(Gresham, Ore., April 6, 2013) – The Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) District Board of Education is pleased to announce that it has selected Debra Derr as the finalist for the position of college president.
Derr will become MHCC’s tenth president since 1966, the year the college began serving students and the community from its campus in Gresham. Ore. Michael Hay, the college’s president since July 1, 2011, has announced that he will retire at the end of June.
Former MHCC Administrator
Derr is currently president of North Iowa Community College and has held senior administrative positions at Mt. Hood Community College and Clackamas Community College. Her experience lies in the areas of working with students with disabilities, advising and counseling, teaching psychology and student development courses, and administering student affairs programs with a focus on student success.
Derr holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Linfield College, a master’s in counseling from Portland State University and a doctorate in community college leadership/higher education administration from Oregon State University.
“We are impressed with Dr. Derr’s credentials and strong connection to our college and community,” said Dave Shields, board chair. “Her leadership style is highly inclusive and participative. She is prepared to help move MHCC forward as it meets a number of important challenges, such as sustainable funding and graduation goals.”
Derr will join her son Brennan Derr, who is already living in Oregon after leaving Mason City in the wake of a drug scandal on the NIACC campus. Brennan Derr was arrested last year for dealing marijuana and cocaine on the NIACC campus. Brennan Derr was detained by local law enforcement on NIACC’s campus along with three others on January 17th, 2012 for illegal drug distribution activities following an investigation by law enforcement.
” I call it punch in the face truth.”Matt you know what Sophocles said about TRUTH don’t you?
Bueller?
Bueller?
Matt are you making a point by not having anything in the left side of your banner? Or did you finally come to the realization that the “Mamma” headline was inappropriate and you are paying a penance for the faux pas?
Penance? Reggie, that’s a big word for you, and you even spelled it right. I was wrong about you; you DID pass fourth grade. Congratulations. As far as what you perceived as a “faux pas” I call it punch in the face truth. The headline ran it’s course. Just hold on I got another doozie on the way.
“I was wrong about you; you DID pass fourth grade.”
It took me bout 3 ears but I done gradgeeated thank you. I was best at goesintos. You know 5 goesinto 25 five times. That and jim was my favorite sumjects.
Matt, while I understand your passion against current leadership in North Iowa, actually I DO NOT understand it, but I undersand it as your view.
You really believe a parent should resign their position based on their kid’s trangressions? I don’t agree with that at all.
Dr. Derr is a very respectable woman. An asset for North Iowa, simply saying she should resign based on her child’s actions, I don’t get that at all.
I can help you out with your lack of understanding. Try attending some meetings of the school board, city council and county supervisors. Start looking at the numbers. Take a good look at the sense of entitlement from these so-called leaders. Then perhaps you will get it. What is your attendance like? Do you follow the activities of these boards? Have you ever once read a council packet? Just questions here. Perhaps you are too busy. I am simply bringing the information I believe people need to consider.
Matt you claim to just provide information but your words drip with anger, vindictiveness and hate. Yes I said hate. While you always claim to not feel any hatred toward any of the people you write about your words betray you. Please tell me I am wrong.
@Reggie (rd) I don’t want to speak for Matt but I read disgust much more than hate.
LVS it feels like more like hate than disgust.I think if it was JUST disgust Matt might have a more philosophical approach about these people. Maybe I’m wrong ,but again it feels like hate.
Public education cares little about the kids. Its all about the never ending $$$$ for those who work there.
Ozzy gives a thumbs up to the title.
My opinion: Derr is leaving North Iowa with little to show except a $75,000 payout from the taxpayers just for holding her job for 5 years. Show me a private sector employee that gets that around here.
Meanwhile, her son was on campus selling cocaine and marijuana.
In addition, Derr is a big player at the Mason City Chamber of Commerce and the North Iowa Corridor, two outfits that routinely take advantage of the good people of North Iowa and rob them blind.
I’m not in the slightest sorry to see her go, in fact, I’m elated that she is leaving and her son left first.
