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Volume 90 Issue 4 • Oct. 5, 2015
Consultant hired for decision-making Special board meeting and retreat was Oct. 2. By Cynthia M. Herrera
cherrera151@student.alamo.edu
The Sanaghan Group, an organizational consulting firm, has partnered with the Alamo Colleges to make a plan for faculty input on institutional decisions. Over the years, faculty, trustees, administrators and the chancellor have not seen eye to eye and trust has been an issue. Pat Sanaghan, president of Sanaghan Group, was hired to mend trust and help create a design-making model to include faculty voices for decisions made in the Alamo Colleges.
At press time, a special board meeting to discuss a decision-making model was scheduled for Oct. 2 at the Norris Conference Center, Park North Shopping Center. Leo Zuniga, associate vice chancellor of communications, said the meeting was for college stakeholders, faculty, administration, staff and board members. The meeting was to introduce the Alamo Colleges participatory leadership of the faculty decision-making model design team. The meeting was to be open to the public and live-streamed at www.alamo.edu/district/board/videos/. Sanaghan met with trustees during a special board meeting Sept. 14 in Killen Center. Sanaghan and the trustees agreed on reasons for Sanaghan to help the Alamo Colleges: Faculty
and trustees do not agree on decisions made by the board and a process will be made to help both parties. District 5 trustee Roberto Zarate said the only faculty members trustees interact with are from Super Senate, and trustees would like to reach more faculty members and receive their input. “I find that when I approach faculty about some issues, they have no idea what happens at those board meetings. They don’t care. They’re busy with their students. They’re busy with their curriculum. They’re very receptive to a lot of the changes that have happened,” Zarate said. “I want to be sure that we expand the trust that we’re building with the community to the faculty that are credible, that are productive, that
are engineers to the future,” he said. Sanaghan said there is a breakdown of relationships between trustees and faculty. “Shared expectations need to be negotiated. A lot of trust has to be built. When you have trust in the system, things move very fast, and when trust is low, you move slow,” Sanaghan said. District 9 trustee James Rindfuss said the design team needs to include community leaders who know the current work field. “The only thing that bothers me is that it doesn’t seem to include community leaders who are out in the industry and the business, yet that is where we have our biggest break down,” Rindfuss said. “We’re hearing from our
See CONSULTANT, Page 8
Student claims lofts ignored drug reports By Kyle Cotton
kcotton11@student.alamo.edu
Jab Communication sophomore Emilio Aguilar throws a right jab at kinesiology freshman Joseph Silva Sept. 29 during boxing practice in the dance room of Candler. Practice consisted of punching drills and physical conditioning. The Olympicstyle boxing event will be 6-8 p.m. Oct. 23 during SACtacular in the mall. E. David Guel
With the recent report of the increase in the reported crime rate at Tobin Lofts and garage compared to the 2014 Uniform Crime Report statistics, students have expressed concerns about the safety of those areas. A former student who lived at Tobin Lofts when it first opened in November 2013 said he was forced to drop out of the Alamo Colleges after Campus Advantage, the contracted third party management, failed to act. The student, who asked his name be withheld because he still fears retaliation, alleged that in his four months as a resident, he witnessed underage students drinking and drug use, such as cocaine and marijuana. The student said he went to Tobin Lofts management and nothing was
done. He later informed two student conduct officers of the issues. He said one officer said they would look into the issue and the other said, “This is just part of college life.” “I don’t know what the officer meant by that, but I don’t know of any institution that has drinking as part of college life,” Manuel Flores, a student conduct officer, said. “Drinking is part of an individual’s life, not college life; you come to college to learn” The student also witnessed one individual selling drugs out of Tobin Lofts, and informed the management of Tobin Lofts. He then went to the Alamo Colleges police with these accusations. In the police report obtained by The Ranger, the student told Alamo Colleges police the individual was selling cocaine and
See TOBIN, Page 3
Employers struggling to find workers with needed skills Executive director explained solution to workforce crises. By Ty-Eshia Johnson sac-ranger@alamo.edu
