The meeting of the Gateway Community & Technical College Board of Directors on September 1 was relatively uneventful, a departure from its previous meeting and several other prior ones.
It is no secret that some board members, specifically Chairman Jeffrey Groob, and President/CEO Dr. Ed Hughes have had conflict between them. In the fall of 2013, that friction was displayed at a board meeting, and since then there have been other bumps in the road in their rocky relationship. When Hughes’s contract was extended last year, Groob issued a statement in which he expressed concern about a drop in enrollment. Last October, tensions boiled over in a board meeting that attracted a higher-than-usual attendance from concerned members of the community.
After those bumps, though, the board and Hughes indicated in January that they were working well together. But then came the time to review Hughes’s job performance. In June, the board members opted to send their reviews of the president directly to Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) President Dr. Jay Box but those were returned unopened with instructions to evaluate the president together, something board members said would be awkward to do in a public forum.
The meeting between the time the reviews returned to the board members and the one on September 1, is when conflict returned to the process.
A large contingent of students showed up to protest the non-renewal of a popular instructor’s contract and Groob expressed more concern that manufacturing employers continue to raise issue with the low number of work-ready graduates emerging from the college. “There were no specifics so it’s hard for us to know what their issues are,” Hughes told The River City News after that meeting. Gateway and a coalition of civic and business interests are working together to address concerns from manufacturers. “I did talk about the success of the Advanced Manufacturing Coalition. The work they had been doing has been paying dividends. The meetings I’ve been in with manufacturers have been extremely positive.
There were questions raised about employee turnover, the hiring process, and diversity on campus, Hughes said of Groob’s comments. The chairman also questioned why Hughes hosted a press conference at the Kenton County Public Library to celebrate the formal partnership between the college and that public institution. “It was a big deal,” Hughes said of the library event, noting that it saves taxpayer money by utilizing an existing asset to serve as the college’s main library.
On September 1, there was little evidence of any friction. Board members Ken Paul and Dr. Julie Smith-Morrow served on the evaluation committee and pieced together the individual reviews into a comprehensive one, a process for which they were commended by Groob. The review was signed by the chairman and placed in an envelope and handed to KCTCS legal representation for delivery to Dr. Box.
Through an open records request, The River City News obtained the review and it can be viewed in full below.
In the review, board members compliment Hughes in five areas and urge improvement in two others. Hughes’s development of a strategic plan, his personal engagement, his assistance to the board, his assistance to KCTCS during its transition to a new leader, and management of the college’s resources were all applauded.
The board expressed concern about Hughes’s leadership in the development of the Urban/Metro Campus in Covington within the framework of the master plan and for not completing a review of the strategic plans for 2014-2016.
Hughes was praised for his fundraising efforts and relationship with donors but the issue of manufacturers was also raised and the board urged Hughes to guide the college on a path that recruits more high school students from the region’s urban communities to enroll in advanced manufacturing programs.
“I am pleased that the board has completed this assignment, this task,” Hughes said at the September 1 meeting. “I am personally glad that it’s over. I think our college is glad that it’s over because now we can continue to put a little more focus on serving students in our community, not that we haven’t. We have got a great group of faculty and staff who are sitting here, most of whom are teaching students and serving students in the community, and they do amazing things to support students in the community.”
Story & photos by Michael Monks, editor & publisher
Gateway Board of Directors Evaluation of Dr. Ed Hughes by TheRCnews
