Really, Southern Illinoisan?

OK, today's article is supposedly about this plan that a consultant created. Why was half the article given to Jake Rendleman saying he wants to wait to talk about it until "later" (when no ones paying attention, in other words)? 

Do board members not prepare at all for meetings? Most of the plan has been on the schools website for weeks. Apparently most of the board didnt' read the presidents contract when they hired him, or even read it to prepare for a meeting when it was on the published agenda. No, they prefer to talk to each other (illegally) outside of the public eye, and (excessively, according to a recent post) in executive session, where deals are cut and favors granted.

So now Jake Rendleman hasn't bother to read this plan, so prefers to wait. No... read it, do your homework like all the students at the college, get up to speed. Or just ask your board colleagues what they want you to do.

And why is the newspaper consulting Jake about this anyway? If he hasn't even bothered to read the plan, why was his opinion included in the article at all, much less given so much space? Poor journalism.

Just keeps making this board look ridiculous and disfunctional.

Use, Misuse, and Abuse of Executive Sessions?

We hope that new board members Graff and Kilquist are (or will soon be) in compliance with Illinois law that requires all elected and appointed members of a public body (such as a community college board of trustees) take the Attorney General's electronic Open Meetings Act training within 90 days and provide the public body with a certificate of completion of the training.

A review of board minutes from 2012 and 2013 (14 meetings not including the one for presidential interviews and two retreats) shows that more time was spent in executive session than in regular meeting in all but five meetings – and even those five averaged almost an hour each in executive session.  In most cases, the Board comes out of executive session and approves all recommended hires with little else done in the open meeting. 

It's hard to believe that if the hiring process is really working (as some board members claim) there is any need for lengthy executive sessions.  For example, in May 2012, the regular meeting lasted for about 45 minutes and the executive session was over three hours long.  When the Board reconvened, there were only 15 personnel items approved.  What was discussed for over three hours?

Like we saw in the April 2013 meeting, Brewer tried to postpone the discussion on the "no cause" clause in Dreith's contract to executive session.

In all the 2012 and 2013 minutes, the board has gone into closed session "to discuss the appointment, employment, and compensation of specific individuals and pending litigation."  Other times this phrase has included the "discussion of collective bargaining or purchase of real property."  All of these are appropriate reasons to go to executive session – assuming that is what is being discussed.

Is the executive session being abused?  It's certainly something to keep an eye on!

Accreditation: Changes Comin'

How does a community college stay in business? By turning out trained, employable workers and transferring students with a solid academic foundation.  To guarantee that, colleges have to earn accreditation, in the case of JALC by a body called the Higher Learning Commission, or HLC.

Until recently, this accreditation process was a monster pain in the ass which took place once every ten years. Huge piles of data were hastily assembled, lightly sifted, and shoved into binders for the campus visitors, administrators from other community colleges. They spent a day or two on campus, talked to a handful of (happy, carefully-screened) employees, and waved the magic accreditation wand.

Well, except for in 2007, shortly after Mees "retired" to start collecting a pension, and immediately returned to work, to collect a paycheck on top. Right, we USED to call that "double-dipping" and it was frowned on. The 2007 report also took place just after the shifty hiring and hasty undeserved promotion of The Sons, both actual promotions and attempted ones. The results of the employee survey were just too shocking to ignore,  which is why there is a "monitoring follow-up get-your-act-together" set of documents from 2009.

You can see all these documents (something that has only been possible since the 2007 visit) by clicking Acreditation at the bottom of the JALC page. They spell out lack of trust in board ethics, lack of communication and transparency, lack of integrity, and terrible morale across every campus group. Same old, same old…

But the HLC has revamped the entire system. Reporting all that data will now happen every other year, followed by a three-day visit to campus to confirm the data.

Lofty goals are spelled out on the college page, at the bottom, in the "Accreditation" link. Click the "John A Logan Acredition" then go to the FAQ. We're thinking this may spell trouble for the college's internal-research guy, who we understand can't write basic programs or otherwise collect meaningful information.

On the other hand, the process COULD mean actual planning will take place, addressing the institutionalized problems noted in the 2007 report, the 2009 "monitoring" follow-up report (erroneously and prematurely saying that everything was all better now), and what we hear is reflected in the latest survey results… stay tuned.

Looking forward

We at Muddy Williamson told you we’d be shifting gears a bit, now that the election is over.  We’re setting out to explore some of the more important issues facing the College and the Board of Trustees. 

 

As we examine the agencies that regulate Board actions, we’ll be looking at things like closed session minutes, the Open Meetings Act, the new community college accreditation process and how well JALC is meeting the requirements of these processes, mandates and state statutes.  And, of course, we’ll still be talking about old favorites like hiring improprieties!

 

We hope you’ll share your knowledge and views.  What else should we look into on behalf of faculty, staff, students, voters and taxpayers of the John A. Logan College community college district? 

 

Just to give you something to chew on, here’s a link to the Southern Illinoisan article on the last Board meeting.