There seems to be no good news on the budget front these days although news reports are that the recession is turning.  Let’s hope they’re right.

 Based on current information, there will be a budget shortfall for the 2010-2011 fiscal year if the state does not provide any source of revenue from growth, COLA or other sources.  Also the intention of the district is to lift the furloughs that were implemented during the 2009-2010 fiscal year, fund  pay steps for the 2010-2011 fiscal year and to pay the necessary mandated increases for our operations.  The liability to implement these will be $ 1,9 million. 

Based on the budget status the percentage of general fund dollars received by each cost center is as follows: 

District:                 16.85%  $ 320,824

Coalinga:              37.99%   $ 723,330

NDC:                     3.38%   $   64,355

Lemoore:               37.30%  $ 710,192

LNAS:                   0.40%    $     7,616

Reserve:                  4.08%   $   77,683 

These will change depending upon what additional cuts come from the state and also what additional savings we can achieve this year to add to the ending balance.

The CDC held its annual orientation in the theater on the Coalinga campus this year since we have outgrown the Lemoore conference center. As part of our orientation, Tammy Weatherman from the business office and Melissa Richardson from HR explained the procedures for the upcoming change in the time card entry; Michelle Kozlowski from ITS talked about the portal and email; Mark Millett, wearing his CSEA hat, talked to classified staff regarding the benefits of CSEA membership and Kyle Crider and the MAA staff provided MAA training.  We felt we got a lot accomplished in just six hours.

The CDC has launched a “CDC Team Site” on the Portal. This will aid in communication between the sites, as well as a delivery system for information (handbooks, newsletters and announcements). The team site has a variety of sub-sites that are facilitated by CDC supervisors/program coordinators to help answer specific questions staff may have.   

After a few delays, the new portables at the Coalinga CDC are now licensed and open to serve children. It helps to have a strong positive relationship with people at Community Care and Licensing to move things along. 

Three of our supervisors (Nancy Jeffcoach, Conne Cleveland and Ana Leon) and one teacher (Lorri Redding) have enrolled in a master’s program at Fresno Pacific University after completing their bachelor’s degrees with California State University, Fresno last year. We now have nine teachers (four in Coalinga, three in Avenal and two in Lemoore) with their bachelor's degrees, five more currently enrolled in undergraduate programs and 10 or more ready to transfer, so we are advancing toward the educational requirements set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). 

This month, CSEA ratified a new three year contract that included 12 furlough days to assist the district with the state budget cuts.  We also ratified an MOU that will close the district over spring break to allow the district to save money.

The faculty association spent most of the summer in negotiations and discussions about negotiations, and now that we’re beginning the fourth week of the semester, it doesn’t really feel like summer happened.

 

The faculty reached a tentative agreement with the district on August 11th and the membership ratified the agreement on August 14th. All faculty members will be taking furlough days throughout the 2009-2010 academic year.

 

On a positive note, WHCFA received a president’s release time grant from the Community College Association of California. This allows the association president to teach a reduced load so that association business does not unduly impact instruction.

The retirement party at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino was a great success. The retirees (Etsel Barner, Tom Benedict, Minerva Brixey, Erick Christenson, Carlos Diniz, Darlene Georgatos, Melinda Olson, Mike Parker, Hang Phan and Harold Wiest) were celebrated with a video and gifts. A great time was had by all.

The foundation would like to say thank you to each retiree for their years of service.

 

Below are a few pictures from the evening. To view them all, click here.

 

For fiscal year 2009-2010, the grants office, business office and workforce development staff are supporting a record $9.7 million in grants for this fiscal year and providing services to the colleges and west side communities.

July 1st is the start of a new fiscal year and with that comes close out reports for most of the grant programs. The grants department works diligently with the business office to ensure that all the grant funded programs have submitted the required reporting.

Needless to say we are on a non-stop schedule because in the midst of overseeing reporting submissions, we still have numerous grant deadlines to meet!  Grant writing is truly a team effort and we are thankful for the great faculty and staff who we can always count on to step up to the plate and assist us with grant writing.

