Recently in LACCD Category

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Los Angeles Community College District board has voted in closed session to fire Larry Eisenberg, who oversees the $5.7 billion construction program that was the subject of the newspaper's recent investigative series.

The Board of Trustees was meeting today at Harbor College in Wilmington for the first time since the Times six-part series, the product of 18 months of reporting, was published.

A short item on the Times' news blog says the board voted unanimously to terminate Eisenberg's contract, effective Saturday.

Eisenberg, the district's executive director of facilities planning and development, was responsible for a troubled solar program at Harbor that the Breeze covered last year. Called a visionary by some, Eisenberg also brokered than abandoned a deal with a local green building nonprofit that was set to run a showcase out of district offices.

The vote comes a day after two incumbents were re-elected to the board. Steven Veres, another candidate who ran on a slate with the incumbents -- Miguel Santiago and Mona Field -- also was elected. A fourth member of that slate, Scott Svonkin, is headed to a runoff with San Pedro teacher Lydia Gutierrez.

On Monday, LACCD Chancellor Daniel LaVista, who was appointed last year, sent out a letter to district staff saying that "reparation work" was needed. The letter had a different tone than defensive press releases he and the district issued in response to the Times articles.

He said he still felt the paper had taken an "unbalanced approach" to the district's construction program.

That being said, I am in no way denying that there have been major issues within the Program. So this time, I want to emphasize how seriously I take the problems and mistakes of our Program that this series has pointed out in detail. The Times has brought to light much that needed to be exposed, and we'd be more than remiss if we didn't take advantage of the outside perspective the Times has presented.

LaVista's letter -- with promises of a review ethics codes and evaluation processes -- is attached for your perusal.

Moving Foward 3-7-11.docx

The seven-member board of the Los Angeles Community College District will hold a public meeting Wednesday, convening at Harbor College in Wilmington. It will be the first meeting of the Board of Trustees since the Los Angeles Times published a six-part series revealing waste, incompetence and poor oversight in the district's massive construction program.

Did you read the jaw-dropping series, "Billions to Spend"? There's still time before tomorrow's election, when incumbents Mona Field and Miguel Santiago are up for re-election in two of the four contests before voters.

Wednesday's meeting will include an update on the district's renewable energy program, which on Sunday was the focus of the last installment of the Times series. The Breeze reported on problems with Harbor College's solar program back in May 2010.

When I was doing reporting for that story, I head the Times had had multiple reporters -- for months -- investigating the broad construction program. I had no idea it would take a total of 18 months. Worth the wait.

Anyway, it should be an interesting meeting Wednesday. The first public session is at 11 a.m., followed by a closed session and then another open meeting at 3:30 p.m. Both are in the second floor of Harbor College's Seahawk Center. The agenda is online.

The nine-campus district's defiant responses to the Times stories are posted on the BuilldLACCD website. Here's an excerpt from one response from Chancellor Daniel LaVista, already noted in part by Times columnist Steve Lopez:

After ignoring the good news of the Program for years, the Times spent 20 months on this investigation and now picks at a few issues in what appears to be a sensationalist series published right before trustee elections. The timing is suspect, and the reporting is one-sided. So far, we are sorely disappointed. While the Times notes that half the $6 billion is still to be spent and there is time to "correct" things, I say to the Times that with only two articles published, there is an even better opportunity to correct their sensationalist tone and one-sided and biased reporting.

LaVista says that the program is "one of the most heavily audited and examined in the history of public construction" and is bringing much-needed buildings to college campuses, a fact he says is overshadowed in the Times stories by the paper's emphasis on problems.

California Watch's Erica Perez reports that a new Los Angeles Community College District student identification card has been the subject of complaints.

The nine-college district, which includes Harbor College in Wilmington, in February signed on with a Connecticut-based company that has linked bank accounts to every student's financial aid package, Perez reports in a blog item posted Friday.

The colleges gave out more than $117 million in student financial aid last year, Perez reported.

The cards let students more easily access excess financial aid funds that can be used for books and other expenses. Rather than waiting for a paper rebate check, students can use the ID cards as a sort of debit card.

But they're finding that each time they try to use the debit function, they're charged 50 cents. (Selecting "credit" at the checkout counter prevents this.)

