Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:38:21 DANNY HAWKINS Ah, we'll move on to um, item number ah, 4.2
present. Um, excuse me. Item 4.1 update on the City College of San Francisco. And ah,
we have ah. Okay, Eric, go ahead. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:38:49 ERIC
Good morning President Baca, members of the board, Chancellor Harris. Ah, this next item
before you is an informational item. It's an update on the City College of San Francisco.
And we ah, have with us today your special trustee, Dr. Robert Agrella. You are well-informed.
(TECHNICAL) You've discussed this issue at on several occasions and, and had some. (TECHNICAL)
You've discussed this issue on, on multiple occasions so you've got ah, great deal of
familiarity with it. But um, ah, just a little bit of intro before ah, Dr. Agrella provides
the update. Um, ah, the ah, special trustee Agrella was appointed on October 22nd and
since then he's been working closely ah, with the City College board and with ah, Dr. Thelma
Scott-Skillman who ah, we're fortunate to have in the audience today here. She's their,
the districts interim chancellor. And ah, ah, Dr. Agrella has been serving again, in
that special trustee role um, and providing guidance, counsel, and also exercising the
stay and rescind power to the authority to, to board actions if they're inconsistent with
recovery. So he's been intimately involved in the district's hard work, the board's hard
work to ah, ah, address the accreditation deficiencies that have been identified. And
so um, the, some, some of the, you know, the key dates ahead or the um, on March 15th the
ah, the district will be submitting a, the City College board will be submitting both
its show cause report and also its closure plan. And um, so those again some of the,
the ah, key time frames and deadlines that are, are ahead. With that I'm going to turn
over to Dr. Ag, to Dr. Agrella and he can provide the update.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:40:48 DR. AGRELLA Thank you Eric, and ah, good morning members
of the board, Chancellor Harris. I appreciate very much the opportunity to speak with you
ah, today about City College of San Francisco, as Eric has said. And ah, talk a little bit
about the progress that the college has made moving off of its show cause accreditation
ah, status at the present time. As you might expect ah, with the March 15th deadline that
Eric mentioned, ah, for the report to the accrediting commission looming on the near
horizon. That's not very far away. The work to complete the report which must address
the 14 recommendations from the commission as well as the (SOUNDS LIKE) Fickman report
is keeping many of the college community very, very busy. As I reported previously to you
in writing, in written form, addressing these recommendations mandates significant change
within the district as every level of the organization. And change is not embraced by
many individuals within the college. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:41:46 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) While most individuals will say change is
needed, it always amazes me how the change that is needed somehow should always be directed
at someone else or someone other part of the organization. A change is occurring at CCSF,
and I would like to review for you some of the major changes, activities and challenges
that are underway and lie ahead. Under interim chancellor Thelma Scott-Skillman, the new
department chair structure is being implemented at a cost-savings of approximately two million
dollars per year. Now as important as the two million dollar cost savings is to aiding
the fiscal stability of the college, the restructuring of the department chairs and the redefining
of a chair's duties and responsibilities in relationship to the academic dean's duties
and responsibilities, is a key component in creating an effective and accountable administrative
structure for CCSF. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:42:45 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) Now let me be clear however, that the acrimony
around this change continues to be a rallying cry by many members of the faculty. That the
old structure was fine and required no significant modification. This perspective is, of course,
entirely opposite to the findings of both the accreditation and the (SOUNDS LIKE) Fickman
reports. Another major change that is occurring is that under the leadership of interim vice-chancellor
of student services, Dr. Ed Shank, a reorganization of the student services area of the college
was approved by the board of trustees last December 13th. This new structure consolidates
all counseling activities under a single dean for matriculation and counseling. Previously
counseling was split and reported to two separate deans. The counseling of other student services
activities is occurring under the restructured positions of the dean of admissions, records
and outreach. A dean of financial services and scholarships and a dean of student services,
affairs, and wellness. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:43:55 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) The concept driving these consolidations is
to develop a one-stop approach to provide admission, registration, financial aid, assessment
and counseling, both at the Ocean campus as well as on a limited but a scheduled basis
at the education centers. Once this reorganization is totally in place, the college will also
need to upgrade the technological support for the student services areas to improve
service delivery, enable students to do more online to help themselves, as well as a number
of other upgrades. I'm pleased to report that the total cost savings of the reorganizations
is approximately $700,000. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:44:35 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) Now collective bargaining negotiations at
the college as you might expect are very difficult. Several of the key items this must be changed
such as salary structures, health benefits and other related personnel issues reside
within the collective bargaining contracts of the faculty, classified staff and the department
chairs. At this time none of the bargaining units have agreed to any salary concessions
for 2013-14. The general consensus of these constituent groups appears to be and with
the passage in November of the statewide proposition 30, and the local parcel tax, opposition A
or Measure A, there is no need for any further salary concessions. The stance of the district,
and I fully concur with this, is that the passage of Proposition for this year just
simply meant no mid-year ah, revenue reductions. And that local property, a parcel tax is,
in fact, not going to be seen until sometime after July 1st, 2013. The use of these, of
the parcel taxes is being debated heavily. Our perspective is that the parcel tax must
be used and the first call on it to restore a minimum five percent unrestricted general
fund reserve. Parcel tax revenues should also be used to begin to address the district's
other long-term obligations, create a means to address on-going maintenance and technology
needs, and begin creating a special reserve to help the district address the fiscal cliff
that we are all hearing about that it will face when the revenue source ceases to exist
after eight years. That's the length of time for the parcel tax.
