Founded in 1958, College of the Desert is a two-year community college serving the Coachella Valley. Here's more fun facts about COD.
College of the Desert's board of trustees will hold a special meeting on Friday, announced Thursday, to consider two closed session items: "public employee discipline/dismissal/release" and the public employment of an "interim/acting superintendent/president."
The meeting will be held after the regularly scheduled board meeting -- just before the college's winter recess next week -- and just 11 days after the board canceled its process to select a new superintendent/president, citing a breach of confidentiality in the presidential search committee. Laura Hope is COD's interim superintendent/president, a role she has held since July 2023. While she initially declined to put her hat in the ring for the permanent role, she eventually said she was a candidate on Dec. 10.
"A special meeting has been called at the discretion of the acting board chair, Dr. Joel Kinnamon, in accordance with the requirements of the Brown Act," a spokesperson for the college said in a written statement.
Kinnamon is serving as acting board chair after former chair Bonnie Stefan and vice chair Bea Gonzalez lost their re-election campaigns in November. At Friday's regular meeting, the board will appoint leadership for the new year, including a chair, vice chair and clerk.
Hope's initial contract was extended by the board in October through the end of June. At the time, Kinnamon requested delaying the contract amendment until December, but the majority of the board, including the student trustee, voted to approve the extension. Kinnamon, who served as COD's superintendent/president from 2012 to 2021, abstained.
Several scenarios could unfold if the majority of the board votes to terminate Hope's employment agreement. These may include placing Hope on administrative leave until the end of her contract or terminating her immediately with a payout. The decision ultimately depends on the board.
Hope did not respond to requests for comment via a COD spokesperson Thursday night.
Starting Friday, the five-member board will include Kinnamon, Ron Oden, Rubén Pérez, Mark Meyer and Mary Jane Sanchez-Fulton.
While a recent "breach of confidentiality" in the presidential search committee halted COD's search for a permanent superintendent, Hope applied for the position after public encouragement from a few board trustees -- including Oden and then-trustee Gonzalez, as well as Kaden Olson, president of the Associated Students of COD, the college's student government.
A few months prior, Hope had previously announced she was not going to seek the permanent job, though reversed course. During the Sept. 20 board meeting, Hope said the "overwhelming majority of the board (had) been unwaveringly supportive." Trustees Oden, Gonzalez and Pérez had expressed appreciation for Hope and shared remarks that hinted at understanding the "catalyst" for her decision.
Two newly elected board members, Meyer and Sanchez-Fulton, are also set to be sworn in during Friday's regular board meeting. Meyer, who unseated longtime incumbent Stefan, recently chaired the COD Alumni Association. Sanchez-Fulton, a political adversary of Gonzalez, previously served as a board trustee from 2012 to 2020 -- when she lost to Gonzalez.
Sanchez-Fulton was technically sworn in by Kinnamon on Dec. 13, according to a press release from her campaign manager, Chris Parman, who is also Kinnamon's husband. Though, Rep. Raul Ruiz will ceremoniously swear her in again on Friday.
Search for new president suddenly 'canceled'
It's been 10 days since the search for College of the Desert's next president/superintendent was canceled after "one or more members of the presidential search committee compromised the fairness and trust that are fundamental to this process."
One of the agenda items for Friday's regular meeting is for the board to consider approving a staff recommendation to relaunch the superintendent/president recruitment and selection process.
The recommended actions are for the board to continue working with AGB Search, to reopen and readvertise the position using the job announcement, profile and advertising plan approved on Sept. 20; direct the chair, in consultation with staff and AGB, to develop a proposed timeline and search committee structure for consideration and approval at the regular board meeting on Jan. 17, 2025; and direct staff and AGB to take any necessary actions to facilitate and expedite the relaunch of the recruitment process.
If the board approves the recommendation, the college will work with AGB to develop a plan of action for presentation in January, when the board will also decide on the composition and structure of the new search committee, formerly made up of 19 voting members. However, if the board goes against staff's recommendation, the search could take several directions, including issuing a new request for proposals for a search firm.
