The RSCCD Board of Trustees knowingly approved an employee health insurance plan with a controversial vendor costing taxpayers approximately $1.7 million more than a nearly identical alternative. They failed in their duty to scrutinize the plans and protect taxpayer dollars. Approving millions more for comparable coverage raises serious questions about fiscal responsibility, judgment, and accountability.
Author Archives: Dr. Barry Resnick
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: RSCCD – A Crisis of Leadership, Accountability and Trust
The Rancho Santiago Community College District faces a deepening crisis as allegations, investigations, and financial concerns converge around Chancellor Marvin Martinez. Longstanding warnings about governance failures and ties to a joint powers authority have gone unheeded, leaving the board to confront institutional dysfunction that now demands decisive leadership and immediate accountability.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: NOCCCD’s Measure J Conflict Voters Never Saw
Voters should approach school bond measures cautiously when competing interests are not fully disclosed. At the North Orange County Community College District, Fred Williams, Vice Chancellor of Finance and Facilities, held a concurrent role as director of an insurance company that was providing bond construction insurance to the college district.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: Santiago Canyon College Faculty Take a Stand Against a Culture of Mistrust
In an unprecedented move, the Academic Senate representing the faculty of Santiago Canyon College voted near unanimously on a Vote of No Confidence for President Jeannie
Kim. Citing violations of numerous state policies and documented grievances, the Academic Senate outlined ethical failures and mistrust that has resulted in low morale at the east Orange campus.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: Is Santiago Canyon College in the Same Financial Peril as the City of Orange?
A dire warning from Santiago Canyon College President Jeannie Kim echoes the recent fiscal alarm sounded by the consultant hired by the city of Orange. Like the city it serves, the east Orange community college now finds itself grappling with a staggering $3 million structural budget deficit.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: Will RSCCD’s Imminent $22 Million Decision Help Regain Public Trust?
A forensic audit recently found $8 million in excess insurance premiums had been held for over a decade by the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs (ASCIP) for the Rancho Santiago CCD without the knowledge of the elected trustees. Now the trustees are faced with continuing their $22 million annual employee insurance contract with ASCIP or looking elsewhere.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: Could History Repeat Itself for Local College Trustees?
Almost 40 years ago four trustees of the Orange Unified School District were indicted for willful misconduct in office. Among the charges against them were failing to obey various educational codes. Similar charges were alleged to have occurred under the watch of the Rancho Santiago CCD board. Could they meet the same fate?
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: OC Public School Administrators – Is Anyone Asking Questions?
Orange County taxpayers benefit from significant transparency regarding the actions of our elected officials and their handling of public funds. However, it seems that public school administrators who oversee budgets larger than those of many cities, often do so with less scrutiny than our elected officials receive.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: RSCCD Chancellor Marvin Martinez Misleads Board and Taxpayers
For over 15 years the Alliance of Schools for Public Insurance Programs (ASCIP) has been holding insurance rebate funds belonging to the Rancho Santiago CCD. When elected trustee Phillip Yarbrough, who was unaware funds were held outside of the college district’s purview, started to ask questions he was stripped of his position as chair of the district’s Fiscal/Audit Committee.
Posted inCommunity Opinion
Resnick: Lifting the Curtain Behind a School Bond
While employed with the Rancho Santiago CCD, two senior administrators served at the same time as directors of a Hawaii based insurance company that received millions of dollars in premiums from the college district for bond construction insurance related to the $337 million Measure E. There were never votes recorded or minutes of any kind memorializing this company’s involvement with the RSCCD.
