Hello District Colleagues,
Welcome to the second issue of The Three Rings. I hope your semester has been off to a great start. I had the pleasure of walking the campuses on the first day of classes with all three college Presidents and the energy was so uplifting!

I have heard similar reports from each visit with the Presidents: That our campuses were active with full parking lots and the “feeling” of pre-pandemic enrollments. We will present our official enrollment report to the board in October, after the census data is in. As you know, the Board outlined a goal of increasing enrollments by 15% this fall, and we are currently seeing an exciting upward trend!
I appreciate all you do for students and wish you a wonderful fall semester!




The Chancellor’s Classroom
The Chancellor’s Classroom is a section of this blog to help educate our community about the work of District operations and the Chancellor’s office. In many instances, because I am new to this role, I am a student of District ops alongside you! It is my commitment to share transparently the insight and perspective I am rapidly gaining. Today, I chose two topics of particular relevance and import at this moment in time. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Antiracism and Anti-Blackness

As a District community, we are committed to the work of eradicating racism and countering a culture of Anti-Blackness. Here are some of the actions from our District:
- The Board approved the Antiracism Council (ARC), a recommending body to the Chancellor, which plays a critical role in identifying issues and working to respond with the Chancellor to issues as they arise, in addition to providing professional development and training opportunities to employees to improve their broader understanding of racial issues. Currently, ARC is working with the Chancellor and the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) to create a roadmap for us to counter Anti-Blackness.
- The Board approved the interim Chief Diversity Officer/Ombuds position so that employees who are experiencing issues including, but not limited to, race and Anti-Blackness, have a safe place to express the issues and can create a plan with the Ombuds to resolve those issues before they decide to leave the District or before their issues elevate to claims against employees or the District. In addition, the CDO works with the Antiracism Council, as one of its members, to create District-wide strategies and promote draft policy for Board consideration that can further eradicate or disrupt systems in place that perpetuate racism and, in particular, Anti-Blackness.
- The Chancellor continually supports the work of the Antiracism Council and recently approved its budget requests that support specific implementations of ARC work.
- The Chancellor is working with the CHRO and the CDO to extract District data and create EEO reports on diversity data to determine where we need to improve our hiring and retention practices. We anticipate the data will show little improvement in the retention of colleagues of color, particularly racially Black employees, and will create a plan for improvement. We are also working to improve hiring practices that control for bias and include holding members of hiring committees accountable to new hires to serve as guides, supports, and mentors as new employees are onboarded—and to ensure new employees are aware of all the resources available to them.
- The Chancellor is working with ARC and the CDO to ensure appropriate support and programs are in place to support our colleagues of color, particularly our Black colleagues, to ensure a sense of belonging and community—with a goal to improve long-term retention of our Black colleagues.
- The CDO is working with the campuses’ Equity Directors to ensure continuity of efforts to expand equity professional development to our employees who serve students, which extends to our work in developing the K-12 partnerships in many Districts. The goal of this work is to improve the climate and lend support to educational equity for students and educators countywide.
Capital Improvement Projects