The past two months we all have been on a fast and the furious pace with number of projects.  The grants team assisted the Fresno County Office of Education with an American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant that would greatly benefit all of the communities throughout the entire west side by providing high speed internet connectivity to all the rural school districts.  This grant proposal was exceedingly labor intensive (several hundred pages of text)  and required of a team of 10 to complete!  

In the midst of the fury we did take some time for reflection for one of our valued team members’ health, Dr. Carole Goldsmith.  We are happy to report she is back in the saddle, the real energizer bunny, juggling 20 different agendas at a time!

Grants submitted include Lumina Foundation; Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM); A Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions Title V Collaborative; numerous, and nursing grants to the State Community College Chancellors Office.

The grants office wholeheartedly appreciates the team effort support we receive from our chancellor, presidents, deans, business office staff, workforce staff, program directors and coordinators. Our team would not be successful without your contributions.  

Another semester is off and running.  We introduced a new change this semester with students required to logon as themselves on all lab computers.  We had a few bumps, but the process seems to have smoothed out.  We are all a little downbeat in ITS right now as Mike Parker retired at the end of August.  He has been the stronghold  in our department for so many years.  We are struggling now to determine how to best absorb and distribute his job duties among the remaining staff.  I expect we will have to make some changes in order to compensate for being one staff member down.   For the best service, please be sure to submit all your requests through the ITS tech support link on the portal. 

Tom has retired. We're really going to miss him. As a result of his retirement, there will be  a number of changes in duplication. Felicia has been cross training with Tom and Karan Folsom to learn equipment.  New hours for duplicating and new duplicating job order submission requirements are attached here. The Duplicating work order is attached here. Please remember that Tom’s email and phone are gone.  There is a new department number and email address that need to be used.  They are extension 2135 and duplicating@whccd.edu.  This will allow any of us to access the job requests and make sure they are filled in a timely fashion.

 

Please remember that Karan will continue in her role as graphic designer.  It is very important that we maintain our district graphic standards.  They are important to help us maintain our brand identity.  Wherever I travel in the Valley, when I tell people I work for West Hills, they usually say,  “Oh, I know West Hills. Once you go here, you can go anywhere.”  This recognition is especially important during these difficult economic times when we have no advertising budget.  Every printed piece that promotes something about WHC, whether it’s a program or an event, should make use of our graphic standards.  This means proper use of our logo, our slogan, our colors, our college athletic mascots, the fonts we use etc.  A PDF of our graphic standards book is attached here.  It is somewhat dated but continues to serve as our standard.

 

The decline of newspapers in the district continues.  The Lemoore Advance will cease publication at the end of Sept.  This is a sad loss.  We’ve been told that the Hanford Sentinel will have a “Lemoore page” two days a week but it’s clear that coverage for us in the Hanford/Lemoore area will be a challenge.  In marketing, we are looking at new ways to reach people in our communities.  Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Wikipedia are all popular social media in which we are becoming engaged.  We’re looking for students who might be willing to blog about their experiences at West Hills.  If you have anyone in mind, please let us know.

 

Despite the budget slump, there are exciting things happening in the district.  The passage of our bond measures will allow construction to continue in Coalinga and at NDC.  Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new multi-use sports complex in Lemoore will take place at 11 a.m. on Sept. 22nd.  Remember that these projects have been in the planning stages for many years and that the funds used for them cannot be used for general operating expenses for the district.  Marketing will be working with the colleges to keep the public informed about these projects.

 

We’re also working with the colleges on information dissemination on H1N1.  It appears that the 19-24 age group may be particularly hard hit with this virus.  We’re working on posters and flyers and brochures and wikis that will help keep our students informed.  I underwent some state chancellor’s office Pandemic Ready training this summer which was focused on social distancing and keeping the colleges running and students enrolled despite the pandemic.  If you’re interested in a short presentation for an employ or student group, please let me know.

Answers for the H1N1 Quiz:

1. c  2. d  3. b  4. e 5. c  6. a  7. c  8. b