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Dear Faculty, Classified Staff and Administrative Staff Colleagues:

For the inscription of my high school yearbook photo, I chose the familiar James Taylor lyric, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain/I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end/I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.” (That should date me for you, but under no circumstances will you ever see my yearbook photo!)

This lyric seemed to me then, as now, to express the paradox of human experience, how two utterly opposite things are both true. During this month of November, we experienced this paradox again in both the natural and man-made world with the disastrous fires and then the recent soaking rains. These experiences serve to humble us, to awe us and to unite us to weather all storms together.

Thus, the calendar turns to the month of December tomorrow and there are but three weeks left to the end of the semester and our holiday break. So here are some bulletin board updates as we head into the holiday season.

Tentative Agreement with Department Chairs Council

This week the College and the DCC arrived at agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement that I will recommend to the Board of Trustees for approval at the December 13th board meeting.

I have personally congratulated the chief negotiators Darlene Alioto and Dianna Gonzales for the achievement of this “win-win” agreement. My gratitude extends to all of the members of the negotiating team and especially all of the department chairs for their openness and hard work as we walk together to create a sustainable future for the college.

With last spring’s CBA with AFT 2121 and now DCC, we are achieving “climate change” on campus, but the right kind. Now on to SEIU 1021!

Men’s Soccer in State Championship Semi-Finals

Yesterday morning I sent off the team on the bus to Ventura with a message of congratulations and our wishes for good luck. These fine young men were so grateful that we are following them and rooting for them.

Today, Friday, November 30th, at 1:00 PM at Ventura College they play the #1 team in the state, Cerritos. If the team wins today, they go on to the state championship final game on Sunday and I will be there. You can livestream today’s game at:

Special Board of Trustees Study Session on December 4th, 4PM @ Chinatown/North Beach

If it is possible to enjoy a Board of Trustees meeting, these special study sessions certainly are it!

These are not regular business meetings of the Board but rather study sessions devoted to a focused topic for the Board to receive more detailed reports and to engage in extended discussion and dialogue in public. Last year the Board held study sessions on the Path to 32,000 FTES, the Facilities Master Plan and the Technology Plan. This year we recently had a study session on a proposed Facilities Bond to fund the construction of the Facilities Master Plan. We are all grateful to the Board for its commitment to transparency and support of these study sessions.

Next week, the Board will focus on the topic of the student-centered class schedule and the directly related issue of the 2018-2019 budget. All are welcome. I especially encourage our faculty and staff leaders to attend so that they can be fully informed of the latest on the spring class schedule, the data on the Banner 9 migration and spring registration, and the updates on the 2018-2019 college budget.

And if you can’t make the study session, my door is always open (as long as you invite me to Philz for coffee).

Finally, please join me for our college-wide holiday celebration.

All faculty, staff and students are welcome from all ���鴫ý campus centers. Administrators will arrange minimal operations so that staff are released to this event. As a special new feature of this year’s event, the Administrators Association Executive Council (AAEC) will be presenting the winner of its ugly sweater contest. (All ugly sweaters welcome.)

With sincere thanks,

Dr. Mark Rocha, Chancellor
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