“I have a comment that’s not particular to this policy, but as I was looking through online at our policies, which is what the public would look at, some of them are -um – not very well organized, or aligned. Or edited. And I’m wondering if when this is over, does someone look through the policies regularly to edit them and correct them or – or – what’s the deal?” – Trustee Ruth Hatcher, March 31, 2020.
Sadly, Trustee Hatcher was not talking about the substance of the Board Policy Manual, but rather, just its presentation. She’s right – the Board Policy Manual is a mess, but not because of low quality HTML and an overabundance of typos.
The Board Policy Manual is a disaster because the Trustees don’t write their own policies. They don’t make policy decisions. Like the dinners the President hosts before each Board Meeting, the Trustees simply eat what the Administration puts in front of them.
WCC Trustees allow the Administration to write “Board” policies, then approve whatever the Administration comes up with. This explains why there is no effective governance at WCC. And there hasn’t been for years.
It’s why the Board Policy Manual is loaded with nonsense like the “Voluntary Excellence Guidelines.” It’s why the President can evaluate the Board and let them know how they’re doing. It’s why the Administration blows millions of dollars on a customized website only to discard it, along with the employees who built it. It explains the multiple dozens of new administrators who have inflated the WCC payroll since 2012.
Other community college boards don’t operate this way. They lead from the front, not the rear. It’s time for WCC’s Trustees to put their forks down and take up the work the voters elected them to do.
Photo Credit: Chris Campbell, via Flickr