The district has developed an eight year plan aimed at addressing each of these issues and
it also establishes an approximately 3.8 million dollar fund each year that would be "available
for other purposes." Unfortunately, however, the district's current enrollment pattern
continues to show a decline this spring that would project a revenue loss this year of
approximately $6 million. Since the district is currently in its second year of stability
funding. For this reason, the district is going to need more salary concessions this
year as well as next year while simultaneously using additional revenue, hopefully parcel
tax revenue, to attempt to gain back lost revenue, ah, lost enrollments and therefore
build up its base again. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:47:22 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) AFT refuses to accept this line of reasoning
at this time. And SEIU has indicated that layoffs are preferable to any further salary
concessions. Consequently the district has noticed 36 classified staff and has exercised
its right to use the so-called trombone clause in the AFT bargaining agreement. Both AFT
and SEIU have filed grievances against the district in unfair labor practices for these
actions. In my view, the district is pursuing a correct and prudent path that could lead
to long-term solvency but that obviously unfortunately sometimes leads to the kind of labor unrest
currently being experienced. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:48:01 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) Another item to bring to your attention is,
as you may be aware, aware, the district has been approved for the construction of a performing
arts facility that must be under construction by June 30, 2014 and completed by June 30,
2016. This project's projected cost of approximately $90 million is to be shared through the use
of state funds that have been identified and the final bid of local district general obligation
bond funds. In consultation with interim Chancellor Scott-Skillman, we have placed the actual
letting of a bid for this project on hold at this time. The reasoning behind this decision
is that no operational plans have been developed for the total cost of ownership of the facility.
No staffing plan has been developed nor has any operations business plan been developed
to assure the long-term viability of such a project. Needless to say, placing this long-sought-after
facility on hold has upset various segments of the college as well as the external community.
However, to proceed with such a facility at this time would certainly continue to enforce
the poor planning efforts that have been highlighted throughout both the accreditation and the
Fickman reports. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:49:22 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) The district also continues to review the
costs of maintaining the number of off-campus sites it has at the present time. As I reported
in my November written report, a number of small campus sites have already been closed
or consolidated and currently the district is looking at similar possible actions for
one or possibly more of its centers. The mere mention of closing certain centers has resulted
in much public comment at the board meetings as well as acrimony by and between some trustees
as well. Like many other issues in the district, in the past difficult decisions were sometimes
avoided by the board of trustees or made solely for political reasons in order to placate
various individuals, groups or, in some cases, members of the boards itself. This kind of
decision making by the board cannot continue or be tolerated if the long-term viability
of the district is to be assured. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:50:19 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) As I mentioned earlier, the reorganization
of the academic affairs and student development divisions of the district are well underway.
