Mission College Academic Senate

Ext. 5413

Unapproved Minutes

Thursday, September 28, 2006

I. Call to Order/Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by President Cathy Cox at 2:15 p.m.

^Senators	A	P	Senators	A	P
^Beggs (Ext. 5188) AAS		X	^Malchow (Ext. 5370) Comm.		X
^Brichko(Ext. 5222) CATA		X	^Martin (Ext. 5356) Tech	X
^Brodie (ASB)	X		^Moles (Ext. 5113) ESL		X
^Cogswell (Ext. 5388) AAS		X	^Ostrander (x5274) StudDev.		X
^Cox (x5165) Pres/Com Svc		X	Paicius (x5413) AF/CATA	X
^Hernas (x5169) Com Serv.		X	Pembrook (x 5275) ComServ.		X
^Juncker (x5229) Comm.	X		Perlas (x5041) Stud.Dev.		X
^Kashima (x. 5319) ESL		X	Thickpenny (x5287 ) CATA	X
^Laird (x 5186) Soc Sci		X	Ting (x 5330) Math		X
^Lavallo (Ext. 5399) Math	X
^Guest: D.Boatright, M.Grayson		X	Guests: L.Marelick, J.VanTassel		X

II. Approval of the Minutes

The minutes for the meeting of September 21, 2006, were accepted and approved with the following corrections (M/S/P – Curtis/Kashima):

Page 1, Item II (approval of Minutes), paragraph regarding fifth sentence, to read as follows:

“The college needs to relate this information to our students and develop …”

Page 4, Item III.A, first paragraph, last sentence: Correct spelling of Vin Do to Binh Do.

III. Oral Communication from the Public

There was no oral communication from the public at today's meeting.

IV. Order of the Agenda

It was agreed that the order of the agenda will be changed to accommodate guests (M/S/U Cogswell/Moles). Item VIII.A and Item VIII.B will be addressed immediately following Item VI.

V. Information & Announcements

1. Senator Cogswell reported that the nursing instructors got a look at the new talking mannequins that Ann Cowels discussed during her presentation on the RN Program.

2. West Valley College’s Pow Wow event will be held this Saturday, September 30^th, from Noon to Midnight.

3. President Cox advised that Ellen McAlister has withdrawn from serving on the President’s Hiring Committee. The committee is set to meet with the consultant next week. It was decided that since the call had been issued to all faculty and there were a large number of volunteers, the secretary was directed to determine the faculty member that had the next largest number of votes. This information will be reported at next week’s meeting. It was reiterated that the process that prompted Ellen’s withdrawal is inappropriate and the situation should have been handled within the committee.

4. President Cox distributed a resolution passed at the Academic Senate of the Hartnell Community College. The faculty are undergoing a problem that resonates with our District. She advised that other academic senates have adopted resolutions indicating support for Hartnell. We have contacted one of those colleges and expect to receive their resolution in the near future. Cathy noted that the ASCCC’s Area B meeting will be held on Friday, October 13, 2006, and any issues that need to be discussed at the state-wide level can be presented in resolution form at the Area B meeting for consideration. If this Senate wishes to support Hartnell, the item will have to be placed on the October 12^th agenda.

VI. Administrative Business/Actions/Appointments

A. President’s Report – See report attached to these minutes. President Cox reported on discussions at GAP and CBAC regarding the financial support of Community Education, non-credit courses, using some of the one-time monies to fund those courses. CBAC determined that funding Community Ed is appropriate in order to help generate additional FTES. The recommendation from GAP will be made to the President, who will make the final decision. It is expected that the President will accept and approve that recommendation. Cathy was asked if Community Ed is funded to develop more classes and FTES, who will claim the FTES. Cathy responded that for the purpose of making base, FTES counts regardless if the classes are Community Ed classes or regular FTES. The money earned by Community Ed FTES goes back to the District Budget Allocation Model, which allocates money for college FTES but does not fully fund the goal for Community Ed. Cathy offered to send the Senators additional background information and discuss the matter further at next week’s meeting.

