julieHatoff

Vice President, Instructional
Services
(760) 795-6805
Building 4500
E-mail:
jhatoff@miracosta.edu
http://www.miracosta.edu/home/jhatoff/

Came to MiraCosta in 1972.
Taught English and
humanities concentrating on
literature of ethnic
Americans, women's
studies, and the intellectual
history of the European
inter-war period. Served two
terms as Academic Senate
President and department
chair. Elected to the
statewide Academic Senate
and served as its secretary.

Founded with two
colleagues from SFFCC and
L.A. Valley the English
Council of 2-Year Colleges
(ECCTYC); cofounded the
North County Higher
Education Alliance with
colleagues from CSU San
Marcos and Palomar
Community College.

Appointed Vice President,
Instructional Services in
1984. Served as head of
SDICCCA Chief Instructional
Officers and member of
statewide executive board
before election in 1992 as
President, California Chief
Instructional Officers. Joined
the Executive Committee of
National Council of
Instructional Administrators;
elected its President in
2002. Represented NCIA on
Workforce Development
Commission.

The Carter Doran
Leadership Award to Julie
Hattoff

Chief Instructional Officers
usually have one strong suit.

It might be an extraordinary
interrelationship with faculty
and staff, including clear
communication skills, open
and receptive
leadership style, high regard
for all members of the
college as contributors to
students' education,
and active commitment to a
diverse organization. Or a
CIO might be particularly
dedicated to a
rigorous curriculum meeting
the needs of students as
contributors to the workforce
and the
community. Or an
instructional administrator
might have a vision for the
institution's physical
campus, the teaching
environment, the academic
workplace, the intellectual,
cultural, and
aesthetic setting for student
development.

Occasionally a CIO may
have more than one
passion. It is rare that one
would have all three.
In 1983 Julie became
MiraCosta's VicePresident
of Instruction. Those of us
who made up her
team of instructional deans
the past two decades have
been inspired by her
nonhierarchal
leadership style, her belief in
systems and continuous
quality improvement, and
her profound
interest in the most current
teaching and learning
research.

Julie annually leads faculty
and administrators to read
and discuss books by the
nation's leading
educators and implement
more effective teaching
strategies. She continuously
supports faculty
participation in conferences,
teaching academies, and
visits to other innovative
colleges. The
college curriculum has been
strengthened dramatically
under Julie's leadership.
MiraCosta's
Academic Policies and
Procedures Committee took
up her challenge to put all
courses into a
Web Curriculum
Management System in one
year, insuring that critical
thinking, writingacross
the curriculum, and applied
learning are integrated into
every course.

Julie's commitment to
students has always
extended beyond the
classroom. In her role as
VicePresident of Instruction,
she initiated Study Abroad,
Service Learning, Student
Internships,
Honors Scholar, and
Enrichment Seminar
programs. One of Julie's
ongoing campaigns has
been to create a comfortable
environment for students.
Because of her involvement,
with each new building came
outdoor spaces for students
to gather.

From the time Julie came to
MiraCosta, she dreamt of a
new library in the heart of
the campus.
With skeptics predicting that
funding would not be
granted, Julie pursued her
dream and in 2002,
due to her determination,
the MiraCosta Information
Hub was constructed,
standing in the center
of the campus, just where
Julie had pictured it. At the
same time, Julie facilitated a
new
Children's Center. In
recognition, faculty and staff
and commissioned a work of
art and donated
hundreds of children's books
in her name.
This is the dynamic
microcosm of Julie Hatoff.
Beyond MiraCosta College,
she has contributed
to other colleges, statewide
organizations, and national
projects. She has served on
ten
accreditation teams. She
created the North County
Higher Education Alliance.
She served as
president of the California
Chief Instructional Officers
association, served on the
National
Workforce Development
Team, and served as
president of National Council
of Instructional
Administrators.

The Carter Doran
Leadership Award criteria
provide the blueprint for the
ideal Chief
Instructional Officer. Julie
Swan Hatoff has followed
that blueprint all of her
career.

Shake-up frustrates faculty at MiraCosta
By Lola Sherman
STAFF WRITER

September 1, 2006

For the second time in less than a week, the MiraCosta College Academic Senate, which
represents the school's faculty, anguished yesterday over the fate of a popular top
administrator who was abruptly placed on paid leave.

