one item our AOC , that's the assessment orientation council
this
is a program that has proven to be working
and it assists the students that need that remedial work
to be able to get into those classes
that within a couple of semesters after finishing that work
they will be prepared are prepared in order to do college work
I'm very strong
and very supportive of all these programs
and will continue to do so
Thank you Mr. Arthur
Mr. Zuniga
uh...
I thought I wouldn't have to but
uh... what he failed to mention
was that there would have been no cost
zero
if this act had been
the way it was supposed to be carried out
in 2003
that's just not true, you can't sit there and say that
that's just not true we settled this before you brought the suit
we have time allotted for you go ahead and respond
and are we ok great
uh... first of all
I like to ensure that we have core classes here
these core classes
that are going to make our student more competitive for the
job market
i worked for the employment development department. dealed with several, several
young adults, seniors
that are having a difficult time getting work because of lack of education
education
has been loved
for me
since the age of twelve
and secondly
it's very important that we have good staff
and in order to keep our good staff
we need to make sure that we could
maintain salary and find ways
regardless
of the budget
in addition
students will be more competitive
in the economy
an increased graduation rate
and transferring to four year university
and we need to
help those who need
financial assistance
to accomplish their goals
student learning is the paramount destination to
community college
it helped me
i went for my bachelors
I put one year in a master program of the three year master
program
at Cal state Long Beach
I put one year
completed one year going on two years of law school
at the Pacific Coast University of Law
I feel I'm a little bit qualified
however we all have to work together
however we do not need to realize
that we can't do it
we need to Mr. Zuniga sorry that's time
at that point in the time that we have designated for this session here we've got about
three minutes here
we're going to open it up for question and answer so is there anybody in the audience that
wants to pose a question to either candidate
we have a microphone that Mr. Solomon Namala's gonna walk by
that we can go ahead and amplify your question so if there's any questions in the room
we'd be happy to
go ahead at what michael review
request in the room
any questions this is your opportunity here
the young man in the red shirt there
thank you excellent question
as i had mentioned in one of the responses to a previous question posed by the
students
about the
uh...
programs that Cerritos college has in place for the uh... students that come
to the college that
need more preparation order to do college-level work
i agree wholeheartedly what you're saying and college has proposed
and is currently working with our k-12
partner groups so that
at an earlier age
students understand the fact of what learning needs to be and that they
offered classes to students on how to learn similar to what we do here at Cerritos College
where students finishing that two semester program are capable of doing college level
work i think with the work of our faculty as well as what uh... we propose
to the k-12 partners the answer to your question will be right there that
intimidated student will be no longer
first of all I'm gonna say its very difficult
to look at a person and say hey this person
is not college ready
he's not college material
he's not college goal oriented
that's gonna be difficult, I'm gonna be
upfront with you
secondly
story sounds like my life
12 years old
I knew education was my love
homework assignment
ask your mother what are you gonna be doing after college or after high school
she says you'll be working full time of course
help support the family
college was out of the question
so what I did was I joined the military
I did my four years but when I joined the military I started college courses at 17
Mr. Zuniga I'm sorry to say that that unfortunately is all the time that we have
for this session here for the first
portion of this presentation today we're looking at trustee
area number one
Which was Leonard Zuniga and Robert Arthur who is our board of trustee
i want to thank both of you on behalf of CCFF and ASCC for participating
in our program this morning