Bargaining Update: Read now. This is serious.

Posted on November 19, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues –

With only two sessions at the table left …

Still ZERO movement from the Administration on core issues of compensation, benefits, workload, and job security. 

Instead, at today’s bargaining session, the Administration again brought virtually no substantive changes to any proposal. At this point, we have real doubts that the Administration wants to reach an agreement.

What the Administration did was present an erroneous, misleading cost analysis of our proposal. For example, the only cost for our Art. 9 proposal is the addition of 4 hours of inservice pay for part-time faculty, which would cost only $48,650. They claimed it would cost more than $1.3 million! Their other estimates were also grossly inflated.

To demonstrate good faith, we made numerous updated proposals to meet the Administration’s interests and use our limited remaining bargaining time wisely. See below for links to proposals:

LCCEA Proposals Nov. 18 2025

Administration Proposals Nov. 18 20205

They agreed to accept two minor concessions we had already made last week in eliminating three more MOAs and finalizing the Academic Program Review article.

Thank you very much to the many members in the room today. Please join us in building 2, room 214 for the last two sessions before the seemingly inevitable next step of mediation. 

  • Tues., Dec 2, 1-4 p.m.
  • Tues., Dec 16, 1-4 p.m.

Now is the time for members to step up the pressure before it’s too late. Look for an email from the Action Team to do your part.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Michael Marchman

Peggy Oberstaller

Ryan Olds

Russell Shitabata

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LCCEA President’s Update Nov 17, 2025

Posted on November 17, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues,

I hope this email finds you well at this very busy time of the Fall term!

I’m writing with important updates for all faculty from LCCEA, our faculty union.

Class Cuts –  Another Unfair Labor Practice

After the sudden suspension of the LPN program left student applicants without a place to turn, the Administration suddenly cut 100 class sections from the offerings for students this year, which amounts to 3.7% of all course offerings. This could result in a loss of net revenue up to $1M based on tuition alone after excluding all salary and OPE costs. The Administration is still doing “research” to provide a list of which classes they cancelled, impacting students in programs throughout the college. Cuts of this magnitude are not aligned with the Board’s approved budget, nor the information presented to the Board regarding a minimal reduction of the part-time budget on September 3. 

The Administration did not provide notice of these cuts and claims they have no duty to bargain over the impacts of these sudden reductions. Unfortunately, this constitutes another unfair labor practice, a violation of state labor law. LCCEA leaders continue to advocate for restoration of class sections and a reasonable approach to the budget and will seek remedies to make faculty whole by filing an unfair labor practice complaint with the Employment Relations Board.

LCC Budget & Legislative Advocacy

Administration reports about the LCC budget continue to change. First, the Administration announced at the Fall Inservice to all campus that the Board had approved a plan to cut $3M each year for three years. Then, Board of Education members clarified on September 30 that they had not approved such a plan. Instead, the Board did vote on September 30 to remove a reference to $3M budget reductions each year for the next three years. However, the Administration then cut 100 sections from this year’s budget, citing a 7% part-time budget reduction that had not been approved by the Board.  After that, the Administration reported on November 7 in an all campus budget message that part-time budgets were not reduced and that they were actually increased … while 100 course sections impacting students and faculty alike had just been cut from the course schedules. If you find the mixed messaging dizzying, you are not alone.

For more information please review this background on budget forecasts, that shows how misleading assumptions built into the forecasts such as 7.5% salary increases this year and 6% salary increases every year thereafter contribute to an inaccurate, unrealistic forecast.

Please also note that the budget development process for next year is only just beginning, yet the Administration has published a detailed schedule for their Cabinet to plan budget cuts in December and announce them to the community as soon as January. This timeline does not conform to the shared governance budget development process or allow for stakeholder involvement, nor does it appear to align with Board of Education timelines.

In addition, please note that there has been no reduction to state funding for community colleges; that would require a vote of the Oregon legislature. In fact, all three revenue sources (property taxes, tuition revenue, and state funding) all are up. 

Finally, there is a statewide coalition, including our union the OEA, dedicated to supporting public funding in Oregon and taking action to preserve funding and to minimize any changes to the State of Oregon budget during the 2026 short legislative session. Read more about Protecting Working Families in Oregon here.

