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FROM PAGE 1
THE CURRENT
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 1 6, 20 1 3
AN AUTUMN INTRODUCTION PHOTOS: MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Three-month-old Marshall Rief of Costa Mesa discovers that pumpkin-hunting can be exhausting work. Marshall was at the fair with mom and dad Kelly and Chase Rief.
Gavin Mitchell, 8, of Orange initiates a staring contest with an alpaca at the Environmental Nature Center’s Fall Faire and Pumpkin Patch. Popping up from a bed of pumpkins is Ethan Escobar, 3, of Newport Beach, while his mom tries to take his picture. The pumpkin patch was part of the Environmental Nature Center’s Fall Faire, featuring live music, food, crafts, games and a petting zoo with an alpaca.
COLLEGE F R O M PA G E 1
The survey comes as the college system works to restore its credibility in the eyes of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which gave the district a warning in July after finding inefficiencies on the board and other issues at the college system’s three campuses. The warning could lead to a loss of the district’s accreditation, which could disqualify it from receiving government funding. The commission gave the district until March 2014 to make changes, such as reviewing its policies and bylaws on a more regular basis and assessing students’ performance in classes more. The district’s three schools were also given some changes to make. Though some of the 357 respondents’ comments were positive, most were wounding critiques of the board. The criticisms ranged from “This is the most dysfunctional organization I have ever seen,” to “I don’t know a happy person in their job,” with one respondent comparing the board to the Soviet Union in that “every small item must be approved before being carried out.”
Minion, a rescued screech owl, shows off wide yellow eyes. The owl fell out of the nest as a baby and is not releasable, according to wildlife educator Peggy Chase.
Board President Lorraine Prinsky said though the responses weren’t exactly flattering and some were misinformed, the employees’ criticisms give the board a baseline for improvement. “(The comments) are meaningful, useful information and we need to pay attention to and incorporate them into our action plan,” she said Monday. “What’s going to be more important is to make comparison in our next survey.” Prinsky suggested giving out the survey as a way of addressing some of the issues brought forth by the accreditation board. In addition to the comment section, the survey also asked respondents to rank the trustees using five qualifiers, the best being “outstanding” and the worst being “unacceptable.” Respondents could also answer “unable to evaluate.” When asked if the board’s decisions reflect public interest, more than half responded “needs improvement.” About a third of employees who responded said the board needs improvement when it comes to establishing policies consistent with the district’s mission. Sixteen percent of the respondents said the trustees’ understanding of the accreditation process is “unacceptable.”
OARFISH F R O M PA G E 1
FILE PHOTO: ROD VEAL, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Coast Community College District Board of Trustees recently solicited opinions of its leadership in a survey.
In their self-evaluation, the trustees admitted that hostile relations between trustees often get in the way of good governance. Prinsky and Trustee Jim Moreno both said the trustees do have strong personalities, but they all have the same goals in mind. “The lack of trust and mutual respect among members creates problems for working as a team. When there is distrust and hostility coming from the board, it permeates the entire district,” trustees wrote in the anonymous comment section of the self-evaluation. The most dissatisfaction, though, was pointed not at themselves but at Jones. This balance of power was one of the areas the accreditation commission said trustees needed to work on. They recommended that the board not get too in-
volved with academic planning and employee performance evaluations. Four out of the five board members said the working relationship with the district CEO, or Jones, either needs improvement or is unacceptable. In the comment section, trustees elaborated. “Get the chancellor to make clear, effective recommendations on all issues – not just sit back and let the board hammer things out,” the comment read, in all capital letters. All trustees stated that the district’s financial reserves was “outstanding” at the time of the survey and were for the most part satisfied with their involvement in improving the district’s accreditation status. C O N TA C T T H E W R I T E R :
7 1 4-796-2227 or lsteussy@ocregister.com
water at Toyon Bay, about 2 miles west of the island’s main town of Avalon. “I was out snorkeling, and I saw it just west of the pier on the sea floor,” Santana said. “I didn’t have a camera, and I thought to myself, ‘If I just tell everyone I saw this huge thing, they probably won’t believe me.’ ” So, she dived down to inspect the creature and, after making sure it was dead – and checking to make sure nothing else even bigger was around that might have killed it – Santana began pulling the fish by its tail to shore. “It was so heavy, there was no way I was lifting that thing out of the water,” she said. Once she got the oarfish to shallow water, other instructors ran toward the find in disbelief, helping her pull in the estimated 200-pound monster. Fellow instructor Michelle Sakai-Hart was offloading gear from the institute’s tall ship Tole Mour at the pier when she saw Santana in the water, struggling with the oarfish. “I had heard of an oarfish, and had seen footage of a baby one, but nothing like this,” Takai-Hart said. In
Oarfish facts Scientific name: Regalecus glesne Common name: Oarfish Other names: Ribbon fish, king of herrings Size range: 8 to 50 feet Habitat: Found in all oceans except the polar regions Color: Silver head and body with blue streaks, and a crimson-colored dorsal fin running the length of its body Diet: Krill and small crustaceans Known for: Being the world’s longest bony fish; causing “sea serpent” sightings Source: fishbase.org
total, it took 15 adults to get the fish onto shore. Oarfish, which are rarely seen, live most of their lives at depths between 700 and 3,000 feet. While capable of growing to 50 feet in length, little is known of the fish’s behavior, as sightings of the animal alive are rare. But recent video of the creature alive and well was published in the Journal of Fish Biology this summer, as remotely operated vehicles surveying oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico captured video of the fish swimming in its natural state. C O N TA C T T H E W R I T E R :
thill@ocregister.com
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