It's all in the fine print of the card agreement, which is provided by Higher One Inc. The company, which works with hundreds of private and public colleges, has been the target of complaints, Perez says, adding that there are other Higher One charges of which students should be aware.

There are a few more fees L.A. community college students should look out for. An "abandoned account fee" charges students $19 per month if they go nine consecutive months without any activity. And using a non-Higher One ATM will cost $2.50 a pop. There is, however, at least one Higher One ATM at each campus.

Don Smith, apparently a representative of the company, commented on Perez's post. He wrote in part, "[W]e believe that our customers pay less than half the amount in fees that the average bank checking account customer pays per year."

This morning I was going over the agenda for the Los Angeles Community College District's board meeting on Wednesday, and one thing popped out at me.

Two interim administration appointees -- selected to fill spots made empty by a retirement and a career change -- are getting some pretty nice benefits. They each get a car allowance of $1,530 per month.

*UPDATED on Aug. 31, see below

In these post-Bell days, every benefit and salary deserves scrutiny. And $1,530 is certainly more than any of our local officials get for a car allowance.

Of course, the nine-college district is huge, and driving around it could certainly rack up some mileage and might require multiple tanks of gas each week. Still, even if the new appointees were driving all over LACCD and were leasing a nice new car, I'd guess they'd have trouble racking up that kind of auto expense every month.

It looks like the board of trustees in 2006 approved raising the car allowance for college presidents from $700 to $900 -- and these two appointees are categorized as presidents for pay purposes. I put in a call to the district to find out what the car allowance policy is now.

The new appointees are: Yasmin Delahoussaye, set to fill the position of interim "Vice Chancellor for Educational Programs and Institutional Effectiveness" beginning Aug. 30; and Rose Marie Joyce, to act at interim president of West L.A. College.

From what I can tell from district salary scales posted online, Delahoussaye will make about $11,005 per month. Joyce will get about $11,610 monthly, as well as $1,600 per month in an "alternative retirement account."

While I'm at it, I should note this story, which shows that the executive director of the California School Boards Association earned more than $400,000 last year.

Now who says there no money in education right now?

*Michael Shanahan, associate vice chancellor for employer/employee relations, emailed me the agenda from the day this new car allowance was approved. On Sept. 17, 2008, the Board of Trustees approved increasing the car allowance for college presidents from $900 to $1,530 monthly. Then-Chancellor Mark Drummond recommended the bump, which also affected his compensation and that of seven other administrators.

Salary increases for many of those administrators were approved at the same time, as were contract extensions.

Shanahan said college presidents are expected to travel widely across the sprawling district. By my math, the perks mean the district pays about $26,000 per month for auto allowances.

He's an insider.

The Board of Trustees this afternoon named Marvin Martinez as the new president of the Wilmington college. He's currently the L.A. Community College District's vice chancellor of economic and workforce development.

He'll start in July, with a month of overlap shared by outgoing President Linda Spink.

*A story with more info is up now. Press release with details follows.

The Los Angeles Community College District, which runs nine campuses including Harbor College in Wilmington, has named a new chancellor after a nationwide search.

Daniel LaVista, the executive director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, was selected by the district's board, LACCD announced this morning.

LaVista will replace Mark Drummond, who resigned under pressure in July with two years left on his contract. He got a $428,750 severance package. Reasons for his departure were never explained.

Tyree Wieder, former president of Valley College, has been acting as interim chancellor.

The LACCD board is also interviewing candidates to replace Harbor College President Linda Spink, who will leave at the end of July.

Press release after the jump.

At an 11 a.m. press conference today, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines and union leaders are announcing a deal that will preserve teacher jobs and prevent class-size increases, saving the financially beleaguered school district $140 million.

Under a tentative agreement reached by negotiators for the district, United Teachers Los Angeles and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, teachers and administrators will take five unpaid furlough days *this school year*. They'll take seven furlough days in the 2010-11 school year.

The agreement must still be ratified by members of both unions. It would save 1,825 teacher jobs, preserving current class sizes for grades K-8.