Another issue of concern relates to Hours by Arrangement. Cathy advised that anyone with questions on this matter contact Dona Boatright, the Interim VP of Instruction. Dona advised that the Department of Finance of the State of California, acting on information from an anonymous source, has asked the college to respond to concerns related to courses with Hours by Arrangement. She is currently conducting fact finding, asking all departments that offer courses with Hours by Arrangements to explain what is being done. This will assist in defining how to address the problem. She emphasized that no timeline has been given by the Department of Finance and no edict has been issued not to schedule classes, although the decision may be made not to report certain courses that cannot support hours by arrangement. Dona continued that the college is at risk, and although much work on this issue was done last year, it has not been completed. Dona also stated that she believes in total transparency and expects to move forward on this matter as quickly as possible.

B. Select MCAS Vice President - Betti Cogswell and Stephanie Kashima volunteered to serve as Vice President and Stephanie was elected by written ballot.

At this time a motion to suspend the order of the agenda and move to Item VIII.A and Item VIII.B to accommodate Lin Marelick and Matthew Grayson passed (Kashima/Cogswell).

VIII. New Business

A. Review & Consider Recommendations Relating to Institutionalization of Title V Activities

Lin Marelick addressed the Senators regarding the institutionalization of Title V activities. She explained that institutionalization means gathering funds to support the program with money other than grant money, i.e. the college.

Lin provided the Senators with a list of improvements that must be made and the methods and resources that it will take to make those improvements. It is anticipated that most improvements will be fully institutionalized by the end of the fifth year of the grant (2009). The Welcome Center should be institutionalized by the end of the second year of the grant in Fall 2006; ESL improvements by the end of the third year of the grant in Fall 2007, and the first learning community model (Math Dept. MAPS Project) by the end of the fourth year in 2008.

Two important recommendations that will address the immediate needs of the college are as follows:

1. Assessment: The college needs to commit ongoing funds for online assessment in the basic skills areas. It is recommended that the college fund online assessment allotting $5,065 annually for Math and $3,500 annually for ESL.

2. Tutoring: There is a basic skills crisis throughout California and specifically at Mission College. The Mission College LATC and the Math Lab tutoring budget was cut by 60% in 2002-03. Prior to those cuts, the LATC provided approximately 82 hours per week of basic skills tutoring in English, ESL and Reading during the regular year. Nationally, colleges with the highest rates of student success and retention also have comprehensive tutoring available for their basic skills students. Mission College needs to return to prior levels of basic skills tutoring in order to improve student success and retention rates. This is crucial for student success. It is recommended that the college build a comprehensive tutoring program for students in basic skills areas by increasing the current tutoring budgets as follows:

a. ESL, English and Reading: 50 hours of tutoring/week @ $15.00/hr = $24,000 during the regular school year.

b. Math: 25 hours of additional tutoring/week @ $15.00/hour= $12,000 during the regular school year.

c. LATC and Math: $6,000 for summer tutoring.

d. Total ongoing funding needed for Math and the LATC tutoring: $42,000 annually

Lin advised that she has received feedback from other groups. Stephanie Kashima is currently researching other programs at other community colleges. Lin will continue to keep everyone updated and informed. These are programs that are essential to the core value of this institution and will need to be funded. In response to a question related to square footage and space within the college, Lin explained that the grant requires the college to improve services already offered by improving the infrastructure. Relative to the main building, the Welcome Center design has been incorporated into the square footage already. Title V does not compete with existing programs; it enhances existing programs. Cathy stated that expanding LATC and Math labs would benefit students across the board, and LATC is one source of non-credit FTES.

Lin asked the Senators to discuss this issue with their constituents and encourage CBAC representatives to move toward funding for institutionalization and generate support for funding these programs. Cathy thanked Lin for her report.

