Van Hook Put on Administrative Leave: Insights from COC Board Member Jerry Danielsen
Andrew Taban launched his campaign for the College of the Canyons Board of Trustees in Trustee Area 3, with notable support from political figures and colleagues. Amid administrative changes, including the placement of Chancellor Dr. Dianne Van Hook on administrative leave, the board focuses on maintaining a positive educational environment while preparing for upcoming elections and appointments.
July 13, 2024 - Andrew Taban has officially launched his campaign for the College of the Canyons (COC) Board of Trustees in Trustee Area 3. Taban, who has served as a staffer to Assemblywomen Christy Smith and Pilar Schiavo, was supported by figures like Wendy Brill-Weinkoop and Jerry Danielsen at his announcement. Businessman Fred Arnold is expected to join the race, and Michelle Kampbell has also announced her candidacy for Trustee Area 5.
The COC Board of Trustees recently placed Chancellor Dr. Dianne Van Hook on administrative leave after a unanimous vote. Dr. Van Hook, the longest-serving district CEO in California, is temporarily replaced by acting chancellor David Andrus. The decision followed a campus climate survey revealing concerns about retaliation and microaggressions among employees.
Board member Jerry Danielsen emphasized the importance of a robust search for a permanent chancellor and addressed upcoming elections and appointments for vacant trustee seats. The college's commitment to maintaining a positive educational environment for students was also highlighted.
Sage Rafferty: So I'm going to start out talking about Andrew Taban. Officially launched his campaign for College of the Canyons Board of Trustees and Trustee Area 3. So Taban was a staffer to Assemblywoman Christy Smith and is currently on the staff of Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo. And he was joined by many supporters, including Wendy Brill-Weinkoop, the President of the Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges, and Of course, Jerry Danielsen was there. I think businessman Fred Arnold is also expected to jump into the race. So at Andrew Taban's announcement event, Michelle Kampbell, a longtime aide to former Assemblywoman Christy Smith, announced that she is also running for COC in Trustee Area 5. So Jerry, this is your first question. I know you're supporting Andrew Taban's candidacy. Can you tell me why you decided to support him, and what he brings to the table?
Jerry Danielsen: So Andrew is a passionate man, and he is well-versed in the legislature and well-versed in the culture of the city of Santa Clarita. And I believe he'll bring the same vigor of youth, or retained vigor of youth since that was Sebastian's old district. And Sebastian Cazares was one of the youngest people elected to that in the whole of California. And I trust his opinions. So I know him personally. And there's a matter of, you know, when given the context of whatever topics come up, unforeseen or foreseen. Do you trust somebody's opinion on how they'll vote and what will they do their due diligence and research and all that stuff? There's a lot involved more than what might meet the eye to being on a board of trustees. We have packets about two inches thick that we get every other week that we read through, and there's a lot going on, you know? So when we, something goes by quickly at a board meeting, there's research behind it. Yeah. That's why. And, um, So that's why. That answers your question.
Sage: The College of the Canyons Board of Trustees voted to put Chancellor and District CEO Dr. Dianne Van Hook on administrative leave and essentially remove her as the top administrator at the college after decades in that position. She is the CEO of the Santa Clarita Community College District and the longest serving District CEO in the state. Her career at COC began in 1988, when at 37 years old, she was hired as the youngest community college CEO in California.
What led to her being placed on administrative leave is still in question. Here’s what we know:
The board voted unanimously to place Van Hook on administrative leave. It was a 3 to 0 vote with Sebastian Cazares not present. The fifth seat on the college board is vacant after Chuck Lyon resigned in June.
Deputy Chancellor Diane Fiero sent an email to faculty and college staff informing them about the shift in leadership. David Andrus, a past president of the COC Academic Senate and a political science professor at the college, is set to take over the role of acting chancellor.
A recent campus climate survey revealed some employees described how they were fearful of being retaliated against for speaking up about problems at the college.
A timetable for finding a permanent replacement for Van Hook has not been set. The COC Foundation director and members said they would like the board to consider their input in the search.
College of the Canyons board vice president Jerry Danielsen said in a prepared statement issued by the college, “The laws prevent us from discussing what happens in closed sessions, and personnel matters. We can assure the public that the board is working hard to ensure the health and well-being of the entire college community, with nothing but the best of intentions for the future of the college in mind.”
Meanwhile, supporters of Van Hook, including a member of the City Council, touted her success and historic role in the community and in education.
City Councilman Laurene Weste told The Signal, “The woman did a phenomenal job of doing things that were trailblazing. She was dynamic, and that energy had such a great influence on people investing their time, dollars and commitment to help drive that to the very top.”
Dr. Van Hook’s contract with the district expires in June 2027.
Two members of the college district’s board of trustees have recently resigned. Chuck Lyon stepped down in June. Joan MacGregor is resigning effective August 5th. She said the meeting that the board voted to place Van Hook on administrative leave was her last.
The seat on the board vacated by Lyon will be filled in the November general election and will be for the remainder of his term that ends in 2026.