Two job announcements for the vice-chancellor of academic affairs and vice chancellor of
student development were publically announced December 20. And the associate vice-chancellors
and dean positions have now also been announced. Administrators currently in those positions
have met individually with Dr. Scott-Skillman to review their options, including the option
to apply for the position they hold currently. The administrative services division composed
primarily of fiscal and facilities areas is slated for review by an outside agency in
coordination with the chancellor's office with the intent of the analysis being completed
by April of 2013. Effective July 1, 2013, the complete reorganization of the district
is in-fact, to be accomplished. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:51:16 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) The last item that I'd like to bring to your
attention today is the assistance that the city of San Francisco's Edwin Lee and his
office has been providing to the college. Dr. Scott-Skillman and I have met with Mayor
Lee and key members of his staff on several occasions to brief him on the status of the
projects I have just spoken about as well as several others. Mayor Lee has made key
members of his staff available to meet with CCSF staff on at least a semi-monthly basis
to assist in strategizing collective bargaining and personnel issues.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:51:49 DR. AGRELLA (CONTINUED)
These meetings have been proved to be quite helpful in addressing the thorny issues the
district continues to face in the current collective bargaining arena as well as keep
the mayor's office informed of other happenings at the college. Mayor Lee has expressed his
deep concern for getting CCSF on stable, sustainable path that will allow the college to continue
to provide workforce training and the opportunities that quality education and student services
offerings afford the San Francisco community. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:52:21 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) In closing, I want to express to you the deep
concern I have for the long-term health of CCSF. My comments today have expressed only
some of the issues the college is confronting or will confront and do so in a highly charged
political environment. Through my work beginning in July as a consultant, and then as the special
trustee effective in October, I've developed a much better understanding of the issues,
personalities and complexities that must be overcome if CCSF is to emerge as a viable
educational entity. The factions that exist within the college and the board of trustees
still very much exists and continue, in my opinion, to threaten the viability of the
district. The attitude that CCSF is too big to fail while perhaps less openly spoken now
than it was six months ago, I believe, is still very much alive in the minds of many
at the college. While City College of San Francisco has made great progress toward meeting
accreditation goals, much work remains to be accomplished and the timeframe for accomplishing
this, as we all know, is extremely short. I'd like to thank you again and I'd certainly
be pleased to respond to any questions that you might have.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:53:40 UNIDENTIFIED MAN
Ah, Dr. Agrella, thank you for ah, being here this afternoon and before I take ah, before
I open for comments um, we have a couple of um, comments from the public. Vice President
Baum? [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:53:53 GEOFFREY
L. BAUM I'd like to recognize Carl Friedlander, from
the California Federation of Teachers. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:54:09 CARL FRIEDLANDER
Chancellor Harris, board president Baca, members of the board of governors. I'm Carl Friedlander,
president of the community college council of the California Federation of Teachers.
The California Federation of Teachers strongly objects to the strong-arm approach to bargaining
that management is currently employing at City College of San Francisco. AFT 2121, our
San Francisco local, in fact, has a long and proud history of working constructively and
collaboratively with district management to solve serious problems. For example, I should
point out that recognizing the fiscal challenges the district was facing, 2121 agreed to a
pay reduction of almost 3 percent for the current fiscal year. This is prior to this
year beginning. They led a successful, they led ah, the successful campaign to pass a
parcel tax on November 6th and provided statewide leadership for Proposition 30.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:55:10 CARL FRIEDLANDER (CONTINUED)
The leaders and members of 2121 understand that despite the sacrifices that they have
already made and the victories that they have helped to secure, new financial challenges
have emerged due to the enrollment decline and resultant funding loss precipitated by
the action of the accrediting commission. We urge the chancellor's office to work with
City College of San Francisco to try to mitigate these new challenges which were not the creation
of the, of the district. But, in addition AFT 2121 is, I am convinced, as always prepared
to engage constructively in bargaining based on a foundation of mutual respect. Unfortunately,
the recent actions of City College management in attempting to impose an additional 9 percent
pay cut on top of the 3 percent pay cut that was agreed to last year, demonstrates an intention
to dictate rather than a willingness to seriously engage. This is unacceptable. Not just to
AFT 2121, but to all of us in the California Federation of Teachers, to faculty and staff
across the state, and to the broader labor movement and its community partners. Thank
you. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:56:38 UNIDENTIFIED
MAN We have another card from Richard Hanson from
the California Community College Independents. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:56:50 RICHARD HANSON
Good morning. I'm the president of the California Community College Independents. We're the
statewide organization for the independent unions among the faculty that were not affiliated
with any larger organization. And ah, before I get started I want to thank ah, Dr. Agrella
for his work on this problem. It is a problem that needs to be resolved. Ah, I met Dr. Agrella
back in 1990. I think that was your first year at Santa Rosa where I worked for a year
as a sabbatical leave replacement. A breed that's disappearing in our system these days
due to budget problems. Something we used to use quite often. And Santa Rosa Junior
College is another independent. It's one of our independent campuses. As is Redwoods.
