8-27-20 Minutes
THE OFFICIAL MINUTES
The Big Bend Community College Board of Trustees held a Board Retreat Thursday, August 27, 2020, at 8:30 a.m. via Zoom Webinar at the Windrow Hotel in Ellensburg, WA.
Call to Order
Present: Anna Franz
Jon Lane
Stephen McFadden
Juanita Richards
Thomas Stredwick
1. Effective Board/President Engagement
The president of Columbia Basin College Dr. Rebekah Woods facilitated the first two sessions of the retreat. Dr. Woods stated the trustees delegate the operational duties of the college to the president using the Carver Policy Governance model. The president’s role is to hold the trustees accountable to policy-level discussions. Trustees also hold each other accountable. A new president should not have to correct trustees. Conversations about policy level and operational levels are important.
Trustees discussed holding each other accountable to policy governance. Agenda items are clearly designated as information or action items, which helps clarify their role. Trustees take action on budgets and board policies. Dr. Tweedy will submit weekly activity updates to the board. Board communication was discussed. It is important to follow specific guidelines to avoid violating the Open Public Meetings Act and foster good relationships between the president and trustees. Individual trustees should copy the board chair on communications outside of the board meetings. Trustees should contact the president’s office when they are on campus to ensure open communication and respect for employees. Information received by one trustees needs to be shared with all trustees. Trustees should inform the president if an employee contacts them; the campus community needs to see the board and president as a united front. BBCC employees are constituents. Vice Presidents should direct trustees to contact the president if approached. The president’s executive assistant may share communication and should understand the line for sharing information. There are complaint processes for employees and students to follow.
Dr. Woods advised Dr. Tweedy and the trustees to work together and be patient. Learning the Washington State system will take time and there will be many scheduled events and a large workload for Dr. Tweedy. It is important for Dr. Tweedy to practice self-care. It is also important for Dr. Tweedy to assess her team.
Dr. Tweedy shared that she values honesty, directness, and good conversations that benefit the college. She is starting from a place of trust with trustees and employees3192 and expects employees to work with autonomy and discretion. Not all ideas can be implemented smoothly and working through problems is part of finding solutions. Dr. Tweedy wants employees to discuss improvement ideas openly. The trustees expressed that they want to hear about how they can help facilitate a smooth transition for President Tweedy.
2. Board Expectations
Dr. Woods stressed the importance of clarity around expectations on informing the board about college issues and for trustees to stay at the policy level. Board Chair McFadden stated he wants to know about anything that could be in the media and litigation around personnel issues.
Board Vice-Chair Franz said the trustees will not substitute their judgement for Dr. Tweedy’s and they want to know about issues to understand if policy revisions are required.
Dr. Tweedy stated she will produce a weekly newsletter and video to build rapport with employees and provide transparency during this difficult time around the COVID pandemic. She will empower employees to do their best work and continue to monitor the campus environment through a pulse survey. Every decision may not have consensus but the rationale for the decision will be communicated. Relationships are critically important and timelines are for projects while communication and care are for people.
The trustees discussed what and how Dr. Tweedy should share her updates. Trustees expressed differing expectations around communication from high level to more detailed reports on Dr. Tweedy’s activities. Weekly messages sharing the good, bad, and the ugly and a summary of progress on major projects is helpful. Dr. Tweedy requested ongoing communication from the trustees around her updates as the relationships grow.
Dr. Woods expressed concern about the president’s evaluation form as it may lead to micromanaging. Dr. Woods provides a written self-evaluation to her trustees. Board Chair McFadden stated the president’s evaluation process will be fine-tuned throughout the year and based on the president’s self-evaluation document. Monitoring reports are also a gage for how the president and campus are performing. The 360 survey may include questions about the college rather than Dr. Tweedy specifically to understand how the college is reaching the community. Dr. Tweedy said failing forward is one avenue to finding innovative solutions.
The trustees discussed introducing Dr. Tweedy to community members in Zoom meetings. Board Chair McFadden shared that the Adams County Development Council and Grant County Economic Development Committee meetings are held via Zoom and they are a good opportunities to introduce Dr. Tweedy.
Short break was announced and the meeting reconvened at 10:50 a.m.3193
3. Dr. Tweedy’s 90-day Plan
Dr. Tweedy reviewed her 90-day plan including accreditation visit preparation, building a positive campus culture, preparing for ctcLink implementation, responding to COVID-19 risks, and strategic planning. She stated ensuring employees have the capacity to perform their work is key to success. Dr. Tweedy will focus on communication, allowing autonomy, gathering feedback for decisions, and helping employees with work/life balance to ensure energy and capacity for innovation and high quality performance. Dr. Tweedy’s priorities are health and safety of students and employees, and fiscal stability.
The current strategic plan expires this year and Dr. Tweedy will review data to understand priorities of institution and to inform strategic planning process. Meaningful strategic planning process depends on relationships and engaged employees.