Crisis of Democracy at the LCC Board of Education 

The crisis of democracy at the LCC Board of Education has reached a breaking point. As outlined in my Open Letter to the LCC Board  (and as documented by public records linked to the same letter), multiple Board members sought to add a motion to their own agenda to reaffirm the Board’s role and their own policy in making important decisions on program and service reductions, yet the LCC President did not add their item and instead added only a memo supporting Administration decision making without a Board vote. In addition, the LCC President invited Board members to attend meetings in August about budget reductions– the meetings were held without public notice and despite Chair Folnagy’s and Vice Chair Rust’s concerns about the need for compliance with open meeting law. Only the Board members themselves, not college employees, can violate open meeting law; however, it is important that all members of the Administration take every possible measure to ensure the Board is in compliance with the law. The Administration does have a responsibility to address Board member opposition to closed meetings, rather than dismiss them as an “unnecessary distraction” as Administration did by email to the Board Chair.  There is now a pending investigation about the August meetings with the Oregon Governmental Ethics Commission. On top of this, divisively, an unknown individual not affiliated with LCC is now spreading disinformation in a letter that appears to be a product of AI about LCCEA faculty and targeting the four Board members who have sought to reaffirm the role of the Board. From my perspective, this has the look and feel of retaliation.

Also, accreditation officials presented at the November 5 Board meeting affirming that the Board has a role in agenda setting, stressing the importance of the Board following its own policies, and confirming the role of the Board in determining what their own policies mean.  

If the Board of Education does not take action to reaffirm their own role, the campus, students, and community will continue to suffer under chaotic conditions, losing trust in our beloved LCC and jeopardizing our accreditation. The community voted the Board members into public office and support their role as the governing body for LCC. Read on…

Democracy Petition & Community Support

We are grateful for an outpouring of community support to restore democracy to the LCC Board of Education, supporting the role of the Board to set agendas and vote on important decisions, with more than 420 signatures, including Lane County Central Labor Chapter of the AFL-CIO, United Academics at UO, 350 Eugene, Eugene Education Association, Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 757 — unionized workers at LTD, United for Immigrant Justice and Former State Representative Paul Holvey, Former State Senator Pete Sorensen, and Lane County Commissioners Heather Buch and Laurie Trieger. You can sign it here and share with community members: https://bit.ly/LCCDemocracy 

Bargaining – Stakes High, Time Running Out

372 faculty cast ballots about the Administration’s bargaining proposal. More than 96% of full-time faculty and 80% of part-time faculty voted.

The results are resoundingly clear. 99% voted “No” to reject the Administration’s proposal. 

However, after nearly a month away from the table, the Administration made virtually no substantive movement in bargaining last week. See full comparisons of the proposals on our lccea website here and a brief comparison here.

The Administration’s non-economic proposals would still: allow layoffs of contracted faculty at any time of year with only 60 days’ notice, and remove contract language that protects part-time faculty from being removed for exercising their rights to non-discrimination or First Amendment rights to express divergent views, express criticism of LCC, or speak as a member of the community free from institutional censorship. Taken together, these Administration proposals seek to carve away faculty job security and curtail Constitutional rights.

In addition, the Administration’s economic proposals in bargaining still represent a net reduction in total LCC expenditures for compensation and benefits paid to faculty through substantial decreases in healthcare benefits coupled with workload increases, including mandatory (yet only partially compensated) overloads and removal of contractual class size maximums, both of which would result in significant job loss for part-time faculty.  Read the latest update from the Bargaining Team here.

It is a critical time for faculty to stand in solidarity and take action. 

Solidarity

Dozens of campus and community members spoke at the last Board meeting about their experiences as students, faculty, alumni, and community supporters about the need to restore democracy at the Board and reach a fair contract that supports faculty and students. While it is understandable that some vocal expression may inadvertently occur in response to public comment, such as when numerous audience members spontaneously burst into applause with an outpouring of support after a student gave a heartfelt statement, faculty, students, and community members are encouraged to participate silently as audience members in accordance with Board of Education decorum standards. 

At our LCCEA rally on November 5, more than 150 faculty, students, and community supporters attended to share a meal; hear student, faculty and labor speakers; participate in chants and even a song with the Willamette Solidarity singers. Labor unions from across the region, including the Lane County Chapter of the AFL-CIO, Oregon Nurses Association, United Academics, GTFF, OSEA and many more stood together with faculty and students in our rally for democracy in the Boardroom and at the Bargaining Table. 

And faculty and community supporters are stepping up to advocate in new and creative ways. For example, see Paula Thonney’s guest viewpoint in the Eugene Weekly about A Day in the Life as an LCC Math faculty member.


Together we are stronger.

We must remain steadfast together to promote transparency over disinformation, justice over corruption, fairness over inequity, democracy over autocracy — for our students, our future, and our community’s college.