The next NIACC President, I hope, will have a better handle on her/his own family’s activities on campus and have no part of the Chamber nor the Corridor.
I understand your feelings Matt, but you can bet the next NIACC chief will make just as much or more. These positions are based on the degrees and experience and of course they are overpaid in my opinion. As far as her son, he doesn’t need to hold his head any lower than Barack Obama or George Bush. In fact this kid is actually more noble. He paid, while others didn’t. His life is ruined. The only thing he has to look forward to is his inheritance if he makes it that far.
Matt, I can tell you that percentage-wise, I know a business that gives an annual bonus that is very close to what Dr. Derr is getting on an annualized basis, based on Dr. Derr’s annual salary. I also worked at a business years ago that gave big annual bonuses. It is NOT that uncommon a practice. Lots of private businesses look at their profits at the end of their fiscal years and divide up a certain chunk of it among their employees. When I worked for one employer eons ago, we got nearly one month’s salary as a bonus at year-end. I would guess that lawyers, CPA’s, banks, insurance companies, and others are ones who may do this. In the public and private sectors, these 5-year bonuses are called incentive pay to get someone to stay at the job for a certain length of time so there isn’t a constant turnover. No one wants to just get someone broken in only to have them leave, or to have someone decide they hate the area and leave.
@Katie-and I know of a business where the CEO was paid 60% of his salary in quarterly bonuses with 40% of that in the last quarter. This guy would do anything to get his “money”. I saw him lay off people just before the end of the year just to get his bonus and that is not the first time I have seen that. They get their money by stepping on the backs of the hourly employees. The bonus plans are the ruination of American Business and now American Education.
Well, that’s not how it happens in the businesses I’m talking about. They take the profits and divide them out by percentages. No layoffs. Small profits, small bonuses. No profits, no bonuses. You must be talking about a manufacturing business or some such thing. The education bonus is based on a SET public budget, not from a profit-based model. It is budgeted as a part of the salary. I doubt anyone will be fired because she is getting a bonus. Schools probably don’t pay the entire salary the job commands unless they stay 5 years. Then they get the balance of the full salary in the form of a bonus.
@Katie-you are correct that they were mostly manufacturing operations but I do know it is done in retail as well. It just happened with J.C. Penny the CEO was fired but had a 15 million dollar bonus in six months while they are shutting down stores and reducing staff. It happens all over and I think you are aware of it. Most small businesses pay themselves yearly bonuses at the end of the year for tax reasons. There is something wrong with paying bonuses and then going to the stock holders (tax payers) and saying they need more money to operate with. Sounds like the Obama administration. Needing more tax money to pay more welfare.
LVS: would you call that entitlements for the 1%?
(or welfare as some people like to call entitlements)
@50 miles-I would mostly just call it wrong, but entitlements for the 1% fits too. It just kind of makes your stomach turn when you see people out of work and struggling and then you see this type of legal theft.
Matt’s obsession with this woman’s son and his charges are just odd. In America we have the last three sitting presidents who did the SAME thing only they were never caught. Does anyone here think we should’ve destroyed their lives as young men?
I see, it’s some how more morally right to smoke cigs and drink beer over what this kid did? Hog wash.
The last three presidents were pot and cocaine dealers? There is a large difference between selling and using.
BS
At least when reading the Globe site I never once felt like I was reading a rag. No cheap shots over there. Besides I won’t pay to read a rag, even as low as $2 per month.
Yes Dr. Micich will be next to be dragged through the mud.
NIT costs more than $2 per month now; the subscriptions are $19.99 per 3 months.
As far as Dr. Micich goes, let’s see if she takes the NE job, and if she does, let’s see if there is a payout from the district. I have no bone to pick with Dr. Micich at this time. As a matter of fact, I have written that in my opinion she does care about the kids in Clear Lake and Mason City.
Matt, from life’s experiences, watching from afar. A parent never knows what their kid is into and it then shows up on the news. Many a good parent is shocked to face reality. They have done their best and STILL,the kid did wrong. If your kid gets mixed up in anything I can see where the Globe would make it front and center. That’s why I’d take down that banner, never know when the shoe may fit. JMHO.
