Union notes from Union / Management Meeting

Present – Michael Abraham, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Margaret McAllister, Jeff Perry, David Scott, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio and Jeri Sykes. 

Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Jeanine Cowan, Camille Colatosti, Nikki Kirk.

1.     Larry opened the meeting. Academic Calendar – Jay Kennedy discussed the merger and possible changes to the calendar and align both as best as possible. BoCo: class on Veteran’s Day and Presidents Day, other minor changes. What about modifying Thanksgiving week? We want to keep Veteren’s Day as a Holiday. With President’s Day – what about a swap with a Friday of that week?

Our suggestion for fall is have class on Columbus Day and not have class the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Spring would stay as is for now.

2.     Merger – Executive Integration Steering Committee meeting once a week with several other committees reporting to the Exec. Steering Comm. All decisions are made by the Steering Committee (Roger Brown, Richard Ortner, Larry Simpson, Joe Bennett, David Mash, Betsy Newman, Mac Hisey, Eric Norman, Melissa Howe).

All the committees and their members will be posted by the college on-line soon.

3.     Fall semester grade submission – BoCo grades are due the Tuesday after classes end. Transcripts are needed for some students before the first of the year. What about making the dates more aligned between both institutions?

4.     WebEx possibilities – Google hangout is lacking numbers to allow the entire class to enter the hangout. WebEx is now available and it is available on the phone and other devices (droid, PC, etc.) and allows up to 999 participants.

It should be available on OL in the fall, but it is available to all right now.

5.     Workload – FT filled first, PT 3-Year contract next, then PT 1-year. Some faculty are losing their 3-year contract due to scheduling changes and faculty not teaching courses that they developed sometimes.

Larry – it is the Chair’s responsibility to fill faculty schedule.

Kari – we try and do exactly as you say, FT, 3-year PT, then PT. The problem comes in when faculty preferences don’t fit the schedule they want, on a Monday or sometime out of the preferences. Another issue is a 3-year contract but no one signs up for their class – it can be difficult but the chair has to talk with the faculty about the students voting with their feet.

6.     All faculty should be taking attendance and participate in the early alert system. This is the best way to communicate and help the students.