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Changes to the WCCC Board
Posted 5-19-08
I would not be writing this article and there
would be little attention paid to the Westmoreland County
Community College (WCCC) if its president, Dr. Steve Ender, and
certain trustees had been willing to let alone the hiring
practices that had been in place for 37 years. Since inception,
salaried employees were brought in front of the Board of
Trustees for approval, and the president, with no board
oversight, hired hourly employees. That system seemed to work
reasonably well, but Dr. Ender wanted no board oversight except
for his position's hiring and that of the three vice-presidents.
After a series of events I'm about to describe
and a growing uneasiness among other trustees, the county
commissioners took action to change the board and to encourage
more openness and accountability in the hiring practices at WCCC.
We began receiving correspondence from individuals who were
unable to receive interviews for jobs at WCCC in fields that
they already possessed extensive experience. When inquiries were
made, it always seemed there was a different rationalization for
someone not even being interviewed. That caused great concern.
Then a board member who is also a member of the
personnel committee requested a list of all the people hired
during Dr. Ender's tenure. He was stonewalled for more than 30
days with excuses that "it would take too much work to produce"
and questions of why he wanted the information. If someone
walked in off the street and made a Freedom of Information Act
request, it should be provided with no questions asked. That is
the law. When that incident took place, it caused even greater
concern.
The list turned out to show that more than 600
people were hired by WCCC in the last two years. Most of them
were hourly people hired to teach a particular class but more
than 50 were salaried people. What was alarming was several
individuals had been hired as hourly workers and then only a few
months later given raises of nearly $20,000 and assigned new
titles. Trustees were unaware of such actions, and it certainly
defeats the spirit of cooperation between the president and the
board.
From my perspective, I believe publicly funded
educational institutions should operate with same openness as
governments do. In Westmoreland County government, we vote
publicly on every hiring and termination and approve pay raises
for any employee the same way. Municipal governments do the
same, and, as far as I know, so do Pennsylvania's 500 school
districts.
I am not interested in who is hired, and I do
not expect the Board of Trustees to become involved in the
internal processes to select employees, but I do expect final
approval to be made by the people we appoint as the public's
eyes and ears at WCCC.
There had been other issues with Dr. Ender that
have made me uneasy about his willingness to share information
with the trustees. Not long ago he wanted to eliminate the board
from approving contracts for the college. That move was stopped
because, in the original sponsor agreement between the county
and the college, the Board of Trustees was made the contracting
agent for the college.
I became more and more concerned that a number
of board members were willing to abdicate responsibility for
overseeing the business of the college. They are not there to
develop curriculum but to ensure the business of the college is
conducted in a manner that protects the public's investment. I
was concerned that public oversight of the county's $4.5 million
annual investment would diminish greatly if we did not take
action to appoint board members who recognize that WCCC is not
the private domain of the president.
It is puzzling to watch educators cry "politics"
because we want final approval for the hiring process to be done
at a public meeting. For starters, as I mentioned above, the
board has ratified salaried employees for 37 years, so it has
been a long-standing accepted practice. Secondly, the reality is
that there are politics played everywhere in our society, from
corporate boardrooms, to church councils, to governments at all
levels and certainly in the world of education too. Those
internal search committees that produce candidates for jobs
choose candidates subjectively; that is "politics". No one is
hired by being the highest scorer on a standardized test;
therefore everything else is subjective. It happens everywhere,
and I don't care how sanctimonious Dr. Ender acts on this issue;
it is taking place on his watch at WCCC. I am looking for some
honesty and public accountability.
A few people have criticized us for appointing
new trustees. But let me first clarify that appointments do not
serve life terms. The people who came off the board replaced
someone else when they were appointed. It is the nature of the
process. And frankly, the people who recently came off the board
were supporters. There is not a government entity anywhere from
the White House to your local municipality that doesn't appoint
people who are friendly. But when a significant philosophical
difference occurs, changes are made.
We've appointed perhaps the premier economic
development person in the region, Larry Larese, to the Board.
His understanding of workforce needs and network with local
employers will serve WCCC well. Kathy Burkley has served as a
Greensburg-Salem School Director overseeing budgets much larger
than the college's and has spent years on Greensburg City
council. Now she heads a local non-profit. Tim Andrews and Tony
Vigilante are both respected local attorneys with experience in
education.
The criticism of Mr. Larese and Mr. Andrews
being employed by the county is foolish, as they shouldn't be
precluded from public service because of public employment. No
one criticized us for appointing Gail Malloy who has for years
had a contract with Westmoreland County.
I think that as often is the case change can be
unsettling. But these new members will bring a broad range of
expertise and a fresh perspective to the board. I hope Dr. Ender
is willing to appreciate that WCCC is not excluded from the need
for openness in how it conducts business. That has been the
driving force behind the changes made to the WCCC Board of
Trustees.
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