Dr. Woods stated monthly meetings with the board chair may be helpful and the board could plan an executive session at the six-month mark to review how things are going.
Dr. Tweedy stated her 90-day plan is a beginning for some of the efforts and the projects may not be concluded within 90 days. She is laying the groundwork for successful outcomes. She expressed faith in the competent leaders around her and emphasize her focus on relationship building and community.
The trustees expressed appreciation for Dr. Tweedy’s plan and their desire to support efforts
4. Strategic Plan
Dr. Tweedy said revisiting the mission, vision, and Ends is critical to the strategic planning effort. She will embrace her role to manage the strategic planning process following the accreditation visit by leading the effort to develop goals, objectives, and key performance indicators. The strategic plan defines who we are, what we do, who we serve and how we serve. A thorough review of our data will reveal how students are prepared for transfer to universities and employers. Goals should be based on the Ends Statements and the trustees will discuss current Ends to consider realigning them with the new accreditation standards. Dr. Tweedy stated she will work with stakeholders to determine the desired outcomes and work backwards to ensure the correct steps to reach the outcomes. Employees will be empowered to work their craft and assist the development of the plan Dr. Tweedy stated student success is held up by the pillars named in the Ends Statements.’
Dr. Tweedy and the trustees discussed using consistent language in the values, Ends, academic master plan, facilities master plan, student services master plan, and communication plan. BBCC currently has several foci in ends, values, core themes, and objectives that cause some confusion and diffusion of effort. The new strategic plan will use focused and consistent language drafted by a review of data, accreditation standards, and student success. The trustees’ role is to review and approve the plan after the campus community has prepared the plan.3194
Lunch break.
5. Board Self-Evaluation
Board Chair Stephen McFadden led the self-evaluation discussion. He will compose a self-evaluation statement based on the trustees’ feedback, trustees’ activity reports, and policy governance for the October board meeting.
Trustee Thomas Stredwick stated it is helpful to have guiding documents to review for the evaluation at the high policy level. He would like to simplify to complex information by using a dashboard. Trustee Anna Franz stated reviewing the monitoring reports which include measurements by staff and faculty is helpful and we need to focus on consistency. In the past the process included a session for trustees to measure the college’s effectiveness facilitated by Dean Valerie Parton; this may be revisited in the future. A new board self-evaluation process was put off to focus on the presidential search.
Chair McFadden polled the trustees for their ratings on the Ends and assessments of goal accomplishment.
The board reviewed the Ends and the average ratings for each Ends are below:
E-1
Big Bend Community College delivers lifelong learning through commitment to student success, excellence in teaching and learning, and community engagement.
Average rating by trustees: 3
E-2 Student Success
BBCC provides the diverse population of its entire district with access to opportunities, assists students in completion of their goals, and develops skills for lifelong learning.
Average rating by trustees: 3
E-3 Excellence in Teaching and Learning
BBCC supports innovation, variety, and creativity; maintains high academic and industry standards; and supports professional development for continued growth.
Average rating by trustees: 3
E-4 Community Engagement
BBCC supports economic development by nurturing community and industry partnerships and support to the college to enhance access and service to our district population.
Average rating by trustees: 3
E-5 Integrity and Stewardship
BBCC acts as a responsible steward of resources by promoting accountability, sustainability, ethics and honesty, and prudent resource management to provide quality and affordable resources to the diverse population of our service district.3195
Average rating by trustees: 4
E-6 Inclusion and Climate
BBCC provides and maintains a climate of inclusiveness for students, employees and partners by maintaining a safe learning environment and promoting cultural inclusiveness, understanding, and respect by embracing diversity, access, opportunity, and equity.
Average rating by trustees: 2
Trustee Franz stated the college moderately accomplished the mission and there are still significant areas of improvement such as supporting the diverse population of district and improvements for historically underrepresented groups.
The board discussed the accomplishment of the 2019-20 board goals.
Goal 1- Conduct a successful search for the next BBCC president. Ensure effective onboarding and orientation of the new president upon arrival on campus. Develop goals for the president’s first year of service.
Trustee Stredwick stated this goal was accomplished and he commended Chair
McFadden for his leadership and community engagement.
Trustee McFadden stated this goal was accomplished..
Trustee Franz stated this goal was accomplished with an inclusive president search.
Trustee Lane stated this goal was accomplished and the onboarding is not yet completed.
Trustee Richards stated this goal is accomplished and commented visiting all candidates’ campuses informed the search and helped build board cohesiveness.
Goal 2-Be actively engaged and monitor the progress of the Campus Climate Action Plan. Ensure the president has the tools and means to lead the campus community as it improves climate for students, staff and faculty.
Trustee Stredwick stated campus climate can still be improved and the goal wasaccomplished.
Trustee McFadden stated this goal was accomplished and the new president isempowered to continue making improvements.
