Interview with Marilyn E. Childre, November 9, 2004

ADAMS: Test. This is an oral history interview with Marilyn Childre for the Lexington Community College fortieth anniversary oral history program. The interview is being conducted by John Adams on November the ninth 2004, in the Oswald Building. Just for the record, could you please state your full name?

CHILDRE: Marilyn Ebreo Childre.

ADAMS: How do you spell that middle name?

CHILDRE: (laughs) E-b-r-e-o E-bree-o--

ADAMS: --yeah. Is that a family name?

CHILDRE: It's my maiden name.

ADAMS: Oh, okay. Um, when and where were you born?

CHILDRE: I was born in 1947, February the twenty-seventh, ah, in Manila, Philippines.

ADAMS: Oh, that's interesting. So you've came a few miles?

CHILDRE: A long time, long miles. (laughs)

ADAMS: How did you end up in, uh, Kentucky?

CHILDRE: Well, my father was, uh, in the military. And, um, we went overseas to Germany, and I grew up in Germany. Came back after my junior year in high school, and, uh, landed in Kentucky. He was stationed at Fort Knox and then I came up here to the University of Kentucky after I graduated from Fort Knox, my senior year.

ADAMS: Okay, well that kind of tells me a little bit about the next question. I was going to ask if you would tell me a little bit about your parents as far as what was your father's name, mother's name, what they did for a living; that sort of thing.

CHILDRE: Okay, my mother's name is Evelyn (??) Unite, U-n-i-t-e, very Spanish. That's her maiden name. And my father's name is Desiderio, D-e-s-i-d-e-r-i-o, Ebreo, E-b-r-e-o. My mother was, uh, educated as 00:02:00a schoolteacher in the Philippines. And, uh, my father was with the Filipino Scouts during World War II, and joined the US Army after the war. And he was with the Bataan Death March, and escaped that concentration camp before they got to the concentration camp. It's very, very interesting. And, uh, but anyway, so the Philippino Scouts, the ones that helped the United States military were, uh, you know, asked if they wanted to join the military, the US Army at the time, which he did. And so he made it a career until he was in his forties, put in about twenty-six years with the US Army, and, uh, he was in the Korean War.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: And after the Korean War, uh, we followed him, you know, 00:03:00overseas to, uh, Munich, Germany. And that's where we were stationed for--from 1959 to 1964. So I was growing up as a teenager in Munich, Germany, and was educated in the American schools there.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: And in May of 1964 we came back to the United States. I had, uh, finished my junior year at, uh, uh, Munich American High School. And, um, I entered Fort Knox High School. My dad was stationed at Fort Knox from 1964 to 1966.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: And upon graduation in 1965 from high school--I only went one year to Fort Knox, um, I chose to come to the University of Kentucky because I thought that my parents--(laughs)--were going to stay a 00:04:00little longer. But, as it turned out, my dad decided to retire, as the Vietnam War was, you know, was really getting hot and heavy at that point.

ADAMS: Right.

CHILDRE: And he had, uh, decided that he'd gone through one guerilla warfare and one world war, and, uh, thought it was time for the younger folks, you know, to take over. So he retired, um, and they went back to California, to Pittsburg, California, where our permanent residence, uh, you know, was. And they had a home there also. And, uh, he joined civil service, and stayed until he was sixty-five. And I stayed at U-- here in Lexington, because I married after my freshman year, so. I started my career fairly early at the university at that time.

ADAMS: So you entered, uh, UK when?

CHILDRE: I entered UK in the fall of 1965.

ADAMS: The fall of 1965. What'd you get your degree in ----------(??)?

CHILDRE: I got my degree in business administration, from UK.

ADAMS: When you were going to college--

CHILDRE: Um-hm--and--

ADAMS:-- did you envision that you would be working--

CHILDRE: --at the university?--

ADAMS: --at a place of higher education, or what were your plans?

CHILDRE: No, I, of course you know growing--when you're young, you don't really know what you want. You know, I thought maybe I wanted to be a teacher or a nurse; the typical, you know, female, you know, wish at that point. And, as it turned out, I married, and, you know, quit school for about a year. Got a job at the University of Kentucky and, um, started, you know, a full-time job in 1968.

ADAMS: Working at UK?

CHILDRE: Working at UK.

ADAMS: Where at?

CHILDRE: At, uh, Billings and Collections, it was called Billings and Collections, the bursar's office. That was my first real job.

ADAMS: Now in 1968 when you started working in Billings and Collections, for UK, did you ever hear of LTI, or Lexington Technical Institute ----------(??) at that time?

CHILDRE: In 1965, no. At that time, I did not know that it even existed.

ADAMS: Um-hm

CHILDRE: Um, as I, you know, of course, as I progressed through my career at the university and started going to school--I went back to school. I was taking part-time classes as I was going to school, still not knowing what I wanted to do, and, um, you know, moved up in the ranks, in the office and clerical ranks. And, um, then I started hearing about Lexington Community College when we, um, when I got into the fees collections piece. And at Billings and Collections we collected tuition. But at that time, I wasn't, you know, working on collections and fees, I was the secretary. And, um, then we were collecting tuition fees for Lexington Community College, and all the 00:07:00community colleges. Uh, not Lexington Community College--LTI, as they called it back then. But we collected tuition for all of the community colleges at--UK and continued to do so until about 1982.

ADAMS: So you were--you were still working in Billings and Collections?--

CHILDRE: --no, no, I moved up in the ranks a bit, and went through some progressions. After I got my degree I became, um, you know, assistant director for student billings, and loans collection officer. After I got my degree I became loans collection officer.

ADAMS: When was that?

CHILDRE: That was back in 19--let's see, in 1979 I was loans collection officer.

ADAMS: When did you get your degree?

CHILDRE: I got my degree in 1979.