MacGregor's seat can either be filled by appointment by the board or by special election. The deadline to put the ballot for her seat on the November general election. I think is passed already. So Tim, do you want to ask, I know you have a lot of questions for Jerry.
Tim Haddock: Yes, I'll take over. So my first question, my first question, and I've heard this from a lot of different people is what does administrative leave actually mean? Is the chancellor being investigated or is her job, performance under review, and is there any chance for her returning?
Jerry: Thank you for the question, and thank you for reading my statement. So there's truth to the fact that I cannot say what happens in closed session at the college. I'm legally bound to not say that, and we have lawyers present, and I've been advised what the laws are. There's the Brown Act, and there's Title V, and all kinds of restrictions that on what I can say in a closed session. Being placed on administrative leave means that she's no longer, she's still, her title is chancellor, but she's no longer active. She is now inactive, and we placed an acting chancellor in her stead, David Andrus. I cannot answer the other question specifically as far as the length that that will go on. But I can say more will be revealed sooner rather than later.
Tim: Okay. My next question. Is the district actively searching for a new chancellor? And if not, when does that process begin?
Jerry: So that's a great question. We are not currently searching because we're getting David Andrus, who only just started his role on Monday. It's only been a few days. He is just getting his feet on the ground, figuring out what to go on. And we have to decide these things at board meetings. So we haven't scheduled in when we're going to do this, but there will be a robust, active search. We will probably have a committee and people steering us towards where to look, putting the word out nationwide. And And people advising, oh, so-and-so from whatever college would be great. We'll have advisors. We're open to any suggestions. We want to do, like I said, a very robust search and get the best person possible for the job.
That's a process that can take months and months and months. It can take six months. It can take eight months. That process has not officially yet begun because this is all brand new stuff. The leadership change is... right here, only a few days ago. So it's going to take a little bit of time. And I do mean a little bit of time. We're not going to delay this for months and months. These are all pressing topics that will be addressed.
Tim: Okay. Next question is, why was a vote taken with only three members present and one who announced her intentions to resign? Why was the vote taken with only three members at the meeting. So I can give you an overview. This evaluation process that started at the middle, the last Wednesday of June, we did a closed session then.
We did another closed session a few days later. We did another closed session after that. And we did a fourth closed session. So there's nothing rash or sudden about that. We deliberated on every possible topic. It wasn't just, bam, we have our minds made up. There was nothing about that that was true. So to directly answer your question, Chuck Lyon, who resigned, was present during the first one or two of those closed sessions. Okay. Then he resigned for personal reasons. He said it wasn't for him, he doesn't like politics. That was his public statement. So we were left and Chuck resigned in time to have his seat on the ballot. So in November, there will be an election for his seat to serve in the interim through 2026.
So currently the board has four members because Joan MacGregor is still a member and she will be through August 5th. So there were four of us and Sebastian Cazares had a family emergency. He had a death of a close family member and just could not attend that specific meeting. But he had been to all the other closed session meetings. So we cannot vote for him, but we knew that we were not... We knew what he was going to say. but I'm not going to speak for him. When we have three people, we have a quorum and that's what, you know, we have five on the board, but three is a quorum. So we, that's, that's how that happened to specifically answer your question.
Tim: Okay. Next question. Next question is about a resolution that was presented to the board. It was presented by the CSEA, which is the union that represents, and I want to make sure I get this right. They represent the classified employees at the college and then the classified Senate, which is another group of unionized workers. They presented a resolution to the board in June about Dr. Van Hook. Did the board adopt any of that resolution in their decision to place Dr. Van Hook on administrative leave?
Jerry: So I can give you the short answer. The short answer is no, but let me elaborate. I appreciated that resolution. The thought that went into it, the wording that went into it, it was a collaborative resolution between classified and the academic Senate.
And I agreed with a lot of it. The board has not, this has gone quickly with, we've had four closed sessions, but we've only had one, one or two open sessions since that resolution came up. So we haven't, we haven't had time to deal with meetings. normal board issues, except for some pressing business stuff, which happened last week. The resolution was not part of at least my personal consideration, although the resolution addressed... I was listening. I was listening to what they had to say. But even without the resolution, those folks spoke in open session about their concerns, about their worries, about their personal experiences. The resolution just put it into... something that they thought would help the process of healing at the college for those who felt on that side, for those who felt like there were problems that needed to be addressed, which leading on to some other questions I'm sure you're going to ask.
The climate survey revealed very great things about the college. It's a wonderful place. It's an amazing opportunity. or our entire community, whether you're going for, uh, to get a degree and then transfer, whether you're going to go into the workplace from there, whether you're trying to just build yourself as a human being creatively, whatever that is, the college is amazing yes um so you one side of the survey, uh, showed that reflects that greatly how such a high percentage of people who work there, just love their jobs, love their students, love their topics, they're passionate about it, they love working at the college. The other side of the survey showed how almost half the people spoke of, and there are open-ended questions as well, spoke of some of the problems they saw at the college as far as some microaggressions and some retaliation issues.