In solidarity,

Adrienne

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Bargaining Update: Stakes Are High, Time Running Out

Posted on November 11, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues –

Let’s cut to the chase. Monday’s bargaining session was gravely disappointing.

After nearly a month away from the table, the Administration brought numerous proposals, but the proposals made almost no substantive movement whatsoever. The Administration did repeat multiple times that they do wish to remove significant rights and benefits from our contract that faculty have fought for and won over the past five decades. 

Clearly, the stakes remain high. We have only three bargaining sessions left before we likely go to mediation. Faculty solidarity and participation in organizing activities are absolutely essential at this moment!

For our part, we stood strong on faculty’s top priorities including compensation, benefits, workload, and job security. At the same time, we also made meaningful movement to jump start negotiations and demonstrate our commitment to reaching an agreement in good faith by focusing on what matters most to members. 

On Monday, we proposed:

* Moving to make the annual maximum workload 44 TLCs while maintaining our proposal to increase lab TLCs to 1.0 (Art. 35);

* Updating the compensation to make up for losses to inflation to 3% instead of 3.1%, clarifying part-time faculty pay parity calculations, and numerous changes for part-time flight-tech faculty (Art. 26);

* Maintaining 174.5 workdays for contracted faculty and 60 total inservice hours for part-time faculty (Art. 9);

* Allowing one management voting position on Faculty Professional Development and restructuring FPD funding to reduce budget carryover while still protecting all FPD programs and faculty decision making (Art. 23);

* Maintaining the current paycheck and dues deduction schedule for part-time faculty to avoid gaps in paychecks (Art. 31, 32);

* Reducing proposed union release time for officers (Art. 11);

* Allowing for subcontracting in narrowly limited circumstances (e.g., recent need for nurse practitioner in the health clinic) (Art. 4);

* Moving to increase personal leave by ½ day instead of 1 day for all faculty, while maintaining our proposal for payout of unused leave time, which other LCC employee groups enjoy for other types of leave (Art. 21);

* Limiting our requests for new protections for student supports to the most critical like mental health clinicians, advisors, appeal process for ADA accommodations, and sanctuary campus provisions (Art. 42);

* Reducing our proposals for essentials for faculty to the most important needs identified by members, such as offices, support for LMS transition, and AI provisions (Art. 43);
* Accepting the Administration proposal on the APR MOA (APROC MOA);

* Eliminating an MOA on Academic Technology and modernizing the Distance Learning MOA preserving key interests on workload, academic freedom, and evaluations to meet College interests in simplifying the final contract (CBA Updates); 

* and a few other minor changes.

The College proposed:

* Agreeing to keep the academic year Fall, Winter, and Spring terms (Art. 9);

* For the LMS transition from Moodle to Canvas, still paying only 12 faculty members 4 hours each now at their regular rate with nothing else for the 500+ other faculty transitioning from Moodle to Canvas (LMS MOA);

* A number of proposals with minor wording changes that have little or no impact and represent virtually no substantive movement (Art. 11, 16, 27, 46, Common Course Numbering, 33).

See below for all proposals:

LCCEA Proposals Nov. 10 2025

Administration Proposals Nov 10 2025

We need members in the room for bargaining. Please join us in building 2, room 214 for part or all of any session. 

  • Tues., Nov 18, 1-4 p.m.
  • Tues., Dec 2, 1-4 p.m.
  • Tues., Dec 16, 1-4 p.m.

Look for updates from the Action Team and your department reps for more ways to participate. 

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Michael Marchman

Peggy Oberstaller

Ryan Olds

Russell Shitabata

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An Open Letter to the Elected Members of the Lane Community College Board of Education

Posted on November 4, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC faculty colleagues,

Please find below and attached a memo that I have sent to our LCC Board of Education with accompanying documentation. It is with a heavy heart that I bear witness to current conditions at LCC and call for the Board to take action to restore their own authority and stabilize our institution.  

I encourage you to read the open letter to the Board in full.

It is more important than ever that we continue to advocate for the restoration of democracy to our publicly elected Board of Education and that we stand together for a better future for our students, our community, and our beloved LCC.

