January's Board of Trustees meeting‏

The Olympic College Board of Trustees held a meeting Tuesday to discuss student achievement and other topics from their cancelled Jan. 17 meeting.

The meeting, originally cancelled due to snow, was held on the Bremerton campus in the Humanities and Student Services Building room 119/121 and included one action item; the receipt of a gift of $11,247.59 from the Olympic College Foundation, which was approved unanimously.

During the report of the status of the student body by the Associated Students of OC President, Jason Gontinas, he asked the board what percentage of students would have to participate in a vote for the BOT to approve its results for or against the proposed Wellness Center. The center was approved by students, because students would be responsible for paying for the facility, in last year’s vote, but the BOT rejected the plan because of low student turnout. The board told Gontinas they would need to discuss the topic and could not give an answer until then.

Math professor Jason Heinze presented the results of his sabbatical to the board as a communication item. According to the presentation, Heinze spent his sabbatical revamping the Math 210 course, turning it into two classes, which are now transferable to the University of Washington.

During the boards study session, Vice President of Administrative Services Bruce Riveland presented to the board the way each department in Administrative Services is focused on student achievement.

After Riveland’s presentation, the board reviewed information about student achievement in math. The presentation focused on Math 90 A and B and showed a 0.5 percent increase by students in those classes passing a 100-level math class within two years. Board member Alice Tawresey pointed out that a success rate of 9.6 percent means only 96 of the 1,000 students covered in the study passed 100-level math within two years. OC President David Mitchell and other attendees explained not all tracks of study require 100-level math classes.

The first of three information items the board received during the meeting was a first reading of a revision to the college’s Non-Discrimination Policy. Two words were added to the policy to include discrimination based on genetic information, including illness or disability. The policy will go before the board again during their February meeting.

The board did not receive information on fee requests because the information was not complete. Riveland said the completed information would be brought to the board in their next meeting.

Before closing the meeting, the board received information from VP of Instruction Mary Garguile about curriculum changes. Garguile explained why the college had lost some programs and when they would no longer be offered.

The next BOT meeting will be Feb. 1.