When I took the Chancellor’s seat, I learned that the last of our general obligation bond funds (Measure H) are fully allocated, with no contingency plan for funding our current and future maintenance and capital needs. (This is a big frisbee to the face!) I see this as a significant challenge that will be a topic of public conversation in the next few months as we work with the Board to solve immediate and future needs for significant funding sources.
Also, a few weeks ago, I met with the District project planning team and heard their many upcoming challenges concerning funding, capacity, and projects that are out of alignment with the District’s Facilities Master Plan and Five-Year Capital Outlay plan. In order to understand this area, I took a deep dive into our policies and Education Code, and temporarily paused all new construction projects so that Chancellor’s Cabinet and the project planning team could review available capital funding and appropriately prioritize that funding to inform the District’s new capital improvement priorities – especially in the context of the lack of bond funding which has been the primary source of capital improvements for the last several years.
Broadly speaking, the job of the Chancellor is to ensure we are all following and implementing Board Policy. The Chancellor’s office is responsible for creating processes to help us implement policies. Education Code and Board Policy are controlling on the matter of capital improvements and facilities in general. For example, Education Code (§81600 & §70902.B.2.(1)) provides that the Board of Trustees manage and control property within the District. And BP 8.17 establishes that the Board of Trustees controls capital outlay and construction, and the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor implement the construction programs across all three campuses. BP 6.80 addresses off-campus facilities, and BP 8.80 addresses temporary facilities use.
The Board is the only body that can authorize negotiations of possessory interests (real property leases) and typically will designate the Executive Vice Chancellor as its negotiator. In addition, the campuses are required to work collaboratively with the the Board and the Chancellor before embarking on significant facility construction, renovations, or facelifts. Campuses do, however, have autonomy to engage community groups and public agencies within our County for short-term and temporary needs (without a possessory interest) per BP 8.80 and AP 8.80.1.
Controlling our capital improvement plans are the District’s Facilities Master Plan (FMP) and the District’s Five-Year Capital Outlay Program. These are important to align with for several reasons:
- The 2022-2028 FMP went through an extensive and documented participatory governance process that included review and input from the Board of Trustees, the District cabinet and staff, all campuses’ presidential cabinets and constituent groups (faculty, staff, and students), and community members in our surrounding cities and neighborhoods. The FMP also incorporates the colleges’ Education Master Plans (EMP), which also must align with the FMP. Projects that are not included in the FMP or the EMP but are funded can be problematic and considered to have sidestepped the participatory governance process without appropriate approvals from the Chancellor and the Board for a major funding allocation. We need to work together to ensure alignment with the FMP.
- The Five-Year Capital Outlay Program is a District-owned process whereby the District submits an application to the State for future projects and requests funding and updates the plan each year. The project list is created in consultation with campus leadership. For example, the District submitted CSM’s B9 Library project almost 12 years ago. This complex process governed by the State takes a long time and requires the District to come up with a match once State funding comes through. After a project is in the queue, it goes through various iterations of approvals (Initial Project Proposal [IPP] and Final Project Proposal [FPP]). Our District has several major projects in the statewide queue. You can check with your campus VPAs to learn which are in the queue. Once a project comes to the top of the State’s list and gets funding allocated (as SKY’s B2, CAN’s B13, and CSM’s B9 has), the District must decide whether to move forward—which involves identifying matching funds. Without bond funding, identifying matching funds becomes a great challenge. The State list requires tremendous time and advocacy from our District team. We expect our campuses to support the State projects that have been submitted even as we experience leadership changes.