The open letter to the LCC Board of Education pertains to:

1. Program suspension and class cuts not approved by the Board of Education and the negative impacts on students and the budget;

2. Closed meetings about budget reductions held in August despite Board members’ concerns about the need to comply with open meeting law;

3. President Bulger’s blocking of multiple Board members’ requests to add a motion to their own agenda affirming their own rights consistent with Board policy and state statute to vote on program and service reductions;

4. With a lifetime of experience in public office, Board Vice Chair Rust’s expression of not feeling respected as an elected official by President Bulger; 

5. What many may characterize as corruption at the highest levels of our institution, including (a) in a message to President Bulger from Board member Alltucker threatening to file a complaint against Board Chair Folnagy simply for fulfilling his basic function as the elected Chair (e.g., trying to add an item to the agenda); (b) Board member Weisman’s disclosure of a confidential attorney message to President Bulger; (c) President Bulger’s coaching of Board members Weisman and Mital on steps to release more confidential legal information to her and to the public; (d) Board member Weisman’s sharing of a draft to that effect with President Bulger based on President Bulger’s coaching; and (e) Board member Weisman and Mital’s written fulfillment of the steps based on President Bulger’s coaching; and

6. Impacts on campus community members, including faculty and managers, of the conditions on campus.I am confident that with our resolve and the overwhelming support of the community, we will help guide our institution back to stability. 
If you have not done so already, please sign our petition to restore democracy at LCC: https://bit.ly/LCCDemocracy In just eight days time, hundreds of community members and organizations have done so, including former State Senator Pete Sorensen, former State Representative Paul Holvey, Lane County Commissioners Heather Buch and Laurie Trieger, and many more.
Please also attend the rally and Board meeting tomorrow (food outside cafeteria at 4:30, rally at 5, Board meeting at 6 in19/102).

In solidarity,

Adrienne

An Open Letter to the Elected Members of the Lane Community College Board of Education 

To: Lane Community College Board of Education 

From: Adrienne Mitchell, LCCEA President 

Date: November 4, 2025 

Attachments: Documentation 

Esteemed LCC Board of Education Members, 

I am writing to share deep concerns for the state of our beloved Lane Community College. 

Our community’s college and the people of Lane County deserve course and program offerings they can rely upon. 

The sudden suspension of the LPN program for the 25-26 year left student applicants without a place to turn in the region to become LPNs, a critical workforce for long-term care facilities and a living wage job for our students and their families. Students had spent significant time and money on prerequisites only to learn at the last minute that the program would not be offered. 37 applicants for 16 slots in a program with a 100% success rate were turned away. There was no Board vote or public meeting prior to this decision, leaving no avenue for students, community members, or the Board itself to provide any input. This did not save money. Instead, it only increased cost per student for the other Nursing programs. At the same time, the Administration did not advertise the BSN program until mid-June, which resulted in only 11 students rather than the 60 students promised to the Board. This is not “strategic.” It’s the mark of hasty decision making. 

In addition, the Administration cut 100 class sections from the offerings for students this year, which amounts to 3.7% of all course offerings. This could result in a loss of net revenue up to $1M based on tuition alone after excluding all salary and OPE costs. While we are still waiting for the Administration to provide a list of all the cuts as they “research” which classes they just cancelled, we have learned from faculty and deans that the cuts do affect students in math and science taking prerequisites for Health Professions, music, dance, literature, social science, and even “Writing for Scholarships.” Students had registered for many of these classes, and registration for Winter and Spring terms is ongoing with several months of open registration to go when students are expected to register. Cuts of this magnitude are not aligned with the Board’s approved budget, nor the information presented to the Board regarding a minimal reduction of the part-time budget on September 3. 

Our community’s college and the people of Lane County deserve transparency and compliance with open meeting law. 

First, recent emails between the LCC President Bulger and Board of Education members reveal that President Bulger called meetings in August to discuss plans for budget reductions. These meetings were not publicly announced, and despite the express concerns from Board members, including both the Chair and Vice Chair, that the meetings would not conform to open meeting law, President Bulger proceeded to hold the meetings anyway. In addition, President Bulger declined requests from the Board Chair to contact the Oregon Governmental Ethics Commission together and dismissed the concerns of highly experienced public officials including Vice Chair Jerry Rust, claiming that the concerns were an “unnecessary distraction.” After the closed meetings, President Bulger informed the Board members by email that she had changed plans for the budget

presentation (i.e., budget reductions) based on the closed meetings with Board members. Furthermore, statements by Board members and Administrators at the September 3, 2025 Board meeting reveal that the Administration had discussed closing the low-income dental clinic with Board members at the closed meetings but reversed course after the meetings, demonstrating that the meetings resulted in changes that were not purely informational. Compliance with open meeting law should be the bare minimum. And program and service reductions deserve the light of day, community input, and public notice. 