Julie Hatoff, vice president for instructional services since 1984, was told to clear out her
desk by 5 p.m. Aug. 25, Senate members said. The members were unsure who ordered
the move – the college's president or the college's attorneys.

Faculty member Tom Severance, in an impassioned half-hour speech yesterday, called
Hatoff an icon at MiraCosta and the statewide community college system.
At the beginning of the meeting, the president and vice president of the Senate
announced their resignations.

President Brent Pickett and Vice President Lynne Miller said their decisions were not in
protest over Hatoff's departure, but were related because of the stress and time away
from their families caused by the turmoil of the Hatoff situation.

Although no official reason has been given for Hatoff's ouster, many faculty and
nonteaching staff members said it was the latest in an administrative housecleaning after
a campus scandal last spring involving the unauthorized sale of thousands of palm trees
on the Oceanside campus.

Severance noted that Alleen Texeira, head of the horticulture department, also has been
placed on leave, and Eileen Kraskouskas, the dean of vocational education and
Texeira's boss, was asked to retire.

Miller asked those in attendance yesterday to attend the college's governing board
meeting at 4 p.m. today. She asked that at least five or six speakers sign up to address
the board during a public-comment period.

In addition, the Academic Senate has asked to present a report on its concerns at a
board meeting at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday in Aztlan Rooms A and B on the Oceanside campus,
1 Barnard Drive.

Miller and Pickett said Hatoff's situation is in the hands of attorneys and there's little they
can do, although a task force of Senate members will “investigate the investigation.”

Kraskouskas, Hatoff and Texeira have hired lawyers and are not speaking to the media.

Members of the audience yesterday said that now may be the time for MiraCosta, one of
the few nonunionized community colleges, to consider forming a collective-bargaining unit.

Others said there may come a time for a vote of no-confidence in the college's president,
Victoria Muñoz Richart.

Miller said that now is not the time.

The college issued no immediate announcement last week of Hatoff's leave. Upon
request, public-relations director Bonnie Hall supplied a two-sentence statement:

“Dr. Richart was informed this morning by college attorney, Daniel Shinoff, that the vice
president of instructional services will be on leave until further notice.

“Dr. Richart appointed Dick Robertson, vice president of student services, to also serve
as interim vice president of instructional services.”

Hall said yesterday that the letter from Shinoff did not give a reason for his
announcement that Hatoff would be on leave. Neither Shinoff nor Richart returned calls
for comment yesterday.

During the leave, Hall said, Hatoff will receive her annual salary of $200,803.

Hatoff began her career at MiraCosta in 1971 as an English instructor. She was named
vice president of instructional services in 1984.

“She was the most beloved person,” retired instructor Larry Nugent said later. “She's
given her whole life to MiraCosta and is really well-known throughout the state.”

MiraCosta's governing board turned over the palm tree matter to the District Attorney's
Office.

Hall said yesterday that district attorney investigators have asked for further information
from college officials, but she could not say what they requested.

Hatoff is key figure in palm-tree scandal
By Lola Sherman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 21, 2007

NORTH COUNTY – The MiraCosta College board of trustees has started the process to
fire Julie Hatoff, both as a top administrator and as a tenured teacher, as a result of a
palm-tree scandal that has rocked the campus for the past year.
College officials confirmed yesterday that Hatoff was the unidentified employee that
trustees meant when they voted 4-3 on Thursday to approve a “statement of charges
and notice of dismissal.”

Advertisement Hatoff has been with MiraCosta since 1971, starting as an English
instructor, and has been vice president for instruction since 1983. On Aug. 25, she was
put on paid administrative leave.
Since then, turmoil on campus has resulted in no-confidence votes from faculty groups
against the college president and its board of trustees.

The campus uproar began in May, when college President Victoria Muñoz Richart
announced that a college employee and a private businessperson had for eight years
operated an enterprise to sell thousands of palm trees nurtured and stored on the
campus. The trees were later determined to belong to MiraCosta.

A private investigator, Robert Price, was hired in February 2006 to probe the palm tree
case. On Wednesday, his long-awaited report was released.

Among its findings, it said a “senior administrator” had known about the palm-tree deal
for several years and had done nothing about it.

Although the public version of the report used no names, the “senior administrator” in
the report apparently was Hatoff, based on the description of the individual.

The report referred to the alleged operators of the enterprise as “the facilitator” and “the
private party,” apparently Horticulture Department head Aileen Texeira and her former
fiance, Jack Wackerman. Price said Hatoff had tried to protect the “facilitator” from
discovery.

