The Ranger Online

Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Melissa Toscano Lazcano Board Chair Denver McClendon, District 2 trustee, concludes a Nov. 8 retreat on strategic planning and budgeting at Northeast Lakeview College.

Strategic plan [Click to enlarge]

With the sounds of construction outside the windows of the library at Northeast Lakeview College, the board of trustees met at 9 a.m. Saturday to discuss the growth of the district.

Presentations on enrollment, student performance, finance and possible partnerships with Fort Sam Houston illustrated the district's direction.

"This board retreat is to really allow us to share with administration the future direction and the priorities of the district," board Chair Denver McClendon said.

Administration, however, was not the only group present at the retreat.

Paula McKenna, Laura Lawrence and Mary-Ellen Jacobs, chairs of the Faculty Senates at this college, Northwest Vista and Palo Alto colleges, respectively, attended the retreat.

They said they were encouraged by what they heard from trustees, which was a breath of fresh air given recent exchanges with district personnel.

These same professors gave critical speeches during an Oct. 21 board meeting, protesting Chancellor Bruce Leslie's proposals for development of Playland Park. McKenna, who is a math professor here, read a statement from this college's Faculty Senate calling the proposals fiscally irresponsible.

Lawrence, who is a speech professor at Northwest Vista, said there has been a breakdown in communication, and she, McKenna, and Jeff Hunt, chair of the district Council of Chairs, are going to be "standard bearers of communication," playing a more active role in having faculty's voice heard.

Even though open communication is one of the district's values, Lawrence said, "We've been heard, but it's not fostering an environment of communication."

She said a more proactive approach in a positive way, instead of being confrontational or emotional, can move dialogue forward.

Russ Freeman, representing the DiLuzio Group, a company providing logistical and advisory services for businesses and the government, especially the military, briefly hit upon Playland while giving a presentation on base realignment and closure, or BRAC.

So as not to block anyone's view of his projected presentation, Freeman sat on the floor.

The military, Freeman said, is moving toward doing more with less, which is based on the enemy they are facing. "They've realized the threat's changed," he said. "At one time, they were looking at Russian tank armies followed by large clusters of soldiers. Now they're fighting terrorists." Instead of relying on its own infrastructure, Fort Sam Houston could partner with the district for medical education and take advantage of any future developments of the land at 2222 N. Alamo where Playland Park once stood The property abuts the Army post.

Fort Sam Houston was one of the early possible partners in Leslie's proposals to lease space in Playland to government and local business.

Freeman said he has given the same presentation to generals at Fort Sam Houston, who he said sounded optimistic but wanted feedback from Mayor Phil Hardberger.

Dr. Thomas Cleary, vice chancellor for planning, performance and information systems, gave a presentation on performance-based budgeting, a model being pushed by the state to allocate funding based on measures like productive grade rate, graduation rate and transfer rate. Cleary started his presentation with: "What is student success?"

District 1 trustee Bernard Weiner said it was a student reaching a goal, an answer that other trustees and Leslie agreed to as a good definition.

A student meeting his or her goal, whether that is receiving a certificate, finishing a few classes, graduating or transferring to a four-year university, cannot always be measured, Leslie said.

As an example, Leslie told the story of a St. Philip's College student who worked at a Laundromat Leslie uses.

It was one of the student's two jobs, Leslie said, but one day, he noticed that the student was not at work. The owner said the student found a better job in Dallas. Even though that student would be seen as a "failure" on data the state collects, Leslie said the student is actually successful in achieving his goals.

These measures are not just about funding but part of a broader goal of being the best in the nation, Cleary said. For example, a measure not taken by the state to evaluate performance would be market penetration, which is the participation rate in a district's service area.

This district has 4.2 percent market penetration, while El Paso Community College has 5.4 percent market penetration, Cleary said.

He said this district has demographics on its side because San Antonio will continue to grow in population in the years to come. Greater recruiting efforts are needed to make sure the district expands and does not just keep up with population growth, he said.

Some measures are just not applicable to the district, and low performance could hurt funding, he said. Fall-to-fall persistence, the percentage of students who stay on from one fall semester to another, is an area in which the district falls behind peers, Cleary said. The rates are 57.7 percent for this college, 52 percent for St. Philip's College, 55.3 percent for Palo Alto College and 67.7 percent for Northwest Vista College.

Aside from Northwest Vista, which is the state leader in fall-to-fall persistence, El Paso Community College has a rate of 65 percent, almost 10 points better than this college.

However, the trustees felt it was unfair to measure this category because of the varying goals of the students who attend college at district schools.

Cleary pointed out that the district was being measured against peer schools, making it a fair comparison.

Lawrence said she was encouraged to see that the board and Leslie acknowledge the problems in performance funding.

"It's great that administration and faculty all seem to be on the same page on this," she said. She said some measures are in opposition to the mission for which district colleges were devised. A student receiving a certificate, for example, will not show up as a graduate of a two-year program or a transfer.

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