We are now moving forward with prioritized projects, and will be working collaboratively across the District and campuses to continue our efforts in prudent earmarking and prioritization of existing funds as we create a new funding strategy for our future.
I hope this summary helps our community better understand the integrated work of the Board, the Chancellor’s office, the District teams, and the campuses.
COVID-19 Update
The District COVID-19 website has recently been archived, leaving a single updated webpage of relevant information. Chief Facilities and Operations Officer Michele Rudovsky is the District COVID Safety Officer. As per CalOSHA, employees need to continue reporting COVID-19 positives via an online form. Students, employees, and community members must follow guidance to remain away from campus if they are sick, symptomatic, or test positive for COVID-19. Antigen tests, surgical masks, and N95 respirators remain available at Public Safety offices and college bookstores.
Here is the most recent recommendation from CDC as of 9/12/2023 regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Board Corner
“The Board Corner” is a regular feature of this blog to help you stay informed about discussions and decisions that frequently impact our work. Giving up a Wednesday evening to watch a board meeting may not be feasible for everyone. Below, you’ll find summaries of past Board of Trustees meetings, study sessions, and retreats in an effort to improve transparency around Board discussions and decisions. All Board meetings, except retreats, are recorded and posted to the Board Meeting Videos webpage.
Also, the Board has been working with me and the Chancellor’s Cabinet to transform how we do the District’s business in the boardroom. It has very much been a mutual effort with our Board. I hope you notice meetings are more efficient with the help of deft agenda setting and our Board leadership. Our goal each month is to end Board Meetings around 8:30 p.m., and our 9/13/23 meeting ended at 8:31 p.m.!
Regular Meeting: Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Actions
- 10.1 Approval of Personnel Items. (Approved as amended)
- 11.1 Ratification of May and June 2023 District Warrants (Approved)
- 11.2 Ratification of Site Use Permit with MAD Scientist Amateur Radio Club at the College of San Mateo (Approved)
- 11.3 Ratification of the Disposal of Surplus Personal Property (Approved)
- 11.4 Ratification of Student Accidental Injury Insurance Program 2023-2024 (Approved)
- 11.5 Disposition of District Records for District Office and College of San Mateo (Approved)
- 11.6 Report on the Use of Public Agency Contracts for the Purchase of Materials, Equipment, Supplies and Services (Approved)
- 11.7 Community College League of California (CCLC) and California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Membership Dues, 2023-2024 (Approved)
- 12.1 Adopt a Resolution Supporting Assembly Bill 1749 (Approved)
- 12.3 Request for a 21-Day Extension of the Third Memorandum of Understanding Between the District and the San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation (Approved)
- 12.4 Adoption of Chancellor Selection Procedures, Consultant, and Timeline (Chancellor Selection Procedures – approved as amended; Consultant and Timeline – not approved)
Discussion
- 12.2 College of San Mateo Building 9 Library Modernization Project
- 13.1 Discussion of Board Self-Evaluation
- 13.2 Discussion Regarding Formation of an Advisory Committee for the Athletic Centers
- 13.3 Update on Half Moon Bay Education Facility
Watch the 8/23 meeting recording
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Study Session: Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Actions
- 7.1 Approval of Personnel Items (Approved)
Presentations & Discussion
- 8.1 Brown Act Presentation and Discussion
- 8.2 Update on Districtwide Student Housing at College of San Mateo
- 8.3 SMCCCD Fall 2023 Enrollment Update
- 8.4 Chancellor Search Process and Timeline
Watch the 8/9 session recording
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Regular Meeting: Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Actions
- 7.1 Recognition and Adoption of Resolution No. 23-20 Honoring President of College of San Mateo, Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza (Approved)
- 12.1 Approval of Personnel Items (Approved)
- 12.2 Acceptance and Approval of Revised 2023 Board of Trustees Meeting Dates (Approved)
- 13.1 Approval of Agreement with San Mateo Union High School District Regarding Middle College at Skyline College (Approved as amended)
- 13.2 Approval of Agreement with South San Francisco Unified School District Regarding Middle College at Skyline College (Approved as amended)
- 13.3 Approval of Contract Award for Meal Services for the Child Development Centers at College of San Mateo and Skyline College (Approved)
- 14.1 Proposed Extension of the Third Amended Master Agreement between the District and Foundation (Approved)
Discussion
- 15.1 Discussion of Process and Timeline for Chancellor Search
- 15.2 College of San Mateo Building 9 Library Modernization Project
Watch the 7/26 meeting recording
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Board Retreat: Saturday, July 15, 2023
Summary
The Board had a great retreat that included a candid conversation about why each chose to serve our District and students. Consultant Cindi Napoli Abella Reiss facilitated the retreat. The Board received three homework projects.
- Review and revise all board policies to align with Education Code and best practices from the Community College League of California (CCLC). They have Chapters 1 and 2 in their hands and will continue over this next year to complete all seven chapters;
- Review and revise the new Board of Trustees Handbook;
- Conduct a self-evaluation in anticipation of goal setting for the year.
You will see the Board’s work on these items throughout the year and the final goal setting session will take place at the October 4, 2023, Special Board meeting.