Redwoods as you know is another district that's facing a similar problem with accreditation.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:57:41 RICHARD HANSON (CONTINUED)
And the independents over the years certainly pride ourselves on exactly what Carl Friedlander
was talking about. Working carefully, effectively um, ah, consciously with ah, the districts
to solve problems. Financial problems, administrative problems, making day-to-day things work on
the campus. Um, so I do hope as ah, Carl Friedlander says, that the district can get back to that
kind of tradition. Ah, but then I also want to talk about this in a broader sense. Ah,
you're probably well-aware that many, many faculty in this state are very concerned and
upset about how the accreditation commission is proceeding. Ah, accreditation is something
that's worthy and important to do ah, but the way that they're going about it now with
this ah, very public sort of spanking of institutions is really not helpful. And certainly in the
case of ah, City of San Francisco, ah, a college that ah, they've really gone, we think, far,
far above ah, what's called for. Ah, they're problems to be solved as I said earlier, but
this is not the way to solve them. It would be more along the lines, lines that Carl Friedlander
was describing, working together ah, coming to an agreement.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:58:55 RICHARD HANSON (CONTINUED)
Ah, it was early on, probably four years ago or so that my group wrote a resolution in
opposition to the way the accreditation commission was beginning to proceed at that time and
now is really back in full force in that same direction. And we're, we're very upset about
that so I want to make sure you know that our organization plans to be addressing that
issue. Ah, collective bargaining, the accreditation commission should not be involved in issues
of collective bargaining and a lot of these discussions are under a great deal of pressure
as you might imagine from the commission. Ah, they also are involved in shared governance
issues. Something that our system prides itself on in coming to some to conclusions through
working together cooperatively. Ah, the commission is putting its foot into that arena as well.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]00:59:43 RICHARD HANSON (CONTINUED)
So this is going to be an issue that's going to be coming to you, I think, in the future
from certainly faculty groups but others as well. Ah, and we hope that we can come to
a ah, better means of moving forward to ah, meet accreditation commission requirements.
And I think also one of the key problems at this time is that ah, we have to be mindful
that all of the institutions are working under a very difficult economic period of stress.
Ah, and yet the commission is not thinking about that all, moving ahead with its requirements
ah, it's very difficult for all of the districts and not just the ones that are directly under
the gun. Thank you very much. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:00:29 UNIDENTIFIED
MAN Members? Well, you know, may. Okay. Member
Ramos. Go ahead. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:00:40 HENRY A.
J. RAMOS Thank you President Baca and thank you Dr.
Agrella for your presentation. Um, I have a question that is probably going to be seen,
and I understand why, as a tertiary, you know, consideration under the immediate circumstances
but I think it's important. Um, the college is, as we know, a great treasure and among
the, the ah, many assets that it has in its physical plant is a Diego Rivera mural that
is a world treasure and that was, as I understand it, ah, in discussion to be part of this new
facility that is now on hold. The performance arts facility. I understand there was some
discussion of possibly relocating that mural as a centerpiece for the entrance of this
new facility. Um, so with complete sensitivity to the more immediate issues that face us
on a human level in terms of our students, our faculty and our staff, I'm also concerned
about the collateral damage of the uncertainty at City College resulting potentially in the
neglect of that very important cultural heritage item.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:01:51 HENRY A. J. RAMOS (CONTINUED)
And there may be other assets at the college that are also at risk of being neglected or
being lost frankly if proper action is not taken. So I know this is not something that
would fall immediately under your purview but I do want to state for the record that
its exceedingly important that in the process of resolving the issues at City College that
these asset issues are addressed I, I think in um, synch with the other issues that would
relate to personnel and ah, cost ah, savings reductions, more responsible governance and
the like. Ah, so I apologize for putting that on you knowing that that's a, an issue that
doesn't fall squarely on your shoulders. But I think that we would all agree that it's
more than just ah, the immediacy of the ah, issues that you've covered, it's also that
there are these collateral ah, asset issues that I think we need to be very responsible
and mindful of in light of the implications of irresponsibly not attending to um, those,
those matters. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:03:54 DR. AGRELLA
I appreciate your comments very much. Ah, a portion of the ah, March 15th report that
must developed is a closure report. And one of the items in that closure report is the
disposition of physical assets. Ah, and that has to be defined. And certainly what you
have just ah, noted I, I am aware that there were discussions. I don't know that there
was a complete closure on whether or not that would be moved to a new performing arts facility
or not, but setting that issue aside, ah, the closure report must address not only the
physical assets but also what happens to the students. We're talking about between 86,000
and 90,000 students. So it has to be, the closure report itself, has to cover all of
the different aspects of students, student records, what's going to happen to the, to
the assets of the district and some of the, all of the assets of the district must be
ah, responded to in that closure report. Which becomes very, very important ah, in March
15th as well. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:03:54 UNIDENTIFIED
MAN Dr. Agrella, ah, could you ah, give us a more
global look at ah, at what we're facing here. Thank you very much for the presentation.
