Fresno-area community college chancellor abruptly calls to postpone contract vote

Without public explanation, State Center Community College trustees postponed voting for the contract extensions of Chancellor Paul Parnell and other top district leaders on Tuesday night.

The chancellor was set to find out if trustees approved adding another year onto his contract, but the board returned from the closed session and voted 4-3 to table the vote until at least September. Trustees Richard Caglia, Magdalena Gomez, and Annalisa Perea voted against postponing.

Although trustees did not mention in open session why they tabled the contract extensions, The Bee obtained an email Parnell sent just hours before the meeting, urging the board to postpone the vote.

In the email, Parnell recommended the board pull the contracts so he could review them after he received a memo from two vice-chancellors and all four college presidents who said their proposed contracts contain an illegal clause that would strip them of their litigation rights if they were terminated without cause.

It is unclear why the board also tabled the chancellor’s contract, as the items were separated on the agenda, but Board President John Leal said further negotiations would include Parnell’s contract. During the meeting, Perea expressed worry about violating public meeting rules because the chancellor was in closed session when his own contract was being discussed, which was unusual.

“My understanding is that this (the tabling) did not include the chancellor, which is why he was with us in closed session. So I’m confused as to why we’re grouping him in.”

Neither Parnell nor a district spokesperson responded to requests for comment Tuesday night.

Do SCCCD contracts contain illegal clause?

Presidents Carole Goldsmith, Angel Reyna, Jerry Buckley, Lori Bennett, and vice-chancellors Christine Miktarian and Jerome Countee signed the memo to the chancellor July 25.

The memo requested Parnell remove a section that says if employees are let go without cause, they are entitled to severance, but “...the severance agreement will include a full waiver and release of all known and unknown claims against the (district) and all of its current and former trustees, officers, employees, agents, and representatives ...“

Parnell responded via email on July 30 that he would not be changing the language.

“... after review by legal counsel, the newly crafted language is consistent with the law and provides employees the option to accept a severance pay while also protecting the District,” he wrote.

According to the memo, a similar clause is also in current contracts.

“Every employee that was compelled to sign the agreement with that language last year was subjected to an unlawful employment practice by the district, the effect of which was to condition an employment benefit on a waiver of legal rights,” the administrators wrote.

In Parnell’s email to trustees before Tuesday’s meeting, he acknowledged that the vice-chancellors and presidents were concerned about signing their proposed contracts.

He recommended the board not vote on the contracts until they could discuss the problems and “hopefully bring back language that can be agreed upon by all parties.”

Trustee Deborah Ikeda, who made the first motion to table the items, said the voting would not take place “until September if we can get it done by then, if not, then October.”

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This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 8:32 AM.