ADAMS: 1979? So once you got your degree you actually got promoted and--

CHILDRE: --I got--I got--I got into a mid-management position, but during--but during the time I was moving up in my career, I, you know, 00:08:00changed jobs, and progressively, you know, got a higher position, and, uh, worked at--in Dr. Singletary's office, Larry Forgy's office. I worked for the higher echelons, you know, at the University of Kentucky at that time, in the '70s. Um, and from the Billings and Collections position, I went to work for the vice president for Business Affairs, who was Larry Forgy at the time. And then after about a year or so, Dr. Singletary asked me to come work for him as a receptionist- secretary. So I worked for Dr. Singletary. And then I went back to- -(laughs)--goes back to Business Affairs, got administrative assistant, started working with budgets, and that's how I got started, you know, on the budget piece. And I was going to school all this time. Going to school, part-time, not really--you know just taking classes, enjoying them, because I always enjoyed school. And then, oh let's see. I learned a lot about the community colleges as I was working for 00:09:00Dr., uh, Singletary, and Larry Forgy. Because, you know, of course, vice--he was vice president for Business Affairs. And we used to see Dr. Wethington and Stanley Wall. At the time Stanley Wall was the vice president of the community college system. It was a community college system. It was the vice president. Assistant vice president was Dr. Wethington at that time. So they used to frequent, you know, uh, Mr. Forgy's office and, uh, Dr. Singletary's office because they'd have the meetings, their cabinet meetings.

ADAMS: Let's, uh, just for the record. Just so we can trace all this down. Can you give me your jobs, your--and dates; employment history? Just to clarify things--

CHILDRE: okay. Okay, 1968 was Billings and Collections. Nineteen seventy-two I worked for Larry Forgy, the vice president. He was vice president for Business Affairs, as a receptionist-secretary.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: And I think it was 1973 or '74--of course, I had interaction with Dr. Singletary because he was right across the hall and he used to come all the time. I worked for him as a receptionist-secretary, for the President's office. And, um, then I went back across the hall to Business Affairs, to the vice president of Business Affairs, and became administrative assistant.

ADAMS: What year?

CHILDRE: And that year was, gosh, it must have been--probably 1974. So I must have got to the president's office in '73, 1974. It was a promotion for me. I couldn't pass that up.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: And that's when I got started with the budgets. Working on the capital projects, uh, keeping the--doing the bookkeeping for that. And, um, at that time, the assistant vice president, who was George Ruschell 00:11:00and he's still alive. Um, he was in charge of all the controller's division, of fiscal plant, you know, all that area under Business Affairs, which was also under Mr. Forgy at the time. But all of the- -all of--the majority of, the, uh, business services for the university was under that particular area, under the vice president for Business Affairs. So I had a lot of interaction and did a lot of work with the Controller's Office, purchasing, design and construction.--what they call design and construction, which dealt with capital projects.

ADAMS: So you got to, uh, in that administrative assistant role in '74, you got more involved with the workings of the community college system and how everything was set up--

CHILDRE: --right, and everything, right.

ADAMS: Now from '74, administrative assistant--what was your next position with the university?

CHILDRE: From 1974--in 1976, I went to the community college system as 00:12:00administrative assistant.

ADAMS: Now with--

CHILDRE: --and this was under the fiscal affairs officer. I worked for the fiscal affairs officer. At that time, he was George Huxel.

ADAMS: How do you spell his last name?

CHILDRE: H-u-x-e-l.

ADAMS: H-u-x--

CHILDRE: --x-e-l.

ADAMS: Yeah. And you say you went to work for the community college system.

CHILDRE: System, um-hm.

ADAMS: Now, were you still located over on UK's campus or actually here in the Oswald Building?--

CHILDRE: --no, we were located at UK's campus, and we were in Breckinridge Hall.

ADAMS: Breckinridge.

CHILDRE: Breckinridge Hall. And that's when I really had--of course, you know, working with the community college system, and working in fiscal affairs, we worked with budgets. We worked with, um, you know, activation and termination of payroll. I worked very closely with Dr. Wethington at the time. I knew him when he was the vice president. 00:13:00And he and I worked closely on, um, the activation of faculty. And I would prepare, you know, the--or I would get the activations, you know, from the different colleges, because everything had to flow through the fiscal affairs office. And then I'd take it down to him and we'd talk about it. And he'd check, you know, for--make sure they had credentials, you know, appropriate credentials, et cetera. That was his role--that I knew at that time. Of course, you know, I'm sure he had a bigger role than that. And at that time, uh, the vice president was Stanley Wall.

ADAMS: How do you--is it spelled just how it sounds? Stanley Wall?--

CHILDRE: --exactly like it sounds, W-a-l-l.

ADAMS: And he was over the community college system?--

CHILDRE: --he was over the community college. He was the head of the community college. I guess he would equate to the chancellor role. But at that time they had vice presidents. It was the president and the vice presidents under Dr. Singletary. And Dr. Wall was one of the vice presidents.

ADAMS: So, at that point you had, uh, at this point where we are right now, you had--you'd worked with Dr. Wethington?

CHILDRE: Dr. Wethington, yes.

ADAMS: And Dr. Wall?--

CHILDRE: --and Dr. Wall.

ADAMS: And as well as with Dr. Single--?--

CHILDRE: -- uh, no. Singletary, no, I've left, I've left the main campus at this point. I call it main campus, but the central administration. I've left there and gone to community college system. They were already a system, you know, they were separate--a separate entity to a certain degree, but they were still of course very affiliated with UK.

ADAMS: Now from there, in 1976, where did you--where did you go?--

CHILDRE: --okay, I worked from 1976 to '79, when I received my degree. I was working towards my degree the whole time. And, um, I went with UK Student Financial Aid to work under Jim Ingle. And he was the financial aid director of the university. And I became the loans 00:15:00collection officer for the university.

ADAMS: And the loans collection officer, unlike the way the business offices now, was located in the Financial Aid Office at this time?--

CHILDRE: --they--at--at the office tower.

ADAMS: Okay. All Right.

CHILDRE: We were in the office tower at that time.

ADAMS: So you left Breckinridge, and went to the office tower. Left the community college system; went to work for UK.

CHILDRE: Right.

ADAMS: And then how long did you do the loan collections position?

CHILDRE: Let's see. I did that until 19--well actually 1982. And what had transpired at the time--loans collections, there was a change. A shift, you know, in responsibilities, between the Controller's Office and Financial Aid. Loans collections became part of the controller's division. So we got moved from Financial Aid, um, to the Controller's 00:16:00Office under Tony Day, who was manager of Billings and Collections.

ADAMS: So you got moved to billings--you were still doing the job, you just got moved--

CHILDRE: --right, the position, or positions, moved to--

ADAMS: --billings--

CHILDRE: --billings. Or responsibility, I guess, was basically it.

ADAMS: And that was under Tony Day?

