Time for Trustees to Act

The South Orange County Community College District has been beset by turmoil for months, with administrators leaving, a proposed course engendering controversy and now the threat of a state takeover of the district’s finances.

The seven trustees need to get matters straightened out and quickly. Avoiding a state takeover should be the first step. Calming teachers and students also should be high on the list.

The district runs two colleges, Saddleback in Mission Viejo and Irvine Valley in Irvine. The chancellor’s office of California Community Colleges has expressed concern about dwindling reserve funds of the district, though district officials say the state’s concerns are overblown.

Still, the state warning of a possible fiscal takeover has forced a halt in the district’s discussions with teachers and other employees about new contracts. A state official said the district will have to explain how it plans to pay for any increases to employees in new contracts, a proper concern.

The district’s faculty is the highest paid of any community college district in California. Officials say they wanted to pay well when the district was established in 1968 as a way of attracting top talent, and the cost of living in Orange County is high.

Still, valid questions have been asked about disparities in salaries. The Community College Assn., a faculty group, said the average maximum salary paid to professors without doctorates in the South Orange County district was just more than $80,000 a year in the 1996-97 school year. Second among community colleges was the San Joaquin district, in the San Joaquin Valley, at $67,561 a year.

The chancellor’s office has already been keeping close tabs on the financial health of the district because of concern about reserves. State officials said if matters do not improve, the district could suffer a “fiscal crisis” this year.

The district also has suffered from a loss of top administrators. The presidents of both Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges resigned last year. The vice chancellor of fiscal services and the chancellor are about to retire.

A major blow to the district’s image came several months ago with the announcement that an elected trustee, Steven J. Frogue, was planning on hosting a seminar on the assassination of John F. Kennedy featuring a speaker who believes the Israeli secret service played a role in the 1963 killing.

That speaker also has denied well-established facts about the Holocaust, according to historians. Another speaker was described by the Anti-Defamation League as a member of the advisory board of an organization that publishes what the ADL calls “the most anti-Semitic publication in America.” Only after publication of a news story about the seminar prompted 200 protest calls to the district did Frogue announce he would not hold the seminar on campus.

Frogue, who at the time was the board president and who remains a member, now is the subject of an attempt to recall him. Although his attempt to provide a forum for bigoted ravings was appalling, recalls generally are best done at regular election time. Certainly, the district cannot afford to hold a special election in its current financial condition, but if Frogue seeks reelection, that would be the time to replace him.

District trustees also installed a new president of Irvine Valley College last year without providing the necessary public notice of their meeting. A judge required the board to meet again, with proper notice, which it did. But the time could have been better spent attending to the schools’ pressing affairs.

The trustees need to heed the state’s fiscal warnings and explain to teachers and students what they are doing to improve matters.

A large number of teachers have been vociferous opponents of some board members, who often split into 4-3 votes. Some supporters of the board majority have contended that the issue is economic, with the teachers wanting more pay. But faculty bargainers have expressed an understanding of the state’s concerns and have indicated a willingness to negotiate pay issues in the new contract.

Whatever action they take on such matters as contracts and personnel, trustees should do a better job of spelling out their reasons. Board members need to listen to students, teachers and residents, and reassure one and all that they are properly watchful of the district’s finances.