B. Discuss Tech Prep Resident Requirement, Articulation Agreement Process Changes, and Reauthorization of Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act 2006

Matthew Grayson made a presentation to the Senators on the current status of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. In essence, the changes involve a more effective accountability system that aligns accountability requirements with other federal education and training programs. The improvements include strong links to businesses that build stronger partnerships between high schools, colleges, and businesses, so they can better meet the needs of the workforce, including small businesses. The changes also include better links from high school to college that require states to outline a logical sequence of courses, including high school and college courses that will lead to an industry recognized credential, certificate, or postsecondary degree. Training for teachers will include pre-service and in-service training and resources for counselors and administrators. In addition, there will be a stronger academic focus that promotes an enhanced emphasis on academic instruction for federally supported career and technical education programs consistent with other federal education programs.

Matt explained that Tech Prep will return with a proposed articulation agreement process change to the Academic senate for consideration in Spring 2007. At this time President Cox reported that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) is considering a statewide proposal, to be considered at the Fall Plenary. Articles on this matter have been printed in the ASCCC’s Rostrum publication.

The order of the agenda was resumed.

VII. Old Business

A. Update on District Academic Senate’s Resolution

Cathy distributed the Chancellor’s response to the Behavioral Objectives. She noted that the title of the document is now, “Chancellor’s Response to the Recommended Behavioral Objectives” and each “suggested” response is now simply titled “response.”

Cathy reported that she, Angelica, and the two Classified Senate Presidents met with the Chancellor on Monday for a roundtable discussion and reviewed the draft of responses. The Chancellor asked for advice relative to the draft and those present provided feedback. She noted that the Chancellor intended that areas marked “Administrator’s Responsibility” were marked accordingly to indicate that they are not the direct responsibility of the Board. These responses were prepared in response to the MC Academic Senate’s request for a written response by September 28, 2006. Cathy advised that the Board has seen the draft and will discuss it at next Thursday’s Board meeting. She opened discussion to the floor.

A number of Senators expressed their concern as to whether or not the Board is likely to accept the Chancellor’s responses. It was suggested that the VP of each Academic Senate or members of the task force that developed the behavioral objectives be invited to participate in discussions that deal with the objectives. In addition, there is concern regarding the follow-up on the recommendations by the administration, particularly since a new Board will be elected in November. It was noted that the Chancellor’s response to the March 15^th layoff notices refers to Title 5 and the Ed Code regarding “appropriate consultation.” The Senators asked that the Senate research Title 5 for language that pertains to “appropriate consultation” and report back.

As discussion continued it became clear that many do not have faith that the Chancellor’s recommendations will be accepted by the Board of Trustees. It would best serve the Chancellor, in order to regain the trust of faculty, to eliminate the ambiguity in the responses, develop a timeline and make it clear to the Board that this is his position and that he strongly recommends that the Board accept these responses. Concern was expressed that the responses stated that certain things “should” be done, but there is nothing that guarantees they will be done. The Board received the behavioral objectives in August and there was no response until the MCAS requested the response. It was stated that the Chancellor’s responses are basically neutral and they should be discussed by the District Academic Senate. Even though the Board can reject the document, the Chancellor can still be held accountable and he should take a leadership role and encourage the Board to adopt and implement the objectives. (At this time a motion to extend discussion on the issue for another 10 minutes passed (M/S/P).

Cathy advised that during discussion at a District Council meeting, when the subject of the behavioral objectives arose, the issue of written responses was mentioned and the Chancellor indicated that neither he nor the Board realized that the Senate wanted written responses.

Cathy advised the Senators to review Page 2 of the minutes of the September 17^th meeting of the West Valley College Academic Senate. Discussion concerned the curriculum process at WVC. She has been advised that the VP of Instruction is planning to go to the Board with curriculum on October 19^th. It is absolutely essential that the Senate discuss the District Senate’s resolution and consider options:

a) lift the suspension imposed on March 15^th and leave the initial resolution in effect;

b) lift the entire resolution or leave all in effect and follow recommendation #12 in the report from the Technical Assistance Visit team, which addressed accreditation and enrollment management; or

c) consider other options.

