1. PURPOSE: The purpose of this policy is to outline a process that transitions leadership of the college in the event of a planned or unplanned departure of the current president.
2. PLANNED DEPARTURE: To assure an orderly transition of leadership, the president’s contract shall contain a provision requiring notice of no less than 60 days prior to departure not to include the use of accumulated vacation days.
3. UNPLANNED DEPARTURE: If the current president’s departure is unplanned, the Board of Trustees will take immediate action to appoint interim leadership from among the three vice-presidents for a period not to exceed 90 days. During that period, the Board will be in contact with ACCT to identify and subsequently appoint an interim president until the search and selection of a new president is completed. The interim president will be asked to remain in place until the workday prior to the new president taking office.
4. A PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH will be conducted using the services provided by ACCT. These services would include advertising, screening, verifying credentials, preliminary interviews and narrowing the candidate pool to five.
a. ACCT provides the option of checking references or providing questions for the Board to check references.
b. All five candidates would be interviewed via video teleconferencing and the selection narrowed to three who would be summoned to the campus for interview, from which a selection is made.
5. APPOINTMENT OF AN INTERNAL INTERIM PRESIDENT for a 90-day period from among the three current vice presidents will be based upon an interview by the Board of Trustees and a review of their personnel records. Under no circumstances will other college employees or college patrons be consulted in this selection.
a. The prevailing practice is the appointment of the vice president/dean of instruction to serve as the interim president. Exceptions are common.
b. The current practice at PCC during the president’s short term absence is to follow the list of ascendancy noted in the Emergency Recovery and Restoration Plan:
i. Vice President, Instruction
ii. Vice President, Finance and Operations
iii. Vice President, Students/Enrollment Management
6. BASED ON THE CURRENT PRACTICE, the Vice President, Instruction will be selected as the interim president and perform all duties and functions of the presidency as required by law and as noted in Board/Administrative policies with the exception of financial transactions and purchases as specified in Board Policies 3-06 and 3-07.
a. The Vice President for Finance and Operations may veto any purchases or other financial transactions that he believes are not within the scope of the budget or are not in the best interests of the college.
b. Instances noted in paragraph 6a above that cannot be resolved administratively will be resolved by the Board chair and vice chair.
7. VICE PRESIDENT OF INSTRUCTION SUCCESSION. In the event that the Vice President, Instruction fills the position of interim president, he will delegate the duties of chief instructional officer to the academic dean. This delegation is necessary to assure that the Vice President, Instruction will have the time and energy to devote full time and attention to the duties of the presidency.
8. UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCE. In the event that the Vice President, Instruction is unable to or desires not to fill the position of interim president, the Vice President, Students and Enrollment Management will be appointed interim president. This action is meant to assure full financial oversight of college operations by the Vice President, Finance and Operations and to preclude placing both financial and operational control of the college in the hands of a single person during a period when the college is most vulnerable and void of permanent leadership.
9. CURRENT ISSUES AND OPERATIONAL POLICIES. The president shall operate in a manner that assures that the vice presidents and the Executive Assistant to the President are knowledgeable and current on the key issues – local, state and Federal – that impact the college. In addition, the Executive Assistant to the President is to be made aware of and have access to supporting documentation and recurring actions/reports that are generally handled by the president.
10. This succession plan will be filed with the Personnel Director, the Executive Assistant to the President/Clerk of the Board, and the Board chair. In the event of an unplanned departure, the succession plan will be automatically implemented within 24 hours unless otherwise directed by the chair of the Board of Trustees.
