LAREDO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

Laredo, Texas

The regular meeting of the Laredo Community College Board of Trustees convened on Monday, April 29, 2002,

beginning at 6:05 p.m., in Laird Hall 124.

	MEMBERS PRESENT		OTHERS
ROLL CALL	Ramiro V. Martinez, President		Ramón H . Dovalina
	Pete Saenz, Jr., Vice President		Juan L. Maldonado
	Carlos Carranco, Jr., Secretary		Daniel Flores, Jr.
	Leonides G. Cigarroa, Jr.		Blas Castaneda
	Gladys C. Keene		Horace C. Hall, III, College Attorney
	J.C. Trevino, Jr.
	Sabas Zapata, III
	Maria de la Luz Cardenas, Ex-Officio
	MEMBERS ABSENT
	Raquel Gonzalez Cynthia Mares
INVOCATION	President Martinez called the meeting to order. Mr. Carranco gave the invocation and Mr. Saenz called the roll. A quorum of the members was present.
MINUTES	Mr. Carranco moved to approve the minutes of March 7, and Dr. Cigarroa seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY	Dr. Hector Farias, VIDA representative, stated that the item he had concerns with was not on the agenda. His concerns were with the high rate of failure with the students on the Distance Education Program. Mr. Richard Geissler, VIDA representative, stated his concern on the public testimony policy and on addressing the Board. He also requested that the Board meeting should be aired on the cable 55 station at a time that was more convenient for the public to view. Mr. John Castro, STAND representative, reminded trustees that the Public Testimony policy had not been changed,
CORRESPONDENCE AND INTRODUCTIONS	Dr. Dovalina introduced the Honor Student representative, Gabriel Carranza. Another student, Marissa Iglesias, was also introduced. The new employees include: Roberto Mandujano, Jr., Culinary Arts Instructor/Food Service and Adrian Cortez, Sr., Canine Training Instructor. Trustees received information on upcoming events and graduation ceremonies schedule. Ms. Rosalinda Herrera, Foreign Languages Department Chair, introduced Dulce Sepulveda, who recited Diezysiete Anos, a Spanish poem that won her first place in the recent LCC Spanish Poetry Competition.
FACULTY SENATE REPORT	Ms. Lucy Cardenas, Faculty Senate President, distributed a copy of faculty concerns that were presented before the Program/Policy Committee of the LCC Board of Trustees. Some of the items have already been addressed by the President and Vice President. She introduced the new officers of the Faculty Senate: President, Mr. Steve Lewis, Vice President, Mr. Manuel Rios, and Secretary, Ms. Jan Little.
CONTRACT FOR THE RELOCATION OF PIPELINES AT SECOND CAMPUS DUKE PIPELINE and OCEAN ENERGY PIPELINE	Mr. McMurrey reported that $43,000 was the final cost for the College to pay for the relocation of the pipelines. The college attorney has reviewed the contract. Discussion followed. Mr. Trevino moved to accept staff recommendation on the relocation of Duke Pipeline and the Ocean Energy pipeline contract. Dr. Keene seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Trustees requested that a copy of the second campus budget be included whenever an item is added.
FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT	Mr. Saenz reported that the Finance Committee had reviewed the financial report.
TENURE RECOMMENDATIONS	Dr. Dovalina, reported that there were twelve faculty members being recommended for tenure. All had met and exceeded the standards as required by policy. Recommendations include: Magdalena Alexander, English; Fortunato Aldape Automotive Tech.; Priscilla Garcia, Child Development; Elsa A. Garcia, English; Manual Gonzalez, Vocational Nursing; Randy Kock, English; Connie Madrigal, A.D.Nursing; Rosamaria Pena, Psychology/Sociology; Rosario R. Pena, A.D. Nursing; Harold Tatum, Counselor/Assessment Coordinator; Delia V. Trevino/ Physical Therapist Asst.; Jimmy Trevino, Criminal Justice. Mr. Saenz moved to accept the tenure recommendations and Dr. Keene seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
PENDING BUSINESS	Dr. Cigarroa, member of the Program/Policy Committee, reported that individuals representing different employee groups voiced several concerns. The committee will be reviewing the Public Testimony policy, communications with the community, and other concerns. They will make a recommendation to the Board at a future meeting.
DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM PRESENTATION	Dr. Estelle J. Sit, Dean of Information Technology, provided a presentation on the history of the program, cable 55 station, center for distance learning, interactive video conferencing, online courses, telecourse web plus, off-campus live courses, Virtual College of Texas, faculty training, student enrollment, expenses, faculty, withdrawals, associate degrees by distance, media streaming courses, and distance education students.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT	The Library, Campus Police, Personnel, Travel, and Second Campus reports were distributed for information only.
NEXT MEETINGS	A special meeting is scheduled for May 7, 2002, to canvass the election; a regular meeting is scheduled for May 23, 2002, and a special meeting is scheduled for May 30, 2002.
EXECUTIVE SESSION	At 8:05 p.m., Mr. Zapata moved to go into executive session as allowed by Article 252-17, Sec. 2 (g) to discuss personnel matters. Mr. Carranco seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
RETURN TO OPEN MEETING		At 8:44 p.m., the Board reconvened and President Martinez reported that no action was taken. Mr. Carranco moved that the suspended employee be suspended without pay. Dr. Keene seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Trevino moved that the dismissed employee be informed that the board will appoint a committee to hear his case. Mr. Carranco seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Fred Solis, Dr. Marlene Luna, and Mr. Ramiro Martinez were appointed to the Hearing Committee. Mr. Martinez will report on the committee’s recommendation.
ADJOURNMENT		The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

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