Liat Nosrati
The district board of trustees will consider placing a third construction bond on the ballot when they meet on April 23 in Pierce’s newly built Student Community Center, explained Pierce College President Robert Garber at an Academic Senate meeting.
A survey informing voters of a third bond was introduced in March. The bond has many supporters, but has not yet been approved by the board of trustees.
If the board does approve the bond, then it will be on the November 2008 election ballot.
Through this third bond, Pierce will receive around $400 million, which will go toward building three new large-scale buildings on the Pierce campus: a library, a green technology building and a digital arts and media building.
“Those three buildings would answer a lot of what was missing from the first two bonds,” Garber said.
The first two bonds, Propositions A and AA, were passed in 2001 and 2003. These two bond measures gave the Los Angeles Community College District a grand total of $2.2 billion, of which Pierce was given $166 million under Proposition A and $106.5 million under Proposition AA.
Although the Student Community Center is up to par just yet. The doors at the entrance are temporary doors that are only seven feet tall, but they will soon be replaced by doors that are nine feet tall.
At the meeting, Garber also discussed the matter of hiring new faculty, but said, “I haven’t been overwhelmed with resignations yet.”
While the likelihood of a third bond is possible, the school’s budget for next year isn’t looking so great.
In a March 24 District Academic Senate newsletter that was presented at the meeting, David Beaulieu, DAS president, wrote, “The news is definitely worse. We are now facing an additional $7.5 million loss this year due to the property tax shortfall.”
Pierce’s share of that $7.5 million loss is approximately $935,000.
Additionally, Transfer Center Board to vote on proposed bond director Elizabeth Atondo gave a preview of the common advanced placement policy.
Atondo indicated that the policy would not alter the rule that faculty members in an academic discipline at each campus are the ones who decide what score is required on an advanced placement exam to be approved course equivalency.
“This is for how A.P. exams can be applied to an associate degree, G.E. requirement, a graduation requirement and how many units students get,” Atondo said.
Atondo will give a brief presentation on the common advanced placement policy at the next Academic Senate meeting, which will take place in the College Services Conference Room on Monday at 2:15 p.m.
Pierce College President Robert Garber talks about the new Student Community Center where WiFi is available and students can do their schoolwork. ()