Our community’s college and the people of Lane County deserve an LCC Board of Education that is allowed to function as the governing body of LCC, as they were elected to do. 

Second, another set of public records reveal that the LCC President Bulger has blocked Board of Education members from adding items to their own agenda. Several Board members (Rust, Mulholland, Maldonando, and Folnagy) sought to add an agenda item for action to the September 3 Board meeting to confirm the Board’s existing, long-standing authority to make decisions on program and service cuts, reductions, and suspensions in accordance with the Board’s own policy (BP4350) and decades-long, well-documented precedent. Instead of adding the agenda item motion that was requested by three Board members and summarized by a fourth (the Board Chair) President Bulger added only a memo written by a fifth Board member in support of President Bulger’s opinion that she and the Administration should make decisions about cuts without a vote of the Board. These actions are not consistent with Board policy nor operating agreements and raise serious questions about compliance with Oregon Revised Statutes concerning the powers of community college boards of education. 

Our community’s college and the people of Lane County deserve an LCC Board of Education whose members feel they are treated with respect. 

A third set of public records demonstrate a pattern of disrespect toward Board members who may occasionally disagree with LCC President Bulger. For instance, the most experienced in public service of all Board members, the highly esteemed Vice Chair Jerry Rust, who has two decades of experience as a Lane County Commissioner, reports feeling that President Bulger is “not treating me as an elected board member worthy of respect” and shares concerns about being subjected to a “hostile workplace situation” by the president. 

Our community’s college and the people of Lane County deserve legal compliance, transparency, and a healthy environment where Board members do not operate with fear of retaliation for upholding their duties as elected Board members. 

Finally, it is disturbing that a fourth set of records raise concerns that a minority of Board members are interfering with the ability of the Board Chair to add agenda items and threatening complaints against the Board Chair for fulfilling their basic duties as an elected leader (e.g., adding items to agendas and advocating for following open meeting law). In addition, the records raise questions about one Board member’s release of a legal record marked “confidential” to the President and subsequent coaching of Board members by the LCC President on steps to waive attorney-client privilege, followed by shared drafts and submission of waivers based on that coaching.

Concerns about Retaliation 

I’m concerned I will face retaliation for writing this message even though I know that whistleblowers are protected. I have witnessed retaliation by the current LCC Administration against numerous faculty who have been targeted for speaking up or for expressing criticism of the LCC Administration and who have resigned under pressure, yet this is not an issue that only impacts faculty. I have witnessed retaliation against several high-ranking administrators who dared to speak up and, likewise, experienced retaliation by the current LCC Administration and have been compelled to resign or “retire” and sign non-disclosure agreements. And managers at the dean level and above have reported fear of losing their jobs for advocating against the current class cuts the upper administration is conducting for Winter and Spring terms. I have personally faced retaliation directly by the current LCC Administration, having been targeted for layoff (shortly after LCC President Bulger stated to me directly, “I don’t know how long you will be around here.”) 

I write this because I understand that others may not speak up due to their own fear of retaliation, because I have dedicated a lifetime of service to Lane Community College, because I care so deeply about the services we provide to students and the community, and because I do believe the future of LCC is at stake. 

Call to Action 

Democracy at our national level is increasingly fragile, and it is more critical than ever to buttress higher education, which stands as a bulwark against authoritarianism. Not only in our classrooms, labs, shops, library, and halls – it must begin here in the LCC Boardroom. Without functioning democracy on the Board, LCC cannot effectively serve the people or our region. Board members, please take action to reclaim your authority and to stabilize our community’s college. 

Most sincerely and with appreciation for your service in these challenging times, Adrienne

Adrienne Mitchell, M.A., M.Ed.

Faculty Member, Academic Learning Skills Department

President, Lane Community College Education Association

Vice President, Oregon Education Association Community College Council

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Deep crisis affecting the Board at our beloved LCC

Posted on October 27, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues,

I’m writing to share some public information impacting our beloved LCC.

The crisis of democracy at LCC’s Board of Education is more serious than previously known. 

Public record emails show Board members, who are elected by voters to represent the people of Lane County and provide public oversight to our community’s college, have been unable to add action items to their own September 3 agenda after LCC President Bulger blocked their efforts to do so. President Bulger also did not follow the will of the Board to bring forward an item on October 15 based on a vote they did pass at their September 30 meeting when they voted to remove reference to $3M in cuts each year for the next three years with a request for a full review of budget assumptions at their next meeting.