In an unrelated issue, the Price report said the senior administrator had ultimate
responsibility to make sure student fees for materials in horticulture classes were
collected properly. That was not done, he said.

“Julie denies everything in the Price report,” her attorney, Tracy Warren of San Diego,
said yesterday.

College trustees began a similar dismissal procedure against Texeira, without identifying
her, on Sept. 22. On Thursday, they voted unanimously to approve her early retirement.

At a board of trustees retreat yesterday, President Charles Adams said the dismissal
process for a tenured teacher can take up to two years. Hatoff has tenure as a teacher,
while her contract as an administrator expires June 30.

Richart said yesterday she will advertise for an interim vice president on Monday to
replace Hatoff, but whoever is hired will start July 1.

Warren, Hatoff's attorney, said her client will sue the college and Richart.

Yesterday's six-hour board retreat was aimed at healing some of the wounds created by
its 4-3 split over the Hatoff dismissal and related issues.

Trustee Gloria Carranza said she had not known beforehand that it was to be a session
with professional mediators – Lisa Maxwell and John Edwards of the National Resolution
Conflict Center in San Diego.

Carranza, Jacqueline Simon and Judy Strattan make up a board minority that wants to
discuss the no-confidence votes. They said they feel a lack of respect by the board
majority.

In turn, the board majority, especially trustee Gregory Post, said it has felt verbally
abused by the faculty groups.

Post said he was pleased that, in an exercise driven by the mediators, he and Strattan
had worked together well, and he thinks the board members should try to get together in
twos to discuss their differences more fully.

No action was taken.

Lola Sherman: (760) 476-8241; lola.sherman@uniontrib.com

A Palm Tree Scandal and Then a Resignation
By SUSAN GRANT Voice Staff Writer
Thursday June 21, 2007

With a spring in her step and an air of perpetual hurriedness about her, Victoria Munoz
Richart was all smiles Tuesday morning as she prepared for the 3 p.m. regular board
meeting between administration and faculty at MiraCosta Community College. Since
Richart came to MiraCosta in 2004 as president, tensions between faculty and
administration have risen steadily, stemming largely from the felony investigation of
faculty members in a palm tree scandal and the subsequent creation of a political action
committee to get the president removed.

"When I think about the accomplishments this school has made since I came here it
helps me to push the rest of this aside," Richart said in an interview.

The president of MiraCosta Community College resigned Wednesday after a drawn out
battle with the school's workers. Photo: Susan Grant
Fifteen hours later, after a tense overnight meeting in closed session that ended in the
wee hours of Wednesday morning, Richart resigned, collected a $650,000 severance
package and a guarantee that she can continue to fight a war that has raged for three
years.

With an enrollment of more than 10,000 and two campuses in Oceanside and Encinitas,
MiraCosta Community College has grown steadily since it opened in 1934. The college
follows a collegial governance structure that is comprised of an academic senate made
up of teaching faculty, a classified senate that includes all non-teaching staff, and the
seven-member board of trustees. The superintendent and president serves as the
executive officer for the board of trustees.

The tumultuous last few years have left a bruise on the college’s relatively scandal-free
past and have created what Academic Senate President Jonathan Cole calls a "climate
of distrust" between faculty and the administration.

“Her departure was a long time coming,” said Susan Herrmann, a professor at MiraCosta
and head of a recently created political action committee, Restore MiraCosta.

Horticultural Department Investigative Report (pdf)

Richart Settlement (pdf)

Much of the aggravation between Richart and the faculty can be traced to a common
sight around the campus -- palm trees.

In December 2005, a whistleblower complaint from a classified employee surfaced in the
human resources department. By May 2006, an investigation by the private
investigations firm ESI International Inc. into the fraudulent diversion of public funds at
the college’s horticultural department was well under way, and two employees were put
on leave indefinitely. The investigative report was released in April and detailed the
illegal sale of palm trees on the school’s Oceanside campus.

According to the report, Alleen Texiera and an unnamed former boyfriend started a
palm-growing and selling business on the Oceanside campus in 1996 using roughly
1,000 palm trees that had been donated to MiraCosta.

During this time, the horticulture department was found to have improperly diverted
funds from the sale of plants into tin cans and soda boxes. The report also stated that
the department had been running an "underground economy" to pay illegal workers for
their landscaping work. In total, the misplaced funds totaled $305.38.