Trustee Franz stated this goal was accomplished.
Trustee Lane stated this goal was accomplished and it is important to continue to seek feedback from faculty members.
Trustee Richards stated this goal was accomplished. There is increased transparency, more active listening, and more participation on the campus. This effort needs to continue to support culture change.
Goal 3 Develop and implement an improved system for monitoring Board effectiveness that includes establishing an annual checklist for monitoring the overall performance of BBCC.3196
Trustee Stredwick stated this goal was not accomplished. This goal could be included this year and tied to strategic planning
Trustee McFadden rated this goal as neutral. Good work was accomplished on board function; however, the board has not clearly identified a system for monitoring board effectiveness.
Trustee Franz stated this goal was not accomplished.
Trustee Lane stated this goal was not accomplished. The focus was derailed by the presidential search and COVID-19.
Trustee Richards stated this goal was not accomplished, it is a work in progress needing more evidence and definition.
2020-21 Board Goals
Vice Chair Franz led the 2020-21 board goal discussion. The trustees discussed the rankings of their goals. The top goals included:
Goal 1. Presidential onboarding.
Goal 2. Develop and implement an improved system for monitoring Board effectiveness that includes establishing an annual checklist for monitoring the overall performance of BBCC.
Goal 3. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to support student success for historically underrepresented groups. Student success and decreasing the achievement gap between student groups is an operational goal of the college.
Trustee Franz will draft proposed goals for the meeting on October 1.
Trustee Richards stated she would like to see more education for the board.
Trustee Stredwick would like to see the ratings more defined and less subjective with measureable targets.
Trustee Stredwick reported that he is on the ACT Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion sub-committee. Trustee Lane reported that there is a lot of conversation around equity, diversity, and inclusion nationally.
Board Job Descriptions
Trustee Franz discussed revising the board job description and the information she found while researching the statutory obligations and policy governance information from other institutions. The trustees discussed job descriptions and the need for a handbook and job description for the entire board to include the unspoken norms and where we deviate from Carver Policy Governance. The job description from Lake Washington Institute of Technology seemed close to the BBCC trustees’ duties. A committee may be formed to draft the job description.
5. Closing the Achievement Gap
Dr. Bryce Humpherys presented information about the student achievement and equity gaps at BBCC and noted that national trends, the new NWCCU accreditation standards,3197 and the WA State Student Achievement Initiative focus on these areas. Guided Pathways and applied baccalaureates are strategies to increase monitoring and engage the whole campus in decreasing gaps between student groups. Additional training and connectivity are identified needs. We are sustaining and refining innovative solutions such as the virtual services we have introduced since before and during the COVID pandemic, Starfish student management, and accelerated math and English among others.
BBCC ranks high in WA State for equity points by percentage and we continue work toward solutions for continuing students and new students focusing on equity in the online and in-person classrooms. If we receive the new Title V Grant, the robust professional development centered on equity will have a positive impact. Trustee Jon Lane stated he would like to learn more about Starfish during a future board meeting.
7. Accreditation
Dr. Bryce Humpherys reported that regional accreditation by the NWCCU is a quality check that ensures we can receive federal funding. The seven-year accreditation cycle is essential to fulfilling our mission. Two standards are broken into four areas; one standard focuses on continuous improvement in the organization, the second standard focuses on policies and procedures. After submitting accreditation reports in August, VP Humpherys is currently leading preparations for the virtual accreditation visit October 12-14. The commission will meet and decide about our status in January 2021 and we will be notified after January. BBCC will have an in-person visit next spring. VP Humpherys described the evaluation team, which will meet with the board and students with no college employees in the room to ask clarifying questions about the college. The focus for the board will be on policy governance and board processes. Trustee McFadden requested notes and talking points regarding anticipated questions for the board. Following the visit the evaluation team will send the draft report to the president and we can correct factual errors. The president is invited to attend the NWCCU meeting in January. Examples of talking points include discussing board policies that support continuous improvement such as the equity statement approved by the board in the spring. Trustee Lane commented this is good information to be included in the board job description. VP Humpherys stated the data committee is meeting in September and their research briefs provide valuable information in this area.
President Tweedy thanked Vice Presidents Humpherys, Garza, and Schoonmaker and Dean Parton and Executive Assistant Dourte for their support as she begins her tenure as president.
8. September Study Session Topics
The trustees discussed including campus climate, COVID, budget, and fall quarter updates during the October meeting. The SBCTC has reported that the budget cuts may not be as harsh as initially thought. SBCTC Executive Director Jan Yoshiwara said the legislators understand the important role community and technical colleges play in3198 economic recovery. Trustee Lane encouraged his fellow trustees and community members to contact legislators urging their support.
Dr. Tweedy acknowledged VP Schoonmaker’s competent budget management and expressed appreciation for the BBCC leadership.
Adjourned 3:33 p.m.