In addition, Vice Chair Jerry Rust — the most experienced in public office of all Board members as a former Lane County Commissioner with two decades of experience and who is most highly regarded across our region — reported feeling “disrespected,” citing a “hostile workplace situation” created by President Bulger. 

These public records reveal a deeply concerning dynamic at the level of the Board of Education whose authority has been effectively sidelined by the LCC Administration. While this information may be alarming, it is important for faculty and our broader community to take heart and take action to join the call to restore democracy at our community’s LCC Board of Education.

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Click here to sign our petition to restore democracy to the Board of Education: https://bit.ly/LCCDemocracy 
  2. Join together at our rally on Wednesday November 5 at 4:30pm! RSVP here: https://bit.ly/Nov5RallyMeeting

More background information:

New public record emails show publicly elected Lane Community College Board of Education members advocating with the LCC President to allow them to return to performing the most basic functions of their roles – including voting on budget cuts and putting together their own agendas for meetings. 

LCC Board of Education Vice Chair Jerry Rust is an elder public official and experienced LCC Board of Education member, with a lifetime of public service, including 20 years as Lane County Commissioner. 

On October 9, Vice Chair Rust wrote to LCC’s President: “As you know, the last time we attempted to meet, I felt totally disrespected and surprised at your insistence that another board member accompany you… I don’t know how to explain it to you except to say it was a very hostile workplace situation and I’m still feeling hurt by your not treating me as an elected board member worthy of respect.”

Boards of Education in Oregon are responsible for creating their own agenda: setting that agenda is a core function of the independent governing body which cannot be handed away to the same college Administration that the Board is elected to oversee. Voting on budget cuts is consistent with existing Board policy at LCC, as well as past practice at LCC. 

Despite this, emails show LCC Board of Education Chair Austin Folnagy repeatedly asked the LCC President to add an agenda item requested by three Board members — Jesse Maldonado, Zach Mulholland, and Vice Chair Rust — that would reaffirm the right of the Board to vote on program cuts. Voting on cuts is a core tenet of their oversight role, done by every previous LCC Board, and critical for allowing a forum for community input during public comment at open meetings. Discussion around the need for this agenda item included the suspension of the highly successful LPN program, done with neither notice to students and community, nor public comment, nor Board vote.

The LCC Board of Education has always had a policy and authority to vote on program and service cuts, reductions, and suspensions and has done so for decades . However, after the LPN program was suspended suddenly without a Board vote or notice to the public, a number of Board members have been calling for their right to vote on cuts be recognized per normal operating procedure of the board – and their own elected responsibilities and duty to the people and voters of Lane County. 

The emails reveal that LCC’s current President has defied the majority of the Board. This effectively silences their voices, and the public’s. 

In one instance, Pres. Bulger refused  to add the motion item to the September 3 agenda to reaffirm the Board’s voting rights on cuts consistent with their own policy. Instead of adding the item at the Chair’s request, per operating agreements, Pres. Bulger instead added all 7 board members to the email chain and engaged in extensive back and forths attempting to get them to drop the agenda item. After pushback from Pres. Bulger and Board member Kevin Alltucker, Board members arrived at the meeting with their motion to restore voting rights still not added. Instead, President Bulger posted only a memo written by Kevin Alltucker in support of her own position to usurp authority from the publicly elected Board. Kevin Alltucker has stated publicly in Board meetings that he does not believe it is his job to represent the people who elected him. The voices of the majority of the Board were effectively silenced when their action item motion was not added to their own agenda.

On October 20, Vice Chair Rust wrote to LCC’s President: “… The board passed a Motion (‘President‘s goals 2025–2026 Request for Approval’) mandating you to come back to the board with a discussion on the assumptions used in the budget preparation which has led your preliminary findings to conclude that we have a $3.1 million deficit. You were to come back with that discussion item on October 15. I was very disappointed to find that you had neither put it on the agenda for discussion, nor did you raise the issue or speak to that issue on October 15. Was there a reason that you did not follow up with this item as requested by the LCC board? I believe the board in its oversight capacity and doing its fiduciary due diligence should review the assumptions made about the budget at the beginning phase, which is now. Could you tell me when and if you plan to discuss this with the board?”

Last week, news broke about multiple LCC Board of Education open meeting violations at the behest of President Bulger, when she called two meetings in late August to privately discuss budget cuts with Board members despite the concerns raised by multiple Board members – including the Chair and Vice Chair – that the meetings would violate open meeting law. 

It is time for our community to call to restore democracy at the LCC Board of Education.

In solidarity,

Adrienne

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