I think it covers very well the major ah, issues that ah, that we're confronting there
at the City College of San Francisco. Ah, but if you could just give ah, a, a global
perspective. Chancellor Harris maybe you can join in on this as to the um, the accreditation
issues, the, the process, the relationship so that we can some ah, broad concept, ah,
context in terms of what we're looking at in terms of timeline.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:04:33 DR. AGRELLA Well, the, the ah, the show cause report and
a portion of the, the closure report all is due to the commission on March 15th. Ah, I
think from a strict perspective, by March 15th there has to be all of the ah, items
that were identified in that accreditation report and, of course, in the Fickman report
meshed together, should be solved. That's going to be an impossibility in my opinion.
Ah, it's, it's not a possible task to do. The best that could be done in my opinion
at this point in time and again, I don't represent the, the commission in any way. The best that
could be done would be significant progress and we're making significant progress. Even
with the problems that I've identified, I, I don't want to minimize them, the significant
progress that has been made. And then to show also all of the planning efforts that will
be made to complete some of the activities that are currently underway. And if those
can be, I think, strengthened enough then the accrediting commission would have the
possibility of doing one of two actions. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:05:48 DR. AGRELLA
(CONTINUED) One would be to extend show cause because
there is a clause in that that under extenuating circumstances, show cause can be extended.
What period of time would be up to the, the commission. In order to take that I personally
my, my perspective would be that we would have to not only show significant progress,
but that the plans that are in place would get us to where we need to be at a, at a very,
very definitive point in time. Okay. Um, so that's, that's what has happened.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:06:22 DR. AGRELLA (CONTINUED)
What has happened to the, to the college over a period of time however, is when you go back
into the accreditation reports, going back to 2006 and probably even before, the recommendations
that have been made during this course of time have not been tended to by the institution.
So the 2006 recommendations went back in. Team came in, found in 2012 that not only
had those not been accomplished, but now there are significantly other problems that need
to be addressed. And when I addressed ah, the board of trustees not too long ago, it's
not my opinion that any single individual or group of people within the college are
totally responsible for where the institution finds itself today. It's a, it's a number
of poor decisions that were made along the way. Decisions that were made without looking
at the consequences of those decisions, the long term consequences. And so you tend to
heap patches on top of patches on top of patches and pretty soon all you have is this mesh
and it's an M-E-S-H not an M-E-S-S. Although it probably turns into that as well. And that's
the unfortunate situation that City College finds itself in at the present time. Um, so
the, the level of problems are deep and they're, they're long term.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:07:46 UNIDENTIFIED MAN
And President Baca, just to put a point on it, it's at the commission's June meeting,
in which they'll be reviewing the ah, the show cause report and the, and the closure
plan, and it'll make a determination. And, and at that point we'll have a very definitive
outcome that either that accreditation for City College of San Francisco has been revoked
in which cause, in which case, the we it can no longer be part of our system. We cannot
fund an unaccredited college. In which case there's the plan, we have, the, the challenge
would be how do, how do, how does California serve the 90,000 students that are currently
in that service area? Or, the accreditation commission can, can come out with a finding
in which accreditation, accreditation has been, will be continued. In which, obviously
that's the, the outcome we're all hoping for and working towards as Dr. Agrella, Dr. Skillman
and everybody back at the district are working on. But just to put a point on it, that's,
we're, we're approaching a very definitive point, point in time ah, you know. While these
challenges stretch way back into the past and, and it could take years and years to
solve these, ah, the, the accreditation process does not allow for that.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:09:12 UNIDENTIFIED MAN (CONTINUED)
This, this is sounding a great deal like the fiscal cliff discussion and nationally but
worse. And ah, you know, it's, it's obviously going to take ah, ah the leadership of the
college as well as the constituent groups to work together to resolve this, but if there
seems, there, there seems to be maybe certain impasse at this point ah, with regard to the
discussions or is there a likelihood that ah, that those discussions might improve over
the next few weeks. What's, what's your perspective on that Dr. Agrella?