A Senator questioned the meeting scheduled by the WVCAS for 2:05 p.m. on October 3^rd with an action item relative to voting at the District Academic Senate. (At this time, a motion to extend discussion for an additional 5 minutes passed M/S/P.) President Cox advised that she has e-mailed President Bangle regarding the meeting in question and has not yet received a response.

Discussion continued, and it was stated that it appears there is a lack of trust and concern as to what appears to be divisive manipulation among certain groups. It is extremely important that the Senators discuss the matter with their constituents before Tuesday’s meeting in order to be clear what they want and to come prepared to argue their position. President Cox noted that had the District Academic Senate met on July 20^th, the behavioral objectives could have been given to the Board providing them with an additional month for review. (Another motion to extend discussion 5 minutes passed (M/S/P). Ultimately the following motion was presented (M/S – Pembrook/Cogswell):

“that the Mission College Academic Senate recognizes that the Chancellor’s Response to Behavioral Objectives are his recommendations to the Board and requests that the Chancellor recommend that the Board adopt his recommendations, and further, that he place target dates with each appropriate item.”

Discussion continued and it was noted that the task force never requested written responses to the behavioral objectives. It was also noted that one of the responses made by the Chancellor is that he created the EMT as a means of creating more participatory communication, which does not include faculty. The object was to create a Memo of Understanding. Cathy noted that any such memo would require senate approval. A call for the question passed (M/S/P – Moles/Laird) and the above motion passed, six in favor to five nays. Cathy will advise the Chancellor of the Senate’s motion.

The remaining agenda items were postponed to the next meeting.

X. Correspondence, Publications, & Announcements

Correspondence

1. E-Mail dated September 21, 2006, from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) regarding a survey on Sabbatical Leave Policies and Practices.

2. E-Mails dated September 25^th and 26th, from Ed Kleppinger, President of ACE with an ACE Update.

3. E-Mail dated September 25, 2006, from Harriett Robles regarding Mission College’s Mission Statement.

4. E-Mail from Lin Marelick with an update on the activities of Title V.

Publication/Minutes

1. The approved minutes for the September 7, 2006, meeting of ACE.

2. The agenda for the September 27, 2006, meeting of GAP

3. The agenda for the September 27, 2006, meeting of the District Council.

4. The September 21, 2006, issue of FA NEWS from the Foothill-DeAnza Faculty Association.

5. The September 15, 2006, issue of DVC FORUM from Diablo Valley College

Announcements/Conferences

1. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Fall Plenary Session will be held in Newport Beach, October 26-28, 2006.

XI. Future Agenda Items

No new items were introduced at today's meeting.

XII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m. (M/S/U). These minutes are respectfully submitted by Grace Hazán, Academic Senate Secretary.

Mission College Academic Senate

President’s Report

September 28, 2006

Hours by Arrangement: As many faculty may already have heard by now, a letter was received by the State Department of Finance complaining about Mission College and “Hours by Arrangement”. While the college and the Academic Senate have already begun taking steps to address this issue, the involvement of the Department of Finance means that this must be treated as an extremely high priority by everyone. Dona Boatright has met with me and with Betty Ensminger, Curriculum Committee chair, to discuss strategies for addressing this situation as quickly as possible. The Office of Instruction will be distributing forms to collect information about current HBA and LBA offerings. This is a state mandate, and as such requires action by the college to ensure that we are in compliance with the law.

One-time funding for non-credit courses: Please take special note of notes from CBAC on this. GAP will be considering it next week.

Enrollment: Enrollment is still down at Mission, by an estimated 10%. The problems detailed above with hours by arrangement may also affect our ability to make our base. Harriett expressed a concern in CBAC that MC facilities may possibly be close to capacity, which could make it difficult to make base.

