Ex-Teachers’ Union Head Appointed to Coast College District Post

Phillis Basile, former president of the teachers’ union in the Coast Community College District, has been permanently appointed as the district’s top personnel officer, the district board of trustees announced Friday.

Basile has held the position--vice chancellor of human resources--since Aug. 6, when she was appointed on an interim basis. She was selected over 40 other candidates who applied in a nationwide search, the board of trustees said.

The vice chancellor position has the key role in negotiating contracts with teachers in the three colleges operated by the district: Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa; Golden West College in Huntington Beach, and Coastline Community College, based in Fountain Valley.

Because of Basile’s identity with the teachers’ union, her interim appointment last summer triggered a brief controversy. Critics said that putting a former union chief in charge of such sensitive personnel matters constituted a conflict of interest.

Basile and the three trustees who supported her denied the allegation. They pointed out that Basile resigned as union chief when she took the new job.

Basile’s interim appointment, which was approved last August by a 3-1 vote of the five-member board, was to extend until June 30--or until the board picked a permanent vice chancellor.

Three of the five current members of the board of trustees were elected in November, 1983, with support of the teachers’ union. The union became enraged earlier in 1983 when the old board majority sent layoff notices to more than 100 teachers. The union was prominent in a subsequent recall effort. The recall failed, but the union triumphed a few months later when the three candidates it endorsed were elected.

District officials said Basile’s permanent salary will be $63,300 annually, with a $350-per-month mileage allowance. Before being appointed vice chancellor last summer, Basile was an unsuccessful candidate for the interim presidency of Orange Coast College. She has been a teacher in the college district since 1964.