From LAUSD's press release: "In addition, LAUSD will restore a number of the nurses, counselors, librarians, and Regional Occupational Center-Regional Occupational Program instructors who were slated to be laid off on June 30, saving an estimated 284 positions. Under the AALA agreement, more than 100 school-based administrator positions will be restored."

The announcement is being made at UTLA's Wilshire Boulevard headquarters.

Full release, with info about furlough days already taken by other classes of employees, after the jump.

A lot has been happening in the media and among parents over the inter-district permit situation in Los Angeles Unified School District.

I have a list of links to some other media stories after the jump, but first, an update on some action at the board meeting this week.

As you probably know, LAUSD plans to severely restrict the number of permits -- currently 12,249 -- it gives out to students to attend public campuses in other school districts. Many of those kids attend South Bay schools.

We had a big story on this earlier this month, and we followed up with the news that board member Steve Zimmer has a resolution that would exempt current high-schoolers. That resolution, which now has the support of Tamar Galatzan as well, will likely come to the board on April 6.

The issue came up at this week's board meeting too, causing a bit of a scene during the public comment section of the event.

More than a dozen parents came forward to plead with the board -- sometimes tearfully -- to let their children stay in outside schools.

The first parent to speak, who gave his name as Mark Milinch (not sure on the spelling), said his daughter would lose the opportunities she currently has the Spanish language immersion program at Edison Language Academy in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified.

"We will have to scramble to get her into a second-class high school," Milinch said. "Her chances of getting into universities are profoundly diminished ... I know that you do this with knowing disregard for the harm that you cause her."

His comments caused an angry outburst from board member Richard Vladovic, who represents the Harbor Area. Noting "how arrogant a parent can sound," Vladovic defended LAUSD schools, saying he and his children had attended them.

"To diminish and degrade our district is unconscionable to me. I will never, never accept that," Vladovic said. "I won't listen to it."

He rose to leave the dais, yelling, "You know how I'm going to vote now! Thank you, sir!"

After that, other parents came forward.

Some complained about the timing of the policy change, which was made quietly last month -- after the deadline had passed to apply for district magnet programs. Others said they had applied to the notoriously difficult-to-navigate magnet system in the past and been unable to get their children in, or that they had lost magnet "points" because they had left the district.

But most said they could not find LAUSD programs comparable to those in other districts, notably language immersion instruction.

One parent said she supported public education but wanted her child to stay at Edison.

"We want to be in LAUSD ... We're Democrats, we're liberals, we want to support our local school system," she said.

She asked for an exemption specifically for Edison, which gets about half of its students from outside Santa Monica.

At the end of the public comment, board President Monica Garcia thanked parents.

KPCC's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez had a story that included comments from the meeting.

After the jump are some more links on the issue.

Marshall Drummond was named chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District in May 2007. Prior to that, he served as chancellor of the California Community College system.

At the time, LACCD officials touted his Sacramento experience and ability to establish a lobbying presence in Washington D.C.

Drummond was placed on a leave of absence in June. Weeks later, district officials announced his departure. He had 23 months remaining on his contract.

The LACCD is made up of nine colleges and serves more than 130,000 students.

This report comes from Neon Tommy, via LA Observed:

In July, the seven-member board of the Los Angeles Community College District paid then-Chancellor Marshall Drummond nearly a half-million-dollars to quietly leave office.

The sudden and puzzling departure of the high-profile career educator, who once oversaw the entire 110-campus California community college system, drew a short piece buried inside the Los Angeles Times, before vanishing from the media radar.

Los Angeles Community College District Trustee Kelly Candaele resigned from a city board Tuesday after a Los Angeles Times inquiry into a possible ethics violation.

Candaele had been appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System board in 2005. He stepped down after Times inquiries about his having hosted a fundraiser for city attorney candidate Jack Weiss, who's supported by the mayor.

City ethics laws do not allow appointed commissioners or board members to participate in campaign fundraising activities.

Times reporter David Zahniser writes:

Top advisors to the mayor, upon learning of the violation, requested that Candaele submit his resignation, a Villaraigosa aide said. In a statement, the mayor described Candaele as an upstanding leader who made "an honest mistake."

Candaele was in March re-elected to his seat on the community college board by a huge margin. He represents District 4, holding one of seven at-large seats on the board.