College Board to Reconsider Pay Raises for Administrators

The governing board of Antelope Valley College, accused of violating the state’s open-meetings law when it approved hefty pay raises for administrators last month, has decided to reconsider the raises in a public session, college officials said Friday.

The decision came after a college employees union last week filed a formal legal challenge demanding the board “cure or correct” its action. The vote, taken in a late-night public session May 14, gave double-digit pay raises to three college administrators.

The union charged that the board’s action denied the opportunity for public comment and had violated the state Brown Act. The public had no notice because the raises were not listed on the agenda, and the board’s entire discussion occurred behind closed doors before the public vote, records show.

College officials confirmed Friday that the board has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday afternoon to reconsider the pay raises. Also, college officials promised to allow public comment on the raises, which are far larger than those given other college employees this year.

Leaders of the Antelope Valley College Federation of Classified Employees, which represents the college’s clerical workers, said they want to know why the special raises for administrators were made retroactive to July, 1989, unlike similar increases for other college employees.

Under the college board’s vote last month, Jim McDonald, admissions and records director, received a 21.7% raise. Charles Whiteside, human resources and employee relations director, got a 16.7% raise. And Louis Lucero, disabled student services director, received a 12.4% raise.

Those amounts came in addition to the 6.5% cost-of-living increases the college board had previously granted those officials.