Shortly after the report was released, former horticultural department head Texiera pled
guilty to a single count of grand theft, paid a $2,500 penalty, and retired. Later that
month, former Vice President of Instructional Services Julie Hatoff, who had been on
paid leave for six months, did not get her contract renewed because of her involvement
in the scandal.

Silly String and Green Bracelets
"I’m going to need you to come to the meeting tonight," Richart said to the head security
guard on campus Tuesday morning. "And I’m going to need you to stay the whole time."

Security at board meetings has become a common sight over the last few months after
Richart received an anonymous death threat in May and board president Charles
Adams, who is black, discovered the letters "KKK" written on his home in silly string June
1.

At the June 5 board meeting, Adams angrily accused Cole and classified senate
President Abdy Afzali of writing the letters. There have been no arrests made in the
incident, which the Oceanside Police Department later characterized as a hate crime.

Standing up at the podium meant for public speakers, Adams also singled out members
of the faculty who had recently began wearing green bracelets that said "Restore
MiraCosta," a reference to the political action committee, claiming they were sending out
"hate-filled propaganda" around the campus and the community.

Adams later sent out a letter apologizing to all faculty and staff for his actions, but for
many, the damage had already been done.

"The June 5 board meeting was the lowest point I have experienced in the history of this
institution," Cole said.

Tensions over Adams’ comments were still high at the June 19 meeting, even hours
before the academic faculty knew Richart was resigning.

"The accusations you made at the last meeting are inconceivable and are shameful and
embarrassing to all the faculty and staff at this college," said retired professor Katherine
Herd to Adams and Richart. "As much as you try to destroy the collegiality, it will never
be destroyed here at MiraCosta."

It’s Not About the Palm Trees
While Richart prepared for the June 19 regular meeting, Restore MiraCosta continued to
prepare for what its supporters thought would be a much longer battle. The political
action committee formed in early April and is comprised of academic faculty, classified
staff, retirees and members of the community.

On Dec. 1, 2006, members of the faculty held a "vote of no confidence" ballot, in which
106 out of 148 staff members said that they had no confidence in Richart or the board
of trustees and called for her to step down.

Four days later, Richart and the board dismissed the vote, calling it unofficial.

"I will not resign," Richart said at the Dec. 5 meeting.

On Wednesday, even Herrmann expressed surprise at Richart’s resignation.

"None of the board was acting differently at all yesterday," Herrmann said. "But she has
a history of telling lies and she did tell us she would never resign so I guess you have to
take this with a grain of salt."

Restore MiraCosta member Beatriz McWilliams said the group acknowledges that the
fraudulent activity that took place in the horticulture department needed to be stopped
and addressed, but its members do not think a full-scale felony investigation was
needed.

"It’s not about the palm trees," McWilliams said. "It’s about how the investigation went
forward and the way this president fits within the system of collegial governance that we
have within this college."

In an interview a week before her resignation, Richart had a different take on the
investigation. Richart said that because it was a whistleblower complaint, she was
required by law to investigate.

"For over 10 years, there were things going on in that department and money being
mishandled," Richart said.

Richart also said the investigation discovered more than just the $300.

According to the report, Texiera was preparing to remove 2,000 trees from the
MiraCosta property to give back to her then ex-boyfriend.

"Ms. Texiera was going to do much more than steal $305," Richart said. "Through our
investigation we saved $300,000 worth of palm trees."

Agreeing to Disagree
Both Texiera and Hatoff are suing MiraCosta for sexual discrimination and retaliation.
Richart said she is looking forward to her day in court.

"I am very happy that both of the employees have filed against the school," Richart said.
"Now we can take things out from the public press and into a court of law. I am looking
forward to the truth coming out."

Despite Richart’s departure, she will still most likely get her day in court. In the
agreement reached early Wednesday morning between Richart and the governing
board, she will be made available in all current and future litigation that relates to her
employment with the college. Richart’s departure is expected to take place around June
30, and a replacement for her has not yet to be discussed.

When asked Tuesday morning if she was glad she took the position despite the ongoing
controversy, Richart remained diplomatic, if not slightly prescient.

"I am happy of the friends I have made since I moved here and the work that I’ve done,"
Richart said. "There has to be a point when we agree to disagree and move on."

Please contact Susan Grant directly with your thoughts, ideas, personal stories or tips.
Or send a letter to the editor.