The family name “Menendez” comes to mind.
First of all, do not comment on my child.
Second, as the President of NIACC with a kid on campus working there and selling dangerous drugs to the student body, I really struggle to see how that can be defended by anyone. We are a forgiving society, but this is downright inexcusable. Resignation was only recourse to save the dignity of herself and the school. If she had any suspicion whatsoever she should have took the kid aside and told him to stay off campus until they could they sort out the issue.
She should be given credit for wanting to be there for her son and closer to an aging parent. I also feel this is a really cheap shot.
I can’t wait to see what is said here about Dr. Micich when she leaves for NE. Remember, they INVITED her to apply! Amazing how another school district sees her as a great asset.
@Katie-Every school and every organization that ever hired and paid such a high price always praised that individual. If she doesn’t perform in six months they will come out with she is leaving for personal reasons. It is all smoke and mirrors. They have to justify spending all that money somehow. She knew she was going to leave but stuck around long enough to get the 75K. That is the problem with our schools. No one is worth that kind of money but they don’t care because it is not “their” money. I wish her luck in her new job and hope NIACC wakes up on the next one.
And you WOULDN’T stay around long enough to get a nice fat bonus? Give me a break. LOL I sure would. That’s why people work until they are fully vested in a retirement pension, or until they are 62, or 65, or 72, or whatever gives them the money they want or need for retirement. Some businesses give an extra week of paid vacation after every so many years of working for them. Same thing on a smaller scale. It’s called a reward for length of service. Our business does it. And I disagree with your statement that no one is worth that kind of money. Dr. Micich is running TWO school districts. She has advanced degrees with a lot of experience. I bet she will get a higher salary at the school district in NE. Not just anyone can do the job she does. Not just any manager and not any teacher can handle it. It takes expertise and experience and she deserves to be paid for it. I really wonder if there would be all the complaining about salaries for Drs. Derr and Micich if they were men.
@Katie-I don’t care how many degrees she has. There should be a cap on what these people are allowed to make. You are working in the private sector and they are not. They are paid by the taxpayer (me) and they are the reason my taxes continue to rise every year. As far as Dr. Micich is concerned she should be made to pay back her salary for gross mismanagement of funds. She spent 35 million dollars on remodeling schools that didn’t need it and then turns right around and wants a couple of hundred more to put in security doors before the work is done on the first project. We has kids coming out of school that can’t read or write, or read a tape measure or even tell time and you want to pay the education people more money. There are less and less kids in school. That should be less and less money needed to run the schools. Not more.
Two points: Number one, Derr is not 62 or 65 or 72. She is much younger and nowhere near retirement. Number two, you insinuate that I or someone else feels that because Derr is a woman she should be paid less. I can only speak for myself, but that is a very sad thing to take from this situation. Men and women should be paid equally for the same work. To say otherwise is ridiculous and is a baseless attack and really I would expect better from you, Katie. The point is, this person is fleeing town with $75K of our money and leaving a drug scandal behind on our campus.
Matt, I didn’t address my post to you and I don’t think you feel that way, but I suspect some do. I would guess that MOST superintendent contracts are structured this way to avoid turnover and that bonus is incorporated as part of the overall salary. As far as the drug scandal left by her son? Big deal. She probably regrets ever having brought him to this drug-ridden “Methland” inhabited by people like B4B, where he got caught up in the drug culture. How’s that for an opinion? As I said in another post, what her son did at NIACC isn’t a whole lot worse than what our un-illustrious president did. He just never got caught. But he is an admitted drug abuser, law breaker, and should resign. That’s a far bigger scandal.
I didn’t insinuate that the Drs. should be paid less than men. You are putting meaning behind my words that wasn’t there. I insinuated that some others think they should be paid less because they are women and that there would not be all the complaining about their job performances if they were men. I think some people see men in their positions as strong leaders and they see women as frivolous spendthrifts. Let’s see what happens if they are both replaced with men.