SHARED GOVERNANCE AND OTHER MEETINGS

As usual, please remember that these are only my notes and not official minutes of the meetings.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING, 9/20

• The Accreditation Progress Reports for both colleges were accepted by the Board. Two trustees have been assigned to work with the colleges on the accreditation process; Buck Polk will be the trustee working with Mission College.
• While most of the Board agenda was covered in very short order, there was extensive discussion on the last item, approval of funding for the WVC Aquatic Center project. There have been significant cost increases since the project was initially approved (more than $2 million), with most of the costs coming from DSA (Dept. of State Architect)-imposed requirements for accessible restrooms & shower facilities. Comments by Trustee Stampolis about whether the additional expense could be justified by the FTES generated by the aquatics program at WVC led to a detailed defense of the value of the pool. President Hartley cited extensive data relating to the total FTES of students who used the pool for team sports, adaptive P.E., and other classes; while WVCAS President Bangle reminded the Board that any questions relating to discontinuance of a program would properly be dealt with through the Academic Senate.

DIVISION CHAIRS COUNCIL, 9/25

• Big discussion on Hours by Arrangement – see above for more info.
• Apparently, students have been selling tests for some classes online. Few details are known, but all faculty should be aware of the problem and take steps to avoid having tests “recycled”
  
  

GAP, 9/27

• Accreditation surveys are being designed for both faculty/staff and students. The student survey will probably be the same as one used by Avanzar, which is widely used and for which there is lots of data to which we can compare. The faculty/staff survey is being developed based on model surveys gathered from other community colleges in the state, and will be issued primarily electronically (paper copies will be available for those without computer access). GAP will be giving feedback on a draft by 10/11.
• Harriett reminded everyone to vote on the college Mission Statement by 10/6 (check email!)
• The District Faculty and Staff Diversity Advisory Committee is being re-constituted, and met 9/26. The two colleges have different needs, although both have issues that need to be addressed, and so they’ll require different and separately-developed plans. At Mission, our plan may be tied in to Student Equity as well. This committee is seen as relating to one of the issues of the District Resolution, “Faculty recruitment and retention.”
• Ann Cowels presented the LVN to RN project to GAP, and mentioned that the project will be going to the Facilities and Safety committee on 9/28 for discussion.

CBAC, 9/27

• CBAC was asked to recommend to GAP that $155,000 of one-time money be allocated immediately to Community Ed to fund their existing program and allow them to expand as much as possible during the current year. As far as the state is concerned, “an FTEs is an FTEs”, whether it’s from a credit or a non-credit class. Community Ed. can generate 334 FTEs if given a sufficient level of financial support for the current year and if they receive it soon enough to open the courses. The consensus of CBAC was that this was an acceptable request given the circumstances, and that recommendation will be sent to GAP.
• Further discussion acknowledged that non-credit programs have never been fully funded by the district BAM, and that this is a problem that needs to be taken up with DBAC at the district level.

DISTRICT COUNCIL, 9/27

• A discussion about the Technical Assistance Visit Report showed that most members of District Council felt very positive. Harriett observed that mid-level managers appeared to be left out of the report; Stan pointed out that AB 1725 basically ignores managers, and considers the Chancellor to be a “designee” of the Board.
• IS will be upgrading to Datatel release 18 next summer. In preparation for that, they will be migrating to new servers as of Oct. 13, and Datatel will be down that entire weekend (until about 11 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 16).
• Ron Smith has given a presentation to the WVCAS about new IS initiatives, including a new email system for the district. I am talking with him about presenting the same thing to MCAS.
• The Community College Initiative, which is gathering signatures for the June ballot, will be on the agenda of District Council for Oct. 11.
• Phil Hartley reported that there is now a fee-based internet service that is requesting reports from community colleges on the grade distributions for every section of every course taught by every instructor (both FT and PT). There has been a court case and this was determined to be legal under the FOIA.
• District Council is also reviewing a proposed policy on employees working off-site. The entire policy under consideration reads as follows:

”Under the direction of and with prior permission of their supervisor, administrators and classified staff may work at an off-site location when it serves the best interests of the District. While working off-site, administrators and classified staff shall provide their supervisor and immediate subordinates with an appropriate means of contact.”

This policy has been reviewed with ACE, and the wording reflects a request by ACE that faculty not be included in this policy.