CHILDRE: Tony Day, uh-huh.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: And you know, the other thing, is when I started working at UK, at Billings and Collections, the manager, I don't know if that makes any difference, was Bruce Gaston.

ADAMS: Um-hm. Back in '68?

CHILDRE: Back in 1968. And he was the bursar.

ADAMS: Okay. So in '82 you were still the loans collections officer?

CHILDRE: Um-hm Um, in '82 I was loans collections officer. And, uh, well, actually we--we moved prior to '82. It was probably about 1980 maybe that we got shifted. The responsibility for loans collections 00:17:00got shifted to the Controller's Office.

ADAMS: So it was about in '80?

CHILDRE: Yeah, in '80, 1980. Okay. Nineteen eighty-two, UK changed to the chancellor system, thereabouts. You can verify that. We broke from Billings and Collections. And Student Billings was created.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: And we were located in Billings Collections at the service building, by the way, originally. Student Billings became a new division within the university and was it within the controller's division? I think it was under--it was under vice president for Business Affairs. I think it got moved back to the Business Affairs area. So now we became Student Billings. And I was still loans 00:18:00collections officer at that time, under Student Billings. Now we collected only tuition fees, and we collected it for, you know, all the community colleges. But then, shortly thereof, they decided, that, um, I guess Dr. Wethington at the time--I think he became vice president, um, and I don't know exactly when, but in 1982, he was vice president.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: Or, chancellor, because they had gone to the chancellor system. And, um, he decided that--the, uh, colleges would collect their own tuition. So that was taken away from UK and given to the colleges. And I guess the Business Office must have been created, you know, at that time for them. And, um, then I became, uh, assistant director, as well as loans collections officer. I was promoted--

ADAMS: --in '82?

CHILDRE: Yeah. I was promoted. I had pro--got promotion as assistant director slash loans collections officer. So I had two responsibilities.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: It wasn't just loans collections, but it also--I was also responsible, you know, for the collection of fees.

ADAMS: And that was in the same year, correct?--

CHILDRE: --that was in the same year, 1982. And so I stayed until 1984, and the position--Dan Holt, was the--what they called, the business officer back then here at LCC. And Dan Holt went back to teaching after all the years that he was--I think he was in the job for about 14 years maybe. And, um, that was the position that I always thought I wanted. I had my eyesight on that, and, um, that's when he, uh--uh, that's when I took that position.

ADAMS: Director of the Business Office?

CHILDRE: Um-hm.

ADAMS: Or I guess that was called the bursar of LCC?

CHILDRE: It was called assistant director, assistant director for Business Affairs, that's what we were called then because the head of LCC was the director.

ADAMS: Gotcha.

CHILDRE: They had not changed to the president titles yet.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: Okay. Another thing too, when I was with, uh, um, the community college system, George Huxel left, and I can't recall what year, but, uh, Jack Jordan became the fiscal affairs officer.

ADAMS: And you'd--about what year, what do you think?

CHILDRE: Oh, gee, that's it--that was back in 1976. It must have been 1977 or '78.

ADAMS: Okay. And then how long did you, uh, were you the assistant director for Business Affairs at LCC?--

CHILDRE: --um--at LCC? Well, I've been in this position for--you know, 00:21:00for twenty years. So it just changed titles. It went from assistant director to dean of Business Affairs.

ADAMS: What year?

CHILDRE: I'm not really sure what year that was.

ADAMS: Late '80s, early '90s?

CHILDRE: Let me think, I'm trying to think now, it might have been--it might have been when Dr. Friedel was here. I think she came in 1993.

ADAMS: '93? Okay. So then you became the dean of Business Affairs?

CHILDRE: Um-hm. And that was when--it must have been when Dr. Roselle came on board as president. I think he changed, you know, our titles.

ADAMS: And then you were dean of Business Affairs up until--

CHILDRE: --for twenty years, until June thirtieth of 2004.

ADAMS: Okay. And now you are?--

CHILDRE: --now I am chief, district chief, for Human resources and Operations.

ADAMS: Chief?--(both laugh)--That's a big title.

CHILDRE: I know.

ADAMS: Human Resources?--

CHILDRE: --and Operations.

ADAMS: Okay. Now, you know, just looking over this--this long list, this is one of the reasons that, uh, you were selected to be interviewed. I mean, you--you can offer us a wide variety from different--very different perspectives on, uh, UK and LTI's affiliation and--and that sort of thing. Um, if you could, just in your own words, describe that early affiliation that LTI had with UK. You know, and some of the people I've spoken to, and they said it's very possible they were so integrated: That an LTI student and a UK student could be sitting in a general education course at UK and no one would know the difference that; "hey, you're an LTI student and I'm a UK student" because of the way that was set up. Could you explain?--

CHILDRE: --and--and that's true. Well, of course, you know the--on the financial side, you know, I was, uh, more attuned to the financial side. But until 1991, LTI and LCC, um, charged the same tuition rate.

ADAMS: '91?

CHILDRE: In 1991. Until 1991 they charged the same tuition rate.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: And then in 1991, you know, they froze the tuition only. There's other mandatory fees, but the tuition piece was frozen to like 840 dollars or something like that. Now, there's another piece that I forgot to tell you too. I guess, you know, as you go through this you think of things. When I came to L--LCC--

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: --in 1984; that was the year it became a comprehensive community college.

ADAMS: Right. That's when, uh, if my memory serves me right, that's 00:24:00when they started teaching their own general education courses--

CHILDRE: --teaching, yes, general education courses.

ADAMS: How did that work, um, with the bills? Were students dual- enrolled? Like, could they be enrolled at UK? Prior to '84, were they dual enrolled at UK and at LTI--had to pay separate tuition rates?

