ALEX HOBEN
editor-in-chief
alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu

During the Nov. 17 board of trustees meeting, three people addressed the board  questioning the speed of the board’s appointment of Elva LeBlanc as sole finalist for TCC chancellor and called for the process to be held again.

David Lowe, a resident of North Richland Hills, asked whether the board followed the correct legal procedure for LeBlanc’s appointment  and if more than one candidate was considered.

“I believe there’s always more than one candidate,” Lowe said. “It is not right to only just pick one person without interviewing or considering other options. Please take a minute, review the law and I think that you need to redo the process and start interviewing some additional candidates.”

Denise Linn, a Tarrant County resident, said she wondered about the timing and openness of the meeting where the decision for the finalist took place.

“There might be nothing wrong with the chancellor that you chose,” Linn said. “She might be a great person for the job, but the way that you did it makes us wonder.”

LeBlanc’s appointment as the finalist for the chancellor position was voted on in a special meeting on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The process regarding the chancellor’s appointment is currently in the statutorily required 21-day period where a contract is being drawn up to be presented not only to the board but to LeBlanc for discussion and possible approval.

All the items on the Nov. 17 agenda were passed except for an item regarding the move management services required for the construction on NW and SE, which was delayed to the Dec. 8 meeting.

Also during the meeting, some board members honored several members of the TCC community, past and present. One of them was a painter and former student, Fred Garza, who donated a piece of art to the chancellor’s office. 

 “Mr. Garza doesn’t know this about me, but I’m the daughter of an art and art history teacher,” said board secretary Jeannie Deakyne in introducing Garza. “So this has profoundly impacted my life, what I’m about to share.”

The oil painting he donated, titled “Koi Pond at the Dallas Arboretum,” he said took about four months to complete. Garza said this “labor of love” was possible because of the instruction he received at TCC.

“The reason that I’m able to paint that way is because of the wonderful instruction that TCC gave me,” he said.

Garza attended art classes on SE Campus, and he said the quality of instruction speaks to his skill now. He said the teachers he had were exemplary and helped him and other students like him reach their potential, and now he is giving back with this donation.

“But I truly want for you to go ahead and have the opportunity to share it with all those that come into your office, and you can say, ‘Look what we did,’” he said. “Because it’s not only me that’s represented in that painting. It’s each one of you, and each one of your decisions whether it’s financial or whether it’s based on faculty.”

Also honored were current NE students Tomy Huynh and Cristian Aponte, representing Phi Theta Kappa organization, and Avery Jones, a former student of NE’s Grapevine-Colleyville Collegiate Academy  NE who now teaches algebra .

“I just wanted to say thank you so much for the amazing opportunity that you provided for me, and many of my friends and now my current students,” Jones said. “It provided a lot of support because I was not sure if I would be able to afford college even though it was something that I always knew that I wanted to do.”