Employers are struggling to find skilled workers, the head of Bexar County Economic Development said while giving an in-depth analysis of the 10 Metrocom cities and what the future will bring to Northeast Bexar County. Executive Director David Marquez delivered the forecast Sept. 18 at Northeast Lakeview College. Metrocom cities are suburban municipalities surrounding Northeast Lakeview College. Each contributed representatives to an oversight committee during planning for the college. “We’ve got some challenges in our community on the horizon for workforce, and we’re feeling already the early stages of it,” Marquez said. “It’s not too late to fix it. “I went in as a Department of Labor apprentice for the exact same reason that we have today,” he said. As a young adult, Marquez worked at Kelly Air Force Base as an apprentice in a maintenance repair shop. The base could not find machinists with the skills to work in the
maintenance repair shop, so it had to retrain existing employees. The challenge is a shortage and mismatch in job skills that employers are looking for, Marquez said. Applicants and employees lack basic skills essential for future training in higher paying jobs. “These topics are timely and important,” he said. “If we don’t resolve these issues, our goal to recruit high-paying jobs here is severely unreasonable.” The jobs are available, but people are having difficulty finding work, he said. “We need to work with those of you who provide those skills to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of the employers, not only the ones that are here, but those we hope to attract,” Marquez said. The unemployment rate in the metropolitan area is 3 to 5 percent and 3.8 percent in this city, he said. According to the National Right to Read Foundation, 42 million U.S. adults can’t read, and over 50 million adults can’t read past a fifth-grade level. Only 13 percent of Americans are proficient in mathematics, and the U.S. ranks 25th among 30 industrialized nations in math scores. In this city, 21 percent of Bexar County high school students failed the STAAR test, 78 percent are not
college-ready and 27 percent of San Antonio residents read at the most limited literacy levels. According to the Department of Education’s National Assessment of Adult Literacy, U.S. adults are unable to solve math problems, such as calculating tips or comparing prices in food markets. A child not reading at a thirdgrade level by the end of third grade will most likely never reach adequate literacy levels. Without an adequate literacy and numeracy foundation, it becomes much more difficult for higher education institutions to provide a prepared workforce necessary for economic growth, Marquez said. There has been an over-emphasis on four-year degree career counseling for years, but basic skill training for those entering into the workforce has yet to be provided. Marquez said the community depends on a high-skilled and highquality workforce. Middle skilled workers, for jobs requiring an education beyond high school, but less than a bachelor’s, are in high demand. Professional and technical certifications are also acceptable. However, employers are becoming frustrated with the shortage of skilled workers, which is their primary complaint.
David Marquez, executive director of the Bexar County Economic Development, speaks with the 10 representatives of local communities about the current workforce and economy Sept. 18 in the performing arts center at Northeast Lakeview College. Hillary E. Ratcliff By 2016, 44.8 percent of low-wage jobs will require on-the-job training, while 26.5 percent of high-wage jobs will require a bachelor’s degree. According to the MacArthur Foundation, 65 percent of grade school children will work in jobs that do not exist yet, however, they will work in fields that do, such as health care, law enforcement, technology, business, manufacturing and product design, Marquez said. After the presentation, Selma
Mayor Tom Daly was the first to comment. “I come to a lot of these things listening to the same things all of the time,” he said. “I have two young teenagers 17 and 15, and I’m frustrated. I’m point-blank tired and frustrated.” “The Texas curriculum is archaic. My kids can’t even tell me the five Great Lakes. My kids can’t tell me the 50 states of America. They’re 17 and 15 and they go to a great school up here, and they can’t tell me basic things ... basic things that we learned when we were young,” Daly said. “I can’t change it myself, but we can all change it, and that’s why I’m giving this message of this dark situation,” Marquez said. The community must change the way the system is set up to get better results, he said. Jacqueline Jackson, business development specialist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said, “There are a lot of support systems that can help prepare, so that by the third grade, youngsters are reading on the level they’re supposed to.” There must be opportunities for illiterate families to catch up, and there must be positive reinforcements, she said. “I guess I’m talking about it takes a village to raise a child,” she said.