CHILDRE: Well, I--I can't answer about the dual-enrollment, because I wasn't really as involved, you know, as I was with the academic piece, you know, in later years, because I had just started and was just learning about the organization in its entirety. But, the tuition was the same--

ADAMS:--okay--

CHILDRE:--regardless of whether they were LTI or LCC. It remained the same. If UK's tuition went up, and mandatory fees went up, LCC's or--and LTI's did too, you know, as I recall from collecting the fees. Um, at that point, I would probably think that there was--were some 00:25:00dual enrollment because there was a policy where if you took classes at UK and L--LCC, as long as--you know, you would pay the difference. Um, if you were taking nine hours at UK and taking one class, a three hour class, at LCC; and it was twelve hours. Or maybe even taking two classes at LCC, and were taking six hours.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: As long as you paid the difference between the nine hours and the full-time rate, of whatever it was at the time--twelve hours was the full-time rate--you wouldn't be charged any more. If you were a UK student going to LCC, uh, and you were taking twelve hours, you would not pay any fees at UK--

ADAMS: --gotcha--

CHILDRE: --it would be free there after twelve hours. And that stayed- -it stayed that way until--how long ago? Gosh I can't even remember John 00:26:00now, you know, what year that changed. But that--it hasn't been that many years ago when they decided that, uh, you know, that you would have to pay extra to come to LCC if you were a full-time student at UK or vice-versa.

ADAMS: Right. Now in '68 you began working for UK, and in the early to mid-'70s they started building this location. Can you remember what this location currently were, the Oswald Building, the football stadium. What was this like in the late '60s when you were a student?

CHILDRE: You know, my husband played football: He was on a scholarship at UK when I met him. And he played even after we were married, you know, for a few years. I remember we had Stoll Field on the main campus. And Euclid Avenue was the main drag. And I lived over in Holmes Hall. So, you know, that was where, the area that I concentrated, uh, or lived in. The Commonwealth Stadium, I don't know 00:27:00what year it was built, but I thought it was built before LTI. Was it?

ADAMS: It was. It was.

CHILDRE: Okay. Well, this was just a field at one time, just a field--

ADAMS:--just a dairy?--

CHILDRE: --It might have been a farm, you know, at one time, maybe an experimental farm. And I just remember that, uh, Commonwealth Stadium got built, because my husband was still playing ball at the time. And- -and so we came to the ballgames here. And I didn't recall a building here, so it mustn't have been built until a little bit later. But that's all I remember about it.

ADAMS: Can you remember coming to the games when this building was under construction?

CHILDRE: No, I really don't. I think maybe we'd probably stopped coming to the games. I think our lives, you know, went on in another direction beyond that--

ADAMS: beyond--beyond the football. In your opinion, uh, what or 00:28:00who--or let me rephrase it. What or why was LTI created for, and what purpose did UK intend for it to serve? Or do you know the answer?

CHILDRE: I don't know that.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: I've read about it, but I, you know, don't have it in my mind at this point. And I've seen some--in fact, I've turned over some old documents to, uh, Sylvia.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: You know, some old self-studies, and I do remember seeing that. And I even found--got a program from the archive when we were doing, um, when we were doing the transition. So I might--you might write that down. I've got all of that, I've got to find it all--

ADAMS: --but you have the documents from the dedication? (??)

CHILDRE: --but there was a program, yeah there was a program that actually during the dedication of LCC, I got that from, um, archives.

ADAMS: You really played a--you really came over here right at a very changing time, when LCC actually became LCC in 1984, correct?--

CHILDRE: --right. Right.

ADAMS: What was the, uh,--what was the atmosphere--over--over here that: hey, we--a comprehensive community college, we're no longer just a technical institute. We're going to be offering--what kind of atmosphere was it like for the instructors, the students, who didn't have to trek two miles to take a course?

CHILDRE: Well, for the students I think it was a matter of convenience, you know, having one building. This was the only building that we had when I first came, you know, as--as the business person here. And, uh, this is 120,000 square feet. We didn't have as many students at the time. We probably had maybe about 2100 students at the most when--back in '84. But it was gradually growing at the time, because of the fact that the pre-baccalaureate programs were being offered or the gen-ed programs were being offered. So enrollment was beginning 00:30:00to increase. But, the general atmosphere is--was for the students and the faculty was, you know, this is really convenient. You don't have to walk across the way to go over--take classes. Um, you can take all of your gen-ed classes in one building. So, it was a very close- knit, uh, atmosphere. The faculty and staff knew each other by name. Everybody knew everyone. Literally knew everyone, by name. It's a little bit different now. (both laugh) You see faces and you think, oh gosh, uh, who's this person, you know, because you've only met them once or twice. But at that time in one building, you ran into each other all the time, you know, we were all in one building. There was no place else to go. Our offices were here. Uh, all the classrooms were here. There were students, who, of course, you know, went to UK to take classes. But primarily, all the activity centered around this particular area.

ADAMS: Was there already, uh, showing signs of space constraints in '84?

CHILDRE: In 1984, not quite as much. But, uh, about 1986, the enrollment continued to grow, let's put it that way, with the--the addition of the gen-ed programs. And in 1986, um, I think we had a switch--a change in presidents. And Allen Edwards, who was the, uh, associate--what we called the associate director at the time. There was the director, associate director, and then the assistant deans of Business Affairs and Student Affairs. And Paul Taylor was here, he was the assistant dean for Student Affairs at the time I was the assistant dean for Business Affairs. Um, Allen Edwards, you know, took the reins as president--

ADAMS: -okay--

CHILDRE: --and enrollment continued to grow. Um, the--in 1988, actually, 00:32:00in the fall of 1987, the Moloney Building was under construction.

ADAMS: Do you remember what purpose the Moloney Building was intended to serve?

CHILDRE: Technology.

ADAMS: Okay, the drawing tech labs?--

CHILDRE: --that was-- yeah, yeah. At that time, you know, computers were really beginning to, uh, take, hold in the, uh, in our lives. So it was built so that, uh, we would be able to--I mean while the walls and everything--there's trays within the walls, and whatever, so it'd be easy to run lines and that kind of thing. Um, so it was built for technology. And there was an engineering lab that never did get used in that--that was downstairs. It was, you know, um--it had the 00:33:00concrete floors where IS is now. But that never did get used. There was another piece, you know, that--that, uh, technology, in, uh, maybe robotics, uh, that kind of thing was going to take place. But that really never did take hold. But the computer labs did. And, just going back a little bit, you know, just regressing a little bit. In 1984, one of the first things that I had to do, and mainly because of the fact that I came from a--the university, where we were already computerized? Um, and we were collecting fees and, uh, using the Wang system, and of course we had programmers who were at our disposal at UK. When I came to take this position here, they did not have a computer system.

ADAMS: Oh no!

CHILDRE: Oh yes. It--it was, that was another, and I--that part of it, um, I was hired, you know, to fix that problem--(laughs)--as far as fees collections. Because there was such a problem with the, uh, with 00:34:00the fees collections. You know, they weren't doing a very good job. And they couldn't really account for their money. Took the auditor a year or more and never really got balanced.

