The Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 for another productive meeting. Meeting highlights included a deep dive into how the Peralta Colleges are spending federal relief funds, a preview of the Functional Maps that articulate the division of labor between the District and the Colleges, and a contract extension to keep Dr. Jannett N. Jackson as Interim Chancellor through December 2023.
The public session began at 6pm and concluded less than three hours later. The full recording of the meeting is available on YouTube here. The agenda in BoardDocs (which includes file attachments) can be found here. There were no public comments prior to closed session at 4pm, and there were no actions to report out following closed session.
The first part of the public meeting included reports from campus leaders followed by public comment. We heard updates from the Associated Student presidents of Berkeley City College and Merritt College followed by the Classified Senate report from President Terrence Fisher and the Academic Senate report from President Donald Moore. Several members of the community then had opportunity to comment.
The Chancellor's Report usually features campus updates by each of the four College Presidents, however, in the interest of time, Chancellor Jackson referred the Board to the Presidents' written reports and then proceeded to provide a very brief but exciting update on three items. The Presidents' campus reports are available here:
A brief video of the Chancellor's Report (less than four minutes!) is available on YouTube here. The updates were:
- Accreditation. Dr. Jackson thanked everyone involved in making the recent ACCJC virtual site visit on October 18-19 a success. The preliminary feedback from the ACCJC visiting team was "extremely positive."
- Student Housing. Dr. Jackson indicated that PCCD is working to apply for student housing grants made possible with the recent passing of California Senate Bill 169. There are two "buckets" of funding made available, one for planning, and one for building. Applications for planning funds are due by October 31 and PCCD working with Alma Strategies will meet that deadline. This is fantastic news as we all know the Bay Area is incredibly expensive and housing insecurity is a problem shared by many students.
- Student Participation in Collaborative Governance. Dr. Jackson announced that Student Trustee Leesa Hogan will be joining the Peralta Governance Council (which next meets on Friday, October 29th). Congratulations Student Trustee Hogan!
The four Presidents - Dr. Angélica Garcia (Berkeley City College), Dr. David M. Johnson (Merritt College), Dr. Nathaniel Jones III (College of Alameda) and Dr. Rudy Besikof (Laney College) - then provided a collaborative and informative presentation about how the Peralta Colleges are spending federal COVID-19 relief funds. You can view their slides here and the video here. The main allocations were for Direct Student Support, Teaching & Learning, and Return to Campus/Safety. One particularly important element announced during the presentation was the elimination of student debts that may have accumulated over the last year because of COVID. PCCD is using $2.77 million to wipe out that student debt, plus provide another $9.5 million for student financial aid. This presentation and the following discussion are highly recommended if you are interested in learning more about how CARES and HEERF funds are being spent.
Next up was the First Reading of the new Functional Map for the District. Dr. Siri Brown, Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs & Student Success provided a brief overview of the document, which focuses on areas of overlap between the colleges and the district office and then clarifies who is responsible for what in those overlappying areas. The idea is to delineate the role of the colleges and the role of the district to eliminate confusion and improve our effectiveness. We've made tremendous progress in clarifying these shared responsibilities, and this document is still a work in progress. It is due to ACCJC by the end of the year. Working on the Functional Map has been an illuminating process!
The Consent Calendar was approved unanimously and included items regarding:
- Out of state travel
- Advertising for Laney College
- Course and Program Additions, Deactivations and Changes
- Alameda Family Services Early Head Start at College of Alameda
- Acceptance of $125,000 California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI) High Road Training Partnership (HRTP) Grant for Laney College
- Acceptance of a $300K Award of the Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion Grant for Berkeley City College
- Finance items including the FY 2020-21 budget report and budget transfer report
- HR requests for Classified Professionals
The Action Items were also all approved. These included:
- Adoption of Resolution No. 21/22-51 for District Brown Act-Covered Legislative Bodies to Continue Conducting Meetings Via Teleconference Per California Government Code Section 54953 (or “Assembly Bill 361”)
- The extension of Interim Chancellor Dr. Jannett N. Jackson's contract term for an additional two years to December 2023, as previoulsy announced
- Ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between PCCD on Behalf of Laney, and OUSD for the Operation of the Gateway to College Program During the FYs of 21-22 and 22-23
- Ratification of a contract extension for Knowledge Saves Lives (KSL). Paul Llanez, the CEO of KSL, has been serving as Acting Director of Public Safety and will help on-board the individual soon to be hired in that permanent role
- Ratification of Agreement for Professional Services with Dannis Woliver Kelley (DWK), the law firm that works with Department of General Services on capital projects
- Ratification of Agreements with Ray & Associates for Return to Campus cleaning services
Documents associated with the Action Items above are available in Board Docs.