I can’t believe people are complaining about security doors. You’d be complaining if they DIDN’T do something to make the schools safer.
I agree that the kids are coming out of schools lacking basic skills. I blame the federal government for that. There is way too much meddling and way too much testing with no time for teaching the basics. I see some of the young contestants on Jeopardy and wonder how they got so smart! I would want my kids to go to school where they did. This is one of the areas where, other than Newman, there are no private schools. Most of my friends and relatives who moved away from here to larger areas sent their kids to private schools because public education was so poor. Almost anyone can do something better than the government!
@Katie-I am not complaining about putting in security doors. I happen to think they are badly needed. What I am complaining about is that they were not included in the remodel. Didn’t we have school shootings before this? Wasn’t it a problem that should have been addressed? Why were the doors not put in as part of the 35 million dollar project. Now they want over $100,000 to to a add on which is what I am complaining about. That is a B.S. price as all they are doing is adding some form glass wall and doors. They could do the same thing by adding a buzzer to the existing doors, but no, that would make to much sense and who cares as it’s not their money anyway. That is what I call mismanagement.
A cap on earnings? Sounds socialistic to me!
@Anonymous-it is called a classification and is used by all of the socialist Unions. In other words they get paid what they are worth, not what they can negotiate.
While I don’t agree with what Dr. Derrs son did. Another example of low level journalism at it’s best.
Well I’m happy for Dr. Derr. They will be gaining a good College President. Their gain, our loss. Hopefully she can get her son on the right path. It certainly happens to many these days.
Yes I completely agree on the banner above. It should be scrapped. Really makes this look like a rag. It should be removed ASAP. Disgusting.
I love how this story is taken directly from the Mount Hood Community College website until the last paragraph.
that is one of the reasons if have compared NIT to Faux News. It always seems to get personal. That last paragraph added nothing news worthy to the article.
Dr. Debra Derr should have resigned as NIACC President when Brennan Derr was convicted of selling drugs on the very campus she was in charge of. What a horrible example for the young people of North Iowa. As far as I know, she never even publicly commented on the arrest of her drug dealer son, but she was in court with him. She should have quit NIACC and left town at that time but instead waited so she could take $75,000 on her way out of here. You want to talk about no class Dr. Debra Derr is it. She is just another example of leadership here in North Iowa that takes, takes and takes some more with no accountability.
Then President Obama should never have been eligible to have be president when it came out that he wrote that he smoked dope with the Choom Gang in his book! He should resign immediately. He is not worthy.
@Katie-you got that right.
I am really missing the mental disconnect between doing a drug and selling it. Big difference.
Reggie,
There was nothing wrong with the headline and there was nothing stated in the story that was not true.
Someone that slams another person’s past with no facts thrown out is another thing. Only the facts were stated in this article.
“There are no facts only interpretations” F. Nietzsche
“Mama… mama I’m coming home Deb Derr to join felon drug dealer son Brennan in Oregon ”
Matt you show a lack of compassion and class. You rail on posters for coming after your family,rightfully so,but then have this as a headline. Shame on you.
And when you click on that link, it takes you to a story bout the Mayor’s or Mayors Lunch.
Now when you click on the link it takes you to the OLD story, not the new one.
Exactly. I like that story, so I linked to it. Is that OK? Would you like to run NIT today?
Yes. Please post your admin credentials so I can change the link.
Hey A that’s funny, I don’t care who you are.
Remember the “King for a day” show? I think Matt should have a “Run NIT for a day” contest.The poster who slams the “MAN” the most wins for that week.
@Reggie. I don’t know any drug dealers, let alone have a family member slinging coke on the NIACC campus and then convicted for it. The shoe fits, therefore it will be worn.
“Mama… mama I’m coming home
Deb Derr to join felon drug dealer son Brennan in Oregon”
Where is Brennan going? Oh, nowhere. His mother maybe. How is “being clever” working out for ya?