ADAMS: Oh gosh. (laughs)

CHILDRE: That's how bad it was. Back in '84. And so the first order of business--and Shay Jaggard was the president who hired me at the time, Dr. Shay Jaggard. The first order of business was to form an MIS committee. And Paul Taylor and myself, and, uh, Bob Blake at the time was associate, uh, he was acting associate director, you know, for the college at the time, before Allen Edwards was--was hired as the permanent associate. Anyway, um, we had to, um, cable the building--

ADAMS: --Oh man, at a huge expense, right?--

CHILDRE: --and that was something. I mean, I'd--I'd never experienced anything like that. But all of a sudden I was in charge--(both laugh)--of making sure all of the appropriate offices were cabled. Now 00:35:00this was for an AS400. That was our first computer system. The MIS committee, you know, that was what--what was, you know, the best at the time. And we bought software called CMDS and, uh, we put our student registration and, you know, our demographics and all of that into that system. And that happened in 1986.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: Okay. And we finished cabling, you know, we--well, 1984 I came, I think we started, you know, the fall of 1984 through '85, you know, working on the cabling, and, uh, finding, uh, a computer system that would take care of fees collection. So we were one--we were the first college in this system to have a computerized--a computer.

ADAMS: LCC was?

CHILDRE: LCC was. Dammit, we were the star children.

ADAMS: Um, being in the business office, you probably know this answer. 00:36:00How--how much did it cost to built the Moloney building, in '87, do you know? Ballpark?

CHILDRE: I've--I've got the number--

ADAMS:--okay--

CHILDRE: --but I don't know. Probably about four million dollars. Three or four million dollars.

ADAMS: How long did it take before LCC outgrew Oswald and the Moloney Building? Or was it already outgrown by the time the building was finished?

CHILDRE: By the time 19--by the time the AT building, you mean AT building? The Moloney Building?--

ADAMS: --Moloney. Because Moloney was built first, right?

CHILDRE: Okay, Moloney was built first. We had already outgrown this building at the time the Moloney--and when we moved into Moloney we were just, you know, we were--we were just at capacity already. And it wasn't too long afterwards, in 1993, that the AT building was built. That's how fast we were growing. And at that time I remember Dr. Edwards, uh, projecting on the capital plan that we would grow to--in 00:37:00five years, that we would have ten thousand students. Of course, that didn't happen in five years. That we would be at ten thousand students. And we're still not there, you know. But the thing is, you know, they were projecting that we would be at ten thousand students. And, uh, but the AT building--when we got the AT building, uh, moved into in 1993, we were already outgrowing, you know, this campus. And so we were looking for other, you know, off-campus sites. And I can't recall that the, uh, the campus that we had on Winchester Road--East campus is what we called it.

ADAMS: East Campus.

CHILDRE: Um, we, we, uh, leased that property as an overflow campus.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: And we did overflow some, but it wasn't as popular, you know, 00:38:00an area. So we located--we continued to, you know, take closets and conference rooms and, you know, made offices. Because our enrollment was growing and we had to have more faculty--

ADAMS: --right--

CHILDRE: --and more staff. So we've maximized, you know, our--the hours of our classes, you know, we had seven o'clock classes, you know, we started going more into evening classes. And that was a way of maximizing the space. And the use of the space, you know, is expanding the number of hours that you teach classes. And, um,--now Friday classes, they always tried not to have Friday classes. But we did get to the point--at one point we didn't have any Friday classes. And then we got to the point of having classes till two o'clock, which, you know, we've--we've stayed there--

ADAMS: --right--

CHILDRE: --at that point. And of course, we were changing administration all this time. You know, Dr. Edwards--I guess, you know, the growth really started taking off when Dr. Edwards was here, Allen Edwards was here. And then, um, when Dr. Friedel--uh, Janice 00:39:00Friedel was our next president after Dr. Edwards, and she came--he left shortly after the AT building was built. She came in 1994.

ADAMS: 1994.

CHILDRE: 1994. Dr. Edwards left in 1993 and we had an interim. Ben Carr--

ADAMS: Uh-hm.

CHILDRE: --was our interim, um, president or director at the time, and, uh, for a year. And then Janice Friedel came in 1994, July of 1994. And, uh, then she left and, uh, there was a year in between--1997, Jim Chapman.

ADAMS: Okay.

CHILDRE: Wait a minute. Do--Allen Edwards, let's see--Jim Chapman. Oh, between--between Shay Jaggard and Allen Edwards was Dr. Carr. And between Allen Edwards and Friedel was Dr. Newberry.

ADAMS: Newberry? In ninety?--

CHILDRE: In '93.

ADAMS: Because Edwards left in '93 then.

CHILDRE: Yeah, in '93, right. In '93-'94 was, uh, Newberry. And then Friedel came in '94. And then when she left in '96, I guess, it was, then Jim Chapman came and then Dr. Kerley came in 1998 I believe.

ADAMS: And he's been here ever since.

CHILDRE: Ever since. And he'll--he'll stay--(laughs)--until he retires. He likes it here. And he's done a wonderful job.

ADAMS: Well that kind of leads, you know, into my next question, uh, on your personal opinions. What do you think were some of the earlier challenges and accomplishments for Lexington Community College?

CHILDRE: We were always under the shadow of UK--

ADAMS: --um-hm--

CHILDRE: --for one thing. The challenges were development. We did not 00:41:00have very many, in fact, if I saw five dollars or twenty-five dollars in donations a month we were lucky. We didn't have--we had what we called the general revolving fund. And there wasn't much money in it at all. We didn't really give what you'd call scholarships, um, to students, because we couldn't afford it. We didn't have it. And the first--the first, I guess, time--[background noise]--we were able to actually get donations that we can use for scholarships in the future was, uh, when Dr. Edwards was still here and it was back in 1989 I believe. We started a campaign for the endowment challenge fund. It was a Title III grant. And it was a matching fund. We had to raise $100,000 and then they would match $100,000. And then we would have to invest it. 00:42:00Uh, we--we would only get like one half of the, um, accruals--the interest accruals, to use for scholarships and then we would throw-back 50, 50 percent into the principal for twenty years until it grew. So it's gotten to the point where, you know, we could give scholarships. Also the systems office would, uh, would give us monies for logo--from logo, uh, proceeds, uh, book store--and, uh, there was one other one. It might have been the--the chancellor's, uh, scholarship, which we still have some. But those were the only scholarship programs that we had. But that was better than what we used to have.

