San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493

Minutes of General Membership/Executive Committee Meeting

Wednesday, October 8, 2014, at CSM

EC members present:  Eric Brenner, Vicki Clinton, Salumeh Eslamieh, Stephen Fredricks, Katharine Harer, Teeka James, Dan Kaplan (Exec. Secr.), Doniella Maher, Monica Malamud, Sandi Raeber-Dorsett, Joaquin Rivera, Paul Rueckhaus, Janice Sapigao, Elizabeth Terzakis, Rob Williams.

AFT (non-EC) members present:  Masao Suzuki (AFT Rep on District Budget and Finance Committee; Economics/Skyline), Karen Olesen (AFT/COPE Chair; Counselor/Cañada), Tom Broxholm (Skyline), Zev Kwitky (CFT field rep).

Meeting began at 2:35 p.m. in closed session

Facilitator:  Doniella Maher

Closed Session — discussion of accusations, evaluations, AFT contract language, and the California Ed Code:

The EC met in closed session to discuss confidential matters.

Wecome and Introductions

Done.

Statements from AFT (non EC) members on Non-Agenda Items

Janice Sapigao read a statement of interest from Najla Abrou, who would like to become the PT rep to the EC.

 

Minutes of October 8, 2014 AFT meeting

Approved with corrections.

 

District Committee on Budget and Finance:

Masao Suzuki

Masao is the AFT rep on the District Committee on Budget and Finance (DCBF).  The committee had its first meeting on September 16.  Masao brought up the following three points about the 2015-2016 District Budget to the EC; the District intends to:
Permanently raise reserves from 5% to 15%.  Last year’s ending balance was around 19%.  The 15% in Reserves would be allocated as follows:  5% for “real” reserves, 5% for cash-flow, and 5% for emergencies and disaster (EC reaction:  isn’t that what reserves are for in the first place?)
Set aside $3 million for an “innovation fund”
Remove FTES from campus allocation model, since the District is now basic aid and not funded based on enrollment.

These proposals show that there is extra money in the District, and the District wants to somehow earmark funds for (a) and (b).  Masao will write up his report and send it to Eric, so that this may be turned into an Advocate article.

Eric reported on Skyline’s budget committee.  He will be writing an article on the growth of administration in our District.
Dean’s Survey: next steps

Teeka has heard from some faculty that college presidents have failed to follow through with the results of the survey, and communicated areas of concern with deans.  Other EC members echoed this—deans who had significant weaknesses have not shown any improvement.  Teeka will talk to Ron about this; she will request a progress report about deans’ evaluations.

We could do the survey in the spring again, to see if anything has changed.  If the presidents are not willing to share the concerns that came out of the survey with deans, Teeka is willing to do this herself.
Should PT faculty automatically be interviewed for FT jobs?

Tom Broxholm believes that PT should qualify in order to earn their right for an evaluation, but if they meet the criteria then they should be interviewed.

Members of the EC and other faculty in attendance expressed different/conflicting views about Tom’s proposal.  Some support the idea of interviewing our own adjuncts.  Others expressed concerns such as:
the hiring process is not the same for FT as for PT, so the fact that someone has been hired for a PT job does not necessarily make them fully qualified for a FT job.
Interviewing all adjuncts in a large department could result in an enourmous burden for the screening committee.

It was noted that our District has a record of hiring our own PT faculty for approximately 70% of FT openings.  At this point, there is not consensus on whether PT faculty should automatically be granted an interview for a FT position.
Academic calendar

Joaquin Rivera

Joaquin presented two versions of the calendar for 2014-2015.  One of the versions was approved, and Joaquin will forward it to Eugene.
Negotiations

Joaquin Rivera

CSEA has started negotiations on medical caps.  District proposed $35/45/55 (single/2-person/family) increase.

Medical caps for FT:  Ron called Joaquin and asked him if the AFT would agree to $50/75/100.  Joaquin said that he thought it might be ok, but that we should also give a significant increase to PT.  The EC directed Joaquin to ask for an increase in the district’s contribution of $100/150/200.

Medical caps for PT:  Currently, the PT reimbursement is $600 per semester.  There is a maximum of 330 PT who qualify for this reimbursement.  The EC directed Joaquin to ask for $1800 per semester.
Measure H (District Bond)

Dan informed the EC that the Labor Council and Building and Trades have already endorsed Measure H.  EC took no action (no quorum).
Website design

Eric Brenner

Our website is in the process of being redesigned.  Eric showed a draft of the website, and two lists of options for organizing all the information in our website.  A subcommittee will be making decisions about website design.  EC members are all invited to send their input to Eric.
Administrators teaching in the District

Teeka James

Evaluation:  they will be evaluated just like PT, but by a FT in a different college.  The issue that remains unresolved is that the union insists that PT seniority should be respected when giving a teaching assignment to an administrator.
Statements from AFT members on non-agenda items

Doniella:  There is a Howard Zinn event this coming weekend, held at Mission High School in San Francisco; Elizabeth is one of the presenters at this event.
Meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m.