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:09:45 DR. AGRELLA Well I think the discussions are, are will
be ongoing with, with certainly with all of the labor unions. Um, I am going to be having
some meetings as well with some of the, some of the folks inside the organizations ah,
separately. Um, you know, there's always hope. And ah, the college is filled with a lot of
people ah, vast majority of the individuals at the college really care for CCSF. There
is no question about that. And they really care about the students. And there's a tremendous
amount of really good work that we're not talking about that happens on a daily basis
in laboratories and classrooms and all kinds of activities that go on at the institution.
So I'm, I'm still hopeful that ah, some of the logjams that we currently have um, can
be solved amicably. Ah, having said that I, I also need to say that I think that the institution
has to take certain actions if it can't be solved amicably in order to try and salvage
the accreditation itself. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:10:50 UNIDENTIFIED
MAN Yeah, either it's going to get worked out
inside or it's going to get worked out for us.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:10:53 DR. AGRELLA That's correct.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:10:54 UNIDENTIFIED MAN
And, and the working out for us is, is looming very, very close. Member Reed?
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:10:59 GARY REED No, my question originally ah, dealt with
the un-unfunded liability of the pension plan. And that was addressed ah, to this board ah,
early on and I was wondering if any work has been done on that?
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:11:12 DR. AGRELLA Well they, they, of course, performed another
ah, financial audit. They have to audit that, that pension plan. The, you're talking about
the (WORD?) requirements. Ah, which is somewhat I think at the last look at it it was about
$223 million, I, I can't be sure of that. Ah, part of that eight-year plan for the use
of the parcel taxes to begin to address that and, and begin to put money away towards the
ah, that liability itself. So that was one of the means to get to that because ah, the
liability on an annual basis obviously is growing. Ah, at the present time the college
has to pay out approximately $7 million ah, that's what their annual requirement is. So
to try and build that reserve and begin to build ah, the (WORD?) requirement ah, that's,
that's what we saw part of the ah, of the parcel tax to be used for.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:12:12 UNIDENTIFIED MAN
You know, thinking that ah, City College of San Francisco is, is too big to fail is probably
one that ah, is, is a non-starter. Because ah, it, it can fail. Ah, and it seems that
ah, the ah, issues that are looming with the accreditation ah, have to be resolved otherwise
it will. And because of its size, it has significant implications for the system itself. And for
community college education in the state. So we, we can't afford to ah, to let that
happen. So the leadership and the various constituent groups there have to be able to
deal with the issues and resolve them very quickly. Otherwise, you know, as we all know,
they're going to be resolved for us and the implications of, of that are much broader
than just the City College of San Francisco. So we all have very much an interest in making,
making sure that um, that ah, that the leadership and the constituent leaders ah, work this
out. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:13:14 DR. AGRELLA
And, and I also want to assure you that I, as the special trustee, and I know ah, Dr.
Scott-Skillman and others, are working very hard not to see it not accomplished but, in
fact, to try and get accreditation reaccomplished and get off the show cause ah, possibly move
to probationary status. I don't think that we move to full accreditation but we could
move to a probationary status. That would be good. I know Dr. MacDougall was a member
of the commission and, and understands that very well. So.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:13:44 UNIDENTIFIED MAN
And that will require some big decisions in the short term as well.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:13:48 DR. AGRELLA Absolutely.
[JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:13:48 UNIDENTIFIED MAN
So it isn't. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:13:48 DR. AGRELLA
Absolutely. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:13:50 UNIDENTIFIED
MAN As if that's just going to be one that you
just kind of defer it down the road a little bit without doing much more than has been
done at this point. Thank you both very much. Ah, Dr. Agrella. Good luck. Wish you the very
best. [JANUARY 2013 BOG DAY 2]01:14:07 DR. AGRELLA
Thank you.