ADAMS: Right.

CHILDRE: You know we didn't have anything to speak of when I came back in 1984. But, um, as Dr. Edwards was transitioning out, you know, we were--he was able to start, you know, that particular, you know, 00:43:00piece of it. And then when Jan Friedel, um, took office, her focus was on development. And so again, we did a lot of fundraising, you know, while she was here. And, also, she, uh, hired a grants administrator. We were--that was another challenge, was getting grants. We didn't have a grant writer. But Dr. Friedel, you know, had hindsight, and so we had our first grant person. I think her name was Rachel, and I can't remember Rachel's last name now but, uh, anyway, Rachel was here. And so she started, you know, the grants. The other piece--we didn't have as many problems getting buildings back then--

ADAMS: --um-hm--

CHILDRE: --you know, like we do now. But, um, the other challenge was the Business and Industry, you know, piece. When I first arrived they had a budget probably of $20,000--

ADAMS: --oh my gosh--

CHILDRE: --for--for continuing-ed. And now remember, continuing ed is a mission, you know, of a community college. And, um, and I remember they were deficit of $40,000. (laughs) That was one of my directives from the systems office, "Marilyn, fix that up, make sure they don't go into deficit." And that's--that's always been my challenge, you know, through the years that I've been here. And, um--but at that time, they didn't have a lot of money. You know, they were not bringing in as much money as we're bringing in now. And, uh, the other challenge was, uh, you know, funding. There's always been, you know, a funding issue because of the fact that under the community college system, as the--as LCC grew, we became the cash cow.

ADAMS: Right.

CHILDRE: And we were the second largest community college at the time. JCC was the largest. And then LCC was the second largest. And as our enrollment grew, our FTE funding didn't grow with it. And, uh, state 00:45:00appropriations at that time with the community college system, you know, would be kept, you know, within the system itself. And all the income from all the community colleges would be dumped into just a pot. And from that pot, the systems office would, um, allocate funds, um, to the colleges. And, uh, we would not get our--what would I consider our fair share.

[Pause in recording.]

ADAMS: So, I bet, Lexington Community College people--that probably didn't go over very well knowing that you were funding--money's already tight, to begin with, and then, all of your proceeds were going to someone else, and you're--how did that go over with people?--

CHILDRE: --well, it did not go over very well. I mean we--the only thing that, uh, we were able to do because of the fact that, you know, 00:46:00our income was such--we'd have a lot of over-realized income, and one of the budgeting, um, philosophies that I have, is that you--you estimate, when you do an income estimate, you know, at--for the new year, that you have a, um, you--you estimate based on what you took in that particular year. In fact, it's a flat growth. That way, you know, we can, uh, we'll have over-realized income to spend if we needed to do deferred maintenance, uh, you know, create new positions. And we still follow that philosophy. And I believe in that philosophy, and we've done well because of that philosophy. Rather than try to project an enrollment that may not come for whatever reason; because of economic pressures and social pressures, that kind of thing, which we've been fortunate that, you know, we've--we've always had continuing enrollment growth. Um, that's helped LCC in many ways. However, 00:47:00it helps us now more so--or when we went with UK because of the fact that we got all our over-realized income back. But at that time, even though we estimated our budgets that way, and we made money, we didn't always get our money back. We would make a request, you know, for faculty and staff and make our justifications for this and that. And we'd get the majority of them, and sometimes maybe not, it just depended on where the other monies--or other colleges--or other monies would go for the other colleges. And I asked at one point, you know, why we didn't get all our income. You know, I thought that it wasn't fair. You know we needed to--you know, uh, deferred maintenance. You know, we needed new roofs. And I put in on capital construction plan- -I don't know how many years--(both laugh)--I put in for a new roof for the Oswald Building. And that never came about until it got to the 00:48:00point where the, uh, the water was coming through the lights, which was just what, last two years, you know. And someone finally listened, because it was a dangerous situation. But that--that was in the, uh, capital plan. And again, they--the systems office, you know, um, used this analogy; I thought it was a very nice analogy, and they said: "Marilyn, if you had fourteen children, and, you know, thirteen--or eleven of those children don't have shoes, what would you do? You have to buy shoes for those eleven children." And that's basically what the philosophy was for the community college system. Which made sense, you know, it--it made sense, especially if you're a system you're--you're supposed to help, you know, the others.

ADAMS: Right.

CHILDRE: Um, but unfortunately, you know, um, it wasn't always to the benefit of LCC. But they would not hesitate, I must say though, the systems office, Dr. Wethington, Jack Jordan who became vice president 00:49:00for Business Affairs, um, you know, was always very sensitive to the fact that LCC had needs too. And, you know, they have their pot of money; their contingencies and their reserves, you know, we knew that. And if we really needed some monies to operate, because of the fact that our funding level was low, but yet we needed to go ahead and expand programs or, you know, we needed certain things, you know, for our programs, you know, to keep our programs going and--and our, you know, institution going, they would help us. They would help us to the best of their ability, but they were strapped for cash too.

ADAMS: It's kind of tight all over.

CHILDRE: It was tight all over, um-hm. But I must say, uh, one of the things that Dr. Wethington did well was he--he knew how to budget. He--I think when we had a lot of budget cuts, the community colleges did not hurt as bad as the university did, because of the fact that 00:50:00they did forecast, you know, some of those shortfalls. And, um, I think, one year we turned in $56,000.

ADAMS: Is that all? (laughs)

CHILDRE: That's about it.

ADAMS: That's not bad.

CHILDRE: That was not bad at all.

ADAMS: Now, you were the dean in Business Affairs, well, up to just here very recently.

CHILDRE: For twenty years.

ADAMS: Could you describe what it was like in 1998; with the political strife; with the governor; with Dr. Wethington; about the separation of the community colleges? Because I've heard conflicting things--I guess it all depends on who you talk to, about when the rest of the community colleges went with what would be KCTCS, but LCC stayed with UK. What was that like being the dean of Business Affairs during that time?

