San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493

Minutes of
General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting
January 25, 2006 at Cañada College

Members Present: Victoria Clinton, Karen Olesen, Sandy Raeber, Rick Hough, Katharine Harer, Dan Kaplan, Yaping Li, John Kirk, Nina Floro, Joaquin Rivera, Eric Rodriguez, Eric Brenner

Guests: Nick Kapp, Patti Dilko, Martin Partlan, Monica Malamud

Meeting was called to order at 2:25.

Minutes were approved.

Karen Olesen facilitated the meeting.

NON-AGENDA ITEMS

The Western State Union Leadership Institute, a week-long training and leadership development program, will be at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove from June 25-June 30. EC members are encouraged to attend.

CFT Convention will be in Sacramento on March 24 -26.

EC was asked to determine if and when they would like to hear a report on the CFT Early Childhood Education Organizing Project.

Next EC meeting will be on Wednesday, February 15 at Skyline to accommodate the contract negotiation schedule.

CO-PRESIDENTS’ REPORT - Joaquin Rivera

The District’s counter proposal to AFT’s initial proposal, received after 3 months, is simply: “Staff proposes no change to the current agreement.” The EC took issue with the District’s position, claiming that there are funds available and are needed, especially for part-timer office hours.

An open letter to the AFT from Frank C.C. Young, instructor at Canada College, was distributed. The letter expresses dissatisfaction with some of AFT organizational policies. It was decided that the Advocate publish the statement as an open letter, and that an “open letter forum” feature be added to future issues of the Advocate.

Karen Olesen requested 1.5 units of release time for the rest of the semester so that she can serve as interim chapter chair of Canada. Monica Malamud of Canada also expressed interest in becoming chapter chair. A motion was approved to appoint both Karen Olesen and Monica Malamud as interim co-chairs for Canada College until May elections, and to give Olesen the release time.

CAMPUS REPORTS

Skyline College - Rick Hough. No report

CSM - Yaping Li. There are two potential grievance cases, one concerning an instructor’s denial of tenure and another concerning a complaint regarding a final grade filed by a student against an instructor. These cases were handed over to John Kirk, grievance officer.

Canada College - Karen Olesen. An art instructor at Canada will be assigning her students a design proposal for the district-wide AFT poster contest. The poster’s tag line will be: “AFT Local 1493. Faculty: Our Special Interest”.

RECLAIMING THE IVORY TOWER - Karen Olesen

Joe Barry’s new book Reclaiming the Ivory Tower discusses the role of part-time faculty in academia. Olesen suggested that Barry be the opening day speaker. The proposal was received enthusiastically and now a formal request to Ron Galatolo will be put forth.

WORK PLAN STATUS REPORT - Ernie Rodriguez

As most people did not respond to the request to rank the workplan items according to personal preference, the EC decided to adopt the workplan as is and review workplan at the yearly retreat.

GRIEVANCES - John Kirk

A motion was approved to take into arbitration, the grievance concerning the nursing instructor who flunked two nursing students.

Another grievance concerns a seniority violation of a part-time CSM instructor.

The case involving the denial of tenure, as reported by Yaping Li, will also be taken up.

DISTRICT BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE – John Kirk

At the last meeting in Fall 2005, the committee reviewed Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget. The Committee still has not met for the Spring 2006 semester.

DISTRICT SHARED GOVERNANCE Council- Dan Kaplan

At the first district Shared Governance Committee of Spring 2006, there will be a discussion on the Mutual Respect Policy.

There was discussion regarding the AFT’s desire to appoint an alternate to the Committee and to have AFT’s position on issues be noted in the District Shared Governance Council minutes.

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:

A discussion on class size.

Concern for the hours-by-arrangement requirement.

An alternate appointee for the District Shared Governance Committee

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Feinblum

AFT 1493 Home