So that's a high percentage, but that's not the whole survey. So it's like yin and yang. You can focus on negative or focus on positive. I tried to look at it and look at how great this college is. Are there things to work on? Yes. Right. And I saw the results of the survey too. And my impression of it was it cast the college in a more positive light than negative light. But like you said, there were some... issues that the employees had with leadership with administration and um just but the the complaints that they had were not as reflective as what they had with what were the good things they had to say about the college so that that was my impression of the report is that it did put the college in a very positive light.
Lots and lots of the categories, other than what I just spoke of as far as the work needs to be done, a huge percentage of the categories paint the college in a very positive light. And for the folks who work there, they love their jobs. And most importantly, the mission of the college is for the students. Most importantly, for the students to have a high-quality level of education That's the most important thing. And that, I believe, everyone agrees, the students, everyone's placing the students first. And I was very pleased in the survey to feel like all the folks from all walks of all their levels of involvement with the college believe that same thing, that it's a student's first kind of environment.
And that is extremely positive.
Tim: OK, so just a couple more questions. Um, and this is, this is an easy one, but, uh, I'll leave it open for you. What is the next step for the board?
Jerry: Well, that is a great question. So I can, let's do short term and then a little longer term. Um, short term is, you know, make, um, speaking with David, you know, having meetings now with David as the new acting chancellor, probably one of the most pressing new, uh, things on the agenda will be to, we're going to have an appointment process for Joan MacGregor's seat that she vacated. I don't know for sure when that will be, but there's been talk about that happening in September. We have, during the summer, there's only one meeting in August and one meeting, there might be two in September.
I need to check my schedule. I know there's one in August. There's only one in August. Yeah, yeah. Because during the summer months, there's only one meeting instead of two. And because everybody's on break. So that's a pressing thing we're working out. We actually have somebody looking into various methods that other colleges have used for the appointment process, because the last appointment process was confusing to a lot of people. So we'd like more transparency in that process so everybody understands what's going on. And we will put a call out. There are legal guidelines. You have a certain amount of days. In advance, you announce there'll be an appointment process, and then you put it out to the general populace who live in her area that they can apply.
There's an application process, an interview process. So that's probably one of the most pressing things on the agenda. Of course, the election in November isn't that far away, and all five seats right now are up for grabs. So there's big turnover at the college. I am running for re-election in my seat, district area number four, and Edel Alonso is running for re-election in her seat. If we win, we'll be the only two members that are there now that will still be there in the next couple of years. I'm hoping that we will win for reasons of continuity, and the public can judge if they think we've done a good job. I believe we've done... we've gone above and beyond as far as all the research.
And, um, there's a lot to this job, but much more, there's a lot below the surface that a lot of people aren't quite sure of. And unfortunately I can't speak openly about all of it, but I can speak openly about as much as legally possible. And that's a, so there are election campaigns that are going to be happening, um, throughout the Santa Clarita Valley to fill the various seats, uh, of the board that will be up. In fact, the person we appoint will be the only person not up for election in November because they will have been appointed, and they will serve through 2026.
Tim: Got it. But Jerry, I actually have a question too. So kind of in relation to that. So in, like you said, in 2025, there's going to be a lot of new faces on the board.
Jerry: Yes.
Sage: Especially in this sort of period of transition at COC. So Edel Alonzo is, has been on the board for many years, but assuming she gets reelected, how important will Edel's role be on the board of trustees?
Jerry: Well, once we hit November of this year, Edel will be the longest serving member having been on the board since 2016. And I will have been the second longest serving member since Having been on the board since March of 2023, because Sebastian is not running again. So there'll be a lot of new faces. And again, I believe Edel has gone above and beyond as a board president and is very detailed and prepared and organized and has only the best wishes of everyone involved in mind. And I also as a pitch to myself would like to be reelected as well. Edel and I work really well together. And again, you know, of course I have only the best intentions for the college and the students in mind.
Sage: All right. Tim, do you have any more questions?
Tim: No, I think, I think I'm done. I think we have, we've covered plenty. Yeah, absolutely. Hey, thank you, Jerry. Appreciate you coming on. I know you have a busy, busy day. And I appreciate you taking the time to come on and answer some questions.
Jerry: Thank you for having me. And I'd love to come back on when there's more that will be public knowledge that I can elaborate on at that point.
Tim: We would love to have you back, Jerry.
Jerry: I appreciate it. And you'll be hearing news from the college coming out over the next weeks and months.
You can listen to Santa Clarita Weekly on the radio, at KQRU 107.9 FM at 9:00 AM on Saturdays. You can also watch us on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Santa Clarita Weekly
Listen to Santa Clarita Weekly with Tim Haddock and Sage Rafferty right here on SantaClaritaStar.com, on YouTube, and wherever you listen to Podcasts. The show is also on the radio on KQRU 107.9 every week on Saturdays at 9:00 AM.