CHILDRE: Well, at that time, you know, we thought, well, what's our future going to be like, you know, under UK? We were over-- always 00:51:00overshadowed, you know, by UK to begin with. You know, uh, getting donations, you know, appropriations, that kind of thing, was always very, very hard for us. And so we wanted to--we wanted to kind of stay as we were because we didn't know what it would be like on the other side--

ADAMS: --right--

CHILDRE: --you know, with KCTCS at the time. And, uh, things were functioning well. And of course, you know with me being the financial person, the first thing I thought about is: what is this going to cost- -uh, cost the taxpayers in the long run? Which, uh, you know--and I was right, I guess, in my predictions, that we would be, uh, duplicating a lot of the same things that, you know, we were provided as a community college system through UK. And that was accounting, purchasing, you know. All the things that they did for us, or provided for us, 00:52:00the services were duplicated on the other side. They had to buy them software--I mean it cost thousands and millions of dollars, you know, to, uh, create the KCTCS. And, you know, the, uh, the business structures that, you know, fall under that. But, when we--it was kind of a relief I guess, you know, when we found out that we were going to stay under UK. And then when we--especially when we found out that we were going to be able to keep our over-realized income, and we didn't have to support the other colleges any longer.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: That was a relief. And we thought oh, this is nice, this is a very nice situation now. And, uh, the other colleges were struggling, uh, with KCTCS because it was brand new. They were having to learn a whole new software, a whole new way of operating to a certain degree. But, um, then we heard also that it--they are able to keep their over- 00:53:00realized income. So things changed a little bit and improved under the KCTCS in the funding area, because of the fact that the colleges, you know, had a little bit more autonomy than what we used to have under the community college system. Now under UK, when we first, uh, transitioned to UK, um, we did not have as much autonomy as we thought- -as--as we would have wanted. But then it began to--to get a little bit better, especially on the financial side, because of the fact that, you know, they were turning back all our monies to us. And, uh--but yet, we still had to get permission, you know, to use the monies the way we'd like to use them. And, um, we learned to live with it. You know the faculty and staff at the time that, uh, we found out that we were going 00:54:00to be going to KCTCS of course there was a lot of resistance, as there always is with change. But, in the long run, my feeling is that LCC will probably do a lot better. Um, we need to get our image--we were improving our image, you know, as a community college. And, uh, the-- the community had a vision, uh, not a vision, but a perception, and--of us, as doing a great job, you know, educating, you know, our community. Whether it be business and industry, or, you know, just the children that come out of high school, and the adults, you know, that are, you know, losing jobs, and having to find, uh, new, uh, new, uh, careers.

ADAMS: Now, we've--we've been talking here on tape about KCTCS. It stands for Kentucky Community and--

CHILDRE: --Technical College System.

ADAMS: --Technical College System. Okay, now, just for the record. In your personal opinion, can you describe, uh, go over-- through the events. Uh, when did the SACS issue come up? Was it 2000, 2001, somewhere around in there?--

CHILDRE: --2000. It's every ten years, so 2000; the SACS issue.

ADAMS: Okay, what happened? In 1998, the rest of the community colleges went to KCTCS, Kentucky Community and Technical College Systems. LCC stayed as part with UK. And then in 2000--what's SACS stand for? Southern Association--

CHILDRE: --Southern Association of College and University.

ADAMS: Okay. SACS came in and what happened?

CHILDRE: SACS came in and said that we were not--we really did not have autonomy. That was the big issue. Um, and that the president should be reporting--our president, Dr. Kerley, should be reporting to the 00:56:00president of the university. Of course, you know, we've had-- we had a administration change at the university shortly before SACS came in, from Dr. Wethington, who was a former chancellor and supportive of LCC and its mission. And then Dr. Todd came in and had a different philosophy. And, um, the reporting issue on Dr. Todd's side--I think it--it personally could have been, it--it would have been very easy--to have had Dr. Kerley reporting to him directly. But he chose to have Dr. Kerley reporting to Provost Nietzel. And, um, though Provost Nietzel was supportive in many ways, you know, and we worked--we worked very well with him, I can't say that we did not, um, it still was not 00:57:00satisfactory, you know, for SACS. So the next thing--I think there was a letter that was written by Dr. Todd that Dr. Kerley would report to him and--(laughs)--Provost Nietzel. And that still wasn't satisfactory.

ADAMS: Now you mentioned earlier, um, the whole SACS review. They--they come in and review--and again, this is just for the record. They come in and do, every ten years they review the college to see if you're up to the standards.

CHILDRE: Um-hm.

ADAMS: Now, you mentioned autonomy. Who do you think brought the autonomy issue to head? Was it something that SACS came in and said? Or was it something UK, LCC--because when SACS comes in you can say what you want. Do you think the autonomy issue was something someone here at LCC brought to the attention of SACS, or did they find it on their own?

CHILDRE: I think they probably found it on their own. There must have been a criteria of sorts, that has, uh, changed, uh, in, you know, in the last few years, since our last accreditation, that addressed, you know, autonomy. And especially with the break with the community colleges, you know, with the community college--with the university and the community colleges. They probably were looking at that very, very close, you know. And, uh, with LCC being the only community college left under the system, um, and maybe the changes that they--you know, that SACS has experienced with other community colleges throughout the United States. I think there are some that were--there are very, very few--my understanding is that there are very, very few community college systems under a university--

ADAMS: um-hm--

CHILDRE: --such as what we had, you know um, under the community college system under UK. Um, and of course, you know there--you can say what 00:59:00you want to, you know, to SACS, the SACS accreditation team. And they probably listened, you know, to a lot of what UK, you know, had to say. I think the mission--the mission of the university, is research. We are not a research institution.

ADAMS: What--oh, excuse me. What other things outside of autonomy did SACS really--I guess go through the series of events of what happened. The whole probation and the whole--SACS came in 2000, started looking at us, and what happened? Go through the series of events.