The board unanimously chose AGB Search as the headhunting firm on June 20 to recruit top candidates and conduct a thorough screening before presenting applicants to the trustees for evaluation. The college paid approximately $100,000, plus an additional $5,000 for service and support fee. AGB also held several listening sessions with the COD community over two days in September.
Once the reason for the confidentiality breach is determined, it's unlikely that COD will share details publicly, as it will be a personnel matter. However, the confidentiality and conflict agreement signed by all search committee members emphasized that they would access to confidential information and materials related to the superintendent/president search.
The agreement designated the search committee chair, formerly Stefan, as the sole spokesperson to share updates on the process and status with the college community, the public or the media. Anyone who can't remain objective must recuse themselves, and those who knowingly breach confidentiality could be removed from the committee. The agreement also required members to maintain confidentiality during the search and "in perpetuity following the search."
The board chair traditionally chairs the search committee, a role previously held by Stefan. If approved by the board, the new search committee could be chaired by whoever the board elects on Friday.
The number of candidates who applied for the permanent superintendent/president position remains confidential, but about six to eight semifinalists were invited to interview. Once the job announcement is relaunched, those candidates must reapply if they are still interested.
Because the interviews were canceled with less than a week's notice, COD will need to reimburse the semifinalists for travel expenses they booked and incurred.
Draft of accreditation report signals issues with board
Though COD expects to receive and release its final accreditation report between Jan. 9 and Jan. 30, The Desert Sun obtained a copy of the draft sent to the COD community in Hope's Dec. 16 Monday Morning Minutes newsletter.
In her email, Hope said that the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, or ACCJC, highlighted COD's strong performance, particularly in its distance education options, its strong community connections and the assessments tied to the program review process.
She noted that remaining concerns relate to board governance and that she plans to work with the board to conduct a retreat in 2025 to address those areas.
"All of the Trustees care deeply about the College and its Accreditation status, and in the New Year, we will have an opportunity to address any remaining issues articulated by ACCJC," Hope wrote.
After formal meetings, group interviews and individual meetings with 15 COD faculty, administrators, and classified staff, as well as with the five trustees, conducted by a four-member team from the accreditation body at a focused site visit in late September, the draft outlined three recommendations: The board should act as a collective entity and support decisions once made; the board should follow its policy on a regular evaluation to improve board performance, academic quality and institutional effectiveness; and that the board delegate full responsibility and authority to the superintendent/president to implement and administer policies without board interference.
The draft also detailed its findings and evidence, citing ongoing disagreements among the trustees and the board's self-evaluations in 2022 and 2024 -- and highlighting areas for improvement in the board's policy role and unity.
"Themes emerged from the interviews and documents reviewed during the Focused Site Visit that included meetings consistently veering from the collective business of the board towards perceived social, political, or personal matters of individual trustees; the need to be receptive and respectful of all viewpoints; once decisions are made(,) trustees should support the board action; and trustees (lose sight) that they represent the entire community(,) not only their specific districts," the report read.
The draft report later elaborated further that while COD's board policy states the president/superintendent holds executive responsibility for administering board-adopted policies and executing decisions requiring administrative action, "the team found that the board has not been delegating authority to the CEO without interference" and "in some cases(,) it is noted that members of the board are directly interfering with operations."
How to attend, watch or submit public comment at Friday's board meeting
Board meetings at College of the Desert are open to the public at 43-500 Monterey Ave., Building C, in Palm Desert. The regular board meeting starts at 9:30 a.m., and the special board meeting will begin around 2 p.m., or as soon as possible thereafter, in the boardroom.
Anyone may attend the meetings, regardless of whether they plan to speak -- though seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube, and recordings are available for viewing after the meeting ends at youtube.com/codpd.
Both in-person and remote public participation are welcome. Comments can be made in person, by email to [email protected] for inclusion in the record during public comment, or by using the hand function on Zoom: collegeofthedesert-edu.zoom.us/j/95625979578.
Each speaker has a three-minute time limit and all comments must be submitted or presented by the end of the public comment period.
(This story was updated to fix typos.)