Posted on 06/06/2007 8:47:57 AM PDT by cold666pack
Roiled emotions seethe at MiraCosta
Board hears about threats, vandalism By Lola Sherman UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 6, 2007
OCEANSIDE – MiraCosta College President Victoria Muñoz Richart fought back tears as she described the vandalism and death threats. Charles Adams, president of the college's board of trustees, then took the lectern to point his finger angrily at people he considers responsible.
Yesterday's board meeting reached an emotional pitch better suited to daytime TV soap operas.
Mary Steiger, a longtime community leader, told the board she was fed up with all the drama. She said she was submitting letters from other residents and that it may be time to “start a courtship” with Palomar College in hopes of a merger in five years.
During the 6 ½-hour meeting, the college board adjusted faculty workloads and agreed to cost-of-living increases only for academic salaries.
The 10,000-student college district has been in turmoil since an investigation into the illegal sale of palm trees belonging to the college was announced in late May 2006.
The upheaval resulted in the departures of three administrators, a no-confidence vote in Richart by the full-time faculty and a no-confidence vote in the board by the Academic Senate.
One of the administrators, Alleen Texeira, a former head of the horticulture department, has pleaded guilty to a grand-theft charge involving $306.
Patrick Connolly, a former FBI agent who is an adjunct instructor of administration of justice at MiraCosta, addressed the board yesterday and questioned the validity of the investigation and its costs.
Board member Carolyn Batiste, in turn, grilled Connolly extensively.
The formal accounting is just less than $200,000. But trustee Gloria Carranza has said she thinks the amount, including costs of keeping administrators on leave for a year, is closer to $1 million.
One of those administrators was Texeira. Another was Julie Hatoff, vice president for instruction, who has sued the college.
During the salary discussions, Richart said the administration wants to start closing the gap between MiraCosta salaries and those at other two-year colleges in the state.
MiraCosta teachers get 22 percent more than any other faculty.
Yesterday, the board approved a one-year contract with a 3.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment. College instructors statewide are getting 4.5 percent more.
The workload agreement increased the working week to 40 hours from 35.
MiraCosta's faculty salary schedule runs from $63,000 a year for first-year, minimally qualified teachers to almost $133,000 for those with a doctorate and 30 years'experience.
The college's annual budget is $77 million.
Also yesterday, the board voted 4-3 not to place on an agenda adiscussion of a letter from 32 former trustees, administrators and instructors seeking Richart's ouster.
Earlier, Richart became emotional when she talked about “KKK” scrawled on a garage at the board president's Oceanside home last week. And for the first time, she revealed the contents of a death threat she received in April.
If Richart doesn't quit, the letter said, “You may not live to regret it! We know the car you drive. We know where you live.”
She has been under FBI protection since.
Adams, whose home was vandalized, said he told police he holds the people who wear green wristbands responsible. The rubber bracelets are inscribed with “Restore Our MiraCosta” and are being worn by some anti-Richart faculty members.
“Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”
Yeah, the Admin and maintenance staff must make do with what they have. The "hard working" academics must maintain the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed......
$306 is grand theft?........I guess her PALMS weren't greased enough........
I’m really trying to get my arms around this situation. If my home was vandalized, I may setup a sting operation to catch the vandals, I might question the neighbors, but one always evaluates the intended outcome against the cost when it is being paid for out of pocket. The problem here, as in so many other cases (scooter libby, the NSA recordings, just to name a few) seems to be that when a person in charge of the public’s purse is not paying the bills themselves, they have decided it is OK to spend the public’s money on a witch hunt. Now granted, the theft is a big deal, fire the perpetrator and anyone even remotely involved in it, but to let an investigation go on without checking back on a weekly basis how much the investigating is costing is worse than the original crime. Am I right?
Yes, you are right. But why is this “green band” group involved? Is there a eco-terrorist situation? Why the “KKK” grafitti? Why the “death threats” over some “cheap” palm trees? There seems to be a lot more than a simple graft and corruption scheme..............
Oh that is exactly why this story is so interesting to me. There’s mean-spirited administrators who had their scheme discovered by a college president, then she turns around and tries to use the scandal as an opportunity to get rid of a few of her foes, now the board president has KKK written in silly string on his house and blames a bunch of folks and finally the president, who many want fired suddenly claims she’s been the victim of death threats. reminds me of the professor i think he was in North carolina who claimed he was beat up by some white supremesists and turns out he concoted the whole thing, remember that? This story is quite rich I think.
There was an incident in SoCal similar to the NC event,IIRC.........
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