CHILDRE: Okay. And they asked for a letter, you know, of reporting, as I recall. Um, and I guess what they wanted to see, was that 01:00:00our president, of the community college, LCC, reports to--should be reporting to, the president of the university. And that our president should be able to report directly to the board, you know, during the board meetings; which evidently did not take place, for whatever reason. Um, then, you know, a letter was sent out. Dr. Todd did write a letter. Um but it was not satisfactory, you know, to SACS. The reporting issue was still not what it should have been. UK was trying to make attempts--I mean and see this is what's so confusing to me, because they were trying to make attempts to make us a little bit more autonomous on the budget side.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: You know, we were allowed to take all our income. Make our--we had to make requests, you know, on how to use it; which, you know, you 01:01:00have to have some kind of accountability, I understand that. And you have to have some kind of justification and tie it into you strategic plan, which we always did. But, um, they were making the financial side a little bit more autonomous. In fact, um, rather than reporting to their budget director, Roger Houston, the budget side was going to be reporting directly to one of the assistant vice presidents, Karen Combs, in the budget--the budget office provost, when they switched their, you know, their, um, hierarchy. It was--so Karen--Karen Combs, who was with the medical center, uh, one of the assistant directors of the medical center, um, became the person that I would work with on budgets. So that was changing. Rather than, you know, work with the Provost Office director, who would direct all of the other, you 01:02:00know, colleges you know within the university, now I'd just be working with just, you know, this particular individual. So they were making headway on the budget piece. But, and even on academics, they were doing things academically that were, uh, I guess, uh, collaborative in nature?

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: But then there was still the issue of the reporting. And it seemed to me that was all there was, was the reporting issue. And it would--I guess maybe--maybe I'm too simplistic in my thoughts about this, but had Dr. Todd agreed to--to the fact that Dr. Kerley report to him and the board of trustees, we'd still be under UK.

ADAMS: So in your opinion, who do you think really forced the separation of--

CHILDRE: --I would say Dr. Todd.

ADAMS: Just didn't fit in with UK's mission--

CHILDRE: --he didn't--it didn't fit in--we didn't fit in with UK's mission. We also had a building that became a high priority. And 01:03:00with the change in administration, of course, you know, he was hired for research. And so he had his feet, you know, tied to the fire--uh, tied too, his hands tied because, you know, he had to fulfill those requirements, you know, on what he--what was promised, and what was expected of him as a research institution, you know, president.

ADAMS: So he could have probably fixed this very easily, with just a change--

CHILDRE: --I think so. I think so.

ADAMS: So, in, uh, what year did UK put--or when did UK put the, uh, management of LCC under KCTCS? Because that's just been here recently.

CHILDRE: Yeah just July the first.

ADAMS: Of 2004?

CHILDRE: Of 2004. There was a, you know, a maintenance agreement. Well then of course all of us worked, you know, with UK to get those, you know, pushed through, you know, as far as the relationship, you know, and what was going to be, uh, what we could use of UK's services.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: Um, and then legislation pushed that through of course. And, uh, that would, that--that mandates where we would go. And so our legislators thought that that would be--it would be best. So that's put the final, you know, the final cap, you know, to getting us to the KCTCS system--

ADAMS: --I understand. Do you think LCC being separated from UK is a good or bad thing for the institution of LCC and the community of Lexington?

CHILDRE: In the long run, John, I think it's going to be the best thing. Because, uh, I mean, number one: it's out of our hands now. (laughs) Legislation has put us there. I don't know that they could ever put us back under UK, just, you know, as LCC, and not as a whole system once again. Um, the decision's been made, and I think that we just need to make the best of it. Funding-wise, building-wise--which you know, our growth is such, you know, we are nearing the 10,000 mark, you know, in the next year or so, and, uh--or few years, and, uh, we need buildings. We need funding. Um, and we need, you know, support. And if this is the way we're going to get it, then it's going to be the best thing that--that could have happened to us. And there's no sense fighting a losing battle--(both laugh)--is my philosophy. You've 01:06:00just got to move on, you know, and make do with what you have and do the best you possibly can. And I think that we're doing an awful lot, you know, reaching out, you know, to our communities. And, uh, since Dr. Kerley's come, um, he's really truly made us a community college in the fact that we have satellite campuses, you know. And even if we had not consolidated, you know, we're not consolidated yet, but even if Central Kentucky Tech did not become part of us, we would still be out there looking for off-campus sites in order to serve our community. So, um, I think we're doing what we need to do as a community college. You know, we need to get out there and, you know, reach every population. And I think we're going to do that. And with the consolidation I feel very good about that too because I've toured their campuses, and I see what kind of programs that they have, you know, that an individual can go into for two years, and have some type of 01:07:00skill, you know, that a pre-bacc--a pre-baccalaureate program doesn't necessarily, um, offer. And, uh, not everybody can go to school for four years and--and get those higher degrees. You know, they need to have jobs, and, you know, they need skills. And, um, I think that we're going to have the best of both worlds, you know, with the technical programs that, you know, Central Kentucky Tech has to offer. And then, our technical programs, you know, that we have here. The nursing--especially nursing and dental hygiene, and all the nuclear med, you know; all the health related programs that we have here, that they don't all have, at the Central Kentucky Tech, um, College. And then our pre-baccalaureate program, which will always be large.

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: You know, I mean, that will always be our largest population I think. But, um,--but I think we're--we're going to, um, continue the open access, you know, for those individuals that don't have the high 01:08:00grade point averages, and the high ACT scores, but yet, you know, we've found to be successful in the long run. So I feel good about it. I feel good that this is all going to work out. And the legislators, as long as they support--and the governor, uh, support our mission, which I think they do. You know, we've talked to enough of them, and--and we see them in social, you know, settings, as well as business settings. And their children are coming to LCC and going to the other community colleges. And they're getting a good experience, you know, and bringing it home to their parents and their friends. And, um, just, you know, even running to the grocery store, and you wear--we wear our little name tags, and they see who we are, they--you always run into someone that says: well, my cousin went to school there; my mother went to school there; my child goes to school there and we like this 01:09:00program, you know, you all are doing a good job. And, um, I think that even with the break from UK, we will--we will carve a little space for ourselves in this community. I think that we will do a good job, you know, and we project a good image, as well as our quality, you know, of education continues. I think that that, that will help us, in the long run. And, uh, if the community college system, uh, administration supports us like they have been, I think the funding is going even to get better--

ADAMS: Um-hm.

CHILDRE: --you, know, for us.

ADAMS: Okay. Well Marilyn, I know you've been extremely busy over the past couple of weeks. And, uh, you have--in your current position you're so hectic being over the whole district. I just want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to sit down and talk to us.

CHILDRE: You're welcome. You're welcome. I hope this was helpful. 01:10:00(laughs)

ADAMS: Oh, it was. Thank you.

CHILDRE: Thank you.

[End of interview.]